The University has been leading the nation in teaching an environmentally benign chemistry curriculum since fall, and it will formally dedicate the country’s first Green Organic Chemistry Laboratory during ceremonies slated for today.
A free lecture by Dennis Hjeresen, director of the Green Chemistry Institute of the American Chemical Society, will launch the festivities at 4 p.m. in 177 Lawrence. Hjeresen’s talk, “Green Chemistry and a Sustainable Future,” is open to the public and will be followed by a formal dedication ceremony and an open house at the new facility, located in 45 Klamath, on the ground floor of the building.
Sustainable practices is a concept vital to understanding the Green strategy, said Jim Hutchison, associate professor of chemistry, who, along with Professor Ken Doxsee, worked for five years to develop an environmentally sensitive chemistry curriculum for University students.
“Sustainability is the ability to provide for this generation without jeopardizing the ability of future generations to pursue their needs,” Hutchison said.
The $1 million organic chemistry lab, financed by a combination of grants from the Alice C. Tyler Perpetual Trust, The Green Chemistry Institute of the American Chemical Society, The National Science Foundation, and contributions from private donors, began operation in Fall 2001, said Jill Leininger, assistant director of development for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Gary Seitz, associate dean of the sciences for the College of Arts and Sciences said the University was the first in the nation to establish a Green chemistry laboratory.
“It is truly a pioneering effort on the part of Jim Hutchison and Ken Doxsee,” he said.
The uniqueness of the lab lies in its emphasis on sensitivity to preserving the environment and reducing hazardous waste, Hutchison said.
“In the traditional way that chemistry is taught, a large number of hazardous materials are used, and hazardous wastes are generated,” Hutchison said. “Our goal has been the development of a new curriculum where the educational components remain — the emphasis on fundamental concepts and techniques — but (doing this) using much less hazardous materials.”
Lauren Huffman, a chemistry graduate student, described the new lab as “more environmentally benign and less deadly” than a traditional chemistry lab. Huffman supervised 15 chemistry students as a teaching assistant in the Green Lab last term. She said she noticed “real differences” between her organic chemistry experience as a University sophomore five years ago compared with the way today’s sophomores experience the same course.
“Now (the curriculum) pays special attention to hazard, which is nice, because even in a controlled setting, there are still exposure issues,” she said.
Organic Chemistry instructor Leif Brown has observed that the new lab has helped to generate more excitement and positive learning experiences for students.
“Green chemistry students have been a lot more enthusiastic than traditional chemistry students,” Brown said. “A large part of that is being in a state-of-the-art environment. They definitely feel like a happier group than in the last few years.”
Brown also noted that the Green lab brings an entirely new and more open structure to the study of organic chemistry, leading to greater feelings of comfort for students.
“In a traditional lab, there are hazardous chemicals and inhalation is a concern, so you need more ventilation systems. Those take up a lot of lab space,” Brown said. “With a Green lab … we’re not dealing with all the hazardous materials. We’ve removed all that clutter, added floor-to-ceiling windows and created a very open environment, so that our students can see each other and feel less isolated when they work. The new lab has a much more open, laid-back feeling to it.”
As a first-year graduate student, Huffman said she appreciates the distinct emphasis of the University curriculum on real world applications of Green concepts.
“Our faculty tries to emphasize the way the lab or experiment is usually done in industry — the traditional way — and then explain why we have made changes, in a greener, safer way,” Huffman said. “It’s cool because it gets kids thinking about environmental and safety issues. And this is more like the real world, because, in order to survive, industry will need to be more concerned with environmental sustainability and being a good global citizen.”
Gail Eisen is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.