Green Chemistry Education

Green chemistry is of growing importance at CU «Ƶ. Numerous initiatives benefiting green chemistry are in place on campus including those at links above and listed below.

  • The CU «Ƶ's EH&S department takes select hazardous waste streams and, using chemical reactions, transforms them to create non-hazardous waste.
  • This fall 2023 poster summarizes sustainability and green chemistry efforts in place in the Chemistry Department at CU «Ƶ including solvent recycling and green chemistry modifications to teaching lab experiments.
  • CU Green Labs promotes a green chemistry culture on campus and works in partnership with colleagues in EH&S and the Chemistry Department to implement efforts increasing green chemistry education opportunities, chemical reuse, and reduction of hazardous waste generation.

Actions for green chemistry and green chemistry education are not only being taken at an increasing number of universities across the nation, but also through organizations such asand the. Even companies are stepping up and asking for a workforce trained in green chemsitry; this policy statement put out by the Green Chemistry and Commerce Council signed by companies such Johnson and Johnson, Dow Chemical and 31 other companies, is calling on “institutions of higher education to integrate green chemistry and sustainability principles into chemistry, engineering, science and business curricula.”

Online Green Chemistry Fellowship Certificate Program

CU Green Labs and CHEMunity created theGreen Chemistry Certificate FellowshipProgramin 2018 enabling a small number of CU «Ƶ students to participate each year in an online green chemistry certificate program at the University of Washington.

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What is green chemistry?

According to the EPA, green chemistry is the design of chemical products & processes that reduce or eliminate the use or generation of hazardous substances.

Why is green chemistry education important?

In the opinion of CU Green Labs, when students practice green chemistry, they learn to think critically about the global and environmental impact of their field and the possibility of an environmentally just future for all people regardless of socio-economic stature.

Current green chemistry efforts at CU «Ƶ

In many ways, CU «Ƶ is already aleader in green chemistry by implementing numerous actions in line with the principles of green chemistry including startinga solvent re-use program, providing students the opportunity to learn green chemistry, and making modifications to teaching lab experiments to reduce waste and minimizing the use of toxic chemical. This fall 2023 poster summarizes many of the green chemistry and sustainability efforts in the Chemistry Department at CU «Ƶ.

Green Chemistry Education Survey

In collaboration with the CU «Ƶ Chemistry Department, CU Green Labs has been conducting surveys gaugingundergraduate student interest in learninggreen chemistry. Students in CU «Ƶ chemistry courses were invited to take thesurvey in Fall of 2018, Spring of 2019, Fall of 2021 and Fall of 2022. Each time, results show strong student interest in learning green chemistry topics with 92% expressing interest in the most recent survey conducted. Below is a graphic showing the results of one survey question and a link to a page with much more information on the survey results.

Green chemistry survey results

Detailed Green Chemistry Survey Results

Green Chemistry Education Curriculum Pilot

In 2022 in response to the interest shown in the survey results, a student-led curriculum development pilot was conducted to create 10 green chemistry focused modules that were integrated into the introductory chemistry (CHEM 1021) course curriculum. In addition to effectively teaching green chemistry topics, this effort has proven to be a successful example of amethod that is cost-effective, time-efficient for instructors,and that bolsters student opportunity for leadership. After taking CHEM 1021, studentinterest in green chemistry education wassurveyed as part of theFall 2022 survey described above. The survey data below shows that 78% of students in CHEM 1021 are still interested in learning more about green chemistry despite 91% reporting they have been exposed to green chemistry in the CHEM 1021 course.More information on this effort can be found on this poster board.

Green chem curriculum

Paper on Pilot Integrating Green Chemistry into CHEM 1021

Promoting Green Chemistry Education at CU «Ƶ

In 2020 to encourage green chemistry education to be added to the CU «Ƶ curriculum, CU Green Labs wrotea paper making the case for green chemistry education at CU «Ƶ. The paper documents actions already taken at that time, shareslinks to resources to help with further implementation, discussesbenefits,and provides recommendations.Below are links to a 2-page flyer summarizing the paper, a video presentation onthe paper, and the complete white paper.