UB Faculty Experts

EXPERT CONTACT : James E. Campbell, Ph.D. Professor and Chair of Political Science University at Buffalo 716-645-8452 jcampbel@buffalo.edu

Carl Paladino's personal attacks are a mistake, says political scientist James Campbell of the State University of New York at Buffalo.

EXPERT CONTACT : Robin M. Lally Assistant Professor School of Nursing 716-829-2137 rmlally@buffalo.edu

Between the prevention and cure for breast cancer are the women who must face the disease.

UB assistant professor of nursing, Robin Lally, PhD, RN, focuses her research on women’s reactions in the early days after the initial diagnosis of breast cancer.

“The effect of a cancer diagnosis on a woman’s self concept is not something that health care providers often consider when they are focused on the physical aspects of the disease and treatment early after diagnosis,” Lally says.

EXPERT CONTACT : Jerry Newman, PhD SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor and Chair of Organization and Human Resources University at Buffalo School of Management 716-645-3238 jmnewman@buffalo.edu

The Wall Street Journal reported today that McDonald’s Corp. had warned that the restaurant chain could drop a so-called “mini-med” health plan for hourly workers if federal regulators did not waive a new requirement that insurance plans spend 80 to 85 percent of health care premiums on benefits.

EXPERT CONTACT : Katherine A. Kost Associate Dean for Academic Affairs School of Social Work 716-645-1269 kost@acsu.buffalo.edu

The many Buffalo families living within the 30 percent poverty rate continue to struggle with the costs of basic services others take for granted, says Kathleen Kost, associate dean at UB’s School of Social Work and an expert in how people are affected by the economic problems facing the country.

 “Buffalo, the third poorest city of its size in the country, had a poverty rate of nearly 30 percent in 2008,” says Kost. “Approximately 80 percent of families living in Buffalo have an annual income of $75,000 or less. Of this group, 20 percent has an income less than $22,000."

Kost says these are families who, literally, exist paycheck to paycheck.  “They have cut back their purchasing to bare necessities and kept the furnace at 65 degrees in the winter. They struggle to pay for child care and after-school programs, so their child can be safe and not home alone.”

“More than 60 percent of their incomes go to housing costs, any savings they once might have had is gone and very few have employer provided health care.  They are at high risk for becoming homeless.”

 “Parents in this group, if healthy, often work two jobs, lack sufficient health care and have little cushion should any unexpected expense occur. “

Kost says families in these financial categories are struggling with the effects of the mid-1990s elimination of safety-net programs for families who live at or below the poverty level.

“Housing, food and child assistance programs for those in the middle have all been cut back or eliminated,” she says.

Hope lies in community activism, according to Kost, not in using these people as scapegoats.

 “It seems to me that, rather than blame people for their bad decisions, i.e., their inability to accurately forecast the banking, housing and employment crises, it would serve us and neighbors better to work towards a society in which everyone can be secure.”

EXPERT CONTACT : Dr. Techung Lee Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biomedical Engineering University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences 716-829-3106 chunglee@buffalo.edu

As the debate rages over embryonic stem cell research, Lee shares a secret: Scientists working on stem cell therapies have made a lot more progress using adult stem cells than using embryonic stem cells, he says.

EXPERT CONTACT : James A. Gardner Vice Dean for Academic Affairs University at Buffalo Law School 716-645-3607 jgard@buffalo,edu

     The common practice of selecting judges by popular election is often criticized, says Gardner, an expert on election law. But what if the alternatives aren't any better? Although opponents of judicial election often assume gubernatorial appointment finds better candidates than elections, New York’s experience on its highest court, the Court of Appeals, suggests otherwise.

     “Although New York’s current method of selecting its Court of Appeals judges was designed to be wide open and based entirely on merit,” Gardner says, “the selection process, as it has actually evolved in practice, is neither.” Instead, Gardner says, it has “degenerated into a fundamentally closed competition among a very small number of sitting judges of the intermediate state appeals court.” It’s not judicial appointment, Gardner says, it’s “judicial promotion.”

      “Whereas Second Circuit appointees overwhelmingly have significant prior accomplishments in legal practice and executive branch service, the judges of the New York Court of Appeals are distinguished mainly for having worked their way up through the state judiciary,” Gardner says. “Perhaps that is why the New York Judicial Nominating Commission received only 17 applications for Chief Judge of New York in 2008, when the position last became vacant.”

EXPERT CONTACT : James E. Campbell, Ph.D. Professor and Chair of Political Science University at Buffalo 716-645-8452 jcampbel@buffalo.edu

James Campbell, a veteran political forecaster, says, "The frustration of conservatives and the power of the Tea Party movement was demonstrated once again in the victory of Carl Paladino over the GOP's establishment backed candidate Rick Lazio."

