Abstract

Quality education is a central aspect of our society, and it plays a fundamental role in achieving all the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). By integrating the principles of green chemistry in education, we can promote the development of a scientific workforce and an informed public, both equipped with the skills to choose, design, evaluate, and implement more benign processes for human health and the environment. This presentation will feature the benefits and challenges of transitioning from academia to a non-profit organization focused on promoting green chemistry education. What began as research on carbon-based materials and CO2 has shifted into work with Beyond Benign, a non-profit dedicated to empowering the global chemistry community to embrace sustainability at the molecular level through green chemistry.

Bio

Juliana Vidal (she/her) is a Senior Program Manager at Beyond Benign. At Beyond Benign, Juliana works in the Higher Education team to support the incorporation of green chemistry in higher education institutions through the Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) program. She earned her Ph.D. at Memorial University of Newfoundland under the supervision of Prof. Francesca Kerton and the co-supervision of Prof. Stephanie MacQuarrie. During her Ph.D., Juliana investigated new applications for biochar, a sustainable material obtained from wood waste. As a Postdoctoral Researcher at McGill University, Juliana worked under the supervision of Prof. Audrey Moores on developing greener methods for implementing a biorefinery using crustacean shell waste and mechanochemistry. Juliana is an Associate Editor for Thieme’s journal Sustainability & Circularity NOW and the Co-Chair of the Global Conversation on Sustainability (GCS). She is also a National Representative of IUPAC’s Committee on Chemical Research Applied to World Needs (CHEMRAWN), a Coordination Member of the UNEP Major Group for Children and Youth’s Chemicals & Waste Youth Platform, and was selected as a 2020 Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Future Leader.