2025 Technical Session

Consumer and regulatory pressures are motivating a reassessment of how plastics are designed, produced, and managed at the end of their useful life. One approach to making plastics more sustainable is to transition from a linear (take, make, use, waste) economy into a more circular one, in which plastics and the byproducts of their production are kept in the economy and out of unwanted sinks like landfills and the environment.

This transition is already occurring through changes to new manufacturing methods, chemical processes and separation capabilities, and approaches to optimize how plastics cycle through the industrial supply chain. However, while demand for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and business leaders to facilitate this transition is increasing, undergraduate institutions lack the resources needed to train future generations of students to meet these needs.

In response to this problem, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) awarded grant funding to 11 universities across 10 U.S. states to support the development of curricular components that address polymer circularity. The first part of the symposium will feature grant recipients from five of these universities discussing curriculum development. This will be followed by a 40-minute discussion focused on workforce development with a panel composed of additional invited speakers and grant recipients. Panelists will briefly describe their workforce development projects, answer a mix of audience and moderator questions, and participate in open discussion with the audience.

Presentations and the panel discussion may include topics such as:

• Developing curricula related to green chemistry
• Strategies for measuring pedagogical success
• Challenges such as recruitment, sustaining programs after grant funding ends, and bridging technical gaps in multidisciplinary programs

Desired outcomes of this session include but are not limited to creating connections among educators, facilitating a more formal engagement among green and circular chemistry educators and the ACS Green Chemistry Chemistry Institute, and demonstrating the value of grant funding to support circular economy curriculum development.