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Bright named chair of chemistry
Frank Bright, UB Distinguished Professor and A. Conger Goodyear Professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been named chair of the Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences.
A UB faculty member for 19 years, Bright conducts research in a broad range of areas in analytical and bioanalytical chemistry and optical spectroscopy.
He has developed new integrated chemical sensor array systems for simultaneous multi-analyte detection, new materials to improve wound restitution, and supercritical and ionic fluids as environmentally friendly solvents.
He also has explored the use of such techniques as multi-photon excitation to conduct spectroscopic analysis of biological samples, such as blood and urine, "as they are" without pretreatment.
Bright's research, which has been reported in more than 230 peer-reviewed publications, has been funded by the John R. Oishei Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research and the Department of Energy.
His work is highly multidisciplinary and he collaborates with faculty members in other subfields in chemistry, as well as with researchers in departments that include surgery, electrical engineering and computer science and engineering. He is a co-founder of the university's multidisciplinary Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors (CUBS), which aims to provide key enabling technologies to build engineered systems with a focus on human health and homeland security applications.
CFA to present "Spirit of Fès"
The Center for the Arts will present the "Spirit of Fès" at 8 p.m. Oct. 17 in the Mainstage theater in the CFA, North Campus.
Each year the city of Fès, Morocco, hosts the highly acclaimed Fès Festival of World Sacred Music, a one-of-a-kind celebration of the divine through music, song and dance. The "Spirit of Fès" tour is the international component of the celebrated Fès festival and the Recontres de Fès Colloquium. The program will bring together some of the world's finest artists performing the music they hold sacred to celebrate the human spirit-honoring the distinctions among cultures while illuminating their common ground.
This edition of the tour presents some of the artists whose performances have highlighted earlier editions of the Fès festival in Morocco. They include South India's great classical vocalist Aruna Sairam, who will perform in collaboration with the Gregorian chant vocalist Susan Hellauer; the renowned Lebanese-American percussionist Jamey Haddad; and Palestinian-American string-instrument virtuoso Zafer Tawil. Haddad and Tawil also will accompany Moroccan-American vocalist Gerard Edery in Sephardic song. The second part of the program will present the rousing Daqqa of Taroudant, representatives of southern Morocco's Sufi tradition. The program will close with a finale with all the artists on stage.
The United Nations has named the Fès Festival of World Sacred Music one of the seven most important events in the world that further the dialogue among civilizations.
Tickets for the "Spirit of Fès are $20 for the general public and $10 for students. They are available at the CFA box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster locations, including Ticketmaster.com.
Concert to benefit law program
Two UB Law School professors and two second-year law students will be among the featured performers at a benefit concert to raise scholarship funds for students pursuing internships and careers in public interest law.
The concert is set for 7 p.m. Oct. 19 in Temple Beth Zion, 805 Delaware Ave., Buffalo. It will feature classical and jazz music. Pieces for classical violin and piano will be performed in the first half of the concert before the program transitions to American jazz and blues tunes. A champagne-and-dessert reception will follow the concert. All proceeds will benefit the UB Public Interest Law Program (BPILP) at the UB Law School.
Headlining the event will be accomplished violinist and second-year UB law student Larissa Shahmatova. Born in Vladivostok, Russia, she began studying violin at the age of 6 and made her solo debut at 10. By the age of 17, Shahmatova had performed solo recitals and concerts with Russia's major orchestras, including the Moscow Philharmonic, Moscow Chamber Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra.
Before coming to the UB Law School, she studied at The Juilliard School in New York City, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees. Shahmatova's recent performances have included two solo appearances with the Oregon Symphony and multiple concerts in Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City.
For the jazz portion of the concert, a UB Law School musical combo will put a fresh twist on some highly recognizable jazz and blues tunes composed by Gershwin, Reinhardt, Lewis and others. The group will feature law professors James Gardner, an accomplished jazz pianist, and John Schlegel, an aspiring vocalist. Nicholas Chamberlain, a second-year student, will play the drums. Before starting law school, Chamberlain played with musical groups that opened for Styx and the Beach Boys, and played with the Chamberlain Family Band. Shahmatova will play the violin and local musician Marc Cousins will play the double bass.
Among the many organizations that have benefited from BPILP's fellowship program are Neighborhood Legal Services, Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo, U.S. Department of Justice and the Kenya Human Rights Commission. Through these public interest internships, BPILP members have worked on legal issues including child welfare, elder care, domestic violence, mental health and legal assistance to the indigent.
Tickets are $30 and may be purchased by contacting Dawn Skopinski at 645-6261 or at ublaw_bpilp@yahoo.com.
Those who are unable to attend and would like to make a donation may mail checks payable to Buffalo Public Interest Law Program to Buffalo Public Interest Law Program, UB Law School, 609 O'Brian Hall, Buffalo, NY 14260.
Craft center sets fall workshops
The Creative Craft Center, located in 102 Harriman Hall, South Campus, will offer fall workshops, beginning the week of Oct. 23.
Workshops are scheduled in basic photography, black and white darkroom, architectural photography, darkroom techniques, knitting and crocheting, embroidery around the world, textile techniques and traditions, beginning and advanced stained glass, and beginning watercolor.
