A Week Of Green Chemistry In Colorado

Sixty graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from the U.S., Canada, and Latin America participated in the eighth annual ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry & Sustainable Energy, which was held from July 21 to 29, in Golden, Colo.

The ACS Petroleum Research Fund was the primary sponsor of the program. The meeting also drew support from Sigma-Aldrich, New Belgium Brewing Co., and Colorado School of Mines, which has hosted the event for the past three years.

Students explored both fundamental research and industrial applications of green chemistry. They also studied chemistry’s role in sustainability, particularly as it relates to sustainable energy.

Through various group exercises, conference participants were able to develop greener consumer products and choose the greenest synthesis route when given multiple options. Student presentations highlighted the challenges of designing green products and processes, noting the many variables that must be considered.

ACS was well represented at the summer school. ACS Board of Directors members William F. Carroll Jr., Thomas H. Lane, and Kent J. Voorhees, who is a professor of chemistry and geochemistry at Colorado School of Mines, participated in the 2010 program. ACS Green Chemistry Institute (GCI) Governing Board member David C. Long gave a presentation on designing green consumer products, and GCI Director Robert Peoples spoke about the role of green chemistry and engineering in achieving sustainability.

The Summer School on Green Chemistry was developed to increase the awareness, understanding, and implementation of green chemistry among graduate students and postdocs. It has evolved to include a special emphasis on sustainable energy. Feedback from the participants indicates that the 2010 program was successful in meeting its goals. As one student noted, “I got more great ideas for my research at this [meeting] than I ever have at any other class or conference. The social aspect [of the summer school] was also extremely awesome, and I made tons of friends and contacts.