Environment and Sustainability

Armed with small chemical sensors, knowledge of analytical chemistry techniques and serious dedication, undergraduate students in chemistry Professor Joseph A. Gardella's class at the University at Buffalo are on a mission: They are using science and communication skills to help bridge the gap between government and residents of a Buffalo subdivision that is a contaminated former brownfield.

Was there ever life on Mars? That question may one day be answered in part by research now being conducted by a University at Buffalo geologist who studies volcanoes on earth.

Mention New York State's Finger Lakes region or its Southern Tier, and most people don't automatically think of earthquake country. But these upstate areas may be about to gain a reputation for greater seismic potential, according to recent research by a team of University at Buffalo geologists.

A project led by a University at Buffalo geologist involving the topographic mapper being flown by the space shuttle Endeavour could help to develop a new and far more accurate way to map features of shorelines and aid scientists in determining past and future volcanic and seismic activity in an area.

Jo Freudenheim, Ph.D., professor of social and preventive medicine at the University at Buffalo, is leading a project that will map the early-childhood residences of a group of women, the proximity of their homes to sites that may have been environmentally hazardous, and compare this data to the women with and without breast cancer to see if there is an association.

It won't be apparent to passengers landing on today's (Thursday, Jan. 6) inaugural flight at Istanbul's brand new international airport, but the roof of the massive terminal building features a unique approach to seismically modernizing the structure following last summer's devastating quake.

Just because a volcano isn't erupting doesn't mean it poses no danger. In papers being presented today (Tuesday, Dec. 14) at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, University at Buffalo volcanologists show how, in some cases, soft spots on volcanoes that simply collapse from the side may trigger mudflows that potentially can be more devastating than eruptions.

For the University at Buffalo Department of Geology, "hands-on" in a lab apparently isn't hands-on enough. That's why excavators are drilling four, 50-foot wells on the North (Amherst) Campus so that students can learn about hydrogeology -- the study of how water and other liquids, such as pollutants, move through the shallow subsurface -- up close and personal.

Some might say Walter Simpson has a "bah, humbug!" attitude toward the holiday season. But the University at Buffalo energy officer and environmental activist says the holidays just are not happy anymore because they have become a time "scarred by hypocrisy and commercialism" and bring the year's most unecological and earth-destructive practices.

Members of the UB Green Office in University Facilities at the University at Buffalo have kicked off a "think green" campaign to urge members of the university community to save energy, recycle and reduce waste.