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By David A. Laviska, Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education, ACS Green Chemistry Institute
Andrew P. Dicks, Ph.D., Professor at University of Toronto, is the winner of the 2025 Career Achievement in Green Chemistry Education award. With achievements including more than two dozen publications about pedagogical innovations focused on green and sustainable chemistry and the creation of a “Focus in Green Chemistry” program at the University of Toronto, Dr. Dicks has been an important role model within the green chemistry community and has inspired instructors and students across the U.S., Canada, and beyond.
We are delighted to announce that Andrew P. Dicks, Ph.D. (Professor, University of Toronto) is the winner of the 2025 “Career Achievement in Green Chemistry Education” award. This award was established through the ACS Office of Sustainability to acknowledge an instructor who has made a profound and transformative impact on the future of green chemistry and sustainability in education through cumulative contributions spanning a significant portion of their career. Sponsored by the ACS Campaign for a Sustainable Future through the Green Chemistry Institute, this award is given to a pedagogical innovator who has shown consistent creativity and innovation in the classroom, laboratory, and broader chemistry enterprise. Only instructors with a significant, impactful body of work are eligible for the Career Achievement award, which is meant to acknowledge career-long contributions to the application of green chemistry in all aspects of education. In addition to the engraved award, the winner receives a $5,000 honorarium and travel support to attend the annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference (GC&E) to receive the award and speak at an invited symposium programmed in their honor.
Dr. Dicks’ strong interest in green chemistry education and the development of novel curricular materials dates to 2004. At that time, he began developing undergraduate experiments at the University of Toronto (U of T) for organic laboratories that focused on greener solvent replacements (e.g., water, polyethylene glycol) along with solvent-free reactions. This introductory work focused on a “show and tell” approach to teaching green chemistry, which matured into the design of innovative experiments requiring a high degree of student input. Since then, he has authored more than two dozen publications about pedagogical innovations focused on green and sustainable chemistry in the classroom and laboratory for journals including the Journal of Chemical Education, the Chemical Educator, and Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews (GCLR). He was co-editor of two special issues of GCLR focused on “Advances in Green Chemistry Education” in 2019 and 2022 and served as Associate Editor of GCLR for five years. Dr. Dicks has also contributed ten book chapters and authored and/or edited or co-edited four textbooks on green chemistry, including “Green Organic Chemistry in Lecture and Laboratory” (2011, CRC Press).
Beyond his prolific publishing efforts, Dr. Dicks has worked to modernize the curriculum at U of T starting in 2008 with a brand-new junior course for chemistry program students called Organic Synthesis Techniques. His hands-on approach to course redesign and commitment to student learning form the basis for his role as faculty mentor to the U of T graduate student-run Green Chemistry Initiative (GCI), which he has held since it formed in 2012. As the chemistry department Associate Chair Undergraduate Studies (2019-present), he created a “Focus in Green Chemistry” program in 2021 in keeping with the department’s philosophy of embedding green chemistry approaches into a range of undergraduate courses across different sub-disciplines. Dr. Dicks has delivered more than 50 presentations and been a co-author on 21 other presentations at conferences including the GC&E, the ACS Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education, the Chemical Institute of Canada Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition, and the IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education.
Dr. Dicks’ combined portfolio of achievements and collaborations led U of T to join the Beyond Benign Green Chemistry Commitment in 2016, becoming the first institution outside the U.S. to join this voluntary initiative meant to support the preparation of chemists whose skills are aligned with the needs of the planet and its inhabitants in the 21st century.
Beyond his pedagogical achievements, Dr. Dicks has been an important role model within the green chemistry community and has inspired instructors and students across the U.S., Canada, and beyond to reimagine the ways they teach. As an innovator, collaborator, instructor, facilitator, and mentor, Dr. Dicks has made a profound contribution to the field of green chemistry education and we at the GCI express our gratitude for everything he has done and continues to do toward preparing our students to work toward a more sustainable future.
Dr. Dicks will accept his award at the Opening Dinner and Awards Ceremony held at the 29th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, June 23-26, 2025.
To learn more about the ACS GCI Green Chemistry Awards for instructors, please visit Green Chemistry Funding & Awards - American Chemical Society.