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Biological Names

Biology (Resources by Subject)

Earth Day

Ecology & Environment (Resources by Subject)

Energy Information

Geology (Resources by Subject)

Mathematics (Resources by Subject)

Poster Presentations: Designing Effective Posters

Scientific Method

Curriculum Vitae / Bio

Frederick W. Stoss is an Associate Librarian in the Arts & Sciences Libraries at the State University of New York University at Buffalo. His primary responsibilities are serving as the Biological Sciences, Geology, and Mathematics Librarian. He shares responsibilities for subjects related to ecology and environmental science and studies and is the librarian liaison to the Athletics Division.

In January 2007 and in June 2010 Fred was trained by former Vice President, Al Gore, and The Climate Project, to give presentations of Mr. Gore's slide show, on which Gore's awards-winning book and documentary film An Inconvenient Truth and the book Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis are based. In 2012 he was selected as a Mentor for the Climate Reality Project Leadership Corps. Fred has given presentations for several undergraduate and graduate classes here at UB and elsewhere in New York State, and is willing to customize a presentation for your specific class needs.

His most professional development interests are in the areas reflected by The New Biology of bioinformatics, genomics, proteomics, and other disciplines evolving from molecular and structural biology and genetics. He has been active in the ongoing continuing education initiatives of the National Library of Medicine's National Center for Biotechnology Information, including participation in the NCBI Workshops for Molecular Biology Information Resources for Librarians and the NCBI Advanced Workshop for Bioinformatics Information Specialists with more than 100 contact hours of NCBI and NCBI-related training. He is available to provide basic and introductory discussions and demonstrations of these resources.

Fred also has been actively involved with issues related to Green and Sustainable Libraries, and has published and given presentation, including invited and keynote addresses on this topic. He is one of 19 librarians cited in the chapter, “Librarians as Sustainability Advocates, Educators and Entrepreneurs,” in the book, The Entrepreneurial Librarian: Essays on the Infusion of Private-Business Dynamism into Professional Service. Fifty librarians were chosen from several hundred respondents to a survey of librarians recognized in areas of librarianship where entrepreneurial opportunities exist.

His involvement with the topic of sustainability formally began more than a decade ago, serving as a member of the team that designed and implemented the American Library Association’s “Libraries Build Sustainable Communities Project (LBSC)” from 1999 to 2001. He organized the breakout session, “Sharing Sustainability Data and Information: Role of Libraries and Library Networks,” featuring the LBSC program and its results, at the 2001 Annual Conference of the (U.S.) National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), “Sustainable Communities: Science and Solutions.” He crafted, with Terry Link (Michigan State University), the breakout session’s summary into NCSE recommendations delivered by NCSE at the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. These ALA and NCSE involvements appear in my 2002 article, “Libraries Build Sustainable Communities,” published in Reference and User Services Quarterly. A result of these beginnings was an invitation to serve on the Academic Advisory Board of the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Global Sustainability, and several opportunities to present a vision of “Green and Sustainable Libraries,” as an invited or keynote speaker, including a keynote address at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institution Libraries.” It was here, where he met Astrid Britten, Director of the National Library of Aruba, and several of her library’s staff and the beginning of a three year history continuing a librarian’s vision of sustainability, including participation in the Green Aruba II (presenter, 2011) and Green Aruba III (invited guest, 2012). He is working with the National Library of Aruba in creating the Caribbean Energy, Environmental and Sustainability Education (CEESEd) Program and helped to organize and present at the first CEESEd “Green Education Aruba 2012 Symposium.”

He is a member of the American Library Association (ALA). He was Coordinator of the OLOS Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) (1999-2002) and the SRRT Action Council as a Member-at-Large (1999-2005). He is a Past-Co-Chair or Past-Chair of the SRRT Task Force on the Environment (TFOE). Stoss was also a member of the Special Libraries Association, serving as Chair of the Environmental Information Division (1988-1989). Under his leadership, the Environmental Information Division was successfully merged with the Natural Resources Division to create the Environment and Resource Management Division (ERMD). He was the first recipient of the ERMD Outstanding Division Member Award in 1994.

