Beyond Benign

Virtual Meet-up: Connecting With Chemistry During COVID-19
2020-10-15 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Are you teaching chemistry in-person, hybrid or virtually this semester? Are you looking to support student investigation using a real-world context?
Join members of the Beyond Benign Lead Teacher team who have been navigating the muddy waters of teaching chemistry during COVID-19 as they share their experience, strength and hope with each other to find a way to support student learning by using green chemistry principles, practices and open access resources.
Send us your questions, ideas and/or suggestions for connecting sustainability and chemistry concepts in advance or bring them with you. Lead Teachers Michael Maudal, Ken Hoffman and Steve Kosmas love sharing their passion for chemistry and sustainability and will share what it looks like for them this year and tips for pivoting to adjust to the ever changing demands of teaching in-person, hybrid and virtually.
REGISTER HERE

SLiThEr #11 – Implementing Green Chemistry in the Inorganic Laboratory
2020-10-15 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Join our Greener Chemistry Laboratory Fellow Dr. John De Backere from the University of Toronto and our Higher Education Program Manager, Dr. Natalie O’Neil at the next virtual SLiThEr hosted by IONiC / VIPEr the Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists that host the Virtual Inorganic Pedagogical Electronic Resources.
Are you interested in implementing green chemistry in your teaching and research? (No, we don’t mean adding hexaaquanickel(II) to everything.) Green chemistry is sometimes taught as a standalone course or integrated into organic chemistry laboratory. However, much less has been done for inorganic laboratory courses. Come discuss the ways you’ve tried to incorporate green chemistry into your courses as well as get ideas for how to make your inorganic laboratory courses more green. We look forward to a lively verdant discussion!
The discussion will be at 1 pm Pacific/4 pm Eastern on Thursday, October 15th. You can register here.

Green Chemistry Connections
2020-10-14 12:00 - 14:00, 2020-09-09 12:00 - 14:00, 2020-08-12 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Join us to make Green Chemistry Connections
Beyond Benign will be hosting a monthly Green Chemistry Connection around Green Chemistry education using the Green Chemistry Students Learning Objectives from the Green Chemistry Commitment program as a loose framework. The topics for discussion will be Green Chemistry theory, toxicology, laboratory skills and application of Green Chemistry education. Each time we meet, we will host up to 4 speakers from the community who are actively practicing Green Chemistry in their courses and/or laboratories, as well as give time for discussion in small groups along with networking and resource sharing.
We ask that you BYOR, bring your own resource or request to the community – share a resource or put a request out to the group for resources you need.
We invite you to bring your departmental colleagues, external collaborators, graduate teaching assistants, etc. to the discussion as we will be holding this space and time monthly for the community to come together around Green Chemistry education to advance the field together virtually!
Register now!
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
To learn more about Green Chemistry Connections sponsorship opportunities click here.

ACS UFRJ Student Chapter Green Chemistry Webinar in Portuguese
2020-10-13 18:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York)
Join our Communications Intern, Juliana Vidal for a webinar in Portuguese hosted by the American Chemical Society Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro Student Chapter on Tuesday, October 13th, 6 PM ET/ 7PM BRT . Juliana will be sharing about her work at Beyond Benign and our higher education programs.
Tune in to learn more about Juliana, us, and all the things we keep doing to advance Green Chemistry!
Register here

NYSMTP Statewide Green Chemistry Professional Learning Team
2020-10-13 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online
From ocean plastic to forest fires, our world needs invention, innovation and creativity to find solutions to our biggest problems. Green chemistry, also known as the science of solutions, offers a framework for decreasing hazards within classrooms while promoting sustainability for both human health and the environment. Whether you are new to thinking about sustainability in the classroom, or have already implemented green chemistry lesson plans, we want you to join us. Together, we will create a community of Green Chemistry educators within the state of NY.

During our time together, NY teachers will share and collaborate in the creation of NYSSLS Aligned Green Chemistry Labs, videos of implementing labs, and lesson plans spotlighting NY Industries practicing green chemistry. We will also offer a CleanSweep program for chemistry classrooms looking for chemical disposal. Most importantly, together we will share lessons and labs as we work together to add sustainability into our sciences. Please complete the enclosed short form to join the PLT team.

