Green chemistry expert to speak at UAF
Green chemistry expert to speak at UAF
Submitted by Sonja Bickford
Phone: (907) 474-6714
02/28/06
Mary M. Kirchhoff, assistant director for special projects in the American Chemical Society Education Division, will be in Fairbanks Wednesday, March 8, 2006 to speak to UAF faculty, staff and students about green chemistry.
Her seminar, "Green Chemistry and Sustainability," will begin at 7 p.m. in the Natural Sciences Facility Room 202. The seminar is sponsored by the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances. Kirchhoff’s presentation will highlight the principles and practice of green chemistry and provide examples that illustrate the role of green chemistry and achieving sustainability.
Prior to her current position, Kirchhoff spent three years as assistant director of the ACS Green Chemistry Institute. She received her Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of New Hampshire and joined the chemistry department at Trinity College in Washington, DC following graduation. Mary spent nine years at Trinity College, where she served as chair of the Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
Kirchhoff became involved with green chemistry when she received an AAAS Environmental Fellowship to work with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s green chemistry program. She is a co-author with Paul Anastas and Paul Bickart on Designing Safer Polymers, and co-editor with Mary Ann Ryan on the American Chemical Society’s Greener Approaches to Undergraduate Chemistry Experiments. Mary has organized summer schools on green chemistry for students in Uruguay and the U.S.
CONTACT: Marlys Schneider, (907) 474-6287 or fnmes@uaf.ed