NAAEE Conference
2022-10-12 - 2022-10-15
Beyond Benign’s Lead Teacher Alyson van Alphen will present virtually at this year’s 51st Annual NAAEE Conference.
Tune into Learning from Nature: STEAM Investigations for the Classroom.

Eastern STANYS Annual Fall Conference
2022-10-14
Join Beyond Benign Lead Teachers Annette Sebuyira and Stefanie Loomis at the Eastern STANYS Fall Conference on Oct. 14th at SUNY Schenectady.
Learn about how to kick off your school year integrating green chemistry into your coursework with labs and lessons.

Green Chemistry Connections
2022-10-19 12:00 - 14:00, 2022-11-16 12:00 - 14:00, 2022-12-21 12:00 - 14:00, 2023-01-18 12:00 - 14:00, 2023-02-15 12:00 - 14:00, 2023-03-15 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | Online
Register now to join us!
Beyond Benign will be hosting monthly Green Chemistry Connections around Green Chemistry education using the Green Chemistry Students Learning Objectives from the Green Chemistry Commitment program as a loose framework. Register to stay in the loop about upcoming speakers.
Each time we meet, we will host community leaders who are actively practicing Green Chemistry and/or Toxicology in their courses and/or laboratories. Connections grow through time dedicated to small group discussions, 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 to join us!
After registering, you’ll receive more information about the Green Chemistry Connections via calendar invite and emails as the meeting time approaches as well as access to our Google Site the virtual home of the Connections to stay connected with the community between live meeting times.

Observe, Wonder, Think: A Green Chemistry Interactive Webinar Series
2022-10-20 19:00, 2022-11-17 19:00, 2022-12-15 18:00 - 19:00, 2023-01-19 19:00, 2023-02-16 18:00 - 19:00, 2023-03-16 19:00
Calling all K-12 teachers! Create safer, more engaging learning environments by integrating green chemistry and sustainable science principles into your classroom. Join your peers at our monthly professional development series: Observe, Wonder, Think: A Green Chemistry Interactive Webinar Series to learn how!
Following NGSS best practice techniques, this webinar series will support K-12 educators to foster “observe, wonder, think” with their students using hands-on green chemistry labs and highlighting real-world green chemistry technologies. Each time we meet, we will host education leaders who are actively practicing green chemistry in their classrooms to walk through their favorite green chemistry labs and experiments. There will be time for Q&A and/or networking at the end of each call.
This professional development series will be held on the third Thursday of the month, October 2022 through May 2023. By registering here, you will be signed up for all events and have access to all event recordings.
October, December, February, April 6pm ET
November, January, March, May 7pm ET
We’ll send reminders ahead of each event. Each participant will receive a certificate of completion at the end of each meeting.

Info Session: Beyond Benign Grant Program for MSI Student Chapters
2022-10-27 18:30 - 19:30 | Online
Is your student group interested in applying for the ACS Green Chemistry Student Chapter Award? Are you from a Minority-Serving Institution (MSI) or does your group comprise and/or work with minority communities? As part of our MSI Initiative, Beyond Benign is providing guidance and support to MSI/minority student groups to win awards for their green chemistry work!
Join us for an information session where you can hear more about Beyond Benign’s Grant Program, which offers funding to student groups to help them apply for an ACS Green Chemistry Student Chapter Award.
By attending this Information Session, you will learn about …

our Grant Program requirements and timeline;
the guidance we will provide to student groups on designing successful events;
the free resources that we will provide to student groups to facilitate activities and outreach;
and opportunities for networking and connections to industry speakers.

Our featured speakers for this event are Carolyn Dewey and Josh Gann from the ACS-UMN Student Chapter (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities). ACS-UMN is a previous winner of an ACS Green Chemistry Student Chapter Award!
Event Details

Who should come: ACS Student Chapters and their faculty advisors
What: A chance for you to learn more about Beyond Benign’s Grant Program and get your questions answered
When: October 27, 2022 at 6:30 pm ET
Where: Online (we’ll email you details about how to connect)

This event and the Grant Program is sponsored by 3M.

ECOSChem External Engagement Session #1
2022-11-01 13:00 - 14:30
Interested in supporting the development of a cross-sectoral and actionable definition and criteria for “sustainable chemistry”? Beyond Benign and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (LCSP) have been working together with the Expert Committee on Sustainable Chemistry (ECOSChem) over the past 6 months to create a draft definition and set of criteria that can accelerate the development and commercialization of greener, safer and more sustainable chemicals, processes and products. More information about the committee’s work and mandate can be found here. A set of external engagement sessions will be taking place in early November to gain broader feedback from the community and your participation and expertise would be greatly appreciated! Registration for the November 1st meeting is available through the link below.
At the meeting, the Project Team (LCSP and Beyond Benign) will introduce the project and the draft definition and criteria for “sustainable chemistry” (15 minutes). Participants will then move into small groups organized by sector that will be moderated by ECOSChem members (45 minutes), followed by a wrap-up session where key input will be shared with the large group with time for discussion (30 minutes). Discussion materials for these meetings will be sent out on October 31st.