Are you interested in joining in or learning more? Complete the following form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmaCmbPA0zX2vYkEWVFljoqpIpC54IdqlwCdHfEpEZrZf9fA/viewformhttps://forms.gle/EW7w43i8vbxWgRpS7
Organizer: masterteacherprogram@suny.edu

2020 OSTA/WSTA Virtual Conference
2020-10-09 08:00 - 2020-10-11 17:00 (America/New_York)
Check out Janie Butler on OSTA/WSTA’s virtual conference and engage with the interactive virtual booth. https://wsta.wildapricot.org/Exhibitors-and-Sponsors

Increasing Student Engagement by Connecting Chemistry and Invention
2020-09-24 - 2020-09-25
What does it look like for students in the classroom (virtually and in-person) when chemistry concepts are introduced through the lens of invention education?
By aligning chemistry with inventive thinking there is a considerable opportunity to establish a pipeline of creative inventors to design technology with chemistry to improve human health and the environment. Learn how the ChemAttitudes Framework and the Invention Education Framework align to provide structure for demystifying chemistry, increasing interest, providing real-world context and boosting the feelings of self-efficacy of chemistry.
The student experiences and work highlighted draws from the NSF funded ChemAttitudes project developed by the team of Museum of Science, Boston, the National Informal STEM Education Network and the American Chemical Society to create curriculum and best practice instructional tools to stimulate interest, a sense of relevance and feelings of self-efficacy about chemistry among public audiences. This work is also coupled by the Lemelson Foundation’s Invention Education Framework that details key criteria to foster key inventive mindset characteristics within students as well.
Join Sustainable Invention Amabassador Loren Kristick and hear from her students about their experience.

ACS Fall 2020 VIRTUAL Meeting & Expo
2020-08-17 07:00 - 2020-08-20 17:00 (America/New_York)
Join us online for the upcoming ACS Fall 2020 Virtual Meeting & Expo, August 17 – 20.
Hear from our staff during the General Papers of the Division of Chemical Education Sessions:
August 17, 2020 8am-10am: On Demand Connecting Invention and Chemistry for Impactful Student Engagement presented by Mollie Enright
August 17, 2020 8am-10am: On Demand Sustainable invention in the Chemical Sciences: Applying science and engineering practices through hands-on invention projects presented by Janie Butler
August 17, 2020 8am-10am: On Demand
August 20, 2020 10am: Live Broadcast
Integrating green chemistry and sustainability into undergraduate teaching and beyond through safer labs presented by Natalie O’Neil
Stop by the virtual poster session to learn about the Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC): Changing the course of chemistry poster by Natalie O’Neil
Check out the program for more details.

Virtual ACS Kids Zone
2020-08-15 15:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Explore the wonders of chemistry with the online Kids Zone science event featuring Miss Camille Schrier — Miss America 2020 — and more distinguished guests. Host Bibiana Campos Seijo, Editor-in-Chief of Chemical & Engineering News, will lead viewers through four different virtual hands-on activities conducted by popular STEM advocates. This #ACSKidsZone event for ages 10+ will be offered in two languages.
Mollie Enright will be leading an Earth Friendly Plastics Invention Demo based on Beyond Benign’s own Ocean Plastics Outreach Activity and Chemists Celebrate Earth Week 2020: Protecting our Planet Through Chemistry Issue featuring an article from Emma Corcoran and Jane Wissinger from the University of Minnesota on Earth Friendly Plastics.
Registration is required using the button below and event details will be sent to you via email 24 hours before the event begins.
REGISTER HERE

The Lead Teacher Program: Green Chemistry PLC
2020-08-12 11:15 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Beyond Benign’s approach to bringing sustainability into chemistry education is through fostering a professional learning community (PLC) of educators who collaborate together and cultivate green chemistry resources. The Lead Teacher Program, our K-12 PLC, is designed to develop and support teachers to take a leadership role in advancing sustainable science education as teacher trainers and presenters. As a part of this three-year program, participating teachers become ambassadors and experts in sustainable science and green chemistry. Ann Lambert, a teacher and department head who completed the lead teacher program, is a certified lead teacher and continues weave green chemistry education into her school. Her chemistry department at King Philip Regional High School in Wrentham, MA has woven green chemistry education through a traditional, standards-based curriculum. Students write a “green chemistry connection” as a component of each lab report, and they also design and conduct their own, student-driven experiments that incorporate green chemistry connections. The Lead Teacher program works to empower, educate and equip educators to weave green chemistry into their teaching.
Featured Speaker:
Ann Lambert
Chemistry Department Head and High School Chemistry Teacher, King Phillip Regional High School
Certified Lead Teacher, Beyond Benign