Most workshops will run from 7-10 p.m. one night a week for six weeks. Some photography workshops will be held on weekend afternoons.
Fees are $40 for UB students and $70 for others. Early sign-up is advised.
For more information, a schedule and a map, call 829-3536 from 1-5 p.m. Monday through Friday or 7-10 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Mental health expert to deliver Perry lecture
Ronald C. Kessler, Harvard University professor and a major figure in the field of mental health in the U.S. and abroad, will present the J. Warren Perry Lecture at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.
His lecture, "The Societal Costs of Mental Disorders: What We Know and What We're (Not) Doing About It," will be free and open to the public.
The Perry lecture is sponsored annually by the School of Public Health and Health Professions. It is made possible by a grant from J. Warren Perry, founding dean of the former School of Health Related Professions.
Kessler, professor of health care policy at Harvard University Medical School, is principal investigator for the National Comorbidity Survey, the first nationally representative survey of the prevalence and correlates of psychiatric disorders in the U.S.
He also carried out the NCS adolescent (NCS-A) survey, the first nationally representative survey of adolescent mental health ever done in the U.S., and was director of the World Health Organization's World Mental Health (WMH) surveys. The WHO project is a series of nationally representative epidemiological surveys conducted in 28 countries, with a combined sample size of more than 200,000 respondents.
In addition to his epidemiological studies, Kessler is involved in the design and implementation of several experimental workplace interventions in the U.S. and Latin America aimed at determining the cost effectiveness, from the employer perspective, of various disease management programs.
He also is conducting field surveys in Brazil, Iraq and Northern Ireland, and is preparing for surveys in Portugal and Australia. In addition, Kessler directs the Hurricane Katrina Community Advisory Group, a panel studying psychological adjustment among people who were residents of the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina at the time of the storm.
"The Card Index Scattered" to be performed
The Department of Theatre and Dance will present "The Card Index Scattered" at 8 p.m. Oct. 25-28 in the Black Box Theatre in the Center for the Arts, North Campus. Performances also will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 28 and 29.
"The Card Index Scattered" is a play by Tadeusz Roewicz, considered the greatest living Polish poet, about the scattered consciousness of a man in a contemporary world that he finds equally scattered, decomposed and disintegrated. The main character, ironically called "Hero," is a veteran of wars that have left his personal life shattered. Throughout the play, he tries to reconcile his past with his desires and dreams for the future, seeking to find understanding, to love and to be loved. Through the play's "scattered" scenes and images, the action jumbles and fuses times, imagined places and characters from the Hero's dreams, memories and fantasies.
The production features the students of the Department of Theatre and Dance, who will act, sing, play instruments and perform pantomime scenes in this off-beat comedy. It is directed by Kazimierz Braun, professor of theatre and dance.
Tickets for "The Card Index Scattered" are $16 for general admission and $8 for students and seniors. Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Center for the Arts box office and at all Ticketmaster locations, including Ticketmaster.com.
Assessment workshop set
Registration is under way for the SUNY Training Center's fall assessment event, "Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Assessment Standards and Activities."
The conference, co-sponsored by the Center for Teaching and Learning Resources, will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 27 in the Center for Tomorrow, North Campus.
The keynote speaker will be Barbara Walvoord, director of the John Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning and chair of the Provost's Advisory Committee on Assessment at the University of Notre Dame.
She will speak on "Establishing Criteria and Standards for Grading Student Work." Walvoord also will lead a session on "Managing the Paper Load: Using Time Effectively for Grading and Responding."
Two UB faculty members will conduct presentations at the conference. Clyde F. (Kip) Herreid, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, will speak on "Clickers in the Classroom: A Terrific Classroom Assessment Tool; Gayle A. Brazeau, associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, will discuss "Implementing and Utilizing an Integrated Curricular Assessment Program."
The cost of the conference is $110 for SUNY Training Center members and $140 for nonmembers. To register, go to http://www.tc.suny.edu/ubassessf06/register.html. For more information, go to http://www.tc.suny.edu/ubassessf06/index.html.
Geologists to meet in Buffalo
Where are the largest gas wells drilled in the continental U.S.?
No, it's not Texas. It's New York State, which spells good news for the New York State economy, as well as for bulking up gas supplies for the eastern seaboard.
The drilling of gas wells in New York State and many other geology and earth sciences topics will be discussed by geologists at two conferences sponsored by UB.
The New York State Geological Association will hold its annual meeting Friday through Sunday, and the Eastern Section of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists' annual conference, "New Concepts for Old Basins," will be held Sunday through Wednesday. Both conferences will be held at the Adam's Mark Hotel.
Highlights of the conferences will include numerous field trips, including a tour of the "Famous Hazardous Waste Sites of Niagara Falls, New York," as well as "Life on the Edge: Death and Transfiguration in Mud."
A short course, "Reservoir Engineering for Geologists," will be conducted on Saturday.
Robert D. Jacobi, professor of geology, is general chair for both meetings.
For more information, go to http://www.ubevents.org/event/nysga.