To the Green Chemistry Heroes - Environmental Science

Jun 8, 2011 - To the Green Chemistry Heroes. William H. Glaze. Environ. Sci. Technol. , 1997, 31 (8), pp 342A–342A. DOI: 10.1021/es972373e. Publicat...
0 downloads 0 Views 3MB Size
ENVIROMENTAL COMMENT SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

wants to hear from you!

To the Green Chemistry Heroes Our new Internet address for letters to the editor is

[email protected] If you have any questions or comments about recent articles, new developments in the field, or subscriptions, send us a note.

Of course, you can still reach us by mail at Environmental Science & Technology 115516th Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20036

Internet Information Service Authors, reviewers, and potential contributors to Environmental Science & Technology can receive editorial guidelines via the Internet in a matter of minutes. These guidelines supply information on the different types of papers accepted by ES&Tand the instructions on preparing and submitting manuscripts. To receive these guidelines, send a message to [email protected] and type the code words in the "Subject" line: Editorial Policy (Type: Author policy) Peer Review (Type: Author review) Current Research Author's Guide (Type: Author research) Manuscript Preparation: Text and Figures (Type: Author prep)

O

n June 24, friends, family, colleagues, and admirers gathered in the auditorium of the National Academy of Sciences building in Washii ton, D.C., to celebrate the Green Chemistry Challenge Award winne for 1997. Awards were given to Albright and Wilson Americas for a new class of antimicrobial chemicals; Imation Corporation for their Dry Vii photographic imaging system; BHC for their highly efficient ibuprofen syn thesis process; Legacy Systems, Inc., for their ozone organic removal and cleaning technology; and Professor Joe DeSimone and his colleagues from North Carolina for the design and application of surfactants for supercritic carbon dioxide cleaning processes. The ceremony was brief, but the mood was festive. For those who gathered in that magnificent and historic place, it was a special night for the en vironment and for chemistry. Spirits were high and all were pleased that these innovative people were being rewarded for a job well done. As I walked out into the summer night in Washington after the ceremon I could not help but remember the time when Green Chemistry would hardly draw a scientific crowd at all. Far from being in the mainstream, em ronmental chemistry was largely ignored or relegated to second-class statu by the scientific community. Industry was hostile or antagonistic, and no high government official would bother to come to a Green Chemistry affair Only a few visionaries imagined a day when environmental thought would be integrated into the chemistry curriculum. As American Chemical Society President Paul S. Anderson said at the ce emony, the winners of the Green Chemistry Challenge awards are heroes. Look around in chemistry and you will see more. They are the bright youn; people coming into our universities asking to work in environmental chem istry, then moving out into industry, academia, and government with new ideas and a new environmental ethic that we once thought was too rare an too radical to be in the mainstream. Anderson announced a new Green Chemistry fellowship program to encourage these students, named in hone of the former head of the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foun dation, Kenneth Hancock. On that June night as I walked among the splendid monuments and gov ernment buildings in the District, I remembered a day years ago at the NSF building on G Street when Kenny Hancock shared with me his dream to su port more environmental chemistry in the Chemistry Division: a few indivi ual investigator awards now, he said; then more as the field matured; and, hopefully, a center or two. He was leaving that week for Europe, so I didn't take much of his time. Unfortunately, he died on that trip, tragically taken away from his family, his colleagues, and those who needed his leadership. Kenny Hancock was also a hero. His spirit was with us in the hall that nigh in June. The fellowship program in his name is fitting tribute to his vision and to the people who followed him. It's another sign that Green Chemistr is here to stay.

Feature Articles (Type: Author feature) Quick Help (Type: Author help)

3 4 2 A • VOL. 31, NO. 8, 1997 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS

William H. Glaze, Editor (bill_glaze@unc. edu)

0013-936X/97/0931-342A$14.00/0 © 1997 American Chemical Society