Inventing Green through Education
2020-08-04 12:00 - 13:15 (America/New_York) | Online
This AACT Virtual Summer Sympossium focuses on how challenges from ocean plastics to global warming require innovative, sustainable solutions. There is a demand for changing how we make our products, and we must foster the next generation to create while thinking of degradation, see the solutions within nature, and not be afraid to fail when trying new ideas. In this session, hear from students and educators on why it’s important to create a sustainable future and tackle the world’s biggest societal challenges through chemical science and invention.
This Virtual Summer symposium will have several speakers who will each present a talk on the topic of simulations to enhance chemical instruction. Each speaker will have 20 minutes to talk and answer questions. There will be a short break halfway through the symposium. The speakers and schedule are shown below:

12:00 pm – Opening Remarks and Instructions
12:05 pm – Janie Butler, “Inventing Green Bioplastics”
12:25 – Madison Morin, “Advocating for Invention Education”
12:45 pm – Emma Corcoran, and Jane Wissenger, Seaweed-based Edible Liquid Capsules: Green” Innovations for Single-Use Plastics
1:05 pm – Brief Closing Remarks and Links

Organizer: Kate Anderson and Janie Butler, Beyond Benign
Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2020, 12:00 pm ET
Register Here.

Integrating Green Chemistry and Sustainability into Chemistry Education
2020-07-28 12:00 - 14:45 (America/New_York) | Online
This AACT Virtual Summer Symposium is co-organized with Andy Dicks and Lloyd Bastin and will highlight the incorporation of green chemistry and sustainability principles throughout the chemistry curriculum as well as through co-curricular activities such as clubs, organizations and service-learning opportunities. The focus will be on green chemistry and sustainability materials and models rooted in the Twelve Principles of Green Chemistry that are designed to educate high school, community college, four year college and graduate students. These materials will include classroom teaching modules/courses, learning methods, educational research, laboratory experiments and experiences, and the integration of toxicology into the chemistry curriculum. This session will highlight collaborations between K-12 educators and academic partners. Register Here!
This Virtual Summer symposium will have several speakers who will each present a talk on the topic of simulations to enhance chemical instruction. Each speaker will have 20 minutes to talk and answer questions. There will be a short break halfway through the symposium. The speakers and schedule are shown below:

12:00 pm – Opening Remarks and Instructions
12:05 pm – Janie Butler and Natalie O’Neil, “Fostering a Green Chemistry Education Community of Practice with K-20+ Stakeholders”
12:25 pm – Jennifer Sherburn and Erika Fatura, “Introducing Pre-service Teachers to Chemical Safety and Green Chemistry”
12:45 pm – Robert Baldo, “Making Green Chemistry Available to All: Bringing the Wonder of Science from Elementary to Higher Education Learners”
1:05 pm – Steven Kosmas, “Integrating the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry Through Student Centered Activities”
1:25 pm – Break
1:40 pm – Cassie Knutson and Jane Wissinger, “Greening Minnesota High School Classrooms through Teacher Workshops”
2:00 pm – Douglas E. Raynie and Matthew L. Miller, “Partnering for Green Chemistry Education”
2:20 pm – Ken Hoffman and Andy Dicks, “Designing Green Chemistry Labs for High- and Middle-School”
2:40 pm – Brief Closing Remarks and Links

Organizer: Kate Anderson and Janie Butler, Beyond Benign
Date: Tuesday, July 28, 2020, 12:00 pm ET

POSTPONED: Sustainable Science & Green Chemistry Virtual Course
2020-07-27
To learn more about our next professional learning opportunites for teachers in CO please complete the following form:
Green Chemistry Professional Development Interest
Looking for safe and engaging lessons to teach NGSS in unique and affordable ways?
Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment is teaming up with Beyond Benign, a national non-profit dedicated to green chemistry education, to offer an interactive virtual course eligibility to earn 1 graduate credit from Colorado School of Mines featuring green chemistry and sustainable science lessons and labs.
Led by Micheal Maudal the training will focus on how green chemistry can have numerous benefits for student engagement, increasing student learning in STEM subjects, and inspiring the next generation of scientists and citizens to design and choose greener alternative products.
Virtual course topics include:

Chemical hazard awareness
Pollution prevention techniques
Green chemistry replacement labs
Real world sustainable technology applications

Leading the Way in K-12 Green Chemistry Education
2020-07-22 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York)
Beyond Benign’s Lead Teacher Program develops and supports teachers to lead in advancing sustainable science education as teacher trainers and presenters. As a part of this three year program, teachers become ambassadors and experts in sustainable science and green chemistry. Hear how these teachers are practicing green chemistry with students, mentoring colleagues and growing professional learning communities. The cullmination of the Beyond Benign 3-day Virtual Lead Teacher Summit.

