Beyond Benign hosts educators (faculty members, staff, and students of higher education institutions) to work on resources and awareness for the Green Chemistry Commitment program. Educators work for one or two semesters with Beyond Benign staff to lead programs within the Green Chemistry Commitment. A stipend may be available depending on defined work. Interested educators can work in one or more of the following areas:
- Educational Content Development:
- Green Chemistry Resource and Curriculum Development: Work on curriculum resources relevant to your teaching and course work, while also connecting with the greater Green Chemistry community, or connect with Beyond Benign to work on current curricular resource projects that are ongoing within the Green Chemistry Commitment program.
- Community Ambassador:
- Green Chemistry Commitment Faculty Ambassador: Work with Beyond Benign to help us get the word out about the program and to connect with other like-minded organizations and faculty members in the field to bring about greater change. Access GCC community ambassador resources here.
- Green Chemistry Connections Co-hosts and Co-organizers: Collaborate with Beyond Benign staff, GCC faculty members, and the green chemistry community to organize themes, speakers, and discussions for the Green Chemistry Connections monthly meetings from October – May to connect the green chemistry globally in topics of interest to the audience.
- Green Chemistry Workshops and Symposia: Collaborate with Beyond Benign staff, and GCC faculty members to create Green Chemistry workshops and symposia at regional and national meetings. Workshops and symposia can include topics on green chemistry and toxicology to facilitate further adoption of these concepts into chemistry courses and programs.
Have another idea? We love to collaborate and are open to new ideas!
Eligibility:
Preference will be made to educators, students or staff members from GCC signing institutions
The educator’s background must fit within the current open opportunities or support their new idea in line with Beyond Benign’s mission.
Click here for current opportunities!
Have your own idea? We love to collaborate and are open to new ideas – contact us!
our community ambassadors
Lucian Lucia, North Carolina State University (Green Chemistry Commitment Ambassador 2023-2024)
Prof. Lucian A. Lucia currently serves as a Professor in the Departments of Forest Biomaterials (Wood & Paper Science) and Chemistry and as a faculty in the programs of Fiber & Polymer Science and Environmental Sciences at North Carolina State University. His laboratory, The Laboratory of Soft Materials & Green Chemistry, probes fundamental materials science topics focused on the green chemistry of renewable polymers. He received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Florida for modeling photoinduced charge separation states of novel Rhenium (I)-based organometallic ensembles as a first order approximation of photosynthesis.
Nasrin Mirsaleh-Kohan, Texas Woman’s University (Green Chemistry Commitment Ambassador 2023-2024)
Prof. Kohan is an Associate Professor of Physics and Division Head of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Texas Woman’s University. She is dedicated to making STEM accessible through community engagement and creating programs that benefit students from underrepresented and marginalized communities with opportunities to excel in STEM. She is a Leadership Fellow for SENCER (Science Education for New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities) and holds the position of co-director for SENCER Center for Innovation-Southwest. Kohan’s research laboratory investigates the interaction between DNA and currently utilizes platinum-based anticancer drugs. She is also interested in the applications of nanomaterials, especially carbon nanotubes, and their use in the capture and storage of carbon dioxide. In addition to this research, Kohan is interested in understanding teaching pedagogy and student learning, particularly in science classes.
James Batteas, Texas A&M University (Green Chemistry Commitment Ambassador 2023-2024)
Prof. Batteas is a Regents Professor and D. Wayne Goodman Professor of Chemistry, and a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU). He earned a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin in 1990, and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995. He is an expert in the materials chemistry of surfaces and interfaces, with research activities spanning a broad range of fundamental surface and interfacial phenomena. These include organic molecular electronics, catalysis, plasmonics, tribology, “smart” surfaces, and self-organizing nanoscale materials. His research in tribology focuses on the bridge between chemistry and mechanics, where his lab conducts atomic-scale studies of friction and wear of materials. Here he has extended this work into fundamental studies of mechanochemistry, and he currently directs the NSF Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry. He has been recognized twice by TAMU for excellence in teaching, receiving Association of Former Students Distinguished Teaching awards at both the college and university levels. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2012. He previously served as an Associate Editor (2011-2014) and Editorial Board Member for RSC Advances (2011–2021) and on the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Central Science (2014-2020).
