Quality Education: Building Bridges between Academia and Industry

The American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI) has been working across sectors with a broad spectrum of stakeholders to promote the principles of green chemistry for more than two decades. As ACS celebrates 150 years of advancing science and building communities across the globe in 2026, we are highlighting the rapidly expanding role that green chemistry plays in building a more sustainable future for the chemistry enterprise, from education to industry and beyond. At the foundation of our shared vision for leveraging the power of chemistry lies education the starting point for every chemist regardless of their chosen career path. Far more than a set of tools to be applied in the laboratory, the 12 principles of green chemistry form the basis for a holistic, inclusive mindset that helps us contextualize our choices as chemists and compels us to take responsibility for how our field evolves into the future. In honor of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal #4 Quality Education , this symposium will celebrate 30 years of the GC&E Conference by focusing on the intersection between academia and industry. Invited speakers will comment on progress made toward infusing green and sustainable chemistry into both teaching and industrial applications and highlight overlapping priorities, collaborative strategies, and challenges associated with training chemists for their future careers. This symposium will be the second in a series of five thematically linked events programmed at ACS-supported events throughout 2026, each of which will focus on a specific cross-section of chemistry instructors. Taken together, these five symposia will provide a detailed snapshot of where we are now and where we need to go to best prepare students at all levels for the complex challenges they will face as the innovators of the future.