The Spectrum Volume 63 Issue 69

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THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO, SINCE 1950

ubspectrum.com

Event connects Buffalo Public School students to higher educational resources

Eunice Lewin thinks there is a “national urgency to encourage more students to get involved in science.” So when she approached some of the leaders of the City of Buffalo to create the first annual Science Week (April 7-11), she was trying to help solve that issue. Lewin, a SUNY trustee, teamed up with UB, Buffalo State College, Erie Community College, Buffalo Public Schools (BPS) and Mayor Byron Brown to create a weeklong celebration of science for BPS students in kindergarten through 12th grade. The goal of Science Week is to highlight the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for young students, Lewin said.

Students visit prison to spread message of love

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Vets, fresh faces make up Bulls’ backfield, O-line

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The event was created in conjunction with the Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Partnership (ISEP), a coalition headed by UB. Currently, 12 schools in Buffalo are part of this partnership. ISEP is funded primarily by a $10 million National Science Foundation grant. Lewin saw the scientific and research resources in Buffalo and recognized an opportunity to use those resources to give back to the community. “We have incredible intellectual capital, and this is the perfect time to collaborate higher education with the public schools to help strengthen our educational pipeline and also to excite students about science,” Lewin said. Lewin worked with Dr. Joseph Gardella, a distinguished professor of chemistry who heads ISEP, and Alexander Cartwright,

A fantasy play place

Opinion Editor

Wednesday, Chief Information Officer J. Brice Bible sent an email to all students and faculty informing them of “Heartbleed” – an online bug that experts say left up to two-thirds of Internet servers open to potential breach. Google and cyber-security firm Codenomicon engineers detected the bug this week. Heartbleed is the name given to a particular vulnerability in certain web security software. This gap allows anyone privy to the defect to collect user data that would regularly be inaccessible. Bible said there is “no evidence” UB sites were compromised. He prompted students and staff members to be wary and “pay close attention to all your sensitive user accounts.” Jeffrey Murphy, the interim information security officer at UB, said UB passwords and usernames have always been

SEE SCIENCE WEEK, PAGE 2

safe from this type of security breach. Some UB websites, like UBLearns, however, were susceptible to the bug gaining access to “snippets” of content without gaining information about the user. As of 5 p.m. yesterday, all central and department systems were reviewed, according to Murphy. Experts revealed the vulnerability goes back over two years. But it remains unclear how long anyone has been aware of the gap in the most widely used encryption software, OpenSSL. Most web users know OpenSSL as a closed padlock icon alongside “https” in the address bar of certain websites. The encryption software is used in a wide range of sites, protecting everything from email conversations to credit card numbers. Affected sites include Twitter, Facebook, Gmail and TurboTax, though most major sites are now claiming they have patched the hole in their security. SEE HEARTBLEED, PAGE 2

SARPA to host 25th annual UBCon

JOE KONZE JR

Courtesy of Joseph Baldovin The UB SARPA club is set to host its 25th annual UBCon event this weekend. Included in the event will be the famous Nerf war (students preparing for last year’s war are pictured). UBCon will take place in the Student Union and starts this Friday at 9 p.m.

“This year, we’ve acquired some more video games for our library, some more table-top games and we just really like getting more people to come around and enjoying games in general.” The event will also host popular figures of the role-playing community, including: Sarah Wilkinson, a nationally known entertainment illustrator; Jess Hartley, who has written con-

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Bug exploits loophole in encryption protocols, leaks private data

Senior Arts Editor

You might see all types of Nerf balls flying through the Student Union this weekend. Don’t be alarmed. The Strategists and Role-Players Association (SARPA) is hosting its 25th annual UBCon event from Friday to Sunday. “The Nerf war is something that every year someone is asking about,” said SARPA President Tyler Linn. “Someone came by our office yesterday asking where they could sign up for the Nerf war. It’s something that I always look forward to ever since I’ve heard about it.” For $25 for the weekend, comic book lovers, role players, video game enthusiasts and Anime fans from around the country can come together at UB to perform and enjoy the varying art forms. Participants can purchase single-day tickets Friday ($10), Saturday ($15) or Sunday ($10). About 100 tickets were sold during the presale period, according to Linn. Linn said he is confident this weekend is going to be one of the biggest conventions yet. Last year, about 1,600 tickets were sold on the first day. “We, as a club, are about every form of gaming,” Linn said.

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‘Heartbleed’ bug bleeds private user data onto the Internet

ANTHONY HILBERT

the vice president for research and economic development, to create Science Week. “These STEM fields could provide access to some future employment in the region’s growing innovation economy, including emerging life sciences and advanced manufacturing industries,” Cartwright said in an email. “By talking about science and engaging the students in hands-on activities, we get them thinking about the possibilities.” Monday, festivities kicked off at the Native American Magnet School (School No. 19), where UB President Satish Tripathi, Senator Tim Kennedy and Buffalo State College President Howard Cohen talked about the importance of STEM. Tripathi even gave the students a science lesson.

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Volume 63 No. 69

Yusong Shi, The Spectrum Logan Butt (left), a first-year student at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, volunteered during Science Week at Roswell Park Cancer Institute to help students learn and experience the field for themselves. His particular station showed students how to extract and concentrate DNA from a banana.

SAM FERNANDO

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Friday, April 11, 2014

UB spearheads first annual Science Week

Senior News Editor

Fitch welcomed to UB as part of Signature Series

tent for more than 30 role-playing game products as a writer for White Wolf Publishing; and Nigel Sade, an abstract artist from Ohio. The speakers will be available for a question-and-answer session. “We didn’t have to do a lot of fundraising,” Linn said. “Generally, our fund for UBCon is from the previous year’s roll-

over. We’ve been able to properly utilize all of our budget for this year.” SARPA also made sure to bring back its R.A.V.E. event that is included within UBCon. It will be the 11th installment of R.A.V.E. and the fifth year of dance events held at UBCon. Buffalo DJs DJHJ, DJ Ru and DJ Chris Slomba will perform at R.A.V.E. The DJs have set lists

that include video game tunes and electro-house songs. The R.A.V.E. will take place in Baldy Hall. Video gamers can play each other in a variety of games located in SU 220. There will be a demo of the ARTEMIS Spaceship Bridge Simulator. The multiplayer, multi-computer network game simulates a spaceship. But it won’t be the only system in the game room. “After a lot of communication, we were able to rent ‘the octopus,’” Linn said. An “octopus” is a gaming network of four Xbox consoles and TVs. The UB Cosplay club, a temporary Student Association club, will host a costume play event. It’s a murder mystery, live-action, role-playing game. Participants will have the opportunity to dress and act out their role-playing characters to solve the plot. Well-known Cosplayers Rikala, Alanaleilani and Duplicitous Dichotomy from Rochester will be on hand to help show fellow role players how to structure the event. UBCon kicks off Friday at 9 p.m. email: arts@ubspectrum.com


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