ECOSChem External Engagement Session #2
2022-11-03 10:00 - 11:30
Interested in supporting the development of a cross-sectoral and actionable definition and criteria for “sustainable chemistry”? Beyond Benign and the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production (LCSP) have been working together with the Expert Committee on Sustainable Chemistry (ECOSChem) over the past 6 months to create a draft definition and set of criteria that can accelerate the development and commercialization of greener, safer and more sustainable chemicals, processes and products. More information about the committee’s work and mandate can be found here. A set of external engagement sessions will be taking place in early November to gain broader feedback from the community and your participation and expertise would be greatly appreciated! Registration for the November 3rd meeting is available through the link below.
At the meeting, the Project Team (LCSP and Beyond Benign) will introduce the project and the draft definition and criteria for “sustainable chemistry” (15 minutes). Participants will then move into small groups organized by sector that will be moderated by ECOSChem members (45 minutes), followed by a wrap-up session where key input will be shared with the large group with time for discussion (30 minutes). Discussion materials for these meetings will be sent out on October 31st.

STANYS Conference
2022-11-06
How to Use Green Chemistry Ideas and Activities in Your Regents Chemistry Class
Sunday, Nov. 6th 11am-12pm
Lead Teachers Stefanie Loomis, Scott Carlson and Jim Burdick
How can you bring green chemistry and sustainability into your class while meeting the NYSSLS and positively influencing student achievement? Green chemistry is a great avenue for putting chemistry content into context. We’ll share our creation of a NYSSLS-aligned curriculum map for New York teachers implementing green chemistry, including relevant phenomena and storylines. We will share labs that we use and it is our hope that we can collaborate in this session to brainstorm ways in which these labs could be included into storylines that teachers are planning or using.

Green Chemistry and Commerce Council Roundtable Session: Future Chemists to Drive Green Chemistry at Scale
2022-11-10 13:30 - 15:00
If you are around Philadelphia in the second week of November, don’t miss the chance to catch up with our Co-Founder and Executive Director Dr. Amy Cannon for a Special Education Session as part of the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council (GC3) Innovators Roundtable. Besides hearing from the Beyond Benign team, you will have the chance to hear from other industry and academic speakers on current and future directions of green chemistry education implementation and demand. More information about this event below! We are looking forward to seeing you there!
Green Chemistry and Commerce Council Roundtable Session: Future Chemists to Drive Green Chemistry at Scale
Date: November 10, 2022, 1:30 – 3:00pm
Speakers:
Jeffrey Whitford, MilliporeSigma
Adelina Voutchkova, ACS Green Chemistry Institute
Amy Cannon, Beyond Benign
Andrea Ashley-Oyewole, Prairie View A&M University (TX)
Register for the GC3 Innovators Roundtable here!

2022 InventEd Convening
2022-11-15 - 2022-11-17
The theme, Reconnect, Reimagine, Reinvigorate captures the energy and spirit of our community to continue connecting, learning from each other, and collaborating to jointly build the field of Invention Education.
Whether joining in-person or virtually, participants can expect an inclusive experience in which to build new connections, opportunities to reimagine and workshop new ideas, and to walk away reinvigorated to build and support Invention Education across learning environments and communities.
Beyond Benign will be participating in the upcoming Lemelson Foundation’s 2022 inventEd Convening in Alexandria, VA.
As active members of the invention education community Beyond Benign will be highlighting it’s work on Building a Sustainable Invention Community for Middle School Educators and the 2021-2022 Sustainable Speaker Series.

Green Chemistry for Sustainable Development
2022-11-18 06:00 - 07:00
Our Co-Founder Dr. Amy Cannon will be speaking about Green Chemistry for Sustainable Development during the International Conference on Green Initiatives in Chemical Sciences for Sustainable Development (ICGICSSD-2022) on November 18 @ 6:00 AM (EST).
The conference is taking place from November 18-19, 2022 and it is organized by the Department of Chemistry, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology (Sikkim, India) and Association of Chemistry Teachers, C/O Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (Mumbai, India) in association with Indian National Science Academy (INSA) (New Delhi, India). More information about the event can be found on their website.