EXPERT CONTACT : Michael J. Poulin, Assistant professor of psychology University at Buffalo 716-645-0518 mjpoulin@buffalo.edu

With regard to the 32 Chilean miners trapped 2300 feet below the earth, Michael Poulin, whose research and publications focus on human response to stress and adversity, says that it is difficult but not impossible for would-be rescuers and the miners themselves to manage the emotional distress provoked by this situation.

"There are few direct parallels to their experience," Poulin  says, 'but laboratory and field research suggests that there are several ways to handle the crowded conditions and lack of control over their environment that these men face.

"Media reports indicate they already are coping well by taking control of what they can: organizing their living space, choosing leaders, relying on their religious faith and fashioning games and toys out of available materials.

"Loved ones and colleagues on the surface can help by insisting that the miners be kept as fully aware of rescue progress as possible and that they are consulted for input wherever feasible," he says.

"Overcrowding can be mitigated by establishing minimal personal space like individual sleeping areas; taking expeditions into side tunnels provided they are safe; and, as materials are sent down from above, by carving out private, virtual "space" by immersing themselves in reading material or listening to music via headphones," Poulin says.

"Another source of stress is the fact that they are cut off from the social world. Individuals can control that," he says, "by developing strong bonds with one another and by frequent communication by loved ones above ground. Research in my laboratory and elewhere suggests that the miners ability to support one another during this crisis may be crucial for their well being.

"So far they seem to have spontaneously adopted multiple  strategies with which to successfully manage the stress they face in this situation," Poiulin says, "which suggests that, like others who have faced traumatic events, they are remarkably resilient."

EXPERT CONTACT : Stephanie L. Phillips Professor of Law University at Buffalo Law School 716-645-2201 slp@buffalo.edu

The uproar over the construction of an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from "Ground Zero" has been unfortunate, says UB Law School Professor Stephanie L. Phillips, an expert in law and religion. Nevertheless, she says, it still presents a learning opportunity. 

Phillips says the rancorous debate raises three issues: Do Muslims have a right to erect a community center at that location? Which government bodies have authority to make the decision to grant or withhold permission? And was this a "wise" choice for the building's location? 

 "Concerning the first" Phillips says, "as President Obama has said, the Constitution protects Muslim beliefs and would prohibit discrimination against the planned construction on the ground of the Islamic affiliation of the community center and mosque. 

"Second, the administrative bodies in New York City in charge of zoning and construction standards decided, in the normal course of their work, to issue a building permit; in that sense, this is a 'local issue.' 

"Finally, on the 'wisdom' of the decision to locate the center two blocks from Ground Zero, any criticism of this choice as 'insensitive' widely misses the mark.  The Muslims who are building the center do not associate themselves with the criminals who perpetrated the attacks on the World Trade Center, and, when they chose a location for their new center, there was no reason for them to assume that others would make that association or for them to defer to that mistaken association, if made. 

"If, however, there are threats of violence against the new center, then that may pose difficult safety concerns that must be addressed by the center's administrators and the city. This is a question of protecting the center from the danger of criminal vandalism and violence, not a question of whether it was somehow inappropriate to choose this particular construction site.

 After reviewing the online commentary, Phillips says she most appreciates the posting by a woman who lost a relative on 9/11, at the World Trade Center "who said that it's a good thing there will be an Islamic community center so close to Ground Zero, because its proximity may help people to learn that adherents to mainstream Islam in the U.S. are regular, honorable people, part of the American fabric."

EXPERT CONTACT : Joshua Dyck, PhD Assistant professor of political science University at Buffalo (716) 645-8435 jdyck@buffalo.edu

While there will likely be some confusion in New York state voting booths this fall, it is useful to keep in mind a few things about the optical scan voting technology now used across the state. 

Optical scan technology is the technology recommended by  the Cal-Tech/Berkeley/Maryland study of voting machine accuracy, based on surveys of individuals allowed to try out several new technologies. 

Remember that several states rushed to comply with the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) at great expense and made some costly mistakes,

California, for instance, adopted touch-screen voting machines that left no a paper trail, then almost immediately decertified them when potential problems were uncovered. 

While it has taken New York longer than any other state to become HAVA compliant, the state has done so prudently and not wasted millions of dollars on the transition. 

The most important thing about a voting system is that citizens have faith in it. 

New Yorkers are so used to lever machines that it would be difficult for us to change to any other system, and some  voters will lament the fact that they will no longer be able express their franchise with the great physical force afforded by the lever system.

The new optical scanning system, however, reflects a prudent and incremental change to our voting methodology that ought to instill more faith and security in our democracy.