FEATURES

    On March 2, the Division for Research sponsored its first University at Albany research colloquium featuring the University’s Center for Social and Demographic Analysis (CSDA).  Established in 1981, CSDA is one of only twelve population centers in the country supported by Population Research Center Core Grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.  The research focuses of the center are population composition and redistribution; family and household dynamics; health, morbidity, and mortality; and the status of children and adolescents.
    Stewart E. Tolnay, professor of sociology and director of the Center for Social and Demographic Analysis, began the program with an overview of the activities of CSDA.  He discussed the role of CSDA as a facilitator in helping researchers to secure grants as well as to conduct research.  Center staff perform the routine administrative tasks for researchers, allowing them more time to do their science.  In a field where researchers are often from many different disciplines, CSDA provides a unifying environment where interdisciplinary collaborations and connections are made with ease.
    Distinguished Professor of Psychology James J. Jaccard presented his research applying social psychology to social problems in the United States, emphasizing prevention of adolescent pregnancy.  Prevention-based efforts focus on influencing adolescent behavior by teaching parents how to communicate more effectively with their children about this important topic.  Jaccard’s findings show that this model can be a useful tool, but that more outreach programs are needed to teach parents how to be effective communicators. 
    John R. Logan, professor of sociology and director of the Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research, discussed how population changes create and solve problems.  By studying those occurring at the national level, in other cultures, or historically, we can better understand our own.  One of his research topics seeks to discover how the Chinese will deal with problems arising from the massive urban migration currently being experienced.  He also examines historical migration patterns looking for parallels to today’s society.
    Terence P. Thornberry, professor of criminal justice and director of the Hindelang Criminal Justice Research Center, conducts research on longitudinal studies of intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior.  His research aims to understand the factors behind antisocial behavior and what puts some children at risk while others are successful in escaping this behavioral pattern.  Once these factors are identified, researchers can begin to look for countermeasures to prevent high-risk children from repeating these behavioral patterns.
    Following the faculty presentations, Christine A. Bachrach, chief of the Demographic and Behavioral Sciences Branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), spoke about the NICHD centers program and how these centers are mutually beneficial to NICHD and the researchers they serve. She also discussed the new directions of population research and how changes in population research are being reflected in changes in NICHD’s centers program.  The new directions in population research that she articulated affirm that CSDA is well positioned to continue to be a major player in this field at the national level. Indeed, CSDA serves as a model of what a center should be.
    The Division for Research instituted the colloquium series to celebrate research at the University as well as provide a forum for discussion of future directions, opportunities, and challenges faced by University researchers. 
    Vice President for Research Christopher F. D’Elia stressed the importance of future colloquium topics reflecting the priorities of University faculty and researchers.  “It is our hope that campus researchers will claim this series as their own and use it to highlight issues of importance to them.  To achieve this, we welcome and encourage suggestions and collaborations for future colloquia.”

   Sophie Tucker, Totie Fields and Belle Barth may be long gone from this earth, but they’ll be just off-Broadway through April 22, thanks to the next step up the theatrical ladder for UAlbany English Professor Sarah Blacher Cohen’s and Chicago playwright Joanne Koch’s musical comedy Sophie, Totie & Belle.
    Even while the bawdy comediennes spice up Theatre Four on 424 W. 55th St. in New York City, Cohen and Koch’s next effort, Henrietta Szold: Woman of Valor, prepares for its March 30 premiere at UAlbany’s Performing Arts Center Recital Hall. The story about the founder of Hadassah and head of Youth Aliyah - the agency that rescued Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Europe - runs through April 2 on campus, then does a national tour.
    Sophie, Totie & Belle’s limited New York engagement, which begins today, includes shows at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. Telecharge number for individual tickets is (212) 239-6200, and for groups, (888) 567-2766. 
    In the show, the late comediennes meet somewhere in the afterlife to form an “R-rated” musical comedy act. Sophie, Totie & Belle was first produced in 1990 as a benefit for women's studies. “I think I thought I might lose my job for presenting the language and interplay of these ‘unkosher comediennes,’” said Cohen. “But everyone who saw it laughed their heads off - especially the little old ladies.”
    In 1999, the show ran for five months in South Florida, and the producers decided to bring the tale of the bawdy comediennes to off-Broadway.
    Henrietta Szold opens on Thursday, March 30, at 8 p.m., then Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Proceeds for the performances will help pay for the play’s production and support a UAlbany lecture series on “Women of Valor.” The show stars Eileen Schuyler, who has been voted the Capital Region’s best actress two years running by Metroland magazine and the Times Union. The play is directed by local theater director and critic Eleanor Koblenz, who is celebrating a quarter century as a director.
    A gala benefactors’ reception will be held in the Futterer Lounge of the Performing Arts Center after the Saturday performance. UAlbany President Karen R. Hitchcock will be honored as the first “University Woman of Valor.” A select group of community members will be chosen as “Community Women of Valor,” and students as “Young Women of Valor.” 
    Tickets for the performance are $10 for students and seniors, $15 for other adults. Reservations can be made by calling the PAC box office at 442-3997. Personal and corporate donations may be sent to Cohen in care of the Henrietta Szold Fund. For information on donations, call 489-8759.

