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.

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.

Dermot Coffey, associate professor, Physics, published a paper titled “Calculations of Optical Conductivity in a Two-Band Superconductor: Pb” in the November 15, 2007, issue of Physical Review B, with Nicholas Bock, staff member in the Theoretical Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico. The paper was also selected to appear in the Virtual Journal of Superconductivity, which is “an edited compilation of links to articles covering a focused area of frontier research.”

Elisa Bergslien, assistant professor, Earth Sciences and Science Education, moderated a public forum on forensic geology at the Geological Society of America’s 2007 Annual Meeting and Exposition, held in Denver, Colorado, October 28–31. Four highly regarded professionals in the field gave talks on the history of forensic geoscience, types of evidence, and applications in the courtroom. Awebcast of the event is available online. At the same meeting, Bergslien also gave a presentation titled “Differentiating Soils in Western New York Using XRF and XRD to Build a Database” and co-chaired a technical session on forensic geoscience.

Zhang Jie, professor, Sociology, and director, Center for China Studies, published his article “Reliability and Validity of the Beck Hopelessness Scale for Adolescents,” coauthored with Yuanyuan Kong, Shuhua Jia, and Li Zhou, in Chinese Mental Health Journal 21 (10): 686–689 (in Chinese).

Susan McMillen, associate professor, Mathematics, is the principal investigator on a $2.4 million NCLB (No Child Left Behind) Title IIB Mathematics-Science Partnership grant. The three-year grant partners the Buffalo Public Schools with Buffalo State mathematics faculty to deepen the content knowledge of Buffalo teachers. Assistant professors of mathematics Jodelle Magner, Jane Cushman, and Robin O’Dell are also working on the grant. Just over $500,000 will come to Buffalo State.

S. Diane McFarland, assistant professor, Business, was recently elected to the board of directors of the International Academy of Business Disciplines.

Carmen J. Iannaccone, professor emeritus, Exceptional Education, moderated a roundtable discussion, “Special Education in Africa,” at the annual convention of the Council for Exceptional Children in Louisville, Kentucky, in April. Iannaccone presented “Carmen’s Home: A Portal to Build Resources and Communities for Higher Education Teaching and Learning” at the CIT 2007 conference at Plattsburgh State University in May. He also presented “The Current Status of Social Skills Curriculum and Instruction in Special Education: Prevailing Factors” and co-chaired the roundtable discussion “A Better Life Through and In Schools” at the International Special Education Forum, in Lima, Peru, in July.

An excerpt from Completely Incomplete, a feature-length romantic comedy by Jeffrey Hirschberg, associate professor, Communication, and coordinator, television arts, will be performed live in a staged reading by professional actors at the Galapagos Art Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on December 6. The event is produced by The Raw Word and sponsored by the Independent Feature Project. The Raw Word receives about 50 submissions a month and selects just three screenplays for presentation.

Timothy Gallineau, associate professor, Student Personnel Administration (SPA), directed the 12th annual Student Affairs Professional Conference on Saturday, November 10, at the Buffalo Niagara Marriott, working with a team of graduate students from the SPA program. Conference features included a dynamic presentation by the keynote speaker, Dr. Orlando Taylor, of Howard University; 17 workshops relevant to college student success and diversity in higher education; 212 attendees; and a book-signing session with Taylor. Twenty-three colleges and universities were represented at the conference. This distinctive initiative was sponsored by the SPA Department and graduate program, Academic and Student Affairs, and the School of the Professions in collaboration with Canisius College and the University at Buffalo.