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By David A. Laviska, Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

With respect and sadness, we at the ACS Green Chemistry Institute share the news that our esteemed colleague and collaborator Dr. Edward J. Brush passed away on February 23, 2025. In addition to collaborating with GCI staff on a diverse portfolio of projects for more than a decade, Ed was a friend and mentor who consistently sought out opportunities to uplift and shine the spotlight on his colleagues. His gentle, welcoming manner, kindness, and intellectual generosity will be greatly missed here at the GCI and across the Green Chemistry Education community.

Ed spent the most of his career at Bridgewater State University (BSU) in Bridgewater, MA, where he was a beloved professor of organic chemistry, a highly successful pedagogical innovator, and a vigorous advocate for the inclusion of green and sustainable chemistry principles in higher education. In a statement issued by BSU, it was noted that Ed’s “dedication to undergraduate research transformed the learning experience for countless students, many of whom went on to pursue advanced degrees and impactful careers in chemistry and related fields.” Ed was strongly committed to service to the community and forged a strong bond with the Green Chemistry Institute and the ACS more broadly. In addition to his service on multiple ACS committees, Ed collaborated with the GCI and members of our green chemistry community to chair, co-chair, and speak in dozens of symposia, workshops, and related events all meant to highlight the importance of green chemistry, systems thinking, environmental and social justice, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and cross-disciplinary collaboration in teaching and research.

We will celebrate Ed’s life and legacy at the 29th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Pittsburgh, PA from June 23-26, 2025. You can read his published obituary here.

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By Edmond Lam, Assistant Director, and Cecilia Smith, Administrative Assistant, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

Meet the winners of the 2024 Sustainable Futures Initiative Grant Program! With research interests spanning from PFAS substitutes to degradable polyesters to green steel technology, these grantees are leading the charge in developing transformative chemistries that address U.N. Sustainable Development Goals and are passionate about instilling the importance of green and sustainable chemistry in their students.

 

 

“Green chemistry is both a challenging and deeply rewarding field. It is not only a responsible and essential area of study but also incredibly exciting. The principles of green chemistry force a chemist to think outside the box, collaborate across disciplines, and adopt a holistic approach to problem-solving,” says 2024 Early Career Postdoctoral (ECP) Faculty Bridge Grant awardee Michael McGraw when describing the importance of green chemistry and sustainability in his research direction and methodology. McGraw is one of seven early career faculty members and postdoctoral fellows to receive a 2024 ECP Grant from the ACS Campaign for a Sustainable Future.

The ACS Campaign for a Sustainable Future aims to advance chemistry innovations to address the challenges articulated in the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Launched in 2022, this multifaceted initiative aims to create a lasting impact on how we conduct research, how we teach chemistry, and how we collaborate globally. One of the key initiatives of the Campaign is the Sustainable Futures Initiative Grant Program (SFIGP), which provides catalytic funding for early and mid-career faculty interested in developing a research and teaching portfolio that contributes directly to developing transformative chemistries that address U.N. Sustainable Development Goals.

The ECP Grant, one of two grants supported by the SFIGP, focuses on the first few years of chemistry and engineering faculty members’ careers—often the most challenging and critical years for developing a robust research program that attracts grant funding, provides holistic training and mentorship to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and contributes to the culture of the department and the professional community. To that end, the seven recipients of the ECP Grant will receive support for a postdoctoral fellow’s salary, benefits, and travel for two years, allowing the grant recipients to launch a productive research group as a new faculty member.

The ACS Principal Investigator Development in Sustainability (PISD) Grant focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration and training for early- or mid-career researchers, providing funding to recipients who will benefit from a 6–12 month sabbatical at a hosting institution that they have intentionally selected to acquire new knowledge to advance their green and sustainable chemistry research. The program intends to foster connections between academia and industry, national laboratories, or other institutions that can provide interdisciplinary research opportunities.

Awardees for both grants were selected based on the innovative qualities of their research, its alignment with sustainability and the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, and its uniqueness. A feature of these grants is that they not only help promote new sustainability research, but also build capacity in green chemistry education, which has historically been a major barrier to the widespread adoption of green chemistry practices. ECP and PISD awardees will participate in a Green Chemistry Education Workshop at ACS Fall 2025 in Washington, D.C. to network with fellow awardees and learn best practices in green chemistry education from the 2025 Green Chemistry Instructor Award Winners.

Join us in congratulating the winners—and read on to discover the enthusiasm with which the grantees will bring green chemistry and engineering to their students!   

