By David Laviska, Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education, ACS Green Chemistry Institute
Attention all ACS Student Chapters, graduate student organizations, chapter advisors/mentors, and students at institutions where formal student organizations haven’t been formed yet: if you are interested in Green Chemistry, we have great news!
As we announced back in January, the ACS Green Chemistry Institute (GCI), in conjunction with ACS Division of Membership and Student Communities, has been developing tools that support student activities that focus on both fundamental chemistry concepts and the principles of Green Chemistry. We know that many student chapters are interested in applying for the “Green Chemistry Distinction” – a special award acknowledgement given during the annual Student Chapter Awards Ceremony held every year at the Spring National Meeting of the ACS. Students from several outstanding chapters have shown a strong commitment to the tenets of Green Chemistry and have earned the award for multiple years in succession. Even better, many of these students have taken advantage of valuable opportunities to mentor other students, share their achievements at ACS National Meetings, apply for ACS grants, etc.
We are delighted to report that applications for the Green Chemistry Distinction for the academic year ending in June 2025 increased by 22% over the previous year. (We received more than 100 applications for the award in 2025!) The quality of activities completed and described in end-of-year chapter reports has also risen; the number of chapters earning the Green Chemistry Awards to be given out in Atlanta in Spring 2026 grew by 27% over the previous year. This is exciting and we are committed to ensuring that all student organizations have the encouragement and opportunity to take their activities to the next level while learning about chemistry and Green Chemistry. Based on the awards data, it’s clear that a growing number of students understand the relevance and importance of keeping Green Chemistry and broader sustainability concepts central to their learning, career training, and student organization activities. But we want to invite even more student chapters to get involved in the Green Chemistry conversation.
ACS GCI is developing a small library of experiments that illustrate both green chemistry principles and their relevance to fundamental chemistry concepts that all students who take general and organic chemistry should know (or will learn as part of their required degree curriculum). The experiments are designed to use benign, non-toxic reagents and simple materials/equipment that are widely available at low cost. (Many of them won’t need to be completed in the confines of a laboratory, either!) The chemistry concepts addressed in the experiments are easy to understand and provide a clear mechanism for students to connect them to the principles of green chemistry and larger global sustainability issues. Student chapters will be given a variety of options for completing activities that satisfy the requirements for the Green Chemistry Distinction, thereby guaranteeing they will qualify for the award if they follow the instructions carefully. Learning goals and outcomes are clearly explained in accompanying documentation, as are feedback requirements for the annual student chapter reporting process.
This new initiative is now rolling out in stages according to the timeline provided below:
- Fall 2025 (September – November): Pilot phase. Approximately 15 ACS Student Chapters will be contacted and asked to participate in this project. One experiment will be sent to the selected chapters (everyone receiving the same guidance) and students will follow the guidance embedded in the instructions document.
- November 2025: Feedback. Targeted feedback will be collected from the student chapters involved in the Pilot phase.
- December 2025 – January 2026: Revisions and expansion. ACS will review collected feedback to improve guidance as needed and potentially expand the portfolio of experiments for use in Spring 2026.
- Spring 2026: Full scale project launch. Starting in Spring term 2026, all interested Student Chapters will be able to select one or more experimental protocols for use at their home institutions.
Keep an eye out for additional updates concerning this exciting new initiative here in The Nexus blog as well as through additional ACS communication channels. If your Student Chapter wants to be part of the conversation, please email us at gciawards@acs.org. We will be happy to add you to the list of invited chapters for the full-scale roll-out in January. We are excited to hear your feedback and look forward to working together to propagate Green Chemistry throughout your activities!
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