Career Achievement in Green Chemistry Education

Purpose

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.

Description

This award, co-sponsored by the ACS Green Chemistry Institute and Committee on Environmental Improvement will be 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 will be considered for this award which is meant to acknowledge career-long contributions to the application of green chemistry in all aspects of education. The award will consist of a plaque, a $5,000 honorarium, and travel support for the awardee (up to $2,500) 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.

Eligibility

We encourage nominations of established faculty who have maintained a consistent focus on the inclusion of green chemistry in one or more of the following components of undergraduate education: lecture (classroom) materials (in-person or virtual) including conceptual content, activities, projects, assessments, contextualization tools, etc.; laboratory materials including experimental protocols, metrics, assessments, etc.; research experiences including green chemistry and sustainability-related fundamental research projects, student mentoring, curricular development, etc.; campus-wide and/or community-based initiatives; collaborative projects; papers, books, and other authored materials; and other similar contributions. Self-nominations are encouraged. Award winners are expected to attend the annual GC&E conference and give an oral presentation at a special Career Achievement Award symposium.

Conference participation:

Applicants should be aware that winners are expected to attend and present at the GC&E conference during the designated year the award is bestowed. Applications submitted in 2024 will be considered for the 2025 Career Achievement in Chemistry Education Award, with travel funding provided for the 2025 GC&E conference. In addition to presenting their work, faculty awardees will join a network of previous ACS GCI awardees who may be called upon to read applications and select winners for future awards. Students who travel to the GC&E should also be prepared to give an oral or poster presentation on their research (or relevant area of study/interest) during the conference and submit a brief report to ACS GCI on their experience after the conference.

Deadline

11:59 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) on September 20, 2024. 

Application Requirements

Applications may be filled out by the nominee or by a nominator. All applications will be submitted on the  ACS Green Chemistry Institute  application portal. You will need to log in to the portal using your ACS ID. If you do not have one, you can create one for free using the prompts. Be prepared to submit the following information:

• Nominee contact information, title, institution, years at the institution, department, research area
• Descriptions of how the nominee has included green chemistry into classroom materials, laboratory materials, research experiences, student mentoring, curricular development, campus-wide or community initiatives, collaborative projects, papers/books/authored materials, and other contributions.
• Name of reference (if different from nominator) and their contact information
• CV
• Letter of reference
• Essay written by the nominee (maximum 2 pages) addressing:
  • Why the nominee deserves the award
  • Courses, experiments, or curricula relevant to green chemistry and/or sustainability you have developed and implemented
  • Descriptions of the piloting and deployment of this curricula
  • Any other relevant green chemistry expertise or work experience
  • Student assessments or explicit measures of student outcomes, teaching success, etc., resulting from curricular innovations in green chemistry or sustainability
  • Whether these curricular materials have been published or otherwise disseminated
  • Future plans for teaching green chemistry or sustainability beyond current efforts

Judging Process

A panel of experts selected by the ACS GCI will judge the applications. This panel might include members of the scientific, educational, industrial, governmental, and environmental communities.

Notifications

The ACS Green Chemistry Institute will notify applicants of award acceptance by January 24, 2025.

Sponsor

The ACS Campaign for a Sustainable Future and the ACS Committee on Environmental Improvement

Contact Information

Email: gci@acs.org