DS Seminar Offerings | UB Discovery Seminar Program

Discovery Seminar Program—Fall 2012

Please note, The HUB seminar description/title may not be accurate at this time. Please register for the UE 141 seminar by referencing the Section. Information listed on the Discovery Seminar site is current and accurate.

Anthropology

The Anthropology of Food

Instructor: Kathryn Whalen
Department: Anthropology
Day & Time: Thursdays, 6:00 – 6:50 pm
Location: 109 Capen
Section: D
Registration Number: 14938

Seminar Description

Everybody eats, but not everyone eats the same – from what people consider food, to how it is cooked and served, to the utensils they use to eat it. Food is an important part of a person’s identity – socially, economically and spiritually. Because food is such a ubiquitous element of human culture, we perceive, treat and prepare it in culturally unique ways. This class will look at the important relationship between food and culture. The different topics this course covers include the role of food in human nutrition, ethnic identity, cultural transmission, taboos and preferences, as well as rituals and magic. There will be some readings on the theory and perspective cultural anthropology has about food, plus one 5 page essay exploring a topic of the student’s choice. At the end of the semester, there will be a potluck dinner highlighting some of the ideas discussed throughout the course.

Seminar Highlights

This course introduces students to two different subjects. First, it explores the field of anthropology and its methods; and second, it examines everyday actions and items as culturally significant agents. This class also offers students the opportunity to look at common, everyday material using a cross-cultural perspective.

English

Open the book: Introducing the UB English Department and literary studies

Instructor: Barbara Bono
Department: English
Day & Time: Tuesdays, 11:00 – 11:50 am
Location: 110 Capen
Section: I1
Registration Number: 14405

Seminar Description

Do you want to be a doctor, a lawyer, or a CEO—or, maybe, a political and policy leader? How about a creative writer, a novelist, a journalist, a publisher or an arts manager? A professor or a teacher? Do you like to read and write, to interpret fact and to tell stories?

Then you should consider a major, a minor, or significant elective credit in UB’s nationally-ranked, award-winning English Department, where in addition to our wide roster of historical, generic and critical courses we offer a journalism certificate and a creative writing focus.

Every year we place our graduates in medical school (where they want strong humanities electives), law school (a classic target for English majors), in government (a recent graduate wrote speeches for the previous two governors), in journalism and publishing (another wrote scripts for Michel Moore and now writes for The Nation), in the arts, and in education.

And every semester our c. 40 full-time faculty members (2 SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professors, 8 SUNY Chancellor’s Award winners for Excellence in Teaching, 3 Milton Plesur Student Teaching Award winners) and our advanced graduate students (on average 3 Graduate School Teaching Awards a year) offer some 60 or so mostly small- to mid-sized undergraduate courses on subjects like “Love in the Western World,” “Mythologies of the Americas,” “Shakespeare in Film,” “The Gothic,” “American Novel,” “Irish Literature and James Joyce,” “Literature of the African Diaspora,” “Feminist Theory,” “Creative Writing: Poetry,” “Ethics in Journalism,” and the renowned “Buffalo Film Seminars” (csac.buffalo.edu/bfs.html).

Explore our Department on-line at english.buffalo.edu, especially those pages devoted to “Undergraduate” and—under “Current Courses”—to our famous Whole English Catalogue of detailed descriptions of past, present, and future offerings.

And take this 1-credit exploratory course, where every other week Professors from the Department will drop by to talk about their specialty and their passions, while, in between, under the guidance of the organizing Professor—in this case Chancellor’s and Plesur Award winner Barbara Bono—we process, discuss, and apply what they’ve had to say. Open the book . . . .

Open the book: Introducing the UB English Department and literary studies

Instructor: Cristanne Miller
Department: English
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 9:00 – 9:50 am
Location: Clemens 412
Section: M1
Registration Number: 14450

Seminar Description

And every semester our c. 40 full-time faculty members (2 SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professors, 8 SUNY Chancellor’s Award winners for Excellence in Teaching, 3 Milton Plesur Student Teaching Award winners) and our advanced graduate students (on average 3 Graduate School Teaching Awards a year) offer some 60 or so mostly small- to mid-sized undergraduate courses on subjects like “Heaven, Hell, and Judgment,” “Epic,” “Romantic Movement,” “Literature of the Civil War,” “Crime Fiction and Popular Culture,” “Asian-American Literature,” “20th Century Women Writers,” “Modernist Poetry,” “Writing Non-Fiction Prose,” “Ecocriticism,” and the renowned “Buffalo Film Seminars” (csac.buffalo.edu/bfs.html).

