Engineering a sustainable future: Meet Aurora Munguía-López
Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López
Published April 29, 2025
For the 2024–2025 academic year, UB welcomed 116 new faculty members. But who are the individuals behind these numbers? What inspired their research? UBNow sat down with Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López to learn about her journey and what it is about UB and the Buffalo Niagara region that drew her here.
The sustainable systems engineering laboratory
Aurora del Carmen Munguía-López has always been environmentally curious. “Even when I was very young, I was often wondering about the impacts of the materials and products we used every day. Of course, back then, I didn't really understand how everything worked or how environmental impacts were measured.”
She also never thought it was something she could build a career around.
“Researching sustainability and developing computational tools – I had no idea about that. So, while my interest in sustainability started early, my interest in process systems engineering, which is really my research focus, developed during my undergraduate studies,” says Munguía-López, who leads the Sustainable Systems Engineering Laboratory.
Research focus: Developing computational tools that provide insights into the design of sustainable products and technologies to address problems in plastics recycling, waste management, clean energy technologies, food, pharmaceuticals and textiles manufacturing.
Impressions of UB: Having been to UB a couple of times to give guest lectures, Munguía-López was somewhat familiar with the university, but she didn’t get the full picture until she moved here. “I’ve always wanted to work for a public institution, and I can tell you that I feel very fortunate to be working here.”
Munguía-López also appreciates the various resources available to new faculty, including the .
Excerpted from UB Now , "Getting to know some of UB’s newest faculty members", by Vicky Santos, 4/7/2025