AID DCL: Green Chemistry Professional Mentoring Networks

About This Grant

This project aims to serve the national interest by accelerating the training of college and university faculty in teaching students about safer and more sustainable approaches to chemical product design. This framework for design, known as green chemistry, is essential to America maintaining its place as a leader in scientific innovation: it encourages scientific inquiry to consider human and environmental impact alongside important economical drivers such as operational efficiency and waste reduction. Importantly, green chemistry is necessary for students in STEM fields (and chemistry in particular) to learn by developing essential skills and knowledge to innovate viable, sustainable solutions applicable across sectors of society. Until recently, the integration of green chemistry into college and university programs relied on individual faculty and departments to take the initiative. However, with its recent inclusion in the American Chemical Society's (ACS) national education guidelines for bachelor's degree programs, faculty training in green chemistry has gained significant importance. Instructors require support in redeveloping their courses and curricula to meet these new requirements and learn how to effectively train students to address safety, efficiency, and sustainability considerations in chemical product design. In alignment with the NSF’s mission to promote the progress of science and advance the national health, prosperity and welfare, this project aims to increase and facilitate the adoption of green chemistry in undergraduate programs across the United States through faculty professional development to transform chemistry education for a more sustainable future. This project adopts a contemporary, well-documented approach to mentoring and professional development, aiming to establish educator support networks for learning and growth while researching the effectiveness of this strategy in driving meaningful change at both individual and institutional levels. The overall goal of this project is to create and develop a national professional mentoring network (PMN) that can foster community growth and increase both in-person and online community engagement and connections for the increased integration of green chemistry across the education continuum. To achieve this goal, the project team plans to host 16 pilot PMNs over five years, each supporting up to 10 participants, for a total of 160 educators, including faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate instructors, and education advocates from institutions such as primarily undergraduate institutions and two-year colleges. More specifically, through a structured approach to professional learning, the project aims to advance the adaptation and implementation of green chemistry curriculum materials, formalize a replicable leadership model, address the gap in the existing U.S. chemistry curriculum and the requirements of the new accreditation guidelines, and undertake research and data collection to understand the factors that accelerate or hinder behavior change at the individual and institutional levels. The research plan explores key aspects of communities of practice (CoPs) critical for adopting and implementing green chemistry, identifies when participants internalize the principles and become active change agents, examines how educator involvement in PMNs indirectly affects students, and investigates the factors within chemistry departments that facilitate or hinder progress. The researchers seek to employ surveys, reflective diaries, semi-structured interviews, and field observations to understand and assess the answers to the research questions. By examining how these communities function and drive change, this project aims to generate new knowledge on systemic educational reform, influence policies and practices that benefit postsecondary systems and society, disseminate findings and adapted resources, and strengthen the green chemistry education CoP. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.