Join us on Monday, April 25th between 2:00 and 3:30 p.m. EDT for our next Ask the Innovators event to discuss the future of green chemistry education. What will it look like? What should be taught? What skills do employers want graduates to have? We need you—educators, industry, and students—to weigh in. During this online event, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and give feedback to the Green Chemistry Education Roadmap Leadership Team. The Roadmap is a community-driven project to focus and coordinate efforts to integrate green chemistry principles into the chemistry curriculum. The team is specifically seeking input on a vision statement and green chemistry competencies.
For background information watch the short video introduction below and visit Green Chemistry Education Roadmap website to read the core competencies. Online to answer your questions and discuss will be:
Dr. Jim Hutchison
University of Oregon Professor of Chemistry, Lokey-Harrington Chair
Hutchison’s led the development of the U of O's nation-leading curriculum in green organic chemistry, launched the university’s pioneering Center in Green Nanoscience and is a member of the Governing Board of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute®. He is a member of the leadership team for the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI) and founded, and now directs, the ONAMI’s Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative (SNNI). He is the author of more than 95 refereed publications, three book chapters and a text book, "Green Organic Chemistry: Strategies, Tools and Laboratory Experiments".
Dr. Mary Kirchhoff
American Chemical Society Director of Education
Kirchhoff received her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of New Hampshire and joined the chemistry department at Trinity College in 1992. She began working in green chemistry as an environmental fellow with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and was a visiting scientist with the U.S. EPA’s green chemistry program. Kirchhoff joined the ACS in 2001, serving as assistant director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute for three years before moving to the Education Division. Kirchhoff was elected an AAAS fellow in 2006.
Dr. Eric Beckman
University of Pittsburgh Professor of Engineering;
Co-Director of the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation
Beckman is a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award winner (2002) and currently heads a research group examining the use of molecular design to solve problems in green product formulation and in the design of materials for use in tissue engineering. He co-founded the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, has published over 175 papers, and has received more than 40 U.S. patents.
You can post your question or comment any time before or during the event, but we encourage you to come back at 2:00 pm ET on Monday, April 25th to discuss live with the team. We encourage you to login or create a free ACS ID so that you are notified your questions are being answered. Alternatively, you can post as an anonymous guest and come back during or after the session to see responses to your post.
You can also participate by providing feedback to the Green Chemistry Education Roadmap Leadership Team by taking this short survey.
There are a variety of initiatives that have been started to integrate green chemistry into chemistry education. How is this one different?
There are as many different approaches to this as there are teachers. How are you going to determine which is “best?”
These core competencies look really hard. How long do you think it will take to achieve progress in them?
This sounds like a really big project. How do you know where to start? How are you going to prioritize the work?
How are we going to know if we are making progress? What does success look like?
What about K-12 education – shouldn’t we be doing more to engage students when they’re young?
Hi, thanks for taking the time to answer questions! The project seems aimed at educators, but are there opportunities for early-career chemists or students to participate?
What are the role of public policy and education standards in helping to advance the Roadmap vision?
Green Chemistry education seems like such a reasonable idea given all of the drivers for companies to invest in safer chemistry. Why isn't training in core green chemistry competencies the norm yet?