LatinXChem
2022-11-28
On November 28th, join our team and our Green Chemistry Commitment Signers (GCC) from Latin America to learn more about their amazing Green Chemistry initiatives during the LatinXChem Twitter Conference! The LatinXChem is a virtual forum through which the community of Latin American chemists around the world can share and discuss their research results and advances. Below you can find a list of presenters from our community:
IFRJ – Duque de Caxias:

Vegetable Analysis by Holistic Metrics of Biodiesel Synthesis Using Ultrasound. José Victor Lopes (@Josevictor555), Quell Almeida, Thiago Aversa;
Green City: A Game for Green Chemistry Teaching. Maria Victória Barros Costa (@mavibarrosc), Quell Almeida.
VerdeLab: The Use of Social Media to Promote Green Chemistry. Larissa Nogueira (@Lari78135593), Thalia Ayane de Andrade, Quell Almeida, Thiago Aversa.

Universidad de la Costa (@cnyecuc):

Awareness and Action in the Caribbean: Impact of Sunscreens on Underwater Life. Gabriela María Rodríguez Arellana (@_Gabara).

Universidade Federal de Pelotas (@UFPel, @wwverde):

WWVerde: The Green Chemistry Propagation Webpage in Brazil. Eder Joao Lenardao (@EderLenardao), Gabriela Trisch de Quadros (@eugabitrisch), Sabrina Souza Ferreira (@SabrinaSouzaF16);
Arylseleninic Acids as Selenylating Agents. Photocatalytic synthesis of 3-Selanylindoles under Blue LED irradiation. Eder Joao Lenardao (@EderLenardao), Gabriela Trisch de Quadros (@eugabitrisch), Laura Abenante (@LauraAbenante);
Dinitrile Triselenide: A Suitable Reagent for Preparing α-Carbonyl-selenocyanate and 2-Phenyl-imidazo[1,2a]pyridines under Visible Light Irradiation. Eder Joao Lenardao (@EderLenardao), Sabrina Souza Ferreira (@SabrinaSouzaF16); João Marcos Anghinoni (@joao_anghinoni).

UNESP (@IqUnesp):

UN Sustainable Development Goals and green chemistry – Contributions Contributions to Undergraduate Teaching in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering. Leticia Damiano Dantas (@damiano_Leticia);
Sustainable QR Codes for Anti-Counterfeiting Applications Triggered by the Photothermal Response of Upconverting Nanoparticles. Fernando Eduardo Maturi (@MaturiFernando).

Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul:

KIO4‐mediated Selective Hydroxymethylation/Methylenation of Imidazo‐Heteroarenes: A Greener Approach. Jamal Rafique (@jamalrafique), Marcelo Straesser Franco, Sumbal Saba, Antonio Luiz Braga.

Universidade Federal de Goiás:

Versatile Electrochemical Synthesis of Selenylbenzo [b] furans Derivatives Through the Cyclization of 2-alkynylphenols. Sumbal Saba (@SumbalSaba), Carlos Doerner, Marcos Scheide, Celso Nicoleti, Daniele Durigon, Vinícius Idiarte, Martinho Sousa, Samuel Mendes, José Neto, Guilherme Martins, Jamal Rafique, Antonio Luiz Braga.

New York Green Chemistry PLT
2022-12-15 17:00 - 18:30, 2023-01-26 17:00 - 18:30, 2023-02-16 17:00 - 18:30, 2023-03-23 17:00 - 18:30
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 may feature guest speakers who are leaders in sustainable science. 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. This is a continuation of last year’s PLT, but new members are welcome! If you have any questions, please contact Jim Burdick at jburdick@ccsdk12.org.
This PLT is for teachers in grades 6 -12.
Open to ALL Master Teachers across the state + Invite a friend (non MTs) / OPEN
REGISTER HERE

Info Session: Green Chemistry Commitment
2023-01-11 12:00 - 13:00
The Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC) is a framework to unite the Green Chemistry higher education community around a common vision to:

Expand the community of green chemists;
Grow departmental resources;
Improve connections to job opportunities;
Affect systemic and lasting change in chemistry education.

Join us for an information session, where you can learn more about the GCC’s benefits and outcomes of becoming a GCC Signer. We’ll also be sharing our latest initiatives for the higher education community including the Green Chemistry Teaching & Learning Community (GCTLC) Online Platform and our Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Initiative.
When your institution becomes a GCC signer, you will gain:

Access to a broad and supportive community of chemistry experts;
A flexible framework for green chemistry curriculum and training;
A benchmark to track progress on learning and research objectives;
A network dedicated to shifting how and what the next generation of chemists learn;
Access to funding opportunities and projects.

