By Adelina

Dear colleagues and frien

By Adelina Voutchkova, Director of Sustainable Development, ACS

Adelina VoutchkovaI had the privilege to join the ACS in the role of Director of Sustainable Development in early June, just as the GC&E Conference was getting underway. During my academic career at George Washington University, I built a robust research program focused on catalysis for a circular economy and helped launch a graduate program in Environmental and Green Chemistry, with a keen eye on developing technologies relevant to greener industrial processes and preparing the future workforce in green chemistry.  I am incredibly proud of the patents, publications, research output, and startup spun from our work, but also deeply aware of the obstacles that slow academics’ ability to fuel the needed growth of industrial green chemical processes. Key obstacles include identifying research gaps in industry relevant to different fields, navigating the landscape to commercialize research products, and quantitatively evaluating the relative environmental impact of technologies deemed as “greener”. With the launch of the ACS Office of Sustainability and the Campaign for a Sustainable Future—a $15 million investment from ACS—I saw a compelling opportunity to help address these obstacles and contribute to both the ACS mission and the green chemistry community that has nurtured my career thus far.

By Jitesh Soares, Ph.D., Director, Scientific Advancement

It’s been less than a week since I began serving as the Director of Scientific Advancement at ACS. The first thing that struck me is how Mary Kirchhoff molded this role into a force by building an achievement-based Division with a singular, deep-rooted commitment to its philanthropic mission. I am standing on the shoulders of a giant and look forward to the challenge of living up to lofty expectations with an eye on the ultimate prize – a sustainable planet!

By Mary Kirchhoff, Ph.D., Director, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

For those of you old enough to remember Bob Hope, “Thanks for the Memories” was his signature song, and the title seems appropriate as I write my last column as GCI Director.  I began my 20-year career at ACS with the Green Chemistry Institute and am pleased to wrap up my time at ACS with GCI as I prepare to retire at the end of the year.

“It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.  Widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, cryosphere and biosphere have occurred.”  This is how the current state of the climate was described in last month’s Interg

Thanks to everyone who joined the ACS Green Chemistry Institute^® for the 25_th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering (GC&E) Conference the week of June 14! The Conference Co-Chairs, Jillian Goldfarb at Cornell University and Guy Humphrey at Merck, did an amazing job organizing programming around the theme "Sustainable Production to Advance the Circular Economy". The success of the conference was due to the hard work of Jillian and Guy, the advisory committee, the symposium organizers, and my wonderful ACS colleagues in the Green Chemistry Institute and the Meetings Department.