Subodh Kumar, interim director and senior scientist, Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Lab, Great Lakes Center, published a paper titled “Electrophilic Chemistry of Thia-PAHs: Stable Carbocations (NMR and DFT), S-Alkylated Onium Salts, Model Electrophilic Substitutions (Nitration and Bromination), and Mutagenicity Assay,” in the Journal of Organic Chemistry72 (22): 8383–8393. Coauthors include K. K. Laali and his associates from Kent State University; G. L. Borosky of Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Cordoba, Argentina; and C. Swartz of the U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

Bettina Martinez-Hackert, instructional support specialist, Earth Sciences and Science Education, presented her research on “Overlandflow and Rainsplash Erosion Rates of Scoria Cone Hillslopes Affected and Unaffected by Wildlandfire” at the 2007 American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, December 10–14. Martinez-Hackert’s undergraduate researchers Andrew Lannan, senior (“Effect of Particle Size on Tephra Sample Drying”), Jessica Gorom, senior (“Comparing the Grand Canyon of the East to the Western One”), and Justine Parada, sophomore (“Revising Methods for Moisture Removal in Tephra Bulk Samples”), also presented their scientific results at this meeting.

John Thompson, associate professor, Computer Information Systems, gave a one-hour presentation, “Web 2.0 Applications for Educators,” at the annual FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference) in Orlando, Florida, January 22–25. FETC is one of the largest conferences in the United States dedicated to educational technology. Thompson also presented a paper, “A Study into the Spelling of Technology Terms,” at the 2007 Annual NYSCATE (New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education) Conference in Rochester, New York, November 17–20. The paper was the cooperative work with students in one of his graduate courses. The students conducted original research and contributed to the writing of the paper. All 16 students were included as co-authors in the paper.

Work by Carol Townsend, chair and associate professor, Design, titled Southwest Stools has been accepted for publication in the new book 500 Chairs (Lark Books, May 2008).

Mark Warford, associate professor, Modern and Classical Languages, accepted an invitation from the New York State Association of Foreign Language Teachers to serve as coeditor for the organization’s 2008 annual meeting publication with Eileen Angelini of Canisius College. The theme for both the conference and the publication is “Teaching Languages in a Changing World: Rethinking Literacies and Learners.”

Zhang Jie, professor, Sociology, and director, Center for China Studies, published his article “Attitudes towards Suicide among Rural Chinese in Dalian Areas,” coauthored with Yuanyuan Kong and Li Zhou, in theChinese Journal of Behavioral Medical Science 16 (11): 1013–1015 (in Chinese).

Stephen Saracino, professor, Design, has been invited by independent curator Gail Brown to exhibit a bracelet, titled Nation Building: Third Place, in the exhibitionJewelry in Motion at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The exhibition is being held in conjunction with the Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 20–23.

Jill M. Gradwell, assistant professor, History and Social Studies Education, received the Friend of Education Award from the Albion Central School District in recognition and appreciation for her work as a grant writer and partner in the “History in Action” Teaching American History Grant program.

Rita Zientek, associate dean, School of the Professions, has been awarded the 2009 Edwin D. Duryea Jr. Higher Education Memorial Award from the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education. The award is given annually to a graduating Ph.D. student who has achieved outstanding success in the field of higher education. Zientek will receive the award during the Graduate School of Education’s commencement exercises on May 8.

William White, assistant professor, Modern and Classical Languages, published a chapter, “Education for What and for Whom?” in The War Against the Professions: The Impact of Politics and Economics on the Idea of the University. He also published a think piece, “Higher Education at Risk,” in the fall 2008 issue of the SUNY Faculty Senate Bulletin. Both of these works treat challenges facing higher education in the early years of the twenty-first century.