The Spectrum Volume 60 Issue 48

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Clinton Hodnett /// The Spectrum Although school was closed on Wednesday, some UB students still made their way to campus for a snowball fight outside of the Center for the Arts

Saving SUNY

The Independent Student Publication of the University at Buffalo WEEKEND EDITION v February 4, 2011 Vol. 60 No. 48 v ubspectrum.com

UB students and administrators have mixed opinions on The Student Assembly’s tuition stance

Faculty Members Receive Prestigious CAREER Awards

The CAREER Program, also known as The Faculty Early Career Development Program, presents one of the NSF’s most esteemed awards. CAREER awards support junior faculty members who demonstrate excellence in teaching and researching within the context of the mission of their institutions. “These awards are recognition that these junior faculty are the best of the best in their fields,” said Alexander Cartwright, UB vice president for research. “The process for winning a CAREER award is extremely competitive and requires that the faculty demonstrate an outstanding plan for research and education.” These faculty members must be at the forefront of their research areas, but they are also required to develop innovative education and outreach programs related to their science, according to Cartwright. Zhang’s project, entitled “CAREER: Excited States Properties of Semiconductors and Nanostructures: Methodology Developments, Practical Applications, and Education” will receive $450,000 in research monies through the award from 2010 to 2015. Zhang’s main research goals are to understand and predict materials’ properties with the purpose of developing a theoretical framework that enables accurate and efficient calculations of quasiparticle and optical properties of solids, and to promote physics education. “Part of the research grant will be used to upgrade our computing equipment which is critical for the success of our research,” Zhang said. “The majority [of the] funding is to support graduate and undergraduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers.” Zheng’s project, entitled “CAREER: Multiscale Structural and Dynamic Modeling of Kinesin-Microtubule Motor System” will be using $610,000 in research funding from the award. Zheng will employ computer-modeling techniques to examine important movements of kinesins, the smallestknown molecular motors. The aim of

INSIDE NEWS :: 2 OPINION :: 3 ARTS & LIFE :: 4–5, 7 DAILY DELIGHTS :: 6 CLASSIFIEDS :: 6 SPORTS :: 8

“My advice to the students who are interested in research and trying to get funding to pursue research would be to keep thinking and thinking,” Park said. “It is frustrating at times when

It is frustrating at times when you think you have a good idea and no one would believe it. That’s where I was before this grant. I did not let it discourage me though, but rather tried to motivate myself to do better and think of an even more innovative and daring idea so that they would have to fund my work simply because it is so good.

Meg Kinsley /// The Spectrum After more state budget cuts to the SUNY system were announced this week, UB students may be in jeopardy of paying more in return for less.

AMANDA JONAS  Investigative Reporter Student leaders from across the 64 SUNY campuses sent a strong message to Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday in response to his budget for the upcoming year. Along with a 10 percent, multimillion dollar cut to the SUNY budget came the governor’s promise to not increase tuition for state schools this year. The Student Assembly, a SUNY student government association, responded to the governor’s budget by asking him to raise tuition, rationally.

- Sheldon Park you think you have a good idea and no one would believe it. That’s where I was before this grant. I did not let it discourage me though, but rather tried to motivate myself to do better and think of an even more innovative and daring idea so that they would have to fund my work simply because it is so good.”

A statewide student government that represents all 465,000 students from 64 New York public universities, colleges and community colleges, the Student Assembly is composed of elected student officials from every SUNY campus.

For students interested in comparable research grants, there are many similar programs for undergraduate and graduate students.

The assembly, which has no real legislative power but rather acts strictly in an advisory role to the Albany state government, has opposed mid-year, unexpected and irrational tuition increases that the SUNY system has faced as a result of the state’s financial hardships for the past several years.

NSF has a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program that exclusively supports undergraduate research. Recently, UB received an NSF grant under the program Computational Science Training for Undergraduates in the Mathematical Sciences (CSUMS). This program provides apprenticeships worth $10,000 to each student participating in the program.

According to Julie Gondar, a senior at the University at Albany and the president of the Student Assembly, in recent history the SUNY system has faced tremendous budget cuts and tuition hikes with all the extra revenue making its way into the pockets of the legislators and not back on the campuses where it belongs.

