students save earth

2009-2010 Outreach Fellowship Program

The Green Chemistry Outreach Fellow Program seeks to merge the efforts at Beyond Benign with the needs of industry by working with local college and university students and faculty through Beyond Benign’s active K-12 Outreach program. One goal of the Beyond Benign Outreach Fellow program is to generate excitement for green chemistry. This is done by talking about green chemistry to a wide range of audiences, and by expressing the importance and necessity of a sustainable world through science. The more people we have to spread the word about green chemistry, the better we are able to reach our goal. The program seeks to recruit college and university students to become the messengers of green chemistry to their local community.

Any undergraduate or graduate student (in the United States) can participate in the Beyond Benign Outreach Fellow program as a “Beyond Benign Outreach Ambassador”. As an Ambassador, the student will be the link between green chemistry and their community. Ambassadors do not have to be scientists, but are energetic and can talk to a wide audience with enthusiasm. Their goal is to generate excitement for science, so that younger students want to pursue studies in science. They will:

  • Learn about green chemistry and green chemistry applications in society.
  • Receive training on how to demonstrate green chemistry technologies to a K-12 audience through hands-on activities.
  • Engage in at least 4 outreach activities per year by visiting local schools and/or working with local community groups.
  • Document every outreach activity according to Beyond Benign protocols.
  • Be invited to an end-of-year banquet, where they can build and expand their green chemistry network with Ambassadors from other schools and leaders in green chemistry research today.
  • Have an opportunity to become a “Beyond Benign Outreach Fellow” and win financial sponsorship to attend the annual ACS GCI green chemistry and engineering conference in Washington, D.C.

In order to become an Outreach Fellow and win the funding (up to $1,000.00 USD per student), the Ambassadors must:

  • Fulfill the roles of an Ambassador as listed above.
  • Develop a new green chemistry outreach activity (hands-on activity, demonstration or curriculum module).
  • Submit an essay on why they feel they should be considered a Beyond Benign Outreach Fellow.
  • Present a poster on the developed outreach activity at the green chemistry and engineering conference.

Download a flyer on the program. You can post the flyer around your school or pass it out to your friends to recruit them for the program.

To apply to the Beyond Benign Outreach Ambassador & Fellowship program, fill out this general information form for Beyond Benign. Save the document as “firstname lastname”, and email the form to us using the link provided: