University at Buffalo (UB)
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. The 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
Our planet and its ecosystems are under duress. The world’s increasing chemical pollution and scarcity of natural resources are exacerbated by the rapidly changing climate in a vicious, existential cycle. To create solutions for the fragile water-energy-food nexus, we must understand the threats we face as interlocking global sustainability challenges. This two-day symposium rises to the challenge by convening leading experts in chemistry, environmental science, and engineering who will identify the key challenges and opportunities before us. The symposium will include a keynote lecture, numerous technical talks, a poster session with networking opportunities and a performance.
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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 over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles, nine book chapters and two edited books. Since joining UB, she has been awarded more than $20 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.
Keynote Speaker
George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Member NAE Director, NEWT Center Director, Rice WaTER Institute, Rice University
Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment
Through control over material size, morphology and chemical structure, nanotechnology offers novel materials that are nearly “all surface” and that can be more reactive per atom than bulk materials. Such engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) can offer superior catalytic, adsorptive, optical, quantum, electrical and/or antimicrobial properties that enable multi-functional technology platforms for next-generation water treatment. This presentation will address emerging opportunities for nanotechnology to improve the selectivity and efficiency to remove priority pollutants, decrease electrical energy requirements, and meet a growing need for safer and more affordable decentralized water treatment and reuse. Examples of applicable nano-enabled technologies include electrosorption with highly conductive and selective electrodes to remove multivalent ions that precipitate or cause scaling; solar-thermal processes enabled by nanophotonics to desalinate with membrane distillation; disinfection and advanced oxidation using nanocatalysts; and electrocatalytic degradation of recalcitrant organic pollutants of emerging concern. We envision using these enabling technologies to develop compact modular water treatment systems that are easy to deploy and can tap unconventional water sources and treat challenging wastewaters to protect human lives and support economic development.
About the Speaker
Pedro J.J. Alvarez is the George R. Brown Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University, where he also serves as founding Director of the NSF ERC on Nanotechnology-Enabled Water Treatment (NEWT).
His research interests include environmental implications and applications of nanotechnology, bioremediation, fate and transport of toxic chemicals, water footprint of biofuels, water treatment and reuse and antibiotic resistance control. Pedro received the B Eng Degree in Civil Engineering from McGill University and MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Engineering from the University of Michigan. He is the 2012 Clarke Prize laureate and also won the 2014 AAEES Grand Prize for Excellence in Environmental Engineering and Science. Past honors include President of AEESP, the Perry McCarty AEESP Founders’ Award for Outstanding Contributions to Environmental Engineering Education & Practice, the AEESP Frontiers in Research Award, the WEF McKee Medal for Groundwater Protection, the SERDP cleanup project of the year award, the Brown and Caldwell lifetime achievement award for site remediation, the ASCE Freese Award, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Chinese Chemical Society and various best paper awards with his students. Pedro has served on the advisory committee of the NSF Engineering Directorate and on the scientific advisory board of the EPA, and is currently an Executive Editor of Environmental Science and Technology. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for pedagogical and practical contributions to bioremediation and environmental nanotechnology, and is a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering
Technical Talks
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
Stanford University
Sustainable Water Supplies in California: Preparing for a Hotter and Drier Future
Honoree Talk
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.
A block of rooms has been held at the Fairfield Inn and Suites Buffalo Amherst/University at a rate of $129/night for attendees. Reference group: 2024 Spotlight Symposium. The last day to reserve the group rate is Oct. 1, 2024.
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.