 

2024 ECP Grant Winners

Read more about the ECP winners’ research projects.

Kelvin H. Bates, Assistant Professor at CU Boulder

Project Title: Testing and Design of Atmospherically Benign Substitutes for Perfluoroalkyl Substances

“My research has always been driven by questions of sustainability: how can a better understanding of the chemical processes that lead to ozone and aerosol pollution help us to better forecast air quality and better conceive pollution mitigation strategies?”

 

Jesse Gordon – Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University

Project Title: Sustainable Strategies for Radical Amination Catalysis

“Equally important to my research vision is the role of sustainability in my teaching. The growing global emphasis on sustainability underscores the need to weave its principles into the chemistry curriculum. I hope to inspire students to see themselves as agents of change who can address global challenges through chemistry.”

 

Heather O. LeClerc – Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University 

Project Title: Enabling a Renewable Carbon-Based Economy by Unraveling Complex Organic Mixtures

“My passion for sustainability began before I had even learned about green chemistry. On a family vacation to the Bahamas in middle school, I remember telling my mom that one day I would reduce their reliance on diesel for electricity and transportation. As I have continued to learn about the principles of green chemistry and delve into sustainability-focused research, I strongly believe that all chemistry (and chemical engineering) should be green!”

 

Michael Lawrence McGraw – Assistant Professor at University of Arkansas 

Project Title: A Sustainable Polyaddition Platform for Degradable Polyesters

“Green chemistry is both a challenging and deeply rewarding field. It is not only a responsible and essential area of study but also incredibly exciting. The principles of green chemistry force a chemist to think outside the box, collaborate across disciplines, and adopt a holistic approach to problem-solving.”

 

Lauren Nicole Pincus – Assistant Professor at George Washington University 

Project Title: Fueling a circular economy: selective recovery of endangered elements from photovoltaic waste using ion-imprinted biopolymers

“Central to my teaching philosophy is the goal of my students viewing green chemistry as an intrinsic component of chemistry.”

 

 

Duhan Zhang – Postdoctoral Associate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Project Title: Transforming Tailings and Low-grade Ores into Green Steel and Rare Earth Concentrates: Achieving Zero Carbon Emissions and Waste

“By emphasizing the intersection of sustainability and engineering, I aim to prepare future scientists and engineers to lead the energy and sustainability transition toward a greener world.”

 

 

Xiaohui Xu – Assistant Professor at Rowan University 

Project Title: Integrated Lithium Extraction and Water Recovery

“As an educator, I am dedicated to instilling a sense of responsibility regarding sustainable practices in both teaching and research. My goal is to inspire future scientists to integrate sustainability into their research and careers.”

 

 

2024 PISD Grant Winners

Read more about the PISD winners’ research projects. 

Milad Abolhasani – ALCOA Professor & University Faculty Scholar at North Carolina State University

Project Title: A Sustainable Research Acceleration Framework for CO2 Photoreduction Using Self-Driving Labs

Sabbatical Host: ETH Zurich

“I plan to push the boundaries of sustainable self-driving labs, using advanced flow chemistry and machine learning to address global energy and environmental challenges.”

 

Grace Wan-Ting Chen – Associate Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell

Project Title: Bio-Inspired Optimization for Microbial-Assisted Plastic Recycling and Pollution Mitigation in Aquatic Ecosystems (BIO-MAP)

Sabbatical Host: Woods Hole Oceanography Institution

“I plan to develop a graduate-level course on "Sustainable Green Chemistry in Polymer Science and Plastics Engineering,” which will empower students to design eco-friendly materials, promoting sustainability in polymer science and engineering for long-term impact.”

 

Carla Ng – Associate Professor at the University of Pittsburgh

Project Title: Unlocking Safer Alternatives: Top-Down and Bottom-Up Thermodynamics for More Sustainable Molecular Design

Sabbatical Host: University of Toronto

“Only through applying the principles of green chemistry and safe and sustainable by design can society continue to enjoy the benefits of chemistry and technology without the unintended consequences of hazardous chemicals.”

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By David A. Laviska, Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education, ACS Green Chemistry Institute, and Michael Wentzel, Professor of Chemistry, Augsburg University

To confront complex challenges like climate change, growing demand for clean energy, persistence of chemicals in the environment, and plastics pollution, we need a generation of students trained to think about problems in a holistic and critical way. One way to change reductive mindsets that many students bring to higher education is to reference real-world applications and broader systems-based connections of fundamental chemistry concepts. 2024 ACS GCI Rising Star in Green Chemistry Education Awardee Professor Michael Wentzel aims to broaden students’ perspectives in this way through a transformative and immersive study-abroad experience for undergraduate students, "Science and Religion in Germany."