And take this 1-credit exploratory course, where every other week Professors from the Department will drop by to talk about their specialty and their passions, while, in between, under the guidance of the organizing Professor—in this case SUNY Distinguished Professor and English Department Chair Cristanne Miller—we process, discuss, and apply what they’ve had to say. Open the book . . . .

Travel Writing

Instructor: Howard Wolf
Department: English
Day & Time: Fridays, 1:00 – 1:50 pm
Location: 110 Capen
Section: KK1
Registration Number: 13424

Seminar Description

Letters from the world will offer a Discovery Seminar on Travel Writing in which we shall read a short different kind of travel document each week and in which students will choose an “area of the world” (near or far) to write about as a training ground for future travel and travel writing.

Seminar Highlights

Professor Wolf has been a Fulbright Scholar in Turkey and South Africa, and he has presented 100 lectures in 20 countries over the years. There are many more countries he would like to “explore” and write about in the genre of literary journalism and creative nonfiction; but he feels that he has seen and written enough to help young would-be-travelers and writers “launch” their careers. The course will include some small “expeditions” to local sites (no pith helmets required).

Exercise and Nutrition Sciences

Nutrition: Science for your Health

Instructor: Shiu-Ming Kuo
Department: Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
Day & Time: Thursdays, 9:00 – 9:50 am
Location: 110 Capen
Section: LL
Registration Number: 12134

Seminar Description

Instead of the traditional teaching centering on each nutrient, the class will use nutrition-related health problems of common interest to introduce the basic function and metabolism of nutrients as well as nutrition-related policies. To achieve this, this seminar class will use a combination format of instructor presentation, student assignment and classroom discussion. There are three major learning objectives: students become familiar with the functions and sources of each nutrient; students value the contribution of many areas of science in our understanding of nutrition; and students understand the scientific consideration behind nutrition-related public health recommendations and policies.

Seminar Highlights

Incoming students could feel lost in choosing a major and/or under tremendous stress in taking care of their health. This seminar has the potential of solving both problems. Students will be given the chance to be familiar with different types of nutrition research and read current nutrition-related reports as well.

General Interest

Electronic Portfolios

Instructor: Beth Troy
Department: LAI Graduate School of Education
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 3:00 – 3:50 pm
Location: Baldy 14
Section: S2
Registration Number: 15443

Seminar Description

Need help presenting your creative work to land that internship or job? Collect your digital media – video, music, animation, or whatever medium you work in – and present it using the latest techniques in electronic portfolio creation. Learn how to professionally organize your work using html, PDFs, and PowerPoint so your portfolio stands above the rest!

Explore Sustainability

Instructor: Alan Rabideau
Department: General Interest
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 9:00 – 9:50 am
Location: 108 Capen
Section: JJ
Registration Number: 12102

Seminar Description

The University at Buffalo supports a wide range of academic and research programs that seek to better understand and protect the natural environment. The team-taught seminar will provide a survey of current UB activity, with presentations by leading-edge scholars and program directors of environmentally oriented majors in science, engineering, policy, law, architecture/planning, and public health. Topics of interest include but are not limited to climate change, Great Lakes, water resources, ecological restoration, environmental ethics, and sustainable energy

Seminar Highlights

Students will receive an in-depth look at UB’s environmental majors and research opportunities.

Lawyers in Movies

Instructor: William Altreuter
Department: General Interest
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 6:00 – 6:50 pm
Location: 110 Capen
Section: H1
Registration Number: 15221

Seminar Description

We will discuss a movie a week, spanning in time from the 1930s to the present day, and discuss the way the legal profession is portrayed. What does the way that law and lawyers have been portrayed in American film tell us about cultural attitudes towards the institution and the people who practice in it? Over the course of the semester we will look at about a dozen films from the past 50 years and discuss the way the profession has been portrayed and what that tells us about the role law plays in everyone’s lives. Are law and ethics the same? Are they even related? Why do people aspire to become lawyers? Are lawyers respected? Should they be? Does the law drive social change, or is it a reflection of who we are as a society?

