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Green Chemistry at CMU
Contact: Jocelyn Duffy, +1 412.268.9982, jhduffy@andrew.cmu.edu
Green Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University: Removing a Toxic Legacy
Synopsis
Made famous by the steel industry and the resulting pollution, Pittsburgh has since cleaned up its act. The city has become a leader in helping industry produce less pollution and fewer hazardous chemicals due in large part to work being done by chemists at Carnegie Mellon University. The researchers are considered to be pioneers in the field of green chemistry, developing and commercializing products and processes that reduce the use and generation of hazardous substances. Companies worldwide have licensed Carnegie Mellon technologies to green a wide variety of industrial processes.
Overview
Once known as one of the most polluted cities in the United States, Pittsburgh has transformed itself into one of the world's most livable cities taking great strides to create a cleaner, greener environment. Key to the reduction of dangerous pollutants is a field of study called green chemistry.
Carnegie Mellon is at the forefront of this movement, leading research and education in safer chemicals.
Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry Terry Collins taught the first college course in green chemistry at Carnegie Mellon in 1992. Collins continues to innovate education, developing free curricula for use by teachers around the world.
On the research front, two Carnegie Mellon researchers have been recognized with the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In 1999, Collins received the award for his work developing a new class of oxidation catalysts that can be used to remove toxins from water and soil.
J.C. Warner Professor of the Natural Sciences Krzysztof Matyjaszewski was honored for using environmentally friendly reducing agents like vitamin C to green a widely used method of polymer fabrication called ATRP in 2009.
Collins and Matyjaszewski's work has been commercialized through spinoff companies GreenOx Catalysts and ATRP Solutions, both headquartered in Pittsburgh. The companies bring the Carnegie Mellon-developed technologies to companies worldwide, making Pittsburgh, once the exporter of hazardous chemicals a distributor of green chemistry solutions.
For more information on the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Green Science, click here and for The Matyjaszewski Polymer Group, click here.
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