The University at Buffalo Police Department is the first police agency in Western New York and the first university in New York State to place a permanent "drop box" in their police department headquarters for citizens to safely dispose of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.

Ann McElroy, PhD, associate professor of anthropology at the University at Buffalo, will receive the Society for Applied Anthropology's 2012 Sol Tax Distinguished Service Award in recognition of "long term and truly distinguished service to the Society."

All UB faculty, staff and students are invited to participate in open forums with the finalists for the position of provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, scheduled for Friday, March 2; Tuesday, March 6; Wednesday, March 7; and Friday, March 9. Candidate information and details on the public forums are available at the provost search website.

Freshwater ecosystems in northern regions are home to significantly more species of water fleas than traditionally thought, adding to evidence that regions with vanishing waters contain unique animal life.

Simulated missions to space have recently begun launching from Jarvis Hall on the University at Buffalo North Campus, thanks to a donation from Exciting Simulations to the UB chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (UB-SEDS).

Two University at Buffalo political science professors are available as expert sources for analysis of Super Tuesday Republican presidential primaries and the candidates still in the race.

The dangers of cigarette smoking are common knowledge. And when it comes to smoking while pregnant, life-threatening health hazards extend to the fetus and newborn.

Chronic stress has a more powerful effect on the brain during adolescence than in adulthood and now there's proof at the molecular level, according to findings published in Neuron by University at Buffalo researchers.

Four University at Buffalo students presented original research in diverse fields to elected officials and State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher as part of "Discovery -- An Undergraduate Showcase," a symposium on undergraduate research and creative activities presented by the SUNY Faculty Senate.

Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner and founder of the Lance Armstrong Foundation has been added to the spring lineup of the University at Buffalo's Distinguished Speakers Series.

More U.S. high school students and young adults report that they have smoked in the past 30 days than older adults, according to a chapter in the U.S. Surgeon General Report on youth smoking that was released today.

In 2009, the Mentholatum Company, faced challenges in meeting targeted production levels of its non-prescription pharmaceutical and health care products.

The Center for the Arts Video Production Group at the University at Buffalo has been nominated for a 2012 New York Emmy Award. The honor recognizes a promotional video on the Buffalo Philharmonic Youth Concert Series produced by the Center for the Arts Video Production Group and UB's Division of Student Affairs.

Are leaders successful because of their charisma? Or do they develop charisma by being good leaders? That is the chicken-and-egg question addressed by Prasad Balkundi, assistant professor of organization and human resources in the University at Buffalo School of Management, in a recently published paper in The Journal of Applied Psychology.

In today's survival-of-the-fittest job market, the University at Buffalo Career Services office is setting its sights high when it comes to helping students and graduates. That office aims to develop job opportunities within companies that have been recognized for their excellence in rankings such as "Fortune's Top 100 Best Companies to Work For," as well as employers where graduates wish to begin their careers.

Colonizing settlers will be under the microscope March 23-24, when the University at Buffalo Graduate Students Association in American Studies presents "Challenging Settler Colonialism," the 8th Annual Indigenous and American Storyteller's Conference.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Imagination Movers -- Live! on Tuesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre, Center for the Arts, UB North Campus.

Matthew Wattles, a senior in the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning, and his planning team -- the only Americans among students from around the world to have participated -- were the winners of the 13th session of the International Winter University (WU).

Fluid Culture, the 2011-12 series presented by the University at Buffalo Humanities Institute, continues its presentation of art, literature and media events related to water, globalization and culture with three spring lectures by distinguished international authors.

The award winning and internationally recognized composer, Tomas Henriques, assistant professor of music at Buffalo State College, will be among the performers taking part in the 13th annual Spring Black Box Concert presented by the University at Buffalo's Lejaren Hiller Computer Music Studios in the Department of Music.

Because so many of their ancestors were slaves, African Americans have often had a difficult time tracking down documentation of their early roots through public and genealogical records and, as a result, early family histories may be unavailable to them.

Several University at Buffalo graduate and professional degree programs again were recognized as among the best in the country by U.S. News & World Report in its annual ranking of "America's Best Graduate Schools" released today.

A free, weight-loss program developed at the University at Buffalo, one of the nation's only programs proven to achieve and maintain long term (10 years) weight loss in children, is now enrolling Western New York families.

Firms that make a previously patented innovation accessible to competitors increase overall likelihood of improving upon that breakthrough while also raising profits for the original innovator and market welfare, according to a study by a University at Buffalo economist.

University at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi travelled to Albany Tuesday to present members of the New York State Legislature and the governor's office with a proposal to designate a state Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics at the university.

Tamara Brown knows if she says the word "polymer" to the average teenage girl, she's likely to be met with a blank stare. She also knows she'll get a much more enthusiastic reception to the word "gumdrop."