Heidelberg, Germany

Over the past quarter century, inclusion of the foundational principles of Green and Sustainable Chemistry in higher education has been slowly proliferating. Part of the motivation for this “reimagining” of the ways we prepare students for STEM careers comes from acknowledging the many sustainability challenges we face as a global community. We cannot confront complex challenges like climate change, growing demand for clean energy, persistence of chemicals in the environment, and plastics pollution without training students how to think about the concepts they learn from a systems thinking perspective. Where do chemical building blocks come from? Where does chemical waste end up? Which elements are abundant, and which are in limited supply? How do the answers to these questions (and many more) impact discovery and innovation, manufacturing, regulatory policy, human and environmental health, economics, national/international politics, etc.? 

One way to change reductive mindsets that many students bring to higher education is to reference real-world applications and broader systems-based connections of fundamental chemistry concepts. As one example, the combination of hydrogen with nitrogen to form ammonia is an example of a deceptively “simple” chemical reaction that is commonly used to introduce first-year chemistry students to a broad spectrum of topics (e.g., stoichiometry, ideal gases, equilibrium, etc.):  

Reaction of nitrogen gas with hydrogen gas to form ammonia.

 

Yet textbooks rarely delve into discussions of the Haber-Bosch process in which the reaction shown above is leveraged to produce ammonia at industrial scale. Haber-Bosch ammonia is a feedstock for large-scale commercial fertilizer production leading to both positive (helping feed the global population of over 8 billion people) and negative (critical imbalance of nitrogen in the biosphere) impacts. Taking this paradox as a starting point, 2024 ACS GCI Rising Star in Green Chemistry Education Awardee Professor Michael Wentzel has worked with colleagues at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota to develop and implement a transformative study-abroad experience for undergraduate students. 

Augsburg’s study abroad course, "Science and Religion in Germany," takes place in Germany where students visit many of the physical locations where the Haber-Bosch process was developed and optimized in the early 20th century. In addition to Wentzel, the course is co-taught by Dr. Hans Wiersma; together, they facilitate student learning built around significant developments in science and religion with particular focus on ways those developments shaped history and the world we live in today. With this systems-based approach, students engage in an immersive, multi-disciplinary learning experience that includes pre- and post-tour assignments and compulsory daily blog posts that capture student impressions, reflections, and learning outcomes. 

This unique program ran successfully in 2017 and 2023, and this year, students will experience an added component: David A. Laviska (ACS GCI) will join for part of the program to network with the students and provide 2-3 class sessions on the relevance of green chemistry and systems thinking to the broader science landscape and students’ future careers. In addition to sharing information about ACS resources and opportunities for students, Laviska will invite Augsburg students to think about how they can share their own knowledge of green and sustainable chemistry with students at other higher education institutions. The GCI has set two relevant long-term goals: 1. Encourage “outside the classroom” activities for students that highlight the principles and value of green and sustainable chemistry, and 2. Facilitate inter-institutional student peer-to-peer mentoring that involves students (or student groups such as ACS Student Chapters) teaching or mentoring other students on everything from formation of student communities to outreach initiatives to study abroad programs and beyond.

Several highlights of this new collaboration between the ACS GCI and Augsburg’s study abroad program are shown below. Please contact David Laviska (ACS GCI) and/or Michael Wentzel (Augsburg) with any questions or for more information. 

 

Green & Sustainable Chemistry Highlights: 

Carl Bosch Museum: Focuses on chemical technology development, including the industrial-scale production of ammonia via the Haber-Bosch process.  

Philipps Universität Marburg: Dr. Eric Meggers will give a talk on his research in catalysis and sustainable chemistry.  

Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen: Dr. Nicole Graulich and her research group host a green and sustainable lab experiment followed by poster presentations about their work in chemical education research. 

 

Systems Thinking Highlights: 

Justus von Liebig Museum: Focuses on chemistry education and pedagogy, in particular Liebig’s “law of the minimum” for sustainable agriculture. Liebig also developed the Kalliapparat which is the glassware on the ACS logo! 

Atomkellermuseum: Examines nuclear research and its historical, ethical, and technological impacts at the site where Heisenberg and other German scientists worked.  

