UB Faculty: Living Green
For these UB researchers, living green is their way of life. UB faculty members have gained recognition for a breadth of environmental work and research that helps make our world a better place.
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Diana Aga, associate professor of chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences- One of a handful of scientists in the world looking at the complete journey that both human and animal antibiotics and their metabolites take from wastewater or the barnyard to the crop field and, possibly, to supplies of drinking water; she also studies endocrine disruption in Great Lakes fish and develops selective sample clean-up techniques for environmental analysis.
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Richelle Allen-King, associate professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- Understanding and integrating the basic processes which control the fate and transport of contaminants in the environment, particularly in groundwater.
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Dennis Andrejko, associate professor of architecture, School of Architecture and Planning- Energy-conscious design and sustainability with special emphasis on cold regions and passive solar design.
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Joseph Atkinson, professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences- Directs UB's Great Lakes Program, whose mission is to coordinate the development, evaluation, and synthesis of scientific and technical knowledge on the Great Lakes Ecosystem in support of public education and policy formation.
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Tracy Bank, assistant professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- Mineral-microbe interactions including the fate and transport of toxic metal contaminants in natural porous media and the adhesion of environmentally important bacterial cells to mineral surfaces.
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Matthew Becker, associate professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- Use of hydrogeophysical techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging and ground penetrating radar to explore channeled flow of ground water through rock fractures
- Use of remote sensing methods to delineate the behavior of ground water from space and using high performance ground-water models linked to geographic information systems to model ground water flow and residence time at the basin scale.
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Sean Bennett, associate professor of geography, College of Arts and Sciences- Study of aspects of erosion and sedimentation, primarily in fluvial systems through the use of experimentation, theory, field studies and numerical modeling–goals to quantify flow and sediment transport processes using an interdisciplinary approach and to determine the impact of these processes on river form and function, water quality and ecology, landscape evolution, and watershed infrastructure and integrity.
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Robert Berger, professor of law, School of Law
- Intersection of environment and development issues, specifically brown-field redevelopment
- Politics of global climate change and renewable energy, focusing on the positions of various groups, particularly environmental advocacy ones.
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Ling Bian, associate professor of geography, College of Arts and Sciences- Integration of GIS with environmental modeling
- Individual-based epidemiological modeling
- Inter-operable environmental models
- Geographic image retrieval.
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Mary Bisson, professor of biology, College of Arts and Sciences- Charophytes - macrophytic algae that give rise to higher plants: study of membrane transport phenomena, their regulation, responses to salt stress and gravity
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Matthew Bonner, professor of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Health Professions- Roles of occupational/environmental exposures and genetic susceptibility in the development of cancer
- Investigation of occupational exposure to pesticides and cancer, to ambient air pollution and breast cancer, and genetic susceptibility to lung cancer from residential radon and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure.
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Barry Boyer, professor of law, School of Law- Expert in environmental law and administrative regulation, Boyer oversees the environmental law externship and concentration and serves as co-director of the State of the Region project.
- Formerly dean of the UB School of Law, also has been an associate dean and director of the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. He served as chair of the Erie County (N.Y.) Environmental Management Council, and as a member of several New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) committees, including the Water Management Advisory Council and panels to develop remedial action plans for the Buffalo and Niagara rivers. He is the author of "No Place to Hide? Great Lakes Pollution and Your Health."
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Frank Bright, UB Distinguished Professor and A. Conger Chair of chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences- Environmental-friendly chemistries: Quantifying oligomer/polymer tail and junction point accessibility, dynamics, and mobility in pure and cosolvent-modified supercritical CO2
- Determining solute-fluid interactions at interfaces in contact with pure and cosolvent-modified supercritical CO2
- Elucidating solute solvent in room temperature ionic liquids as a function of dissolved cosolvents and pure CO2.
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Jason Briner, assistant professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- A paleoclimatologist, Briner reconstructs past climates in order to better understand current climate trends, including global warming. Funded by the National Science Foundation, Briner's group is gathering the first quantitative temperature data over the last millennium from areas in extreme northeastern sections of the Canadian Arctic, such as Baffin Island.
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Mary Alice Coffroth, professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- Use of population structure and genetic diversity of marine species to provide insight into their current and past population dynamics and to elucidate the mechanisms that maintain the observed diversity
- Study of how to gain a better understanding of host-symbiont relationships in coral reef ecosystems, which have implications for atmospheric and ocean sciences, conservation biology and the study and diagnosis of microbial diseases in corals.
