News

• August 2025: Prof. Aurora becomes an affiliated Faculty Member of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (IAD), UB, SUNY. 

• August 2025: Prof. Aurora presents an interactive activity to assess environmental impacts at the UB CBE Chem-E Camp.  [link].

• July 2025: Our review on Process Systems Engineering Approaches for Sustainable Plastics Management is profiled in CBE news [link]. The Outpost, Phys.org, Environmental News Network, Scrap Monster, Niagara Frontier Publications, and The Cooldown also reported on our review!

• June 2025: Genesis, Jean, and Michael join our group as undergraduate researchers. They will be working with us during the summer and are supported by different programs (PRACTICE-REU, UB SURP, and an NSF data science project). Welcome! [link] [link] 

• June 2025: Prof. Aurora gives a talk at the Plastics In Composites and Lightweighting 2025, SPE Flexible Packaging Division.  [link] 

• May 2025: Prof. Aurora gives a talk at the FlexPackCon 2025, SPE Flexible Packaging Division.  [link] 

• May 2025: The first review paper of our lab, "Process Systems Engineering Approaches for Sustainable Plastics Management" has been accepted for publication and selected as cover for the July issue of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research.  [link] 

• April 2025: Our scientific papers, "A fast computational framework for the design of solvent-based plastic recycling processes" and "Screening green solvents for multilayer plastic film recycling processes," have been accepted for publication in Computers & Chemical Engineering.  [link] [link]  

• April 2025: Cassidy Shafer won 2nd place for her presentation, "Environmental and Economic Analysis of Food Waste Valorization Technologies," at the STEM for Everyone event hosted by UB. Congratulations, Cassidy! [link]

• April 2025: Matthew Bablin did a great job presenting his poster, "Assessing the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Technology and Policy Pathways for Plastic Recycling in the U.S.," at the UB Celebration of Excellence. [link]

• April 2025: Prof. Aurora is profiled in CBE News. [link]

• April 2025: Prof. Aurora is profiled in a new faculty story in UBNow. [link]

• March 2025: Prof. Aurora becomes an affiliated Faculty Member at the Research and Education in Energy, Environment and Water (RENEW) Institute, UB, SUNY. [link]

• February 2025: Our ELN project, Assessing the Economic and Environmental Benefits of Technology and Policy Pathways for Plastic Recycling in the U.S., is on UB News. Will and Matthew will be working on this project. [link]

• February 2025: Cassidy Shafer, Matthew Bablin, and Will Reid join our group as undergraduate researchers. Welcome!

• February 2025: Prof. Aurora gives a talk at the “Seminar Series” of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Guanajuato, Mexico. 

• January 2025: Prof. Aurora delivers an invited key lecture at the “Fourth Symposium on Process Intensification Challenges and Opportunities: Towards Sustainable Chemical Processes in the XXI Century", jointly hosted by the University of Guanajuato (Mexico) and the "Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification" Journal (Elsevier). 

• December 2024: Alan Owusu-Boateng and Abdulganiyu Ajalogun join our group as PhD students. Welcome, Alan and Abdul! [link]

• December 2024: Prof. Aurora's project has been selected for the SUNY-funded Research and Creative Activities for Undergraduates Program! This award will provide funding for one undergraduate student to work in our lab for the spring and summer semesters. [link]

• November 2024: Prof. Aurora gives a talk at the “Environmental Engineering Seminar Series” of the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo. [link]

• October 2024: Prof. Aurora presents the work "A Fast Computational Framework for the Design of Sustainable Solvent-Based Plastic Recycling Processes"  at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting.

• October 2024: Dr. Xate Sanchez-Zarco joins our group as a postdoctoral researcher. Welcome, Xate! [link]

• August 2024: The Sustainable Systems Engineering Lab is open!

• July 2024: Prof. Aurora gives one talk (Best Paper Award Winner) and presents two posters at the FOCAPD 2024 conference. [link]

• March 2024: Prof. Aurora attends the Mentoring Sessions at the Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM. [link]

• May 2024: Prof. Aurora gives a "Tutorial on Life Cycle Assessment". At the ”NSF-funded Workshop on Formulation Science and Engineering for the Common Good” [link]

• May 2024: Prof. Aurora gives a "Tutorial on Process Design/Simulation, Techno-Economic Analysis and Environmental Impact Assessment ". At the "2024 Chemical Upcycling of Waste Plastics (CUWP) Short Course" [link]

• April 2024: Prof. Aurora gives a talk at the “Seminar Series” of the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michoacan (Virtually) 

• April 2024: Prof. Aurora gives a talk at the “Great Lakes Process Systems Engineering Student Workshop” Hosted at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.

• January 2024: Prof. Aurora attends the workshop "Entering Mentoring & Culturally Aware Mentoring" at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• January 2024: Prof. Aurora participates as a panelist in the "Rethinking Recycling: Hard-to-Recycle Plastics and the Path Forward Forum", at the Wisconsin Energy Institute [link]