Why children are getting and what UB is - University at Buffalo

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Douglas Levere, BA ’89
Qian Wang (left) and Adel Sadek are newly arrived at UB.
Academic Insight
On the go
A new transportation research specialization at
the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
will provide New York State’s government agencies
and municipalities with access to innovative
technologies and systems that address critical
transportation issues facing the region and the
nation.
As a first step in the development of the
specialization, UB has appointed its first
transportation engineers, Professor Adel W.
Sadek and Assistant Professor Qian Wang
of the Department of Civil, Structural and
Environmental Engineering.
“The new transportation engineering emphasis
at UB fills a critical research need in the upstate
New York region, particularly in light of deteriorating
infrastructure, rising fuel costs, and the
need to serve a diverse and aging population
with ‘intelligent’ and environmentally sustainable
technologies,” says A. Scott Weber, chair
and professor of the UB Department of Civil,
Structural and Environmental Engineering, in
which the specialization is based.
“Many of our nation’s transportation systems
were built in the 1960s, and they are now at the
end of their life,” he says. “It’s a huge issue to figure
out which components to rebuild and how to
optimize appropriations, given budgetary limitations.
This need is even more critical given the
uncertain financial times we face in New York
State and the nation.”
UB People
Steps to
sustainability
With UB a signatory to
the American College and
University Presidents Climate
Commitment, more
than 200 faculty, staff and
students took part in the
UB Sustainability Forum,
“Planning for a Climate
Neutral Campus,” October
21, 2008, on the North
Campus.
The new engineering
building under construction
on the North Campus
is an example of UB’s
institutional commitment
to environmental stewardship,
says Robert G.
Shibley, chair of UB’s En-
University News
vironmental Stewardship
Committee
(ESC), professor of
architecture and planning
and point person
for UB’s comprehensive
physical plan. The project,
he notes, is being built
to higher environmental
standards than those
mandated by SUNY. Construction
related to UB’s
growing presence on the
Buffalo Niagara Medical
Campus and additional
student housing adjacent
to the Ellicott Complex
on the North Campus
also are expected to meet
these higher standards,
he adds.
“Annually, UB uses
enough electricity to
light a 100-watt bulb
for 243,788 years,” says
Michael Dupre, associate
vice president for university
facilities and chair of
the energy subcommittee.
“That same bulb has to be
lit for 24 years for every
student who graduates.
We leave a legacy of
energy use for everything
we do.”
Dupre says great cost
savings also can be
achieved by retrofitting
existing buildings to conserve
energy. A greater
percentage of UB’s
annual capital funding
budget goes toward infrastructure
replacement
than new construction, he
points out.
Assuring quality in HIV/AIDS clinical pharmacology
A $7.6 million, seven-year contract awarded to the School of Pharmacy and
Pharmaceutical Sciences will provide the funds to train in-country laboratory
specialists where HIV/AIDS infection rates are highest globally, test their
proficiency and conduct quality control analysis of HIV/AIDS clinical trials.
Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the
award establishes a Clinical Pharmacology Quality Assurance (PQA)
program and laboratory in the UB Pharmacotherapy Research Center on the
North Campus, and at the Translational Pharmacology
Research Core in the New York State Center for
Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences in
downtown Buffalo.
The UB PQA program and laboratory—the only
one of its type in the world—will assure that AIDS
researchers in developing countries conduct the
highest quality clinical trials. The UB program and
lab will be integrated with global research networks
to target some of the regions where the infection
rate is highest.
Gene Morse
“We are excited about this opportunity to use
our expertise and facilities to help fight the global AIDS epidemic,” says
Gene D. Morse, professor and associate dean for clinical and translational
research, and principal investigator. “This award highlights our expertise in
this critical area.”
8 UBTODAY Winter 2009 www.alumni.buffalo.edu