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Sam Cole, professor of urban and regional planning, School of Architecture and Planning- Sustainable development; methods of futures studies and social accounting methods in regional science.
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Beata Csatho, assistant professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- Remote-sensing, which employs satellites and other technology to learn more about distant places, such as the polar regions or remote mountains
- Efforts to better understand ongoing and historical changes in polar ice sheets and the precise extent to which these changes are natural versus man-made.
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Jo Freudenheim, UB Distinguished Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health and Health Professions- Diet and alcohol consumption in relation to cancer, particularly breast cancer; identification of genetic factors that interact with diet to influence disease risk
- Examination of tumor characteristics in relation to dietary and genetic factors; exposures in early life on breast cancer risk, including diet and other environmental exposures.
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Joseph Gardella, professor of chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences- Developed at UB one of the nation's few chemistry service-learning programs focusing on environmental concerns in urban communities. Working with local organizations, Gardella and his students have become liaisons between citizens and technical experts from regulatory and business organizations. Gardella is now bringing environmental science and chemistry to inner-city children in grades K-12, through an historic partnership with the Buffalo Public Schools, funded by the John R. Oishei Foundation.
- Chairs the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club's Toxic Waste Committee
- Formerly chaired the Environmental Task Force and a founding member of the Environment & Society Institute
- Received a 2005 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, administered by the National Science Foundation, honoring those who have demonstrated a commitment to mentoring students and boosting the participation of minorities, women and disabled students in science, mathematics and engineering.
- A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he also is recipient of three SUNY Chancellor's Awards, and the 2003 Ernest A. Lynton Award for Faculty Professional Service and Academic Outreach.
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Rossman Giese, professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- Crystal structures and defects in clay minerals, relation between mineral chemistry and surface properties, interaction between absorbed organic compounds and mineral surfaces, modeling of interfacial interactions
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Igor Jankovic, assistant professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences- Groundwater flow modeling
- Contaminant transport in groundwater
- Inverse modeling
- Flow in the unsaturated zone
- Stochastic subsurface hydrology
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James Jensen, professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences- Studies wastewater treatment, including the fate of pharmaceutical metabolites in wastewater; remediation of contaminated soils and sediments; water disinfection, metal desorption and chemical oxidation.
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Paul Kostyniak, professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences- Toxicology of heavy metals, chlorinated organics, and antidote development; study of mechanisms of xenobiotic disposition and investigation of the role of exogenous nutrients in the elimination of toxic pollutants;
- Rates and mechanisms of biodegradation of man-made polymers; assessment of risk associated with exposure to PCB isomers found in fresh water fish
- Toxicity testing of new radioimaging agents and the development and testing of antimcirobial surface coatings.
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Chris Larsen, associate professor of geography, College of Arts and Sciences- Reconstructing and modeling the spatial and temporal relations between climate change, wildfire activity and forest composition over the past 1000 years
- Conservation biogeography and applying GIS/RS and paleoecological methods to provide reference conditions for ecological restoration.
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Howard Lasker, professor of geology, College of Arts and Sciences- Study of coral reef organisms, particularly the population ecology of octocorals (soft corals and gorgonians).
- Conduct studies ranging from the feeding ecology of butterfly fish to the evolution and systematic of corals
- Use of a combination of field experiments and molecular studies to examine reproduction and recruitment of octocorals on Caribbean reefs.
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D. Scott Mackay, associate professor of geography, College of Arts and Sciences- Surface water hydrology and ecohydrology, focusing on hydrologic and ecological mechanisms that underlie space-time dynamics of climate-soil-vegetation and land-water systems
- Role of transitions between systems (e.g.. upland-wetland, forest edges, transport pathways) on water, energy, carbon, and nutrient fluxes.
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David Mark, professor of geography, College of Arts and Sciences- Study of human spatial cognition and language, using ethnographic methods, human-subjects experiments, and formal models of mathematical structures.
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Errol Meidinger, professor of law and Vice Dean for Research, School of Law- How government actors are creating transnational regulatory programs for behavior that governments have traditionally regulated, such as environmental management
- Effectiveness of these new programs.
