Spagnoli Named Senior University Fellow

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- John J. Spagnoli, former director of the Buffalo region of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), has been named a senior university fellow at the University at Buffalo and research associate professor in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Spagnoli, who spent 31 years with the DEC, will take his expertise to the New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management at UB, where he will provide strategic planning for the center and assist in developing an externally funded, industrial, non-hazardous-waste-management research program.

"The center is truly fortunate to have a person of John's stature and expertise on staff," said A. Scott Weber, Ph.D., executive director of the center and UB professor of civil engineering. "Throughout his career, he has shown an ability to bring imaginative solutions to complex environmental issues. I look forward to John continuing this trend in his new role."

Spagnoli began his career in government as a marine ecologist in the DEC¹s Long Island office. He later became the DEC's chief fish and wildlife ecologist, where he was responsible for long-term research on the impacts of pollutants on fish and other aquatic resources.

In 1978, he was appointed the DEC's Region 9 director, managing environmental quality, natural resources, enforcement and permitting programs for the six Western New York counties.

During his tenure as director of a region that is home to half of the state's hazardous waste dump sites, including Love Canal, and the only hazardous-waste treatment facility in the Northeast, he worked intensively on hazardous and solid waste issues.

He has taught environmental science at UB¹s Rachel Carson College, C.W. Post College of Long Island University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He also serves as a professor of chemistry at Canisius College.

A graduate of C.W. Post, Spagnoli received a master's of science degree from Long Island University and a Master of Public Administration degree from the State University of New York at Albany.

He lives in Orchard Park.