Seventy-Four ACS Student Chapters Win Green Chemistry Award

[ACSGCI]

All over the country, chemistry undergraduate students are doing green chemistry outreach and activities as part of their ACS Student Chapters. To recognize their efforts, ACS GCI presents a Green Chemistry award to chapters that have done at least three green chemistry activities over the last school year. This year there were 74 winners—the most ever! Of these, 24 were first-time winners, showing the growth of interest in green chemistry among students.

Examples of what the ACS Chapters achieved this year include the following events and programs:

• Students at Wilkes University promoted green chemistry through green demonstrations at local elementary and middle schools.
• Alvernia University celebrated Green Chemistry Week with students participating in a green chemistry scavenger hunt. Hunt requirements had them signing about green chemistry in the cafeteria and teaching people in the local mall about the 12 principles.
• At the University of Toledo, the chapter played a role in a STEM camp for high school students who spent a week at the school learning about various scientific fields including green chemistry and engineering.

The Green Chemistry Award for ACS student chapters started in the 2001-2002 academic year, with only four winners. Since then, only one school, the University of Tennessee at Martin, has won every year—12 times in total! There are 14 other schools that have received the award over five times: Ferris State, Hendrix, Millikin, Suffolk, U of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras, Augustana, U of Pittsburgh, South Texas, Texarkana, U of Arizona – Tucson, Union, U of Toledo, U of Puerto Rico – Arecibo, and Western Washington.

Keep up the good work all!

ACS GCI’s Jennifer MacKellar and Dr. David Constable presenting a

Green Chemistry Award in New Orleans, April 2013,

to Florida International University, Biscayne Bay an ACS Student Chapter representative.

Photo credit: Christine Brennan Schmidt

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