He is also a member of the Natural Resources Information Council, the State University of New York Library Association, and the American Institute of Biological Sciences. He is also a member of the Community Advisory Board of the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center. He is a member of the New York State Outdoor Education Association, the North American Association for Environmental Education, and is a Past-Chair of the (national) Serra Clubs Environmental Education Committee.

Prior to working at the University at Buffalo, Mr. Stoss held research positions in the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology Laboratory in the Environmental Health Sciences Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center (Technical Research Associate) and in the Center for Chemical Hazard Assessment at the Syracuse Research Corporation (Research Associate). He served as Director of the Center for Environmental Information, where among other things he helped to create the Acid Rain Information Clearinghouse, and launch the current awareness publications, the Acid Precipitation Digest and the Global Climate Change Digest. He also was a Research Associate in the Energy, Environment and Resources Center at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he was subcontracted to the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In this setting he was the Task Leader for User Services and Communication and Outreach Coordinator. He assisted in the creation of the World Data Center for Atmospheric Trace Gases at ORNL. He is a Co-Editor of the CDIAC/ORNL document, Trends: A Compendium of Data on Global Change.

His wife, Dottie, is a Registered Nurse (BS in Nursing, Hartwick College) in the Adult, Acute, In-Patient Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Stong Memorial Hospital. They have one daughter, Kaeti, a science teacher (BA University of Rochester, BS SUNY College at Brockport, MS Geology Candidate at Mississippi State University). He is an avid fly fisherman and outdoor photographer.

Aruba Trip Report: Green Aruba III Conference and the Caribbean Energy, Environmental and Sustainability Symposium

Trip Report for the Green Aruba III Conference and the Green Education Symposium

Fred Stoss, Associate Librarian

Posted 10-18-2012

Attending the Green Aruba III Conference

I had the great honor attending the Green Aruba III Conference at the invitation of the Government of Aruba. My invitation came at the request of Mrs. Astrid Britten, Director of the National Library of Aruba and was facilitated through the Conference co-sponsors, The Ministry of Justice and Education, the Ministry of Finance, Communication, Utilities, and Energy, Elmar N.V., W.E.B. Aruba N.V. and Utilities Aruba N.V. The theme of this year’s conference was, “Smart and Sustainable.” This year’s program dealt with Aruba’s dedicated efforts in presenting their visions for a future economy built on alternative energy strategies on this island nation. Their goal is for ending Aruba’s dependence on an oil-based economy, by becoming the world’s first sustainable country by 2020. Three themes, “Aruba +20,” “Technology and Finance,” and “Green Energy for Households and Demand Site Management,” were addressed by 24 speakers representing government, finance, business, and research interests from Aruba, The Netherlands, the U.K. and the U.S. The Conference keynote address, “Smart Island Strategy,” was delivered by Jose Maria Figureres, former President of Costa Rico and President of the Carbon War Room. I was able to present the Green Aruba III Conference sponsoring ministers and moderators, the sponsors of the Green Education Symposium (see below), and the Prime Minister of Aruba, Mr. Mike Eman White UB baseball caps emblazoned with the Bulls Mascot and the word, “Buffalo.” I told them to wear this caps in the bright Aruba sunshine and especially on days when Buffalo’s snowy weather appears in their daily newspapers!

While attending this event, I had the opportunity to renew and continue the dialogue started last year, when I introduced a concept and a challenge in my in invited presentation, “Green Aruba ICE: Information, Communication and Education: Resources and Strategies to Save an Island and a Planet.” My involvement with the topic of sustainability formally began more than a decade ago with my serving as a member of the team that designed and implemented the American Library Association’s “Libraries Build Sustainable Communities Project (LBSC)” from 1999 to 2001. I organized the breakout session, “Sharing Sustainability Data and Information: Role of Libraries and Library Networks,” featuring the LBSC program and its results, at the 2001 Annual Conference of the (U.S.) National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE), “Sustainable Communities: Science and Solutions.” I crafted, with Terry Link (Michigan State University), the breakout session’s summary into NCSE recommendations delivered by NCSE at the 2002 United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. These ALA and NCSE involvements appear in my 2002 article, “Libraries Build Sustainable Communities,” published in Reference and User Services Quarterly.

