This week’s episode comes to you live from 7 Stages in Atlanta, Georgia. Our expert is Dr. Cora MacBeth of Emory University. Dr MacBeth is a chemist, focusing her research on inorganic chemistry and green chemistry. At the MacBeth Lab, Cora and her team are attempting to create inorganic molecules that will function as catalysts for green chemical synthesis.
What is green chemistry?
According to the EPA, green chemistry is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous substances. Essentially, green chemistry is focused on preventing waste in chemical synthesis.
Read about the fundamentals of green chemistry:
Why it matters:
Sustainability and safety are critical in curbing the impacts of climate change. Green chemistry not only focuses on reducing waste, it also has the potential to create eco-friendly alternatives to environmentally damaging products. Both of these goals can help keep the Earth and the global population healthy at the same time.
It's slightly more complicated than this.
Further Reading:
Read about the fundamentals of green chemistry:
Dr. Macbeth’s most recent publication discusses the changing needs of STEM students pursuing work in non-academic fields:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177035
Check out any of Dr. MacBeth’s other work here:
https://scholarblogs.emory.edu/macbethgroup/macbeth-group-home/publications/
More about the MacBeth Group: