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 April 30: More than 750 older Americans are hospitalized every day due to severe side effects from their medications. Many of them will die prematurely as a result. Pharmacy researcher David Jacobs breaks down the systemic failures behind this disturbing trend and explains how Team Alice, a multidisciplinary initiative that he co-leads, is working to reverse it.