The University at Buffalo has enrolled the most academically talented freshman class in its history, based on the average SAT scores of the 3,150 new students who begin classes this week.
The incoming class has an average SAT score of 1196, up four points from last year’s average score, which at the time was the highest average SAT score in UB’s history. Over the past five years, the average SAT score of UB freshmen has increased more than 30 points. Read more.
Esther S. Takeuchi, Greatbatch Professor in Power Sources Research at the University at Buffalo, has been selected as a 2008 recipient of an Astellas USA Foundation Award, administered by the American Chemical Society. The award carries a $30,000 prize and an invitation to deliver an address as part of a half-day symposium during the 236th ACS National Meeting to be held in Philadelphia in August. Read more.
David A. Gerber, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of History in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University at Buffalo, recently received the 2008 Moroney Senior Award from the United States Postal Service. In his critically acclaimed book, “Authors of Their Lives: The Personal Correspondence of British Immigrants to North America in the Nineteenth Century,” Gerber analyzes the cycle of correspondence between immigrants and their homelands to uncover the critical role played by letters in reformulating personal relationships made vulnerable by separation. The book, published in 2006, is considered the definitive study of American and Canadian immigrant letters. Read more.
Most recent college graduates would love to forget the experience of “cramming” before a big exam, but two University at Buffalo graduates who spent 96 hours last semester doing just that have received multiple awards in the international 2008 Mathematical Contest in Modeling, in which 1,162 teams competed from universities around the world. Read more.
Four University at Buffalo faculty members were honored for their research and scholarship at the SUNY Research Foundation’s annual awards dinner held recently in Albany. The UB honorees are Robert J. Genco, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the departments of Oral Biology, and Microbiology; Andre Filiatrault, professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, and director of the Structural Earthquake Engineering Simulation Laboratory; Gilberto Mosqueda, assistant professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering; and Doreen Wackeroth, associate professor in the Department of Physics.
Genco received a Lifetime Achievement Award, while Filiatrault received an Outstanding Researcher/Scholar Award. Mosqueda and Wackeroth received a Rising Star Award from the Research Foundation. Read more.
A UB undergraduate was awarded a Morris K. Udall Scholarship for the third consecutive year, highlighting a string of UB students selected to receive prestigious national competitive fellowship and scholarship awards in recent weeks.
Aaron Krolikowski, a junior double majoring in political science and social sciences interdisciplinary - environmental studies, was selected as a Udall Scholar based on his commitment to a career in the environment, his leadership potential, and academic achievement. Krolikowski was also a finalist for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, UB’s first finalist for that award since 1992.
Junior aerospace and mechanical engineering major Bradley Cheetham was named a Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship recipient, with junior chemistry major Sabrina Peczonczyk and junior chemical and biological engineering major Jacob Weiner earning honorable mention. The Goldwater scholarship is awarded to students who have outstanding potential and intend to pursue advanced degrees in mathematics, the natural sciences, or engineering.
Seniors Kelly Miller and Stacey Pustulka were named fellows in the 2008 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship competition. The awards support highly qualified students who wish to purse graduate study leading to research-based advanced degrees in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Miller, a 2007 Udall Scholar, is majoring in environmental engineering; Pustulka is majoring in chemical and biological engineering.
Three University at Buffalo faculty members have been named SUNY Distinguished Professors for having achieved national or international prominence and an established reputation in their fields of expertise.
The appointments of Douglas H. Clements, professor of learning and instruction, Graduate School of Education; Vladimir V. Mitin, professor and chair of the Department of electrical engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and Stephen Rudin, professor of radiology and director of the Division of Radiation Physics, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, were made by the SUNY Board of Trustees at its meeting on March 11. Follow this link to learn more.
A new driving simulation laboratory is now open for business in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The state-of-the-art facility, housed in UB’s New York State Center for Industrial Design and Innovation, will be available for use by students, faculty and industry to conduct research on automotive and flight vehicles, driver behavior, acclimation of accident victims suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and even supplemental training of young drivers. Follow this link to learn more.
Kelly Miller, a senior from Pittsford, NY, studying environmental engineering, was recently awarded a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. The fellowship provides a stipend and tuition allowance for three years of graduate study. In 2007, she was also a winner of a Morris K. Udall Scholarship.
Since her freshman year at UB, Kelly has been engaged in research and activism involving world-wide water quality issues. She attended her first national Water World Conference as a freshman and as a result of her participation in such venues, she has developed a unique relationship with the Nigerian non-profit Rural Africa Water Development Project. Kelly has served as a volunteer assistant in preparing for and giving presentations to the World Water Forum. She also participated in fundraising efforts for the organization, including winning a $190,000 grant from the World Bank Development Marketplace competition.
Kelly has been very active outside her studies as the co-founder of Engineers for a Sustainable World-UB, the New York Water Environment Federation representative for UB’s Environmental Engineering and Science club, co-organizer of UB’s students United for Progress, as well as an Assemblyperson for the Student Association Assembly.
After graduation, Kelly will work for six months with Greenpeace’s Project Hot Seat Campaign as a field organizer. She then plans to travel extensively, visiting countries in Africa and Asia. In fall 2009, she will begin graduate study in engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In the coming years, Kelly would also like to study in the fields of international economics or international politics. She intends to work as an organizer with a non-profit organization defending the rights of oppressed persons in developing nations.
Stacy Pustulka of West Seneca, NY, was awarded a 2008 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship provides three years of support for graduate study leading to research-based master’s or doctoral degrees in mathematical, physical, biological engineering, or behavioral and social sciences, including the history of science.
Stacey graduated Summa Cum Laude from UB in December 2007 with a BS in chemical engineering and a minor in biotechnology. As an undergraduate, she performed research in the areas of tissue engineering and metabolic engineering. Stacey served as an officer in UB’s Student Chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) and was the first Chair of the Society for Biological Engineering at the university. Her leadership in these organizations, along with her academic accomplishments, earned wide recognition, including the AIChE’s 2006 Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer National Scholarship and the 2007 Outstanding Senior Award from the Buffalo chapter of AIChE. She also received a Dean’s Fellowship and a James C. Meade Graduate Fellowship from Carnegie Mellon University, where she will begin her Ph.D. studies in chemical engineering this fall. At Carnegie Mellon, her primary research area will focus on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
