College of Arts & Sciences Celebrates
Starting with the dedication of the newly renovated Arts and Sciences Building, University President Karen R. Hitchcock led a celebration Oct. 25 of the growth and excellence of the disciplines that comprise the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Today marks the official opening of what is really the first new building on the academic podium in 35 years,” said Hitchcock, as she kicked off an array of events that included a welcome to new College of Arts and Sciences Dean Joan Wick-Pelletier, a faculty panel discussion, tea, and music, dance and theater performances.

“Standing here at the great entrance to the perimeter of the academic podium, we are reminded that the arts and sciences stand at the core of a great university, as they indeed serve as the great wellspring of knowledge and inspiration for all human activity,” said Hitchcock.

The new home of the College of Arts and Sciences was formerly the University’s Administration Building, which had housed admissions offices and the offices of the University president and top administrators.

The departments of Anthropology, Sociology, and Geography and Planning are now housed in the new building, along with the College dean’s offices. The building also features three new “smart classrooms” equipped with multimedia tools.

To read more information go to http://albany.edu/main/features/arts11-02/arts.htm

Chronic Disease Prevention Studied
By Lisa James Goldsberry
The School of Public Health has been designated a Prevention Research Center by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to study how community-based interventions can prevent or reduce the impact of chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.

“This is an important milestone for the School of Public Health,” said David Strogatz, chair of the Department of Epidemiology and director of the Prevention Research Center, in announcing the designation. “We are now part of a CDC program for schools of medicine and public health that provides leadership in establishing the scientific basis for public health efforts in disease prevention.”

“This development continues to broaden UAlbany’s strengths in research and teaching -- as students, faculty, and DOH professionals will work side by side to reduce the burden of chronic disease,” said Peter J. Levin, dean of the School of Public Health.

The center, which received $1.38 million from the CDC, will involve the development of diverse community partnerships to conduct studies that show innovative ways in which resources from households, schools, worksites, and faith-based organizations can promote the health of community residents and reduce the burden of chronic disease. The School of Public Health will collaborate with the ongoing chronic disease prevention programs of the New York State Department of Health (DOH) and other public agencies.

UAlbany is one of 28 such centers in the nation, located at such institutions as Harvard, Columbia University, Yale, and the University of Michigan. Each center, selected through a competitive process, conducts at least one core research project with an under-served population that has a disproportionately large burden of death and disability. In many of these populations, the health disparities are related to adverse socioeconomic conditions. The centers work with diverse groups and balance principles of scientific rigor, community acceptance and practical application to find ways to improve the quality of life for Americans today and for future generations.

The UAlbany Center’s initial research project is the collaborative product of faculty of the School of Public Health, a community-based coalition and the DOH’s Diabetes Prevention and Control Program. The study will access social and environmental influences on diabetes prevention and management in medically under-served communities in the Capital Region and will result in a template for community-level assessment to be disseminated among diabetes coalitions in New York. Strogatz says the results will also be used to develop and assess community-oriented strategies for promoting improved diet, physical activity, and access to medical care among persons at increased risk for diabetes.

According to the CDC, chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. These diseases account for seven of every ten deaths and affect the quality of life of 90 million Americans. Although chronic diseases are among the most common and costly health problems, they are also among the most preventable.

Adding the S to the Three Rs
By Greta Petry, Photos by Tomas Malave
This fall Nat Friedman, a University at Albany professor emeritus of the Department of Mathematics, gave four workshops relating art and mathematics for children ages 4 to 11 at the University Art Museum. The Saturday afternoon workshops were presented in conjunction with Friedman’s sculpture exhibit Form, Space, and Light, which closes November 10 at the museum.

Friedman, who originally took up sculpture at a University night class “as therapy from math research,” taught a class on art, mathematics, and the creative process at UAlbany for 20 years, until his retirement two years ago. Friedman received a $92,000 National Science Foundation grant after retirement to teach knot theory to children in grades 3 to 5 at several area elementary schools. He feels strongly that the common link between art and mathematics is visualization. “It’s all about seeing,” said Friedman.

The children’s workshop was titled Geos, Hyperseeing, and Hypersculptures. First, the students were given a set of geometric shapes cut out of foamcore. The shapes were joined together by inserting pointed wooden toothpicks in the styrofoam edges of the shapes. Instead of spot welding, the students were spot toothpicking. The resulting object, consisting of joined geometric shapes, is called a geo. The geo could be mounted on a toothpick in a variety of ways so that the student could visualize the geo from multiple viewpoints, which Friedman calls “hyperseeing.” A plan for the geo is obtained by laying the geo flat on a piece of paper and outlining the shapes and the joining toothpicks. In the plan, the student sees the positions of the shapes as well as the angles of the toothpicks, which is the mathematics contained in the structure of the geo. The plan can be used to make copies of a geo. A set of sculptures is obtained by positioning the copies of the geo in a variety of different ways. The geo can look quite different depending on its position. This set of sculptures is called a hypersculpture. A hypersculpture is a more complete presentation of the sculptural possibilities of the geo. The students used plans to construct their own hypersculptures.

The workshop introduces the students to geometric sculpture and “hyperseeing,” which is really what cubist artists applied when they presented objects from multiple viewpoints. The ability to “hypersee” is the purpose of many scientific developments, such as the Hubble telescope, MRI imaging, CAT scans, and electron microscopes. Friedman feels that seeing (S) is super basic and would like to see the S added to the three Rs in elementary education.

Friedman says he is referred to as “the Godfather of art and mathematics” since he organized the first art and mathematics conference at UAlbany in 1992, followed by annual conferences here through 1997. Carlo Sequin from the University of California at Berkeley attended in 1997; the conference moved to Berkeley in 1998. That year, with a half dozen such conferences around the world, Friedman saw enough interest to start the International Society of the Arts, Mathematics, and Architecture (ISAMA), which met for the first time in 1999 at the University of the Basque Country in San Sebastian, Spain. ISAMA 2000 was held at UAlbany, ISAMA 2002 was held at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and ISAMA 2003 will be at the University of Granada, Spain, July 23-27. For information, see www.isama.org.

Friedman said he is really resurrecting an old idea since art, mathematics, and architecture were all unified during the Renaissance. In fact, a seashell is an ancient example of this unification.