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|  | Message from the Director: Earth Day 2020 - Making It Greener By Mary Kirchoff, Director, ACS GCI | April 22, 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day reminds us of our obligation to care for our fragile planet. Signs of humanity's negative impact on the environment were evident when the first Earth Day was observed in 1970: The Cuyahoga River caught fire multiple times, bird populations were threatened due to the use of DDT, and more than 100 people, most of them children, were killed when a coal mine waste pile collapsed in Aberfan, Wales. |
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| | GC&E CONFERENCE |  |
Early Bird Registration and Housing Now Open for the 2020 GC&E Conference
| Early bird registration for the 24th Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference in Seattle, WA is now open! Register now until April 30th for special early bird pricing. The ACS GCI has secured a group discount rate of $270/night for rooms in the Conference hotel, the Hyatt Regency Seattle. Reserve your room early to ensure you can take advantage of the discount! The rate will be available until May 26, or until the block is sold out. | Faculty Registration Discounts Available | The Conference is offering incentives for faculty to bring students-one free faculty registration for every five paid student registrations & one discounted ($315) faculty registration for every 3 paid student registrations. | Student Workshop to Focus on Sustainability Assessments | Students and post-doctoral scholars are encouraged to attend the free annual GC&E Student Workshop taking place on Monday, June 15, the day before the Conference starts. This year's workshop will focus how to assess the sustainability and safety of your chemistry. |
| NEXT GEN GREEN CHEM |  | Systems Thinking & Green Chemistry Video | Although chemistry occurs in systems in nature, most students still learn chemistry in a reductionist manner-looking at the discrete parts without a clear idea how it connects to the whole. Now chemistry educators are starting to integrate the concept of "systems thinking" into the chemistry classroom. The ACS Green Chemistry Institute, in partnership with other groups, recently helped pull together a special issue of J. Chem. Ed. on systems thinking and green chemistry that is a great resource for those interested in exploring this topic further.
|  | Helium - A Gas Facing Extinction:
Introducing the Critical Elements Infographic Series | What are critical and endangered elements? Of the 118 elements that make up everything-from the compounds in a chemist's arsenal to consumer products on the shelf-44 will face supply limitations in the coming years. These critical elements include rare earth elements, precious metals, and even some that are essential to life, like phosphorus. In this issue of The Nexus, we are featuring helium. Click on our infographic to learn where it's from, what it's used for, what makes it a critical element and what we can do about it.
| ACS President Elect H. N. Cheng Promotes Sustainability, Collaboration and Innovation |  In a recent comment published in C&EN, ACS President Elect H. N. Cheng highlighted the topic of sustainability with a discussion of ACS's role in addressing the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals: "As chemists and chemical engineers, we play a critical role in addressing these SDGs, and our contributions are limited only by our creativity, resourcefulness, and effort." Currently a research chemist at USDA's Southern Regional Research Center in New Orleans, Cheng has spent many years of R&D on green polymer chemistry as a platform to produce eco-friendly and sustainable products. |
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| POLICY & REGULATION | ACS Updates its Safety in the Chemistry Enterprise Policy to Support Green Chemistry | By Peter Reinhardt, Director, Environmental Health and Safety at Yale University, and Chair, ACS Committee on Chemical Safety Safe Practices Subcommittee The American Chemical Society creates statements to promote public policies that help the chemistry enterprise and its practitioners serve the nation. In this way, ACS addresses various challenges such as economic opportunity, energy and water availability, and environmental sustainability. ACS' twenty policy statements are managed and posted by ACS External Affairs & Communications. |
| GREEN CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING IN ACTION |
ACS GCI Holds Green Chemistry Gathering for Oil and Gas Companies
| The ACS Green Chemistry Institute =AE convened companies in the oil and gas industry at the annual ACS GCI Hydraulic Fracturing Roundtable recently to discuss greener chemicals and processes in hydraulic fracturing. Baker Hughes hosted the meeting at their Western Hemisphere Education Center in Tomball, Texas. Attending companies included DuPont, Baker Hughes, BASF, Canadian Energy Services, Rockwater and its subsidiary, Select Energy, and Locus BioEnergy. A diversity of participants were at the table ranging from chemists to chemical and petroleum engineers to microbiologists to technology and business development leads. Other Roundtable members include Apache. |
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| GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES |  | What's JACI? | By Tomi Minato, Planning Manager, Japan Association for Chemical Innovation (JACI) The Japan Association for Chemical Innovation is a public interest incorporated association with members from the chemical industry, consumer products industry, academia and major research institutions of the country. Based on green and sustainable chemistry, JACI promotes various high-quality public businesses that contribute to the creation of technological innovation with the aim of enhancing the sustainable development of society and healthy growth of the economy. |
| EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES |  |
Sustainable and Green Chemistry at the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia
| Are you planning to attend the ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia this March? Don't miss these sustainable and green chemistry and engineering events! |
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| GREEN CHEMISTRY NEWS | C&EN | February 19, 2020 C&EN | February 10, 2020 | CONFERENCES AND EVENTS | |
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| NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE 2020 ACS FELLOWS AWARDS | The ACS Fellows Program recognizes members of the ACS for excellence and leadership in both of two areas: (1) science, the profession, education, and/or management, and (2) volunteer service in the ACS community. Celebrate the excellence and impact of your colleagues in the field of chemistry. Nominations close April 1, 2020 | UNIVERSITY OF YORK SEEKS PROFESSOR OF SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & DIRECTOR OF THE GREEN CHEMISTRY CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE | The University of York, in York, U.K., is recognized internationally for its leadership in green chemistry. Now, the University is seeking a successor to Professor James Clark as Director of the Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE) to work with existing GCCE academics to provide the drive and vision needed to ensure that the GCCE maintains its global status and takes advantage of new national and international opportunities relating to areas including green chemistry, sustainable development and circular economies. Those interested in this opportunity should apply by March 1, 2020. | CHEMFORWARD SEEKS SAFER MATERIAL & DATA QUALITY RESEARCHER | ChemFORWARD, a nonprofit working to empower the value chain with high quality, actionable chemical hazard data, is looking for a researcher and project manager to support their Safer Materials & Data Quality portfolios. If you are someone who is seeking to apply your skills in chemistry or applied science toward global impact, this may be the ideal role for you .. |
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| The Nexus Newsletter is designed to connect the global green chemistry community, share information, and support the ACS Green Chemistry Institute =AE in its mission: catalyzing and enabling the implementation of green and sustainable chemistry and engineering throughout the global chemistry enterprise and across the Society. |
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