Parents and adult caregivers of pediatric cancer patients prefer personal consultations with trusted health care providers over online sources for information about their child's illness, according to a University at Buffalo research study.

UB's Six Sigma Black Belt Student Certification Program, now in its eighth year, pairs companies with one or more UB senior or graduate students who apply a problem-solving approach to a company-specific issue. Through the TCIE program, Western New York companies have access to a pool of potential employees by serving as hosts for the 2012-13 program.

Rita Andolina has spent a lifetime working to help others in need. She credits the degrees she earned at UB with helping her navigate and successfully reach leadership positions as a social worker.

John R. "Jack" Davis, engineer, entrepreneur, former military officer and philanthropist, is a pillar of the Western New York community and a longtime supporter of UB.

Since its founding in 1960 by Howard E. Strauss, MS '54, professor emeritus of mechanical and aerospace engineering, the UB Engineering Alumni Association has worked to establish, promote and maintain service to the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Daniel Gibson began his career in research as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholar in Undergraduate Research while he was pursuing his bachelor of science degree in biological sciences at UB.

Since 1990 Dexter Johnson has served as chief of the Structural Systems Dynamics Branch for the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland, Ohio, where his work is focused on launch vehicle and spacecraft dynamic environments applicable to spaceflight hardware design, development and testing. Previously he was involved in the development and application of magnetic suspension technology to advanced aerospace turbomachinery. He is the inventor of the adaptive variable bias control method for power-saving operation of active magnetic suspension systems.

Former Buffalo Bills quarterback and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Jim Kelly, along with his wife, Jill, have been contributing to the Western New York community for decades.

Seong-Kon Kim is professor of English at Seoul National University, a prize-winning literary critic and editor-in-chief of 21st century literature. He is also a celebrated columnist for The Korea Herald and a research member of the Republic of Korea Presidential Committee on National Cohesion. In February 2012, Kim was appointed by the Korean government to direct the Literature Translation Institute of Korea to promote Korean literature overseas.

Robin Yanhong Li is co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Baidu Inc., China's most popular Internet search engine, and oversees the company's overall strategy and business operations.

Linda Heim McCausland earned her RN from the Buffalo General Hospital School of Nursing, which exposed her to UB through various nursing classwork. Early on she realized nursing was a good fit, and that teaching would be her goal.

C.L. Max Nikias is the 11th president of the University of Southern California and holder of the Robert C. Packard President's Chair and the Malcolm R. Currie Chair in Technology and the Humanities. He also chairs the USC Hospitals Governing Board.

While at UB, Buffalo native Raymond Poltorak learned the importance of sound business planning supported by a clear understanding of intended markets. "My education and UB experience served as a sound foundation for my business career as a marketing professional," Poltorak said.

There may be no other person who has logged more volunteer hours for the UB Department of Athletics than Roger Roll, a friend of the university. And if he isn't volunteering at an athletic event, he is busy recruiting others in his vast athletic network to do so, or else in the stands cheering on the UB Bulls.

Dogged by the economic realities of the time, Frank Silvestro is forever grateful for aid from the Wells V. Moot foundation, an assistantship from the UB physics department, the G.I. Bill and national defense loans for making his two UB degrees, and indeed his future, possible.

Esther S. Takeuchi is a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB departments of chemical and biological engineering, electrical engineering and chemistry. She is also director of the New York State Center for Advanced Technology.

Eight graduate students in the University at Buffalo Department of Urban and Regional Planning have spent months mining the complex network of activities, actors and resources that enable the production, processing, wholesaling, distribution, consumption and disposal of the food in Erie County.

The University at Buffalo Alumni Association will honor an entrepreneur and a former Buffalo Bill and NFL Hall of Famer during the UB Alumni Association Achievement Awards ceremony to be held at 6 p.m. April 13 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on the UB North Campus.

The University at Buffalo, Roswell Park Cancer Institute and Melissa's Living Legacy Teen Cancer Foundation will sponsor a "Duel in the Pool" competition at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 28, in UB's Alumni Arena Natatorium to raise funds for Teens Living with Cancer in Rochester and Buffalo.

According to one of the leading scholars in the field, there is an emerging consensus among scientists that animals share functional parallels with humans' conscious metacognition -- that is, our ability to reflect on our own mental processes and guide and optimize them.

Imagine for a moment that it's cold and dark; you're huddled together with your family in front of your house, having just watched it burn to the ground. You have ash in your hair, smoke in your lungs and every possession you own was just incinerated.

A student organization focused on excellence in computing will hold the University at Buffalo's first hackathon, UB Hacking 2012, on March 23-24 with the goal of generating creative, new software programs (apps). The event is being held in the spirit of the original meaning of hacking: coding and building programs for computer software.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society Tour on Wednesday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre, Center for the Arts, UB North Campus. The performance is sponsored in part by Monaco's Violin Shop & Music Center and A Best.