    The way Utica businessman Thomas H. Clynne sees it, the University at Albany’s Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) has the potential to save him money, and help him create 100 more jobs in the process.
    Clynne is president and CEO of Infrared Components Corp., which produces a camera built from infrared sensors and employs 41 people.
    “Infrared is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum,” Clynne said. “Infrared energy is all around us, and is emitted invisibly by all objects. A sensor to detect this energy is put into a system that converts it into a visible picture. You can make a camera out of it. We integrate sensors into systems for predictive maintenance. If a bearing is getting hot, you can actually see it getting hot, with the cameras built from these sensors.”
    One use of these sensors is in firefighting equipment. 
“Infrared travels well through smoke where visible light does not. Suddenly you can see through the smoke with an infrared camera,” he said. The added benefit is that the camera can sense where heat is coming from in a fire - the camera can “see” where the hotspots are.
     “Imagine you are blindfolded and carrying 80 pounds of gear on your back. You go into a house where you have never been before and you have one and a half minutes to find a child who is hiding under his bed. With an infrared camera, you can see. This significantly changes the way firefighting is performed,” he said.
    Infrared Components Corp. has developed the FireOptic camera, with the help of firefighters from the city of Utica.
    “The disadvantage is that the camera costs $20,000 per unit. The high cost keeps it out of the reach of most fire departments,” Clynne said. Here is where UAlbany’s CAT steps in.
    “Through this partnership with the UAlbany CAT, we are developing the next generation of infrared imaging technology, which has the promise of lowering the cost from $20,000 to $1,000 per camera.” Once that goal is achieved, Clynne said, the cameras will be more accessible to firefighters.
    The company controls a patented technology which uses a silicon fabrication process. Silicon fabrication is inexpensive on a per device basis. The costly part comes from building a processing plant or foundry in which to produce it.
    “It is not unheard of to spend more than $20 million to develop a silicon foundry, but that’s what New York State is doing right now for the businesses of the state. It allows us to focus research and development dollars on producing the technology, not on having to build bricks and mortar and buying equipment,” Clynne said.
    ICC started as a spin-off company of the GE Company in Utica, where it built military infrared systems. In 1991 the founders formed ICC, and began to offer commercial infrared systems to the industry at large. ICC was initially funded with monies from New York State, Oneida County, the city of Utica, and a small group of private investors, according to Clynne.
    This focus on developing a processing plant is part of the CAT’s importance in creating high-technology jobs in New York State.
    Alain Kaloyeros, executive director of the CAT, said, “We are extremely excited about our partnership with ICC. ICC exemplifies the type of high tech, highly successful New York State companies that generate excellent economic opportunities, including high paying jobs. Under the leadership of Mr. Clynne, ICC has become a key player in infrared sensors and microsystems technologies.”
    Clynne said he is grateful for the CAT’s existence.
“I, as a New York State businessman, and we, as residents of the state, should feel fortunate to have this kind of forward-thinking vision occurring in Governor George Pataki’s office and in the state Legislature. We are really incredibly fortunate to have this resource available. The University at Albany CAT is the first step towards creating larger-scale foundries that create jobs. We anticipate adding 100 jobs as a result of this. That is nothing next to what will happen if one of the larger firms like Intel or Motorola does the same,” Clynne said.