I. G. Farben & Wollheim Memorial Tour: Explores the complex interplay of industry, international conflict, and ethics in chemistry and materials science. 

Buchenwald Memorial Visit: The Buchenwald concentration camp memorial is a reminder of the people that endured the atrocities that took place there. 

By David A. Laviska, Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education, ACS Green Chemistry Institute

Andrew P. Dicks, Ph.D., Professor at University of Toronto, is the winner of the 2025 Career Achievement in Green Chemistry Education award. With achievements including more than two dozen publications about pedagogical innovations focused on green and sustainable chemistry and the creation of a “Focus in Green Chemistry” program at the University of Toronto, Dr. Dicks has been an important role model within the green chemistry community and has inspired instructors and students across the U.S., Canada, and beyond.

We are delighted to announce that Andrew P. Dicks, Ph.D. (Professor, University of Toronto) is the winner of the 2025 “Career Achievement in Green Chemistry Education” award. This award was established through the ACS Office of Sustainability to acknowledge an instructor who has made a profound and transformative impact on the future of green chemistry and sustainability in education through cumulative contributions spanning a significant portion of their career. Sponsored by the ACS Campaign for a Sustainable Future through the Green Chemistry Institute, this award is given to a pedagogical innovator who has shown consistent creativity and innovation in the classroom, laboratory, and broader chemistry enterprise. Only instructors with a significant, impactful body of work are eligible for the Career Achievement award, which is meant to acknowledge career-long contributions to the application of green chemistry in all aspects of education. In addition to the engraved award, the winner receives a $5,000 honorarium and travel support to attend the annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference (GC&E) to receive the award and speak at an invited symposium programmed in their honor.

Dr. Dicks’ strong interest in green chemistry education and the development of novel curricular materials dates to 2004. At that time, he began developing undergraduate experiments at the University of Toronto (U of T) for organic laboratories that focused on greener solvent replacements (e.g., water, polyethylene glycol) along with solvent-free reactions. This introductory work focused on a “show and tell” approach to teaching green chemistry, which matured into the design of innovative experiments requiring a high degree of student input. Since then, he has authored more than two dozen publications about pedagogical innovations focused on green and sustainable chemistry in the classroom and laboratory for journals including the Journal of Chemical Education, the Chemical Educator, and Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews (GCLR). He was co-editor of two special issues of GCLR focused on “Advances in Green Chemistry Education” in 2019 and 2022 and served as Associate Editor of GCLR for five years. Dr. Dicks has also contributed ten book chapters and authored and/or edited or co-edited four textbooks on green chemistry, including “Green Organic Chemistry in Lecture and Laboratory” (2011, CRC Press).

Beyond his prolific publishing efforts, Dr. Dicks has worked to modernize the curriculum at U of T starting in 2008 with a brand-new junior course for chemistry program students called Organic Synthesis Techniques. His hands-on approach to course redesign and commitment to student learning form the basis for his role as faculty mentor to the U of T graduate student-run Green Chemistry Initiative (GCI), which he has held since it formed in 2012. As the chemistry department Associate Chair Undergraduate Studies (2019-present), he created a “Focus in Green Chemistry” program in 2021 in keeping with the department’s philosophy of embedding green chemistry approaches into a range of undergraduate courses across different sub-disciplines. Dr. Dicks has delivered more than 50 presentations and been a co-author on 21 other presentations at conferences including the GC&E, the ACS Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education, the Chemical Institute of Canada Canadian Chemistry Conference & Exhibition, and the IUPAC International Conference on Chemistry Education.

Dr. Dicks’ combined portfolio of achievements and collaborations led U of T to join the Beyond Benign Green Chemistry Commitment in 2016, becoming the first institution outside the U.S. to join this voluntary initiative meant to support the preparation of chemists whose skills are aligned with the needs of the planet and its inhabitants in the 21st century.

Beyond his pedagogical achievements, Dr. Dicks has been an important role model within the green chemistry community and has inspired instructors and students across the U.S., Canada, and beyond to reimagine the ways they teach. As an innovator, collaborator, instructor, facilitator, and mentor, Dr. Dicks has made a profound contribution to the field of green chemistry education and we at the GCI express our gratitude for everything he has done and continues to do toward preparing our students to work toward a more sustainable future.

Dr. Dicks will accept his award at the Opening Dinner and Awards Ceremony held at the 29th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, June 23-26, 2025.

To learn more about the ACS GCI Green Chemistry Awards for instructors, please visit Green Chemistry Funding & Awards - American Chemical Society.

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