Sept 17, 2003

BUFFALO, NY, September 17, 2003 - Today, the staff and students of the newly constructed Starpoint High School will be dedicating the Hauptman Crystal Garden located in their Math and Science Courtyard. Inspired by Dr. Herbert Hauptman, this garden consists of five hallmark structures of atomic geometric shapes including 4 of the 5 platonic solids (icosahedron, octahedron, cube, tetrahedron). The fifth sculpture is a three-dimensional rhombus. These sculptures created by Mark Griffis, reflect Dr. Hauptman’s lifelong work and research in Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology.

The Hauptman Crystal garden will serve as an inspiration and useful teaching resource for all the surrounding math and science classrooms as well as connect classroom content to real, local research. Additionally, Dr. and Mrs. Hauptman donated a stained glass dodecahedron, constructed by Dr. Hauptman, representing the 5th platonic solid. This piece will be displayed indoors in an enclosed container and can be viewed on the way out to the courtyard.

The afternoon included: Dr. Hauptman meeting personally with select teachers and students for a question and answer session at the school's large group lecture hall, followed by a school assembly in the auditorium, the introduction of Dr. Hauptman to the entire student body, a brief talk, and a presentation of his gift to the school. The event culminated with a ribbon cutting and unveiling ceremony of the Hauptman Crystal Garden in the Math and Science Courtyard.

Currently, the largest source of funding for the Hauptman Crystal Garden are the Starpoint students. Through funds raised by the National Honor Society students from 1995-2000, they were able to purchase the icosahedron structure. Both the octahedron and cube sculptures have requests pending, while the tetrahedron and three-dimensional rhombus are still available for sponsorship opportunities.

The newly constructed state-of-the-art high school houses 65 classrooms, including nine computer labs and eight science labs. The 220,000 square foot facility is also home to a two-tiered media center, 1100 seat auditorium, gymnasiums, large group lecture hall and the math and science courtyard. It is located at 4363 Mapleton Road in Lockport, New York.

Dr. Herbert A. Hauptman is Buffalo's Nobel Laureate and is president and namesake of the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWI). A member of the HWI staff since 1970 and a mathematician by training, Dr. Hauptman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1985 for his development of the formula known as “direct methods”, where his application of classical mathematics finally resolved an issue that had defeated generations of chemists. Utilizing the direct methods technique, the structures of thousands of molecules have now been solved and new structures are added to the list each year. As a result, many new drugs to combat some of society’s deadliest diseases, heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure, have now been designed.

A Western New York center for basic biomedical research since 1956, the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute is a world-renowned, independent, non-profit facility located in the heart of the newly emerging Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Our basic research mission is two-fold; committing ourselves to improving the health of people for generations to come by studying the causes of diseases at their basic molecular level and working to educate the scientists of tomorrow.