The University at Buffalo Department of English has announced that award-winning Polish poet, novelist and essayist Adam Zagajewski will present the 2009 Oscar Silverman Reading Nov. 6 at 8 p.m. in 250 Baird Hall on the UB North Campus. The reading will be free and open to the public. Zagajewski is a writer known for his lyrical approach to metaphysical and cultural problems and has been cited by The New York Review of Books as “one of the most familiar and highly regarded names in poetry, both in Europe and in this country.” Read more.

Four members of the University at Buffalo softball team were recognized by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) for earning a 3.5 GPA or better for the fall and spring semester. The student-athlete must maintain a 3.5 GPA for the entire academic year. Erin Zilka, Dana Carter, Jen Mongiovi and Kelly Cummings all earned the Girls Got Game/NFCA All-American Scholar award following the 2008-2009 school year.

The Bulls graduated three seniors last May, including Carter and Zilka, but have added five newcomers to their roster for 2009-2010. The Bulls finished the 2009 season with a record of 25-27 (7-15 MAC), which tied the most wins in a single season in UB’s Division I softball era. Read more.

Gail Seigel, research assistant professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Physiology and Biophysics, will be part of a group of researchers taking part in the new National Cancer Institute-funded Center on the Microenvironment and Metastasis, headquartered at Cornell University. The center, one of 12 new research centers across the country created by the five-year, $13-million grant, will focus on using nanobiotechnology and other related physical science approaches to advance the research on cancer. Seigel will be involved in one of the center’s three key projects — adhesion of tumor cells in the vascular microenvironment. Read more.

Three University at Buffalo athletes were honored by the Mid-American Conference for their performances in the past week.

Junior Kristin Bignell and freshman Tori Beckman from the women’s volleyball team were named Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week, respectively, in the MAC East, while senior safety Mike Newton was named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week in football.

Beckman was also one of 11 players named to a College Volleyball Update Top Performer for her play.

For the latest news in UB athletics, click here.

Despina Stratigakos, assistant professor of architecture in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning and assistant professor of visual studies in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, has received the prestigious 2009 Book Prize from the DAAD (Deutcher Akadamischer Austausch Dienst/German Academic Exchange Service), a publicly funded independent organization of higher education institutions in Germany.

Stratigakos was honored for her 2008 book “A Woman’s Berlin: Building the Modern City,” in which she examines the era between 1871 and 1918 when women took control of Berlin’s spaces and laid the foundation for a novel experience of urban modernity.

The DAAD prize is presented for the outstanding book on German language, literature or cultural studies published during the preceding two years by a scholar working in a North American institution. Read more.

The possibility that climate change might simply be a natural variation like others that have occurred throughout geologic time is dimming, according to evidence in a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper published today. The research reveals that sediments retrieved by University at Buffalo geologists from a remote Arctic lake are unlike those seen during previous warming episodes.

“The sediments from the mid-20th century were not all that different from previous warming intervals,” said Jason P. Briner, assistant professor of geology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences. “But after that things really changed. And the change is unprecedented.” Read more.

A film by Emmy-award winning artist and filmmaker Elliot Caplan, “15 Days of Dance: The Making of ‘Ghost Light,’” produced and developed at the University at Buffalo, will receive its premiere screening this month at Lincoln Center. Caplan is professor of media study and director of the Center for the Moving Image (CMI), an interdisciplinary initiative of UB’s College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Media Study.

In 2007, the CMI commissioned “Ghost Light,” as a gift from the City of Buffalo to the people of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Caplan made an 18-hour film to document the creative evolution of the ballet. Excerpts will be presented Oct. 22 at 6 p.m. in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. Read more.

Three University at Buffalo athletes were honored by the Mid-American Conference for their performances last week.

Freshman forward Stephanie Velez and senior goalkeeper Amy Coron earned MAC Offensive and Defensive Women’s Soccer Player of the Week Awards, while redshirt junior Kelsey Lueders was named MAC East Defensive Player of the Week in volleyball.

The women’s soccer team went 2-0 during the week, defeating Western Michigan 2-1 and blanking Northern Illinois, 2-0. Velez scored three of UB’s four goals, while Coron notched 18 saves in the two victories.

Lueders posted 11 blocks, two digs, two aces and seven kills in a thrilling five-set win over Akron, and added three blocks in a loss to Ball State.

For the latest news about UB athletics, click here.

Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo and The Children’s Guild Foundation, along with the University at Buffalo, have announced the formation of the Autism Spectrum Disorder Center of Excellence, funded by a $585,000 grant from the foundation. The center, now open, is among the first in the U.S. and the first in Western New York to diagnose and treat children with this complex and increasingly prevalent disorder in a family-focused, multi-disciplinary approach under one roof. Read more.