The GCC is a departmental commitment, so please consider inviting your colleagues or department chair to this event.
Event Details

Who: Higher Education faculty and educators
What: A chance for you to learn more about the GCC and get your questions answered
When: January 11, 2023 at 12:00 PM (EST)
Featuring: Dr. Nasrin Mirsaleh-Kohan, Texas Woman’s University

Green chemistry education: An upstream approach to addressing sustainable development goals
2023-01-27 15:40 - 16:40
Our Co-Founder and Executive Director Dr. Amy Cannon has been invited by the North Carolina State University for a Seminar to the Chemistry Department on January 27th @ 3:40 PM (EST). The title of her talk will be Green chemistry education: An upstream approach to addressing sustainable development goals. This event is open to the public and more information can be found here.

If you are interested in having a member of the Beyond Benign team present about Green Chemistry to your chemistry institution, feel free to reach out to us at info@beyondbenign.org.
Abstract:
The field of chemistry, providing the molecular building blocks of materials and products used throughout society, has a critical and foundational role in addressing the Sustainable Development Goals outlined by the United Nations. Green chemistry provides chemists with principles and a framework to design chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate hazards and impacts. Chemists, with green chemistry skills, have made significant positive impacts on society through the design of sustainable chemistry technologies. For example, the use of biobased solvents can result in a 97% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in an industrial setting, while break-through green chemistry technologies can reduce the inherent Global Warming Potential of a chemical products, enabling chemists to take the urgent action needed to address climate change (U.N. SDG #13). Unfortunately, our current global education systems do not properly prepare most scientists to select and design sustainable chemicals, processes, materials and products. Green chemistry education addresses sustainability at the earliest stages of the value chain, maximizing impacts. Undergraduate and graduate level training is an essential stage in the training of scientists and professionals that are prepared with the skills to address hazards and mitigate impacts at the design stage of a product lifecycle.

Defining "Sustainable Chemistry" Project Webinar
2023-03-01 11:00 - 12:00
In partnership with the Lowell Centre for Sustainable Production, Beyond Benign will be co-hosting a webinar on Wednesday, March 1 at 11 a.m. ET summarizing work over the past year by the Expert Committee on Sustainable Chemistry (ECOSChem), a group of twenty leading representatives from industry, government, academic, and non-profit organizations from across the world. The ECOSChem group has spent the past twelve months developing an actionable definition and criteria for “sustainable chemistry” that will help inform policymakers, industry researchers, educators and so many others in building a more sustainable future through chemistry. Come hear more about the definition and criteria from the project team and members of the expert committee as they highlight the importance of this work moving forward. You can register for this event using the link below.

ACS Spring National Meeting 2023
2023-03-26 - 2023-03-30
Join our team members and community at the ACS Spring National Meeting 2023 from March 26th – March 30th online and in-person in Indianapolis, IN, USA. The theme of this year’s conference is Crossroads of Chemistry! Follow our team and our community’s presentations on the list below!
Visit Beyond Benign’s Booth (#314) anytime in the Exhibitor Lounge of the ACS Spring National Meeting to learn more about our team and our programs!

Beyond Benign Presentations:
Sunday, March 26, 2023 @ 8:05 AM – 8:50 AM (EST)
Sustainability solutions for a changing world, that is green chemistry
Greg Sloan, Lead Teacher
Sunday, March 26, 2023 @ 3:05 PM – 3:35 PM (EST)
Development and assessing the impact of student-generated videos, infographics, and open education resources related to sustainability and green chemistry
Alexey Leontyev, GCTLC Leadership Committee Member
Sunday, March 26, 2023 @ 4:10 PM – 4:40 PM (EST)
Systems thinking approaches to teach green and sustainable chemistry in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)
Glenn Hurst, GCTLC Leadership Committee Member
Monday, March 27, 2023 @ 8:05 AM – 8:45 AM (EST)
Chemical Epistemology: Understanding why people think the way they think as the first step towards a sustainable future
John Warner, Co-Founder and Board Member
Monday, March 27, 2023 @ 9:20 AM – 9:45 AM (EST)
Marine biorefinery and green chemistry education: A crossroad towards a sustainable future
Juliana Vidal, Higher Education Program Manager
Monday, March 27, 2023 @ 9:20 AM – 9:45 AM (EST)
Greening your chemistry curriculum: How to get started
David Laviska, GCC Advisory Board Member and GCTLC Leadership Committee Member
Monday, March 27, 2023 @ 5:15 PM – 5:35 PM (EST)
Using a temporal systems thinking framework to design and redesign a biorefinery to facilitate dynamic problem solving
Glenn Hurst, GCTLC Leadership Committee Member
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 @ 9:05 AM – 9:25 AM (EST)
Environmental justice: Achieving global equity through green and sustainable chemistry
Edward Brush, GCC Advisory Board Member

