Community News

MilliporeSigma is investing in Green Chemistry today to empower the workforce of tomorrow

April 2, 2020  Wilmington, MA – Green chemistry education nonprofit Beyond Benign has received a grant from life science company MilliporeSigma to develop laboratory resources for universities.  The life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada. Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that generate the least amount of harm and waste possible while maintaining excellent quality. Since 2007, Beyond Benign has integrated green chemistry into K-12 and higher education institutions through teacher training, lesson plans, community networks, webinars, and events.

“We’re ecstatic to receive continued support from MilliporeSigma,” says Beyond Benign’s Director and Co-Founder, Dr. Amy Cannon. “MilliporeSigma recognizes the central role chemistry plays in the world around us. They understand the urgency of training chemistry students – our future workforce – in green chemistry, so as a society we invent in ways that intentionally reduce harm to human health and the environment.”

MilliporeSigma’s grant will allow Beyond Benign to create an inorganic chemistry resource guide and enhance an existing organic chemistry guide for universities looking to include green chemistry in their courses and programs. The updated Guide to Green Chemistry Experiments for Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Labs created with nonprofit partner My Green Lab will be available in 2020, and the new inorganic chemistry guide will begin development in July 2020. Beyond Benign’s Higher Education partners include the University of Michigan at Flint and the University of Toronto.

“Beyond Benign is helping transform the future of science by helping to shape chemists who take responsibility for every step of research and development,” said Jeffrey Whitford, head of Corporate Responsibility and Life Science Branding at MilliporeSigma. “Its work reflects many of MilliporeSigma’s goals for our own corporate and community sustainability.”

As part of its Corporate Responsibility initiative, MilliporeSigma supports organizations

committed to solving the toughest problems in life science. They practice green chemistry by manufacturing sustainable products, establishing dedicated programs, and by using the DOZN™ 2.0 free online tool it developed to test product and process sustainability against the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry.

About Beyond Benign:

Beyond Benign, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, envisions a world where the chemical building blocks of products used every day are healthy and safe for humans and the environment. Beyond Benign is fostering a green chemistry education community empowered to transform chemistry education for a sustainable future. Beyond Benign’s continuum of sustainable science educational programs including, teacher and faculty training, and curriculum development from K-20 are helping to build the next generation of scientists and citizens with the skills and knowledge to create and chose products that are safe for human health and the environment.  Over the past 13 years, Beyond Benign has an extensive history of service, having trained over 6,000 K-12 teachers in sustainable science and green chemistry, designed over 200 open-access lessons, reached over 25,000 youth and community members through outreach, & partnered with over 65 universities to transform chemistry education.  Together we can catalyze the development of green technological innovations that result in safer products and processes in support of a sustainable, healthy society.

Find us on Twitter @beyondbenign, on Instagram @beyondbenign, and on Facebook @beyondbenign.

Press Contact:
Nicki Wiggins, Director of Development
Beyond Benign
Nicki_Wiggins@beyondbenign.org
978-229-5443