Seminar Highlights

William Altreuter is a practicing lawyer and adjunct faculty member at the UB Law School with an interest in the culture of law and the way the legal culture fits into society as a whole.

Rural Life – What are their needs?

Instructor: Surajit Sen
Department: General Interest
Day & Time: Mondays, 12:00 – 12:50 pm
Location: 108 Capen
Section: S3
Registration Number: 13336

Seminar Description

Rural Life – What are their needs? A very significant part of the world population in Asia, Africa and elsewhere lives in tiny villages. These are mostly farming communities and of people who live in significant poverty. These are also communities that need all forms of nourishment for economic prosperity of a nation and of the world. Our global future rests on how we can empower our villages. So what are we doing to empower these people who are just like us? The seminar will focus on learning and researching about what is being done, what works where and what does not, and in learning about the challenges that lie ahead. Letter grades will be awarded. Assessment will be based on individual mini learning/innovation projects and presentations. A future Internship Abroad to rural India may be offered for those interested.

Seminar Highlights

Learn about how rural life in the developing world is like – focus will be on India where 1/3 of the world’s poor live; Contribute ideas about how one can help; Widen your horizons by learning about a world nearby which is so different than what is around yours.

I am a physics professor who grew up in Calcutta, India, in the 60s and 70s and have lived in the US for 28 years. I never knew about the world that existed a mere 50 kilometers away from my childhood home. In fact, very, very few of my friends and family knew about this world. One day I began wondering about how I can teach math and science to the kids in these villages. And this journey made me realize that we literally need to rethink about how to educate children when we talk about rural children and adults. Our education is for the urban world. For us to go to the university, get a job. But what do we do for those who have different needs and who feed us all?

Law School

Lawyers as Agents of Social Change

Instructor: Bernadette Gargano
Department: Law School
Day & Time: Thursdays, 4:00 – 4:50 pm
Location: Capen 109
Section: HH
Registration Number: 14096

Seminar Description

We will explore the role of lawyers as agents of social change in the Civil Rights Movement through primary and secondary materials, including oral arguments, Supreme Court case law, other legal documents, and narratives. We will also study how lawyers today are carrying on the tradition of service to the community, the promotion of the civil rights, and the eradication of hate crimes.

Seminar Highlights

After earning her juris doctorate cum laude from Cornell Law School, Professor Gargano spent two years as a confidential law clerk to the Hon. William M. Skretny, Chief Judge for the Western District of New York. Professor Gargano’s legal practice focused on appellate advocacy and complex litigation in both state and federal courts. She was also appointed as pro bono counsel on complex prisoner cases, including disability discrimination claims. Professor Gargano developed the skills curriculum for the LSAC Discover Law grant that was awarded to UB Law. She will also teach in the Discover Law program, which is designed to give undergraduate students from underrepresented communities the chance to develop the skills necessary for law school. At UB Law School, Professor Gargano teaches legal skills courses that are required in order for students to graduate, including advanced legal research, analysis, writing, and advocacy. Her research currently focuses on the roles of judges, lawyers and citizens as moral agents and agents of social change as well as the intersection of these roles with socio-economic issues.

Pediatrics

Current Research on Gastric Acid Secretion: the Niagara Falls in the Stomach

Instructor: Lixin Zhu
Department: Pediatrics
Day & Time: Mondays, 4:00 – 4:50 pm
Location: BRB 401 (South Campus)
Section: E1
Registration Number: 12166

Seminar Description

The seminar will center on the beauty of the acid secretion by the gastric parietal cell, which is similarly amazing as the Niagara Falls. There is a huge fall of proton concentration (a difference of 1 million fold) between the plasma membrane of parietal cells. Will cover the history of gastric acid research from 1800s to today, the major mechanisms for the production and regulation of gastric acid, how the most important discoveries in this field were made, what remained unknown. This seminar course aims to demystify scientific research and to demonstrate the pathways to creative thinking. Plan to have students review parts of the gastric acid research, and participate in the ongoing research in the lab.