Career Talk with Janie Butler - Green Chemistry
2020-07-16 11:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Janie Butler is the K-12 Program Manager for Beyond Benign and an Advocate for Green Chemistry Education.
Green Chemistry gives scientists the framework to design “something beautiful” using chemistry as a tool.
By definition, Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances.
Attend the session to

Learn about the role of Green Chemistry for inventing sustainably
Explore the continued developments in the undergraduate curriculum for Green Chemistry
Find out about the high-school courses that can help to provide the foundational skills.

If you have a passion for Chemistry and Sustainability and focused on how to constantly improve processes, this session is for you.

Green Chemistry is the future!
People may associate chemistry with toxic materials and chemicals, but you can change the way people think by practicing Green Chemistry.
The goal of Green Chemistry is to create products that never contribute to pollution through specially designed chemicals and thereby keeping the hazardous materials out of the environment.
Chemistry is the alphabet of science. The alphabet has 26 letters and you can take those 26 letters and you can write really nasty horrible stuff or you can write really beautiful poetry or novels. With the tools of chemistry, as the alphabet of science, you can either create something beautiful or you can create something hazardous. It’s a choice.
– John Warner, Co-Founder of Beyond Benign and President & Chief Technology Officer of Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry (WBI)

Fostering Student Investigation in Sustainability and Chemistry
2020-07-15 12:00 - 13:00, 2020-07-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Co-sponsored by Beyond Benign and the NYS Master Teacher Program.
How can we work together to prepare for the unpredictability of 2020-2021?
Join us as two Master Teachers discuss what lessons can we learn from virtual teaching this past spring. Narrowing in on green chemistry, we will share why chemistry that focuses on safety and sustainability is uniquely poised for virtual teaching. These labs required little to no changes because of their benign materials and stepwise disposal directions. By sharing ready-to-use lesson plans, we will spotlight NYSSLS-aligned, open-access resources designed by K-12 teachers.
In our series of two virtual meet-ups, high school science teachers will be equipped with the knowledge on how to use safe materials to implement green chemistry labs. Follow along with Annette Sebuyira and Jim Burdick as they explain how these labs work in both their classrooms and online. You will learn how local NY industries are practicing green chemistry and why green chemistry can give your students a leg up by being educated consumers and/or chemists. Support student exploration of phenomena while practicing safe and sustainable chemistry by examining chemical or physical changes and endothermic or exothermic reactions.
Connect and collaborate at the ground level to grow the professional learning community of green chemistry educators here in New York to inspire the next generation of environmentally conscious consumers and chemists.
Dates:

Monday, July 13, 2020 (Part 1) 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Wednesday, July 15, 2020 (Part 2) 12:00pm – 1:00pm
YOU ONLY NEED TO REGISTER ONCE to attend both sessions

Target Audience: High School (9 – 12) Science
Facilitators: Annette Sebuyira (Capital Region Master Teacher), Jim Burdick (North Country Master Teacher)

3rd Annual Green Chemistry Commitment Summit
2020-06-25 12:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register now to join us and faculty from current & prospective Green Chemistry Commitment signing institutions to discuss transforming chemistry education!

Join us to network with like-minded colleagues, participate in interactive sessions, share best practices, and brain-storm ideas to advance green chemistry in higher education. Register now!