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James Olson, professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences- Study of dioxin (TCDD), a widespread environmental contaminant, and the toxic manifestations on humans, lab animals and wildlife
- Refinement of physiologically based pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models for the exposure to two pesticides (chlorpyrifos and parathion) (i.e. these pesticides are widely used in the U.S. and they create risks of exposure beyond applicators).
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G. William Page, professor of urban and regional planning, School of Architecture and Planning- How to use the planning process to minimize the negative effects of human settlements on the natural environment
- Contaminated land and brownfield sites
- Water supply planning
- Third-world environmental problems
- Effects of public infrastructure investments on communities and the environment
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Alan Rabideau, professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences- Conducts research in groundwater engineering, focusing primarily on the development of mathematical models and software for the analysis of groundwater supply and quality.
- Models reactive contaminant transport in groundwater, subsurface remediation, decision and risk analysis for environmental systems.
- Was lead developer of curricula for the UB undergraduate environmental engineering programs.
- Has served on numerous public service projects, including scientific review panels at the West Valley and Hanford nuclear facilities; the New York State Pesticide Advisory Board and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.
- Provided technical assistance to numerous community groups and private companies related to the management of local hazardous waste sites.
- Affiliated with UB's Center for Integrated Waste Mnagement, the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis; Center for Computational Research, Great Lakes Program.
- Further information: csee.buffalo.edu/professors_rabideau.shtml, Groundwater Research Group , email rabideau@buffalo.edu
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Chris Renschler, assistant professor of geography, College of Arts and Sciences- Conducts research geared toward developing integrated, user-friendly analysis and modeling techniques using Geographical Information Science, environmental modeling, and readily available data sets to support rapid, practical and effective decision-making in natural resources and natural hazard management.
- With colleagues at various federal agencies has developed software tools to use geographic information systems (GIS) to help natural resources managers of forest, grass and rangelands to optimize efforts to prevent and mitigate the consequences of extreme events related to land use and climate change, such as wildfires and debris flows.
- Affiliated with the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, the MCEER Remote Sensing Task Force, and the Center for Geohazards Studies.
- Further information: www.geog.buffalo.edu/~rensch, email rensch@buffalo.edu
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Lynda Schneekloth, professor of architecture, School of Architecture and Planning- Placemaking: how people transform the world, including natural processes and built form.
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Margaret Shannon, Research associate professor of law, School of Law- Exploration of new cross-boundary institutional strategies for landscape governance in the U.S.
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Kenneth Shockley, assistant professor of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences- Environmental Philosophy
- Partiality and the normative requirements associated with group membership
- Collective constitution, agency, and responsibility
- Value pluralism with a particular focus on environmental values.
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Kenton Stewart, professor Emeritus of biology, College of Arts and Sciences- Carbon cycling in dimictic and meromictic lakes, hypersalinity in Arctic fjord lakes, influence of climate on ice-in-out dates of lakes, and zooplankton community structure
- Study of physical, chemical and biological investigations of 4 Finger Lakes to help distinguish between perturbations by man and nature
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Derek Taylor, associate professor of biology, College of Arts and Sciences- Evolutionary biology of aquatic invertebrates, addressing problems and making discoveries in speciation biology, hybridization, species introductions, historical and ecological biogeography, and molecular evolution.
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Christina Tsai, assistant professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences- Stochastic hydraulics, hydrology and water resource engineering
- Hydroinformatics
- Environmental hydromechanics and river hydraulics
- Wave mechanics, unsteady sediment transport, and artificial neural network applications, stochastic modeling and river hydraulics.
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John Van Benschoten, professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences- Heterogeneous sorption of metals in the environment, with applications to the transport of metals ions in groundwater and remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater
- Fractal geometry concepts for the analysis of aquatic particles
- Control of nonindigenous species using chemical oxidants, removal of natural organic matter by coagulation processes, aluminum chemistry in water treatment, oxidation of iron and manganese, and beneficial use of water treatment residuals
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A. Scott Weber, professor of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences- Studies hazardous waste management, biological process analysis and design, soil and water bioremediation, including biodegradation of chemicals in water and soil and the revitalization of former waste sites known as brownfields.
- Directs the Center for Integrated Waste Management, originally founded as the New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management, established by the New York State Legislation to initiate and coordinate research and technology development in the areas of toxic substances and hazardous wastes. The Center currently promotes the development and application of improved environmental technologies and management methods.