Gagan Daliaho, McGill University (Green Chemistry Connections Co-Organizer 2023-2024)
Gagan is a Ph.D. Student in chemistry at McGill University and actively participates in the Green Chemistry McGill student group. As a Green Chemistry Connections Co-Organizer and Co-Host, she will be working during 2023-2024 with Beyond Benign and the Green Chemistry Connections Co-Organizers group as an expert in greener laboratory approaches. Her celebration and promotion of research in green chemistry and materials science, engaging both the scientific community and the broader public sphere will be utilized in this role. Read more about Gagan here.
our educational content developers
Dr. Liza Abraham, Ambrose University (Greener Chemistry Laboratory Faculty Fellow Summer/Fall 2022)
Dr. Liza Abraham has served as an Associate Professor of Chemistry at Ambrose University since 2015. As a Greener Chemistry Laboratory Faculty Fellow, she will be working during her sabbatical in 2022 with Beyond Benign and the Greener Lab Workgroup as an expert in greener laboratory approaches. Her knowledge of green chemistry and organic chemistry expertise will be utilized to create resource guides with support from MilliporeSigma. Read Dr. Abraham’s green chemistry publications here.
Dr. Dean Campbell, Bradley University (Greener Chemistry Laboratory Faculty Fellow Spring/Summer 2022)
Dr. Dean Campbell has been a faculty member of the Mund-Lagowski Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Bradley University since 1998. As a Greener Chemistry Laboratory Faculty Fellow, he will be working during the 2022 Spring semester with Beyond Benign and the Green Chemistry education community to continue the development of greener laboratory exercises and resource guides for use in undergraduate teaching labs. He will draw on his experiences in the areas of general, inorganic, and materials chemistry towards the development of resource guides for greener general and inorganic laboratory courses with support from MilliporeSigma.
Dr. John De Backere, University of Toronto (Greener Chemistry Laboratory Faculty Fellow 2020 – 2022)
Dr. De Backere recently joined the University of Toronto Chemistry Department and will be working to re-develop and align the Inorganic curriculum in the department with the department’s Green Chemistry and systems thinking approach. As the Greener Chemistry Laboratory Faculty Fellow for 2020 – 2021, he will continue developing greener laboratory exercises for use in undergraduate teaching labs. His expertise in the field of inorganic chemistry and greener laboratory development will be valuable for our work towards a resource guide for general and inorganic lab courses with support from MilliporeSigma.
Dr. Julian Silverman, Manhattan College (Toxicology for Chemists Fellow 2020 – 2021)
Dr. Silverman is a dedicated Green Chemist who has recently begun teaching in an undergraduate Environmental Science program and is eager to continue to connect introductory coursework to relevant and important toxicological concepts. As the Toxicology for Chemists Fellow for 2020-2021, he will integrate toxicology concepts from modules developed as part of the Toxicology for Chemists: Designing Safer Chemicals program into his existing environmental science and chemistry courses. Dr. Silverman is interested in discussing toxicology basics as a way to frame popular topics in general chemistry (e.g. ideal gas law and air pollution, acid-base theory, and acid rain) and developing exercises and online tools (leveraging life-cycle techniques) to evaluate chemicals and procedural choices. Learn more about Dr. Silverman’s approach in his recent publication Evaluating Feedstocks, Processes, and Products in the Teaching Laboratory: A Framework for Students To Use Metrics to Design Greener Chemistry Experiments in J. Chem. Educ.
Dr. Douglas Raynie, South Dakota State University (Toxicology for Chemists Fellow 2020 – 2021)
Dr. Raynie has been an active member of the Toxicology Working Group and now serves as an Advisory Group Member for the Toxicology for Chemists program. As the Toxicology for Chemists Fellow for 2020 – 2021, he will utilize and test the new toxicology modules developed as part of the Toxicology for Chemists: Designing Safer Chemicals program in his existing Chemical Toxicology course. The modules are open-access toxicology resources for use within chemistry courses aimed at educating the next generation of scientists to design chemical products that are safer and healthier for humans and the environment. His expertise in teaching toxicology and experience assessing students’ attitudes towards chemical toxicity will be valuable in this work. Learn more about Dr. Raynie’s Chemical Toxicology course at South Dakota State University.
Dr. Dalila Kovacs, Grand Valley State University (Summer 2017 – Summer 2018)
Dr. Kovacs worked with our Toxicology Working Group to develop open-access toxicology resources for use within chemistry courses. Her goals were to develop resources for use at her own institution, while also creating materials that can be used throughout the chemistry community. Learn more about the undergraduate course in contemporary toxicology developed by Dr. Kovacs and the Chemistry Department at Grand Valley State University (GVSU) with assistance and participation from the Dow Chemical Company Toxicology and Environment Research and Consulting department (DOW-TERC). Dr. Kovacs remains working with Beyond Benign, serving as an Advisory Group Member and curriculum developer for the Toxicology for Chemists program.
Professor Irv Levy, Gordon College (Spring – Summer 2016)
Professor Levy worked with us on developing a Green Chemistry Resource Guide for the Organic Chemistry Course (in partnership with MilliporeSigma) and also traveling around the country meeting other faculty members and advocating the teaching of green chemistry in undergraduate programs and sharing the opportunities available through the Green Chemistry Commitment. Professor Levy remains working with Beyond Benign as a faculty liaison and board member.