How does Green Chemistry help me do my job?
2020-06-24 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Register now!
Sometimes people will say “what I do has nothing to do with green chemistry” or “my job doesn’t involve green chemistry”. In the extreme, someone who claims to “not do green chemistry” literally goes out of their way to intentionally find the most hazardous materials to work with! Let’s hope no one does this! The main issues around green chemistry are less related to creating the DESIRE for non-toxic and environmentally acceptable materials and technologies, but more about the ABILITY to have access to them. While it is likely that chemical invention plays a key role in creating a sustainable future, there are many other ways in which people benefit from some fundamental understanding of the principles of green chemistry. This presentation will look at the field of green chemistry from several different perspectives within NGO, industrial, academic, and governmental organizations throughout the entire chemical supply chain. Questions will be solicited ahead of this webinar so that answers can be built into the presentation. Submit your questions or comments in advance of the live webinar through the registration form and join us to make some Green Chemistry Connections!

Featured Speaker:

Dr. John Warner
Director of Science and Innovation, Beyond Benign
Distinguished Professor of Green Chemistry, Monash University
Co-Founder of the field of Green Chemistry
And Friends!

Advanced Green Chemistry: Connections to Our World
2020-06-15 - 2020-07-27
Ready to take green chemistry to the next level in your classroom?
Have you already started replacing your labs with safer materials?
Are you looking to expand your students horizons and support their project based learning and invention in the classroom?
In this course you will expand your knowledge of green chemistry principles and practices by analyzing Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award technologies. In addition, you will investigate the pedagogy for effective guidance of student-based research projects and inquiry-based projects.
Download flyer here
$450 to enroll + $135 ( optional) for 3 graduate credits from Colorado School of Mines
EXTENDED: Register by June 1, 2020: http://bit.ly/Advancedgconline2020
*Half off registration is available for a limited number of teachers from CO (teacher flyer), OR (teacher flyer) and WA (teacher flyer) sponsored by Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Washington Department of Ecology
**Full scholarships are available for a limited number of teachers from NY and ID sponsored by New York State Pollution Prevention Institute and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
State agency scholarships and discounts application portal here.
Email info@beyondbenign.org for more information.

24th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference (GC&E)
2020-06-15 - 2020-06-19
The 24th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering (GC&E) Conference, originally scheduled to take place in Seattle, WA on June 16-18, 2020, is now a virtual event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This free-of-charge event is open to all.
Similar to an in-person event, participants will hear and engage with colleagues about innovative science. Using a virtual platform, they will be able to watch recorded oral presentations and engage with presenters through features like a live chat and/or audio/video Q&A. Our keynote speakers will be presenting live talks during the conference with Q&A. There will even be a full poster session.
Many of our participants have expressed the importance of networking at GC&E, and we are looking for creative ways to replicate this experience online. Participants will be able to communicate with each other through the platform—plus we are excited to explore virtual coffee breaks, tweet-ups and other ways to engage.
ACS GCI will be working with our Program Chairs, Symposium Organizers, and Oral and Poster Presenters to transition the majority of the 45 technical sessions to the online platform. The full schedule will be announced soon!
BROWSE TECHNICAL SESSIONS

Introduction to Green Chemistry for High School Teachers
2020-06-08 - 2020-08-03
Looking for a course that will support NGSS integration in your high school science & engineering class?
Also are you looking to infuse how science and technology are creating solutions to environmental challenges?
As a bonus how about techniques to make your classroom safer both you and your students?
This course will equip you with the knowledge, skills and resources to integrate green chemistry principles and practices into your classroom by teaching through real-world sustainable innovations. Develop safer labs and lessons aligned to your local standards in an interactive online environment that allows you to go at your own pace.
Download flyer here
$450 to enroll + $135 (optional) for 3 graduate credits from Colorado School of Mines
EXTENDED: Register by June 5, 2020
*Half off registration is available for a limited number of teachers from CO (teacher flyer), OR (teacher flyer) and WA (teacher flyer) sponsored by Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Washington Department of Ecology
**Full scholarships are available for a limited number of teachers from NY and ID sponsored by New York State Pollution Prevention Institute and Idaho Department of Environmental Quality
State agency scholarships and discounts application portal here.
Email info@beyondbenign.org for more information.

Sneak Peek Preview: Education Symposia at the June 2020 Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference Webinar
2020-06-03 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register now to join us to make some Green Chemistry Connections before the Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference!

