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Pittsburgh—On Monday June 23, researchers, educators, industry professionals, and others interested in the chemistry enterprise gathered in Pittsburgh for the 29th annual Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference (GC&E). Attendees spent 4 days sharing best practices, presenting research, and networking with a community interested in sustainable solutions. This year’s theme was “Good Health and Well-Being through Sustainable Chemistry,” a message that threaded throughout the sessions, whose titles included “Greener Reaction Systems for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing,” “Global Green Chemistry and Engineering: A Tool for Reducing Health and Well-Being Inequalities,” and “Bringing Industry, Academia, and Community into the Classroom: Promoting Experiential Green Chemistry Education for Environmental and Community Health.” Some attendees started the week by taking part in a local service project with Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy on Sunday, where they planted perennials, weeded and mulched, and picked up litter in north Pittsburgh neighborhoods.
Each morning of the conference kicked off with a networking breakfast. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, breakfast was followed by an address or discussion. On Tuesday, Louise Proud, vice president of global safety and environmental operations at Pfizer, delivered a keynote address. Wednesday featured a panel discussion with Jakub Kostal of George Washington University; Jamie Dewitt of Oregon State University; and Carrie McDonough of Carnegie Mellon University. On Thursday, a panel with Paul Anastas, director of Yale University’s Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering; Peter Licence, director of the GlaxoSmithKline Carbon Neutral Laboratories for Sustainable Chemistry at the University of Nottingham; Adelina Voutchkova, director of Sustainable Development and of the Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) at the American Chemical Society; and Nitesh Mehta, cofounder and director of Newreka Green Synth Technologies. During this final panel event, which focused on adaptation in the current climate of funding and research, a conversation around the recently revealed Stockholm Declaration on Chemistry for the Future took place and ACS president Dorothy J. Phillips took to the stage to sign the document on behalf of ACS. In her speech, she recognized the work that ACS was already doing with its core value of sustainability and gave a nod to the role industry can play in advancing the declaration through collaboration with academia and other institutions.
Students, industry, and researchers were recognized for their contributions and accomplishments throughout the week at awards ceremonies. The ACS Green Chemistry Award winners were presented their awards at an evening ceremony on Monday; the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable celebrated its 20th anniversary on Wednesday evening with festivities that included a special poster reception; and students were recognized for exceptional posters from the Green Chemistry and Engineering poster session and given awards on Thursday morning.
Theodore Bremner, a student at the College of William & Mary, presented a poster for the first time at the conference and benefitted from the engagement and questions he received on his work. “I enjoy that everyone is striving for a very similar thing. We’re all working towards a goal,” Bremner says. “And it’s not just about getting interesting results. It’s about getting interesting results with interesting implications for the future and for pushing innovation in a very specific direction or solving puzzles in a new context.”
A reoccurring word throughout the conference—during keynote addresses, panel discussions, and in workshops—was “collaboration,” with many speakers encouraging collaborations with other investigators within one’s field and across industry, academia, and other institutions and organizations. Attendees took note and made use of their opportunities to connect.
Aaron Little Paw Gray of Shoe Waste, a footwear recycling and recovery service, was able to connect with two university professors doing research that aligns with his company—a professor from the University of Hawaii who is collecting shoes that are found in the ocean and a textiles professor who is working to detoxify certain textiles, some of which are found in shoes. “With our business, we would be able to help take those shoes [from the ocean] and get them into more sustainable—or less harmful forms—with their materials,” Little Paw Gray says. “And when we get shoes into their material form, if the material includes the harmful chemicals, potentially [the textiles professor] can help us detoxify those materials.”
Exhibitors at the event included a mix of societies, universities, companies, and more. “It is a privilege to be at the forefront of sustainability discussions and see where we stand in tandem with other folks in the industry,” says Lilith Elmore of Apeloa Pharmaceuticals, “as well as displaying our capabilities in the sustainability world.” Elmore finds it useful to interact with the multitude of scientists at events like the GC&E, especially to hear their stories and understand where their sustainability applications come into play.
This year, the GC&E also held its first start-up pitch showcase, where start-ups were able to pitch themselves to a room of experts, investors, and industry leaders, hoping to gain insights to further their innovations and businesses. Pitches included those from start-ups using microalgae to capture carbon, purify water, and produce biochar; turning wood biomass into gasoline; and solving the scalability challenge in photochemistry with encapsulated wireless LEDs.
Next year, the GC&E will celebrate its 30th anniversary in mid-June in San Antonio with the theme of “Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.”
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