55 ACS Student Chapters Receive the Green Chemistry Student Chapter Award

[ACSGCI]

Each year ACS Student Chapters incorporate green chemistry outreach and activities into their programming in order to receive the Green Chemistry Award. The Green Chemistry Student Chapter Award, created eighteen years ago through a collaboration between the ACS Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI) and ACS Education Division, recognizes the efforts of chapters that have incorporated at least three green chemistry activities.

This becomes a challenging task for student chapters, as many of their chemistry courses do not integrate green chemistry into the curriculum. Therefore, many of the chapters learn about green chemistry by studying on their own—and it can be tricky understanding the difference between general sustainability, environmental chemistry, and green chemistry – three related but different subject areas. One way chapter members ensured they were performing a qualified green chemistry activity was by participating in ACS webinars and/or Program-in-a-Box activities prepared by ACS GCI.

Other green chemistry activities chapters did in the 2018-19 school year ranged from volunteering at local schools, holding symposium on emerging topics in green chemistry, creating trivia games, to helping rewrite the curriculum for general chemistry labs. Here are a few standout examples of green chemistry activities:

• Volunteering at local schools was a popular activity. Student Chapters went to K-12 schools and demonstrated several activities ranging from an E-factor experiment with M&Ms that conveys the importance of limiting waste (and cleaning up the process) to a safety in chemistry lesson guiding Boy Scouts through the importance of using alternative materials.
• Nine Student Chapters participated in the Program-in-a-Box (Mars: Red Planet Chemistry and The Evolving Periodic Table). Many of the students commented on how The Evolving Periodic Table activity opened up a dialogue on endangered elements and the challenges faced in designing greener alternatives.
• Playing games was a fun and creative activity in which many chapters participated. Students created and developed jeopardy games, bingo game boards, trivia with Kahoot, and scavenger hunts to facilitate learning about green chemistry.
• A few chapters applied their green chemistry knowledge by making changes to their chemistry course’s curriculum. One student chapter brainstormed innovative ways to make their chemistry lab experiments greener by reducing waste and replacing hazardous elements and solvents. Another chapter altered a traditional lab experiment in the organic chemistry lab and taught why these modifications to the lab were important.

This year there were 55 student chapters’ winners (both U.S. and International) who have won the Green Chemistry Award. The full list of the 2018-2019 academic year Green Chemistry Student Chapter Award winners are:

Alvernia University	Angelo State University	Anne Arundel Community College	Augusta University
Belhaven University	College of William & Mary	Drury University	Duquesne University
Emory & Henry College	Erskine College	Federal University of Rio de Janeiro	Florida International University – Biscayne Bay Campus
Georgia Gwinnette College	Gordon College	Humboldt State University	Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis
Morehead State University	Pacific Lutheran University	Pasadena City College	Saint Francis University
Saint Vincent College	Salem State University	Salt Lake Community College	Santa Monica College
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology	Stern College for Women – Yeshiva University	Swansea University	Tarleton State University
Tennessee Technological University	Texas Christian University	The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico	Tuskegee University
Union University	Universidad de Costa Rica	University of Alabama, Birmingham	University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, San Diego	University of Central Arkansas	University of Cincinnati Main Campus	University of Detroit, Mercy
University of Dhaka	University of Houston	University of Maryland, Baltimore County	University of Michigan, Flint
University of New England	University of Pittsburgh	University of Puerto Rico, Bayamon Campus	University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
University of Tennessee at Martin	University of Toledo	West Virginia State University	Western Illinois University
Western Washington University	Wheaton College	Wilkes University

If your chapter needs ideas of green chemistry activities that will help you receive a green chemistry award, review the ACS GCI Student Chapter Guide.  We are excited to see what everyone does during the 2019-2020 academic year. Congratulations to all 55 chapters for reaching your green chemistry goals!