The 2020 Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference (GC&E) will be 100% on-line during June 15-19 and registration is FREE! This is a great opportunity for the chemical education community to come together and join the growing momentum to integrate and scaffold green and sustainable chemistry, systems thinking, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals into the chemistry curriculum. This webinar will feature several symposium co-organizers who will give brief overviews of their sessions, and how this work fits into the bigger picture of a paradigm change in how we think about and do chemistry. For GC&E Registration: https://www.gcande.org/

Featured Speakers:
Jennifer MacKellar, GC&E Organizing Committee, ACS Green Chemistry Institute
Ed Brush, Bridgewater State University
Session Organizer for Connecting Green Chemistry, Systems Thinking and the UN Sustainable Development Goals to the undergraduate chemistry curriculum
Jane Wissinger, University of Minnesota
Session Organizer for Green Chemistry Curriculum Designed to Inspire (Systems Design) – Rapid Fire Session
Peter Mahaffy, Kings University
Session Organizer for Re-imagining Chemistry Education: Systems Thinking, and Green and Sustainable Chemistry
Kendra Denlinger, Xavier University
Session Organizer for Making Your Undergraduate Chemistry Labs Greener and Safer
Natalie O’Neil, Beyond Benign
Session Organizer for Careers in Green Chemistry & Engineering
Reuben Hudson, College of the Atlantic
Session Organizer for Undergraduate Context Session

Sparking Student Interest with Safer, Greener Chemistry
2020-05-29 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Register Now!
Calling all NY Middle & High School Teachers teaching chemistry or physical science!
Looking for safer labs for your students? Looking for new ways to engage your students around sustainability and environmental challenges? Try these green chemistry labs that are both safe and exciting. Explore phenomena and fill your students with wonder while cultivating a safe and sustainable culture in your lab by examining chemical or physical changes and endothermic or exothermic reactions. The best part of all? You don’t deal with complicated post-lab disposal methods. All labs featured use green chemistry principles and practices, and are safe for you, your students, and the environment.
Hear from Annette Sebuyira and Jim Burdick, two active New York State Master Teachers and Beyond Benign Lead Teachers, and how they combine the inquiry process and green chemistry in their classroom to keep students engaged and curious. By sharing ready-to-use lesson plans, this webinar will spotlight NYS-aligned, open-access resources designed by K-12 teachers.
This free event is co-organized by Beyond Benign and New York State Pollution Prevention Institute.
Funding provided by the Environmental Protection Fund as administered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. © 2020 Rochester Institute of Technology. Any opinions, findings, and/or interpretations of data contained herein are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the opinions, interpretations or policy of Rochester Institute of Technology and its NYS Pollution Prevention Institute or the State.

How to Catalyze Student Engagement with Green Chemistry
2020-05-19 12:00 - 12:30 (America/Denver)
Register Now!
Are you looking to increase student engagement in chemistry and physical science classes? Green chemistry provides K-12 students the context through which to engage with science, while inspiring them to be innovators and problem solvers. Educators embrace green chemistry principles and practices for its seamless connections to state standards and the benefits it brings to the laboratory including: increase in safety, reduction of use of hazardous materials for labs and reduction in the cost of typical lab supplies. Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances.
Learn why the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment and Beyond Benign are teaming up to build a community of green chemistry educators in Colorado. Hear from Michael Maudal a chemistry teacher at Cherry Creek High School with experience using green chemistry in his classroom to increase relevance of chemistry to everyday life, foster student confidence in chemistry concepts and use safe lab practices to reduce hazards in the classroom. Join us for this interactive webinar to learn more about how to integrate green chemistry into your classroom and participate in our question and answer session at the conclusion of the webinar.
Webinar Informational Flyer

So you think you want to teach Green Chemistry
2020-05-14 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Register now!
Building off our Transforming Chemistry Education: Models for Transitioning to Green Chemistry Education in Higher Education webinar Andy Dicks, David Laviska & Nick Kingsley will share tips & tricks for bringing Green Chemistry to their departments and beyond. Join the discussion by bringing your questions, or your advice based on your experiences. This discussion will cover approaches to transforming chemistry education as well as develop, expand, and strengthen Green Chemistry connections within the Green Chemistry education community. Register now to join the discussion!

