Spotlight Symposia Series. October 25-26, 2024.

The College of Arts and Sciences Spotlight Symposia Series recognizes and elevates members of our faculty. Each Spotlight symposium honors a particular faculty member by inviting distinguished speakers to our campus who share the honoree’s research field. Each symposium places our honoree at the center of vital national and international conversations and serves as an important venue for building scholarly relationships critical to the university.

Convergence of Science for One Planet, One Health

October 25-26, 2024 | UB North Campus

The two-day symposium will feature a keynote, performance, a poster session, numerous technical talks and much more. 

Event schedule and registration information will be available in the summer.

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2024 Honoree

The University at Buffalo College of Arts and Sciences Spotlight Symposia Series honoring Professor Diana Aga, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Henry M. Woodburn Chair and Director of RENEW.

About Diana Aga, PhD

Professor Aga is a recognized world leader in environmental analytical chemistry. She has developed innovative methods that identify “emerging contaminants” and analyze and predict their movements through the environment.

Her seminal contributions have dramatically improved our knowledge of the ecological and human impacts of emerging contaminants, such as antimicrobials and other pharmaceuticals, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, pesticides and PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals.”

A prolific scholar, Professor Aga has published more than 180 peer-reviewed journal articles, nine book chapters and two edited books. Since joining UB, she has been awarded over $15 million dollars in federal, state and industrial grants to support her research.

Professor Aga is the recipient of numerous local, national and international awards and honors. Among her many honors, she has received two Fulbright Fellowships; a National Science Foundation CAREER award; the Jacob F. Schoellkopf Medal of the Western New York American Chemical Society, an  American Chemical Society AGRO Fellow, and an Alexander von Humboldt Research fellowship. She is also an elected fellow of the American Chemical Society.

Speakers

Keynote Speaker

Pedro Alvarez.

George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
Member NAE Director, NEWT Center Director, Rice WaTER Institute
Rice University

Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment

Technical Talks

Cornell University

The Energy Landscape in Age of Sustainability

Carnegie Mellon University

Plastics Recycling in the USA and Reuse in Infrastructure

University of California San Diego

Aerosols and Their Impacts on Atmospheric Chemistry, Climate and Health

Pennsylvania State University

Stanford University

Sustainable Water Supplies in California: Preparing for a Hotter and Drier Future

University of Utah

Bioelectrocatalysis for Sustainability Applications

University of Michigan

Arizona State University

Everything You Need Can Come From the Air

Honoree Talk

Diana Aga.

2024 Honoree

Lessons Learned from Three Decades of Research on Emerging and Re-emerging Contaminants in the Environment

Toward a Climate Haven

“Toward a Climate Haven” is a project blending sustainability science with performance art to address Western New York's role as a potential climate refuge amid its own climate uncertainties. This program is brought to you by the UB Department of Environment and Sustainability and the UB Department of Theatre and Dance.

The research team includes: Tim Chevral, professor; Susan Clark, assistant professor and Kacey Stewart, postdoctoral associate from the Department of Environment and Sustainability and from the Department of Theatre and Dance: Lynne Koscielniak, professor and Eero Laine, associate professor.

Symposium organizing committee:
  • Luis Colón, SUNY Distinguished Professor and A. Conger Goodyear Professor of Chemistry
  • Ning Dai, associate professor, Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering
  • Emanuela Gionfriddo, associate professor, Department of Chemistry
  • Elizabeth Thomas, associate professor, Department of Geology
  • Javid Rzayev, professor, organizing committee chair and chair of the Department of Chemistry
  • College Events team, College Marketing and Communications team.

For more information, contact casevents@buffalo.edu.

Spotlight Symposia Series logo.