A result of these beginnings was an invitation to serve on the Academic Advisory Board of the McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Global Sustainability, and several opportunities to present a vision of “Green and Sustainable Libraries,” as an invited or keynote speaker, including a keynote address at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institution Libraries.” It was here, where I met Astrid Britten and several of her library’s staff and the beginning of a three year history continuing a librarian’s vision of sustainability. The following reports are added to our collection: The Green Gateway: A Knowledge-Drive, Entrepreneurial Economy—Economic Vision and Policy for Aruba, and Electricity Storage and Renewables for Island Power: A Guide for Decision Makers.

Presenting at the First “Green Education Symposium Aruba 2012

Former U.S. Vice President, Al Gore, was the featured keynote speaker for the first Green Aruba Conference in 2010. He said it was necessary to engage the youth of the country in matters related to energy and sustainability, as a means to understand and act on the issues related to global climate change. As mentioned above, last year at the Green Aruba II Conference it was suggested for Aruba to consider the concept of “Green Aruba ICE: Information, Communication and Education,” as a means for the entire country to understand and embrace the concepts related to sustainability.*

On Monday and Tuesday, October 8-9, 2012, the first Symposium of the Caribbean Energy, Environmental and Sustainability Education (CEESEd) program reached out to more than 2000 Aruban high school students and students from the post-high school professional training institute. These students heard four speakers and members of the Aruban Government emphasize the importance of and their participation in Aruba’s development of its future sustainable economy.  SETAR, N.V., the Aruba Telecommunications company provided funding for this conference and the Aruba National Library served as it host institution. Ronny Alders, a senior assistant to Director Britten worked with me in conceiving the idea of the CEESEd program, and we decided that it would be fitting to lay its cornerstone event for and to its high school students.

My concluding presentation, “CEESEd: Grabbing Sustainable Ideas for Schools in Aruba,” provided a rationale and call to action for students to involve themselves in a variety of STEM and other non-science learning activities exploring their interests in “things green” and related to energy from its  ecological and environmental impacts to the consequences of energy (from exploration to use), and building sustainability in the environments where people live (homes to nations), work, go to school and play. Several science education Websites were shown as examples for student use in various projects and activities: the National Science Digital Library (NDSL), the National Science Foundation's online library of resources and collections for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and from education sites from NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and UNESCO. At the conclusion of the first day of the Symposium, my daughter, a certified Earth and General Science teacher and Symposium speaker, presented the National Library with a collection of instructional texts for the Project Wet and Project Wild environmental education book series, and she and I presented the National Library with a complete set of reports and books published by the North American Association for Environmental Education of which we are both members. These materials will be placed in a special educational resources collection of the National Library.

Over the course of my stay, there were ample opportunities for interviews with print and broadcast media, including Aruba TV networks and the Government Press Office. I also paid a visit to the Library of the University of Aruba (it is very small and they retain two copies of every textbook used, one for short-term borrowing and the other for onsite [reserve] use). They are dramatically increasing their electronic holdings to compensate for lack-of-space issues. A brief visit to the Aruba National Archives was made to see their exhibit of Boy Ecury, grandson of a slave, Ecury was an Aruban who fought with the Dutch Resistance against and executed by the Nazis, during World War II.  The National Library of Aruba, the University Library, and the National Archives are participating in the Digital Library of the Caribbean project, and looking for ways to expand that participation. I have separate photo albums for both of these events on my FaceBook site. Online versions of print media coverage and news-photo archives are at:

Minister Dowers na Green Education Symposium: Cada un di nos ta determina e futuro di e mundo aki

Minister di Energia Mike de Meza: Hobennan ta consciente cu Aruba mester di nan

Green Education Symposium Aruba 2012

Premier Eman den forum di BNA riba energia alternativa: Nos hobennan ta bay carga e di tres pilar economico nobo di Aruba

Bringing the Green Aruba agenda to island youth Green Education Symposium Aruba 2012

Green Education Symposium Aruba 2012

“Los jóvenes son consientes que Aruba necesita de ellos” Ministro de Energía Mike de Meza

Hobennan ta consciente cu Aruba mester di nan participacion

Nos hobennan ta bay carga e di tres pilar economico nobo di Aruba

No University Libraries or University at Buffalo Funds were used to support this trip.