This webinar is co-hosted with Green Chemistry Commitment Signers

Featured Speakers:

Andrew Dicks, Professor, Teaching Stream, University of Toronto
Andrew (Andy) Dicks joined the University of Toronto Chemistry Department in 1997, after undergraduate and graduate studies in the United Kingdom at the University of Wales (Swansea) and Durham University respectively. He was hired as part of the university teaching-stream faculty in 2001. He has research interests in undergraduate laboratory instruction that involve designing novel and stimulating experiments, particularly those that showcase green chemistry principles. Following promotion in 2006, he became Associate Chair of Undergraduate Studies and developed an ongoing interest in improving the student experience in his department. He has edited three books as resources for teaching green chemistry (“Green Organic Chemistry in Lecture and Laboratory” and “Problem-Solving Exercises in Green and Sustainable Chemistry” (both published by CRC Press) and “Integrating Green and Sustainable Chemistry Principles into Education”, published by Elsevier). In 2014 he was co-chair of the 23rd IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education which was held in Toronto and became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (U.K.) in 2018.

Nick Kingsley, Associate Professor, University of Michigan – Flint
Dr. Kingsley is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of Michigan-Flint. In his 10 years at UM-Flint he has taught 15 different lecture and laboratory courses including Chemistry for Pre-Nursing, General Chemistry I and II, P-Chem based Inorganic Chemistry, Quantum Mechanics, Chemical Applications of Group Theory and Green Chemistry. In the Fall of 2018 UM-Flint offered a new Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Green Chemistry and began widespread implementation of Green Chemistry principles across the curriculum. His research interests are in the area of Group 13 chemistry, specifically the development of aluminum catalysts as earth abundant replacements to precious metal catalysts. He has mentored over 18 students in his research lab who went on to graduate or professional school. He has interests in Green Chemistry education across the curriculum and increasing awareness of Green Chemistry to the broader community. Specific interests lie in embedding Systems Thinking and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals across the chemistry curriculum to help address global challenges.

David Laviska, Assistant Professor, Seton Hall
After spending the first decade of his professional life working as an analytical chemist with the U.S. EPA, David returned to graduate school at Rutgers University and studied organometallic chemistry and catalysis with Alan S. Goldman. After graduating in 2013, he started his academic career by teaching in full-time visiting positions at several excellent institutions, and then joined Seton Hall in 2017. Dr. Laviska currently teaches General Chemistry and works primarily with first-year students to build a solid foundation for their future studies in the STEM disciplines. As a committed advocate for diversity in the sciences, he works to ensure that students from underrepresented groups are supported and made aware of institutional resources that will help them succeed. As a first-generation college graduate and scientist, he is also closely affiliated with “Gen-1” at Seton Hall – an initiative designed to encourage and support first generation students in all disciplines. Dr. Laviska’s research interests include several applications utilizing late transition metal complexes: hetero- and homogeneous catalysis, synthesis of new materials with unique optical properties, and small molecule activation. In addition, as a member of the Center for Applied Catalysis and Green Chemistry at Seton Hall, he places high importance on the concepts of sustainability and environmental stewardship. Accordingly, the principles of green chemistry are applied across all projects in his laboratory. Several of his enthusiastic undergraduate researchers are working on developing and piloting green(er) experimental methods for both undergraduate course curricula and applied research.

Employing DOZN™ 2.0 - The Quantitative Greener Alternative Evaluator in Academic Settings for Safer Labs
2020-04-29 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register now!
This webinar will cover how DOZN™ 2.0 can serve as a virtual resource for academics to utilize in laboratory courses and research settings. It will contain an overview of DOZN™ 2.0, specific rules for utilizing the tool in academic settings, access to a template worksheet for students and select reactions with DOZN™ 2.0 scoring to serve as introductory examples. After this webinar instructors and students will understand how DOZN™ 2.0 functions in both industry and academic settings and the power it has for quantitatively identifying greener alternatives for chemical production.

Featured Speakers:

Dr. Ettigounder Ponnusamy, Fellow & Global Manager, Green Chemistry MilliporeSigma

Professor Irv Levy, Simmons University and Director of the Green Chemistry Commitment at Beyond Benign

Follow-up Q&A Session with Dr. John Warner and Dr. Amy Cannon
2020-04-28 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Register now!

Join us for a follow-up Q&A session to our Earth Day Webinar. Our Earth Day webinar was so well attended and so many great questions were asked that Amy and John will be answering questions submitted during the Earth Day webinar and taking more questions from the audience live. You can even submit your questions or comments below in advance of the live webinar. Join us to make some Green Chemistry Connections!

Featured Speakers:
Dr. Amy Cannon, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Beyond Benign
Dr. John Warner, Director of Science and Innovation, Beyond Benign & Co-Founder of the field of Green Chemistry
