Looping in Academia to Innovated Solutions: Integrating Real-World Applications into Education

Companies, governments, and institutions are committing to ambitious carbon neutrality and zero emission targets within the next two decades, and green chemistry and engineering practices and products are growing rapidly in the chemical industry. Many industry examples, case studies, and literature resources exist; however, there are limited examples of these real-world green chemistry innovations being incorporated or highlighted in the current chemistry and engineering curriculum. If sustainability commitments, addressing climate change, and meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) aim to be achieved in the next two decades, accelerating the training of the next generation workforce to practice sustainability through chemistry is vital. Utilizing industry, government, and NGO green chemistry examples and opportunities are one method for highlighting the importance of green chemistry skills to students and faculty members.

This symposium aims to close the loop between industry, government, NGOs, and academia by spotlighting real-world green chemistry and engineering projects as well as safer alternative projects in practice, either from the perspective of implementing the project or from someone teaching about the project. The interactive portion of the session is intended to provide an opportunity for academics to incorporate the innovations of today into their curriculum. While this session also aims to create a space for overlap between industry, government, NGOs and academia, we also hope to spark continuation within the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning (GCTLC) online platform to catalyze the adoption of green chemistry principles and practices in academic settings. By inviting speakers prior to the conference to give feedback and input on the too and inviting session attendees to participate in the platform after the conference, we aim to foster collaborations and encourage the sharing of course materials.

Organizers

Dr. Natalie O’Neil, Beyond Benign
Saskia van Bergen, Washington State Department of Ecology
Prof. Jennifer Tripp, University of San Francisco
Dr. Ettigounder (Samy) Ponnusamy, MilliporeSigma