Seminar Highlights

I will help you appreciate a natural wonder, similarly amazing as the Niagara Falls.
A chance to know how cutting-edge biology research is done in my lab.
Get to know some interesting stories about the legendary scientists in this field.
A taste of the modern techniques in a biology lab.
Why eating raw meat is no longer an issue to me after I studied the stomach?
The instructor (Dr. Lixin Zhu) was a postdoc student of Dr. John G. Forte (University of California, Berkeley). Dr. Forte discovered the alpha chain of proton pump (H,K-ATPase) in 1967, discovered the beta chain of the pump in 1990. More beautifully, he and his wife discovered the elegant mechanism for the regulation of acid secretion in 1977. He made many other important discoveries in the field.
Dr. Lixin Zhu discovered a major mechanism for the regulation of the cytoskeleton in the acid secreting parietal cell. He is looking into the mystery of membrane trafficking and membrane fusion in this cell.

Physics

Bringing Physics and Engineering to Life

Instructor: Andrea Markelz
Department: Physics
Day & Time: Mondays, 4:00 – 4:50 pm
Location: 245 Fronczak
Section: N
Registration Number: 13946

Seminar Description

We are currently in the century of biology. Biological systems, beyond their importance to our own health, offer new opportunities in materials and technology. However to realize these opportunities these systems need to be understood on a basic quantitative physical level. In this seminar, lectures and labs explore the main problem for these types of studies, i.e. how do we keep a biological system happy while we study it. We will discuss biological aspects on what conditions proteins are best able to function; what kind of techniques we want to use to study them; and what types of systems can be engineered to accommodate both the living conditions of proteins and the requirements of the techniques. No university level physics or biology is required for the seminar.

Seminar Highlights

You will see how biology is studied from three very different view points: Prof. Markelz is a physicist and she is looking for fundamental physical properties using optics, Prof. Oh is an electrical engineer who designs and fabricates microfluidic systems for manipulation of biological samples and Prof. Snell is a structural biologist who is studying the relationship between the structure of proteins and what they do and how to prevent bad things from happening.

Who Needs Physics in the Real World?

Instructor: Hong Luo
Department: Physics
Day & Time: Mondays, 4:00 – 4:50 pm
Location: TBD
Section: GG
Registration Number: 14928

Seminar Description

Many people know something about Galileo, Newton and Einstein. But you may find the same people having trouble naming three best known chemists or biologists. There is also a TV series “The Big Bang Theory”, which is the name of a real theory in astrophysics/cosmology. What is it about physics or physicists that makes people want to pay attention to or joke about? In this seminar course, we will briefly look at how physics got to where it is today, what you can get from physics for our day to day lives (not traveling at or over the speed of light) and what happens to people who study it.

Seminar Highlights

Dr. Luo is a professor of physics and the department chair. His research interest centers around semiconductor nanostructures, from fundamental physics to device applications. He has been teaching undergraduate courses and previously served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies. There is no physics or mathematics requirement for this course.

Research Institute on Addictions

Alcohol and Drug Use in Contemporary American Life

Instructor: Kenneth Leonard
Department: Research Institute on Addictions
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 3:00 – 3:50 pm
Location: Capen 110
Section: S1
Registration Number: 14202

Seminar Description

Alcohol and drug use have always been important elements of American culture, yet there are many myths and misunderstandings concerning the biological, psychological, and societal implications. This seminar examines alcohol and drug use from a variety of different perspectives. Covering such topics as “Your Brain on Drugs: How alcohol and other drugs of abuse work and how this changes your brain” and “How substances get in, how they get out, and what they do along the way”, students will learn the basic issues of alcohol/drug absorption and elimination and the health impacts of moderate and heavy alcohol and drug use. Topics such as “Does it pay to tax sin: the economics of alcohol and drug use,” and “Use, epidemics, and prohibition: how societies change (and are changed by) alcohol and drug use” provide historical, sociological, and epidemiological looks at alcohol and drugs. Additional sessions will cover how we study alcohol and drug use in animals and people, the development, prevention and treatment of addictions, and the social ills caused by alcohol and drugs. This seminar will be taught by the Director and research scientists from UB’s Research Institute on Addictions

Seminar Highlights

This seminar focuses on what social and biomedical research tell us about alcohol and other drug use and addiction, and will help students identify the myths, the realities, and the unknowns with respect to the use of these substances. The team of faculty includes neuroscientists, psychologists, and sociologists with active research in alcohol/drug use and its impact on individual health and behavior, as well as on society as a whole. Students with interests in health or social sciences will find this seminar of interest for their future career plans. Students from all disciplines will benefit from the seminar’s interdisciplinary and empirical approach to understanding the controversies surrounding this important aspect of American life.

