Leveraging crowdsourcing via opnMe.com for ‘More Green Medicines’ and a healthier planet

The challenge

Solvents account for a major part of the total chemical waste that is generated during the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients. A reduction in

By Dr. Sederra Ross, Associate, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

We are happy to announce the recipients of the 2023 ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Lectureship Awards. These awards honor the scientific accomplishments of scientists working in green c

By Christiana Briddell, Sr. Communication Manager, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

The U.N. Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger has been the focus of several initiatives lately across the ACS and beyond.

In December, the ACS Office of Sustainability

By Dr. David Laviska, Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

It’s awards season at the ACS Green Chemistry Institute^® (GCI) and we’re delighted that unprecedented numbers of students from under

By Dr. Karolina Mellor, Hannah S. Feldman, and Dr. Lars Ratjen, Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering at Yale University

Green chemistry and green engineering will play a vital role in facing many of the countless challenges and burdens the rapid

By Madeline Pandos, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

As school life continued to return to normal in 2022, many ACS Student Chapters took on hosting more activities throughout the year to promote green chemistry ideas. This year the ACS Green Chemistry Insti

It is estimated that only 1-2% of chemists ever venture onto the road less travelled—launching a chemistry start-up (Knauer, 2021). The reason likely lies in the significant commitment and sacrifice associated with starting a new venture. How would you kn

Founded in 1885 and family-owned ever since, Boehringer Ingelheim takes a long-term perspective. Boehringer Ingelheim’s commitment towards a healthier and more sustainable future is firmly anchored in our corporate philosophy since its founding and transl

Eight research groups have received funds from the ACS Green Chemistry Institute Pharmaceutical Roundtable amounting to a total of $350,000. These grants advance key research areas identified by the Roundtable as well as emerging topics with the potential to provide significant sustainability advances.

The ACS Southeastern Regional Meeting (SERMACS) was held in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 18-22. The program had a strong component of sustainability with a series of six sessions organized and presided by H.N. Cheng, ACS Past President and Juan Colberg, Pfizer. ACS Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) staff, Christiana Briddell and Isamir Martinez, were on site to engage the energized participants from all over the southeast U.S. and Puerto Rico.

By Julian R. Silverman, Assistant Professor, Department of Science and Math, The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY

How can scientists and educators meaningfully connect the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the Principles of Green Chemistry? This is a question Jessica D’eon and I tackled when we agreed to create a teaching module on stoichiometry for an introductory chemistry course. Our idea was to have students discuss the human health and environmental impacts of incomplete combustion by explaining and exploring reaction efficiency and yield.

By David A. Laviska, Ph.D., ACS Green Chemistry Institute

I have been strongly committed to quality education, the environment, diversity, and improving our world throughout my career. Therefore, it is with profound gratitude (and excitement!) that I step into the role of Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education here at the ACS Green Chemistry Institute. I started my career as an Environmental Scientist at the U.S. EPA (Region II), working for a bit more than a decade with a team of chemists, biologists, atmospheric scientists, geologists, and engineers to address polluted ecosystems that resulted from what we might call “poor decisions” made throughout the history of the chemical enterprise. Cleaning up after a mess has already been made can be tricky and sometimes, impossible. I then made a big change, returning to graduate school and earning my Ph.D. in organometallic chemistry and catalysis. Along the way, I developed a passion for teaching and green chemistry and decided to direct my energy toward carving out a niche in academia. Now, after a decade of teaching, researching, and innovating in higher education while advocating for green chemistry throughout, I have the privilege of focusing my energy on the development and propagation of educational initiatives at the ACSGCI.

The ACS Office of Research Grants will be accepting proposals for Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) grants to support fundamental research in the petroleum field from noon September 19 to 5 p.m. EDT on October 14, 2022.  Proposals must be directed to fundamental petroleum research including fundamental research related to petroleum-derived materials in one of ten specified subject matter areas.  However, please note that while the PRF Trust imposes certain restrictions, PRF currently funds many topics of current interest in sustainability and green chemistry.  These include, for example, new catalysts and upgrading/utilization of methane and carbon dioxide.  Interested individuals are encouraged to contact a PRF program officer or prfinfo@acs.org for more information regarding areas of supported research.

Contributed by Dr. Mahlet Garedew & Dr. Hanno Erythropel, Center for Green Chemistry & Green Engineering at Yale University

“I’m pregnant!” After receiving the big news, one of the next questions for those working in chemical laboratories is, “Is it safe for me to continue to work in a lab environment?”  These were the same questions that Ph.D. candidate Mary Kate Lane and Postdoc Dr. Mahlet Garedew from the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale had when they learned they were expecting. In a broader context, these questions are also relevant in the context of gender equality, as studies show that women scientists leave full-time STEM employment positions much more frequently after the birth of their first child than men.

Learn about the Green Chemistry Commitment, how it evolved, who had signed, and where it's going in the future with Amy Cannon, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Benign.