FAQs: Green Chemistry for Sustainability

General

What is the Green Chemistry for Sustainability (GCS) platform?
The GCS platform is a global online community center accelerating sustainable science. It is a collaboration between the American Chemical Society, Beyond Benign, and the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale.

GCS offers:

• A free, centralized location where chemists, engineers, and sustainability professionals can find funding, events, professional development, graduate programs, mentorship, and chemical policies
• The ability to search, message, and collaborate with people across sectors with aligned research or business interests, expertise, and resources 
• A place to share publications, job openings, tools, and safer alternatives for other community members 
• Access to Dimensions, an AI-enabled publications search tool that provides the GCS community with a curated research library. 
• Information about the National Science Foundation (NSF) Centers for Innovation and the Yale-UNIDO Global GreenChem Accelerator Program.

How is GCS related to the Green Chemistry Teaching and Learning Community (GCTLC)?
The GCTLC is an important partner of the GCS. These communities play distinct yet complementary roles in advancing green chemistry awareness and adoption. GCTLC primarily targets educators, teachers, and student leaders to transform chemistry education by empowering them with the resources, network, and support needed to teach and practice green chemistry. GCS targets scientists, engineers, sustainability leaders, entrepreneurs, industry representatives, and professionals to facilitate innovation, research, discovery, and policy discussions.

Registration

I want to sign up, but my organization isn’t on the list.
On the sign-up form, you can easily create a new organization by checking the box underneath the organization search. Please be as complete as possible, and mark your organization as a start-up if relevant. If you are searching for a department or center within a larger organization, check that the primary “umbrella” organization is not already on the list (for example, users from the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale should search for Yale University). You can add your specific center, department, or lab on your profile page.

I registered, but I never received a one-time login link.
Once you complete and submit the sign-up form, it may take up to 15 minutes to receive your login link. Be sure to whitelist [email protected], and check your spam folder for the email. Contact us if you still do not receive a login link.

Should I make one profile for my whole organization or register as an individual?
To benefit from all the platform’s features, community members should make individual accounts even if they are affiliated with the same organization. 

How do I edit the organization I’m affiliated with?
Please contact us at [email protected] to request changes to your organization’s page.
 

Profile Preferences

How do I change my email preferences?
Hover over the person icon in the top right corner of the page and select “My Account” to go to your profile page. On the right-hand side (under country, language, and email address), click “Manage Email Preferences.” Update your selection and click “Submit.”

How do I change my direct messaging preferences?
Hover over the person icon in the top right corner of the page and select “My Account” to go to your profile page. On the right-hand side (under country, language, and email address), click “Manage Email Preferences.” Under “Privacy Preferences,” check or uncheck the “Allow Direct Messaging” box.

How do I send a direct message?
Visit the People page and click on the name of the user you wish to message. If the user has enabled direct messaging, you can click “Contact Me” to the right of their profile picture. Complete the required form fields and click “Send Message.” Sending a direct message will share your email address with the recipient, and you will receive replies in your regular email inbox.

How will people who want to collaborate find me?
There is a full-text search on the People page. Having a complete profile and thorough bio will help users find you. Community members can also search by research interest and country.

Why does my profile picture not appear correctly?
The suggested image size for the profile picture is 300x300 pixels. Try uploading a square image.

How do I delete my account?
Hover over the person icon in the top right corner of the page and select “My Account” to go to your profile page. Under the Green Chemistry for Sustainability logo in the upper left corner, click from the “View” tab to the “Edit” tab. At the bottom, click “Cancel Account.” Choose one of the account cancellation options, and click “Confirm.”

Content Submissions

What kind of content can I submit?
All user-added content types can be found on the Submissions page. Before uploading new content, please check that it is not already on the site using the search bar in the upper right-hand corner. GCS accepts content related to the acceleration and implementation of green chemistry, green engineering, and/or sustainability.

Content submissions may be rejected if the deadline or event is in the past, there are concerns about false or misleading claims, it violates the site’s Terms of Use, it is plagiarized, it is proprietary/non-public information, and other causes as determined by the site’s administrative team.

Who decides what content gets posted to the site?
A team of site administrators selected by the partner organizations reviews user-submitted content before it is posted live. This process may take up to two business days.

How do I report inappropriate content?
If you find content on GCS that you believe is inappropriate or incorrect, please email us at [email protected] with the page URL.