Diana Aga decided to become an environmental chemist after witnessing the dire effects of industrialization and population growth on the idyllic village where she grew up. Today, she is a worldwide authority on everything from industrial pollution and wastewater treatment to PFAS chemicals—the subject of this episode. Aga, SUNY Distinguished Professor, Henry M. Woodburn Professor of Chemistry and director of the RENEW Institute at UB, explains to host Cory Nealon why PFAS are known as “forever chemicals,” where they exist in the environment (basically everywhere), what harm they cause (a lot), and the various ways in which she and her collaborators are working to find and destroy them. Spoiler alert: She’s optimistic. 

Credits: 
Host: Cory Nealon
Guest: Diana Aga
Writer: Laura Silverman
Production and editing by UB Video Production Group 

Coming on Feb. 4: Host David Hill chats with architecture professor Joyce Hwang, whose work over the past two decades incorporating wildlife habitats into the built environment challenges humans’ notions of what it means to coexist with animals, whether they’re creepy and crawly or cute and cuddly. Hwang’s work has been featured by the Museum of Modern Art and exhibited around the world.