4 Faculty Members Honored at SUNY Research Foundation Dinner

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Four UB faculty members were among 30 State University of New York faculty members honored on May 2 at a dinner held in Albany by the SUNY Research Foundation.

Receiving the TIAA-CREF Lifetime Achievement Award from TIAA-CREF was Wayne K. Anderson of Williamsville, dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Anderson is the second consecutive UB faculty member to receive the award. Claude E. Welch Jr. was the award's inaugural recipient last year. 

The award, which carries with it a $10,000 grant from the Research Foundation, was established to annually recognize individuals who embody the true spirit of TIAA-CREF's mission for more than 86 years -- serving those who serve others for the greater good.

Receiving the Research and Scholarship Award from the SUNY Research Foundation were Rajan Batta of East Amherst, professor of industrial and systems engineering and associate dean for graduate education in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; Anthony S. Conrad of Buffalo, professor in the Department of Media Study, College of Arts and Sciences; and Mulchand S. Patel of Getzville, UB Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and associate dean for biomedical research and education, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

The awards, the highest honor given to SUNY faculty by the Research Foundation, recognize SUNY faculty for their outstanding scholarly and research contributions in the humanities, arts, social sciences, sciences, medicine and engineering. The selection criteria include sponsored program funding and sources; research activity, where appropriate; publications and presentations; involvement of students; teaching and other community activities; and academic reputation.

Wayne K. Anderson, a UB faculty member since 1968, is stepping down as dean after nearly 10 years in the position and returning to the faculty as a researcher and educator when his successor is in place. During his tenure as dean, Anderson has put performance- and incentive-based financial systems in place in the pharmacy school, overseen significant faculty growth and ensured the ongoing accreditation of the school and its professional programs through two review cycles by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education.

As a researcher, he has done pioneering work into the design, synthesis and development of anti-cancer and anti-HIV agents, and in the study of enzyme inhibitors.

Prior to becoming dean, his research was funded continuously by the National Institutes of Health for more than 25 years, resulting in more than 100 publications.

An accomplished educator as well as researcher, Anderson has mentored nearly 120 undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, 39 of whom received doctoral degrees under his supervision.

He holds a bachelor's degree in pharmacy and a master's degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Manitoba and a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A UB faculty member since 1984 and chair of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering for nine years, Rajan Batta uses industrial-engineering techniques, such as operations research, to develop and analyze mathematical models of systems critical to society. His research areas range from transportation planning and analysis of urban crime patterns to military logistics, telecommunications and homeland defense.

He has a record of sustained funding from federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice; local government, including the City of Buffalo; and private industry, including Boeing, United Airlines, Lockheed-Martin and Federal Express.

His research also has been funded by UB's National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis and the Center for Transportation Injury Research.

He has published more than 80 journal papers in the premier journals in his field, most co-authored with his doctoral students, and serves on the editorial boards of IIE Transactions and Computers & Operations Research.

He received the Institute of Industrial Engineering Fellow Award in 2006 in recognition of distinguished service and leadership qualities.

Batta received UB's 2002 Sustained Achievement Award and he won the Best Paper Award from Military Operations Research Journal in 2004.

He graduated from the India Institute of Technology in New Delhi and earned a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Multidisciplinary artist Anthony S. Conrad is a pioneer in the development of American experimental video, film and music. His recent artistic production has been in audio performance or installation, often with a strong visual complement.

Director of graduate studies in the Department of Media Study, College of Arts and Sciences, Conrad joined the UB faculty as an assistant professor in 1979 after serving for several years as a visiting faculty member.

He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard College.

A recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities, Conrad teaches "Video Analysis," a survey of historical and contemporary practices in video with an emphasis on the work of independent media artists, and "Media Art Production Today," a symposium that explores contemporary premises for making media artworks.

His work was part of the 2005 Lyon Biennial of Contemporary Art in Lyon, France, as well as featured in a recent exhibit at the Whitney Museum in New York City. Among other venues that have recently or soon will exhibit his work are the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, the Galerie Daniel Buchholz in Cologne and the Greene-Naftali Gallery in New York City.

Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center presented a three-day retrospective of his work in October.

A specialist in nutritional biochemistry, Mulchand S. Patel joined the UB faculty in 1993. He previously spent 15 years at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, leaving as a full professor of biochemistry.

His research interests include metabolic programming and the development of obesity, and the relationship between the structure and function of components that make up an enzyme group called the human pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. A deficiency of any of the components of the complex results in severe neurological disabilities.

He sits on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Metabolic Syndrome and Related Disorders.

He earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Gujarat University, Ahmedabad, India; a master's degree in biochemistry from the M.S. University of Baroda, Baroda, India, and a doctorate in nutritional biochemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.