A team of four University at Buffalo trivia players will head to Chicago March 30 to take on other college teams in a national, invitation-only quiz bowl. Hands clenching buzzers, they'll field questions on topics including music, literature, mythology, philosophy, geography, astronomy, quantum mechanics and more.

Don't tell the students in the University at Buffalo Law School's Regional Economic Development class the next big idea to revive Western New York communities isn't sitting in plain sight -- complete with reader-friendly illustrations.

The Department of Theatre and Dance at the University at Buffalo will present Zodiaque Ensemble, In Concert! on April 20-21 at 7:30 p.m. and April 21-22 at 2 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre, Center for the Arts, UB North Campus.

The Screwtape Letters, the smart, provocative and wickedly funny theatrical adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel about spiritual warfare from a demon's point of view, will be presented for two performances only at the University at Buffalo Center for the Arts on Saturday, April 14, at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The University at Buffalo Graduate School of Education (GSE) has established a new bridge online certificate program in Mental Health Counseling.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Inspired by the work of psychologists who study the human face for clues that someone is telling a high-stakes lie, UB computer scientists are exploring whether machines can also read the visual cues that give away deceit.

When he was eight years old, Beynan Ransom protested with his parents at a General Motors plant that discharged waste into the St. Lawrence River near the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Territory, three hours from Syracuse. More than 10 years later, Ransom is still working to improve the Native American community across New York by working with the Onondaga Nation, this time on the removal of the Onondaga Creek dam.

To curb employees' on-the-job substance use and intoxication, bosses need to do more than just be around their employees all day, according to a new study from the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (RIA).

A paper by neuroscientists at the University at Buffalo and Buffalo State College suggests that ingestion of components of afterbirth or placenta -- placentophagia -- may offer benefits to human mothers and perhaps to non-mothers and males.

Jonathan D. Katz, associate professor and director of the doctoral program in the University at Buffalo Department of Visual Studies, will receive the 2011 annual first prize award for Best National Museum Show from the U.S section of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA/USA) in April 2 ceremonies at the Asia Society in New York City.

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Western New York legislative delegation informed University at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi today that UB will receive a state designation for a Center of Excellence in Materials Informatics, and will be awarded $200,000 in seed funding toward the establishment of the center.

National Public Health Week, April 2-6, will be observed by the University at Buffalo's School of Public Health and Health Professions with two seminars that are free and open to the public.

Bruce Jackson is known in some circles as the dean of prison culture. Since the early 1960s he has been studying the little-known lives and culture of inmates in one of America's oldest penal institutions, the O.B. Ellis Unit, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison in the Walker County, Texas.

Some people like company. Others prefer to be alone. The same holds true for the particles that constitute the matter around us: Some, called bosons, like to act in unison with others. Others, called fermions, have a mind of their own.

The University at Buffalo Department of Visual Studies, in partnership with New York City's Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, will present a lecture by internationally acclaimed artist Ryan Trecartin, named one of the most influential young artists in the world, and his collaborator, Lizzie Fitch.

They're coming and there are a lot of them: lawyers, journalists, businessmen and -women, professors, poets, playwrights, teachers, literary scholars, moms, dads, grandmas and grandpas -- all of them among the more than 20,000 students who have graduated from the University at Buffalo's stellar Department of English with a BA, MA or PhD since UB was incorporated into the State University of New York in 1962.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will present Complexions Contemporary Ballet on Thursday, April 26, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts, UB North Campus. There will be a pre-performance talk at 6:45 p.m. The performance is sponsored by M&T Bank.

The University at Buffalo Department of Theatre and Dance will present Grease April 19-21 and 26-28 at 7:30 p.m. and April 22 and 29 at 2 p.m. in the Drama Theatre in the Center for the Arts, UB North Campus. The cast of Grease will be comprised of students from the UB Music Theatre and Dance programs.

The Center for the Arts at the University at Buffalo will welcome Lily Tomlin on Saturday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mainstage Theatre in the Center for the Arts, UB North Campus. The performance is presented by Beechwood Continuing Care. A question and answer period will follow the performance.

"Room at the Table," a detailed plan to strengthen and enhance Erie County farmlands and the county's $9.9 billion food system, will be presented to members of the Erie County Industrial Development Agency March 28 at 8:30 a.m. in the IDA offices, 143 Genesee St., Buffalo.

Science Exploration Day, the University at Buffalo's annual, kid-friendly, science-education bash, makes a return engagement to UB's North Campus Wed., March 14, attracting some of the top science minds in the area, ages 14 and up.