BUFFALO, NY, August 25, 2003 ----- Starting this week the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI) and the Buffalo Niagara International Airport are partnering to bring you the Western New York Pioneers of Science Display at the airport. Western New York has always been a center for great scientific achievement. Now as Buffalo enters a new era of scientific growth with the emerging Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and the creation of the Buffalo Life Sciences Complex, it is vital to focus attention on individuals who have made outstanding contributions to science and achieved national and international prominence through their discoveries.

In October 2002, HWI created the Western New York Pioneers of Science Educational Conference and Awards Banquet, a daylong event devoted to not only honoring scientific leaders but to educating area high school and college students and encouraging them to pursue careers in the sciences. The educational portion of this program was sponsored by the Buffalo Museum of Science and the John R. Oishei Foundation.

In October, we honored nine individuals, two posthumously, who have made internationally significant contributions to science. Dr. T. Ming Chu, cancer researcher; Edith M. Flanigen, chemist; Wilson Greatbatch, inventor; Dr. Herbert A. Hauptman, mathematician; Walter P. Kistler, space pioneer; Dr. Eli Ruckenstein, chemical engineer Dr. J. Craig Venter, genomics pioneer; the late, Dr. Lawrence D. Jacobs, researcher and physician; and also posthumously, Ira G. Ross, aeronautical engineer.

This display, located in the west concourse of the airport near the US Airways gates, highlights each of the award recipients and their contributions in their respective fields. The next Pioneers of Science Conference and Awards Dinner is being planned for Fall of 2004.

Founded in 1956, the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute is an independent, non-profit facility specializing in basic research using structural biology. Located in the heart of the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus (BNMC), our staff of over 65 individuals is committed to improving human health by studying the causes of diseases, as well as potential therapies at their basic molecular level.