NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the New York State Center for Hazardous Waste Management at UB is A. Scott Weber, associate professor of civil engineering at UB. He succeeds Ralph Rumer, who is stepping down from the post to focus on research and teaching. Rumer had served in the position since the establishment of the center by the New York State Legislature in 1987.

A faculty member since 1983, Weber is an expert in bioremediation, the use of indigenous microorganisms, typically bacteria, that occur in nature to render hazardous waste harmless by converting it into common minerals. His research focuses on new methods of treating soils and water contaminated with hazardous and non-hazardous waste.

Last year, he was on-site manager for a $1.1 million demonstration project at a hazardous-waste site south of Brockport, N.Y., to test different methods of bioremediation.

Weber has been appointed to the Water Environment Research Foundation's Research Council, a subcommittee of the EPA's Bioremediation Action Committee and the Technical Review Group, Radioactive Waste Management and Low Level Radioactive Waste Disposal, of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. He is the author of numerous research publications.

Weber has chaired the environmental committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers, Buffalo section, and has served as secretary and president of the WNY American Chemical Society Environmental Group. He is vice chair of the Research Council of the Water Environment Research Foundation and a member of the board of directors of the Niagara Frontier section of the Air Waste Management Association.

Weber earned a doctorate in civil engineering from the University of California, Davis and received master's and bachelor's degrees from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.