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For Alyssa Warrior, there’s no separating her research from her heritage. 

Supervised by Shannon Seneca, assistant professor of Indigenous studies, the first-year PhD student’s research analyzes the pollution of the very creek that she and other members of the Seneca Nation have used for centuries.

The 68-mile-long Cattaraugus Creek runs directly through the nation’s Cattaraugus Reservation south of Buffalo, but has been threatened by upstream contaminants, including sludge left by a former animal glue factory.  

“The water is like our kin,” Warrior said. “We need to take care of it.”

Such stories of personal connection to research weren’t uncommon at the UB RENEW Institute’s spring poster session and end-of-year celebration last week in Davis Hall.

This year, RENEW Director Diana Aga expanded the event beyond the research of RENEW core faculty and their graduate students to include the institute’s faculty affiliates and their teams. This meant that a broadened spectrum of energy, environment and water-related research — including Warrior’s —was shared in the advancement of RENEW’s core mission and values.

“The RENEW Institute exemplifies UB’s commitment to enabling collaborations across disciplines to address complex problems in areas of regional and global environmental concern,” said A. Scott Weber, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, who provided opening remarks at the poster session.

Thirty-four students proudly showcased their research on topics like pollution detection, health impacts of environmental contaminants, climate resilience and energy transport, while also sharing why they do the work that they do.  

Gbassey S.A. Otémé is a fourth-year PhD student who is using both experimental and computer simulation methods to understand the molecular interactions between per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and different surfaces. 

PFAS are used extensively in consumer products and industrial applications due to their chemical and thermal stability, but they have also been linked to numerous health effects and persist for so long in the environment that they have been dubbed “forever chemicals.”

“I’ve used nonstick pans made with PFAS. I’ve drunk water contaminated with PFAS,” Otémé said. “We’re using these chemicals every day, but we don’t know what they’re doing to our bodies.”

Otémé said while much of the work in her field is geared toward industrial applications like developing more efficient semiconductors, the opportunity to research PFAS in the lab of Prathima Nalam, associate professor in the Department of Materials Design and Innovation, has enabled her to connect the dots between materials science and her bachelor’s degree in biology.  

Sumaiya Saifur’s PhD work is also interdisciplinary, concerned with PFAS and informed by an academic background in biology. She had used bacteria to biodegrade stormwater contaminants while earning her master’s degree at Washington State University, so when an opportunity arose to use bacteria to break down PFAS under the supervision of Ian Bradley, assistant professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, and supported by an NIH grant led by Aga, she took it.

Bacteria typically don’t consume PFAS unless there are no other energy sources available, which rarely occurs outside controlled lab settings. Thus, Saifur’s research uses special nanomaterials to weaken the structural bonds of PFAS, which renders them more readily available — and therefore more desirable — as an energy source for certain bacteria. 

“Now, through analyzing PFAS, I’m more acquainted with the chemistry side of the environment,” Saifur said. “I’m in a sweet spot between biology and chemistry, and can be synchronized to stay on this path for a long time.”

Ayesha Riaz, a PhD student in the Environmental and Water Resource Engineering program, is using remote sensing to measure nitrous oxide (N2O). 

“This powerful greenhouse gas is released into the air from nitrogen-based fertilizers and has greater atmospheric persistence than more well-known greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4),” explains the principal investigator supporting Riaz’s work, Kang Sun, associate professor in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering. 

When used to detect emissions, most remote sensing satellites look for the “fingerprints” of greenhouse gasses: their unique, shortwave infrared bands. However, N2O’s shortwave band is a bit too weak for reliable detection. Longwave infrared bands provide a higher signal-to-noise ratio but are not as sensitive to the layer of the atmosphere closest to the ground. 

“So our solution is to combine those two bands to get the positive characteristics of both,” Riaz said. “It feels like I’m doing something new and something important.”

But tackling environmental and water challenges are only part of the research portfolio of RENEW scientists. They also address energy, and sometimes their research ticks several of these boxes at once.

For example, PhD student Shwetha Prakash is working with Chris Li, assistant professor of chemistry, to develop electrochemical CO2 capture technology with enhanced energy efficiency. Her poster’s findings offer the promise of more sustainably addressing point source pollution, such as the emissions from factory smokestacks. However, as an added benefit, Prakash’s research offers the promise of repurposing captured carbon to make value-added chemicals. 

“We’re not just capturing a gas,” Prakash said. “We’re designing a cleaner solution. Using electrochemistry in water means no high heat and no toxic solvents. And the CO2 we capture today could become tomorrow’s fuel.”

Aga, SUNY Distinguished Professor and Henry M. Woodburn Chair in the Department of Chemistry, hopes to see even greater participation in next spring’s RENEW poster session and other activities of the institute, such as the Catalyzing Conversations lecture series.

“I am so pleased to see, under Professor Aga’s leadership, the continued growth of faculty, staff and student engagement in RENEW and the critically important research that the institute supports,” Weber said.