From rocks to remediation: Sarah Commisso ’20

Sarah Commisso ’20 started down the path to her career thanks to a rock collection. Though their specimens have changed a bit these days, she says that she — and many of her coworkers — still have a rock or two sitting on their desks.

“Geology was always something I was interested in as a kid,” she said. “I went into Binghamton with my major as geology and I stuck with it. I really enjoyed the classes. I wanted to work somewhere I could be outside. I’m not in the field that much anymore, but I was a lot in the beginning. I ended up going into consulting, which has been a great way to apply Earth science into more urban environments.”

Today, Commisso is a project manager involved in environmental investigation and remediation projects in the New York City area. As an alumna in geological sciences with a minor in chemistry, she has returned to Binghamton several times to speak with students about the environmental consulting field and to conduct interviews for the company she works for, Haley & Aldrich.

This is a full circle moment for Commisso. During her student days, graduate students and visiting environmental consulting companies presented their work and research on Friday afternoons. These presentations ultimately inspired her to pursue a career in environmental consulting.

“After Binghamton, my plan was to move to the city and work there, but I didn’t know in what exactly,” said Commisso, adding that consulting companies’ presentations helped her understand what the work entailed. “When you think of geology, you don’t often think of working in the city, so this opened a totally new avenue for me.”

Haley & Aldrich began in 1957, when MIT professor Harl Aldrich and Harvard graduate Jim Haley decided to open the first New England firm focused on soil and foundation engineering, today more commonly referred to as geotechnical engineering. Today, Haley & Aldrich’s 1,000 environmental and engineering consultants offer diverse services and geographical and industry expertise. No longer a New England firm, their team works across the U.S. to solve clients’ most complex problems — above and below ground.

Commisso and the other members of her team mostly focus on contaminated site investigation and remediation. To do this, they work with private developers who want to purchase and redevelop brownfield sites, which are often underutilized properties historically used for manufacturing or industry. Oftentimes, these operations involved hazardous materials such as petroleum products or chlorinated solvents which, if handled improperly, can impact soil, groundwater and soil vapor quality. The team works to develop a remedial design plan to clean up a property and make it suitable for new residential buildings.

“We work with private developers to help navigate state regulations and develop the remedial strategy; we also oversee the execution of the remedial action,” Commisso said. “That could be as simple as excavating out the source material or putting in a vapor barrier to protect the new building, or it can be more complicated, where it’s a mix of excavation, injections to treat the groundwater, perhaps installing a vapor mitigation system. Sometimes, there’s ongoing site management for these sites, which we also maintain.”

Commisso has spent more than five years at Haley and Aldrich, starting as a staff geologist and moving up through the ranks as a senior geologist, an assistant to a project manager and now, a project manager since July 2025.

Although she says her favorite part of the job is the investigative phase — researching the history of a site and conducting investigation to determine the extent of subsurface contamination — she finds value in working directly with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the clients themselves in her new role. A thorough site investigation is critical to the development of informed remedial action plans, which in turn prevent time and resource losses.

Many of her projects have become a point of pride, Commisso said.

“I can go around the city and see all the now-completed projects I have worked on. Often, the community was unhappy about these sites beforehand and worried about the contamination. Now, I walk in the neighborhoods, and the buildings are finally done and they look incredible,” she said. “In some, people are moving in; a lot of our sites include affordable housing.”

Most projects take about a year and a half to two years to complete. Meanwhile, as Commisso grows in her role and continues strengthening her project management skills, Haley & Aldrich is growing alongside her; an office recently opened in White Plains, N.Y., with a focus on compliance and expansion outside of the city market.

Although Commisso won’t be moving out of the city any time soon, she continues to play a role in growing the company — thanks to her Binghamton connections.

“When I started working here, I was talking to my staff manager about other companies that came and presented at Binghamton every year, and how it was so good for me to hear about the work they did,” she said. “I thought, ‘What we’re doing here is interesting and we’re growing. We’re looking to hire. I should do that too!’ I wanted to help students understand the work they could do in the environmental consulting industry with their major after they graduate.”