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By Adelina Voutchkova-Kostal, ACS Director of Sustainable Development
This year, scientists and educators face a turbulent and uncertain landscape unlike any in recent memory, at least in the United States. The uncertainty in the funding landscape is straining academic institutions and research programs across disciplines, especially in chemistry and sustainability. Yet our shared mission has never felt more urgent. The world continues to need safe, sustainable, and scalable solutions—and green chemistry and engineering remain essential to delivering them.
Over the past three decades, the scientific community has made significant progress: green chemistry innovations have prevented the use of hundreds of millions of pounds of hazardous substances and reshaped thinking in labs and classrooms worldwide. Still, only a fraction of the technologies needed to meet the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been developed. We must continue advancing fundamental research while strengthening our ability to translate discoveries into real-world impact.
To do this, chemists must be equipped for a new era of research and collaboration—one that requires more than depth in a single discipline. We need T-shaped skillsets: deep expertise in core chemistry, paired with working knowledge in adjacent fields like engineering, toxicology, data science, economics, and social science. These skills enable chemists to bridge gaps across disciplines and co-create solutions that are greener, economically viable, socially relevant, and scalable. This concept echoes “T-shaped leadership”—a term used by industry leaders to describe individuals with deep domain expertise and broad cross-functional knowledge. These leaders drive innovation and strategic decisions and are better positioned to adapt in fast-changing environments.
Imagine a new sustainable chemical coming to market. Success depends not only on its functional design, but also on its safety, scalable green synthesis, and alignment with supply chain partners. Achieving this requires collaboration among chemists, engineers, toxicologists, investors, and social scientists. T-shaped skillsets enable such integration yet are still underemphasized in education and professional development.
Expanding cross-sector collaboration is also essential to unlock new funding—from industry, philanthropy, venture capital, and government consortia—all seeking impactful innovation. This is not just a time of recalibration, but one of reinvention.
Consider how you might broaden your horizontal knowledge and deepen your vertical expertise. Take advantage of resources your institution or professional society offers. For example, the ACS Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) provides free development opportunities: a full day of workshops at the Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference, in-person workshops at the ACS Fall Meeting in Washington, DC this August, and self-paced learning tools like Green Chemistry Tools and Metrics for Researchers (GChELP). A new Green Chemistry Tools course will also be released later this year through the ACS Institute. The Green Chemistry for Sustainability website offers networking and learning opportunities for researchers, among many other features.
The green chemistry community has long been defined by creativity, resilience, and shared purpose. Now is the time to invest in ourselves—and one another—by building the collaborative skills needed to shape the next generation of sustainable science. Even in uncertain times, we must continue to move forward—resolutely, together.