Romance Languages and Literatures

Romance Languages and Literatures: Not Just a Love Story

Instructor: Colleen Culleton
Department: Romance Languages and Literatures
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 2:00 – 2:50 pm
Location: 110 Capen Hall
Section: S
Registration Number: 16437

Seminar Description

Over 800 million people around the globe claim a Romance language as their first language, living, thinking, dreaming, writing, filming, arguing, creating in that language every day. Here at UB undergraduates in Romance Languages and Literatures (RLL) put their language skills and cross-cultural fluencies to work in anthropology, political science, history, education, business, medicine, environmental studies, linguistics, and the sciences pursuing academic agendas and future careers that take them all over the world.

Romance languages are languages that have a root in Latin (the language of Rome). In the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, we offer courses in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan. While language is at the heart of all we do, it’s not all we do. If you like…

analyzing codes
crossing boundaries
telling stories
looking beyond the surface of things
learning about yourself by learning about some else
practicing the fine art of self-expression…

…you’ll find something that speaks to you in Romance Languages and Literatures.

In RLL our students take classes with topics like Latin American culture and civilization, the Italian Avant guarde, Don Quijote and road movies, Romance linguistics, Caribbean theater, the Spanish civil war, and satire as a form of social thought. They also have the opportunity to work closely with faculty on their own research projects, which investigate issues like the language learning patterns of immigrants in the United States, politics and the environment in contemporary Catalonia, and propaganda in early modern France.

This discovery seminar will introduce you to the kinds of thinking that define the study of language, literature, and culture. You will have an opportunity to find out more about the work that our faculty do as teachers and scholars. We will talk about how you might pursue study abroad during your time at UB, how you might carry what you learn in RLL over to your studies in other disciplines, and what kinds of careers your education might open up for you.

More importantly, though, the study of “foreign” cultures reveals the “foreign-ness” of our own attitudes and behaviors in the eyes of others. This invites significant self-reflection, and we will take time in the seminar to contemplate what motivates you in your study of other languages, places, and people. What preconceptions might be shading the way you read, speak, and move (or don’t) from place to place? What are your attitudes about your own education and position in the world, and where did they come from? And what actions will you take in your time as a student to be the kind of citizen you want to be in a multi-lingual and interconnected world? We’ll accomplish this through readings and discussions, by hearing from RLL faculty about their own work and intellectual trajectories, and by getting out of the classroom and into the community to explore the “foreign-ness” of our own back yard.

Social and Preventive Medicine

Epidemiology: What is it and who does it?

Instructor: Carl Li
Department: Social and Preventive Medicine
Day & Time: Wednesdays, 3:00 – 3:50 pm
Location: 240 Farber Hall
Section: A
Registration Number: 16108

Seminar Description

Explore the broad spectrum of cutting edge epidemiologic and public health research that goes on at UB. What is epidemiology? What do epidemiologists do? Where can a career in epidemiology take you? Why do we do epidemiology? Our faculty will discuss their innovative epidemiologic population based research projects related to environmental pollutants, genetics, cancer, obesity, nutrition, physical activity, perinatal issues, women’s health, and international public health. Our ultimate goal is to promote health and wellness, prevent disease, prolong life, and improve the quality of life in populations. Attendance is vital and students should be prepared to participate actively in discussions surrounding the presentations.

Seminar Highlights

We want to let everyone know about the life of an epidemiologist. We want to answer these questions for you: What is epidemiology? What do epidemiologists do? Where can a career in epidemiology take you? Why do we do epidemiology?

Dr. Triggle discusses the Discovery Seminar Program

Last updated: June 06, 2011 9:07 am EST