In addition, almost all NSF research grants have an educational component, which supports undergraduate research. You can learn more about these opportunities at http://www. nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search. cfm. g

Along with the help of her fellow assembly members, Gondar has proposed to the governor a resolution that asks for a rational, yearly tuition increase that students can plan for and expect instead of the unexpected tuition hikes seen in the past several years.

E-mail: news@ubspectrum.com

WEATHER FRI

Peihong Zhang and Wenjun Zheng, assistant professors of physics, received the awards in 2010 and Sheldon Park, an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering, will begin receiving funding through the award beginning this month.

The most recent recipient, Park, has issued a proposal, “Yeast-based disulfide trapping for engineering selective inhibitors of a protein kinase,” that will be supported by $400,000 in research funding from the NSF. Park’s lab will be using an engineered yeast strain to rapidly screen a large number of potential protein mutants in order to find rare mutants that can selectively disrupt key protein-protein interactions, which are known to play important roles in cell signaling, proliferation, and development. Finding such mutants can help with future research and medical applications.

SAT

The National Science Foundation’s CAREER awards have been presented to three UB faculty members, which has generated nearly $1.5 million for new research projects in Buffalo.

the study is to generate a computational structure that will produce realistic models of a variety of biomolecular systems.

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DANNIELLE O’TOOLEAsst. News Editor

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“If [the governor] does not enact a rational tuition increase policy now, then next year tuition will go up,” Gondar said. “Saying that tuition is not going up this year is the same as saying it will go up next year.” President John Simpson also took time to weigh in on what the governor’s new budget could mean for UB students. “I think, in my view, that it is less about an increase [in tuition] per se and more about a [tuition] policy that makes sense,” Simpson said. “As it is right now, you have no way of predicting when tuition is going to go up, how much it is going to go up and, perhaps most of all, [tuition increases] are plugging holes in the state budget as opposed to providing better education to the place you are a student and the place you are paying tuition.” Simpson also supports the Assembly’s proposal of a rational tuition increase to combat the state’s budget cuts and the irrational tuition hikes of the past. “I agree with the Student Assembly’s position that having a rational tuition policy is the way to do it,” Simpson said. “You look over the last 30 years and into the future and [you can see that] your tuition is going to go up. Let’s do it in a way that we understand and can predict and is rational as opposed to the roulette way that we have now.” However, UB students like Renée Groetz, a freshman nursing major, feel that it is unfair for Gondar and the Student Assembly to tell the governor that all of SUNY is in favor of tuition increases. “Tuition should stay as it is; it’s high enough already,” Groetz said. “I don’t think that [the Student Assembly] should say that everyone does [want a tuition increase], because that is probably not true. I feel like all SUNY students should have had a vote, not just the Assembly.”

Liz Connors, a freshman communication major, also disagrees with the Assembly’s message to the governor. “[Tuition] is so much money already,” Connors said. “The Student Assembly does not represent the opinion of all of SUNY. There are so many students just here [at UB] that I’m sure would totally disagree with raising tuition.” While some UB students may not feel represented by the Assembly’s decision to support a rational tuition increase, Gondar reminds students that the Assembly is comprised of representatives from all SUNY schools that were elected by the student body. She also stated that her objective is not to raise tuition, but make possible increases predictable. Amanda Horn, a junior communication major and a UB SUNY Delegate, supported the Assembly’s stance on a rational tuition policy and urged other UB students to do the same. “I think [if Cuomo raised tuition] it would have been an unpopular choice at first,” Horn said. “But I think if you look into it more, [a rational tuition increase] is a better choice because it is a more sustainable option for [SUNY schools].” Horn believes that it is a more sustainable option for SUNY because in the past Albany has raised tuition but kept up to 90 percent of the increase to help pay off the state deficit. Horn says, however, that a rational tuition increase system can and will be a success only if all of the extra funding from the increased tuition goes right back to the schools. Students should look at a rational tuition increase policy as a positive rather than a negative, according to Horn. “Rational tuition [increases] is a way to ensure that SUNY students

e-mail ajwiktor@buffalo.edu

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The Spectrum Volume 60 Issue 48 by The Spectrum Student Periodical - Issuu