Green Chemistry Presentations and Symposia:
Join the following Green Chemistry Commitment Signers and learn more about their ACS Spring Presentations in the ACS Spring Meeting Program.
University of Minnesota

Sunday, March 26: CEI Award for Incorporation of Sustainability in the Chemistry Curriculum.
Monday, March 27th: Green Chemistry Theory and Practice: Engaging Students in the Crossroads of Chemistry for the Betterment of Society.
Monday, March 27th: Creating a departmental culture of sustainable and green chemistry practices.
Tuesday, March 28th: Intrinsic kinetics of polyethylene pyrolysis via pulse-heated analysis of solid reactions (PHASR): Enabling a plastic circular economy

Augsburg University

Sunday, March 26th: Sustainable chemistry at Augsburg University inspired by the Hagfors Center for Science, Business, and Religion.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Sunday, March 26th: Studies of the cobalt boride-mediated conversion of nitriles to alcohols.
Sunday, March 26th: “Novel” tautomeric equilibrium for use in a course-based undegraduate research experience.
Monday, March 27th: Polyesters, quick! Epoxide/anhydride copolymerization for organic laboratory students.
Monday, March 27th: Aluminum aminotriphenolate catalysts for CO2/epoxide coupling.

Seton Hall University

Monday, March 27th: Academy for green chemistry and sustainability for undergraduate students.
Monday, March 27: Shaker mill mechanochemical metalation of porphyrin.

Saint Francis University

Monday, March 27: Greener way to teach the Frens nanoparticle synthesis.

Bridgewater State University

Monday, March 27: Synthesis of 2-monoacylglycerols: 2-oleoyglycerol and 2-palmitoylglycerol: A project-based learning experiment for the organic chemistry laboratory
Monday, March 27: Applying bio-based hydrogels in project-based learning at Bridgewater State University.

Wayne State University

Monday, March 27: Activator free C-to-N solid phase peptide synthesis.

Millikin University

Monday, March 27: Solventless synthesis of E-2-4-pyridylmethylidene-5-fluoro-1-indanone as a potential inhibitor of aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2).

Texas Woman’s University

Monday, March 27: The Sustainability Project: A first year chemistry majors’ laboratory activity.
Monday, March 27: Synergistic research project between non-chemistry and chemistry majors to address microplastics pollution in urban and rural soil.
Wednesday, March 29: Bringing photodegradation of plastic-waste into the ‘green age’.
Wednesday, March 29:“Closing the loop” in the production and chemical recycling of poly(bisphenol A carbonate) found in e-waste through microwave-assisted alcoholysis.
Wednesday, March 29: Removal, isolation, analysis, and characterization of microplastics found in urban and rural soil: Scrutinizing the Fenton reagent process.

Michigan State University

Monday, March 27: Plant oil-based eco-friendly approach for paper coatings and their packaging applications.

Tennesse Technological University

Monday, March 27: Synergistic research project between non-chemistry and chemistry majors to address microplastics pollution in urban and rural soil.
Monday, March 27: Chapter activities at Tennessee Tech University.
Wednesday, March 29: Design and investigations of sustainable end-of-life polymers, furfural derivatives as potential antibiotics, and porphyrin-like macromolecules toward well-defined materials

University of Detroit Mercy

Monday, March 27: Detroid Mercy green chemistry fall retreat.

Florida Southern College:

Monday, March 27: Florida Southern College ACS Chapter.

Montclair State University

Tuesday, March 28: Exploration of bio-inspired synthetic polymer in graphene derivative (rGO) synthesis.

Northeastern University

Tuesday, March 28: Creating a successful ACS student chapter through inclusive community and professional development

South Dakota State University

Tuesday, March 28: Summer laboratory research experiences for educators: A component of a Master’s in chemistry program for in-service science teachers.

University of Toronto

Wednesday, March 29: Synthesis of sequence-controlled peptoid polymers.

Harvey Mudd College

Wednesday, March 29:TCFH as a mild, green, non-sensitizing coupling reagent.

To visit us in the booth #314 and attend the evens highlighted above you need to be registered for the ACS Spring National Meeting 2023.
Event Details

Who: Chemistry students, post-doctoral fellows, and faculty
When: March 26th – March 30th, 2023
Where: Indianapolis, IN, USA
How: Register here.
