chemistry research workshop

Intro to Research

Intro to Research is a workshop that helps potential undergraduate researchers learn how to get involved with a research group and make the most of their research experience.

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Spring 2024 - Workshop with Chemistry Undergraduate Research Board Q&A Panel

Intro to Research Slides – March 2024

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Pre-recorded Workshop (with full transcript)

Download the full transcript for the Intro to Research workshop

Click on the menu in the top left of the video to skip to the relevant sections outlined below: 0:00 Welcome to Intro to Research! 1:42 How does research work? 2:47 Can I get credit or get paid to do research? 4:06 How do I get started? 4:38 How do I decide my research interests and goals? 6:55 What are the different areas of chemistry research? 7:52 How do I find the right professor/research group to join? 11:35 How do I email professors about research opportunities? 13:30 What are professors looking for in undergraduate research applicants? 15:35 How do I write an email to a professor? 18:44 What do I do if a professor doesn’t respond to my email? 19:00 How do I prepare for a meeting or interview with a professor to join their group? 21:47 Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need prior experience to do undergrad research? Do we have to cold-email? What are other methods to contact professors? What are some classes that will be useful or helpful for research?

22:50 How do I enroll in chemistry research credit? 25:13 How do I make the most of my research experience? 26:55 Tips for Undergrad Research 29:15 Summer Research Opportunities 31:28 Contact the Chemistry Undergraduate Research Office if you have more questions!

Illinois Office of Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate Research Workshops

Workshops Key

Short Workshops

Research bites.

Come join us for coffee, tea, and cookies while we discuss various topics pertaining to your current (or future) undergraduate research journey. These short (15 minutes) workshops are more casual than our standard 1-hour workshops but are still packed with information you won't want to miss. Topics include:

• Discovering the Potential of Undergraduate Research
• A Quick Overview of How to Begin your Research Journey at Illinois
• Crafting a Successful Email to a Prospective Research Mentor
• Finding Summer Research Opportunities

Research Bites Schedule & Registration

Standard Workshops

Planning your research journey.

Welcome incoming freshman to the University of Illinois! Undergraduate research is widely recognized as one of the highest-impact experiences that a student can have during their time at university, but we know it can be intimidating. Join the Office of Undergraduate Research to address any concerns you may have about research, discuss how your interests are reflected in research around campus, and create your plan to get started!

Requirements:

• Participation is by advanced registration only.
• Students must bring either a laptop computer or tablet device to the workshop.
• Students are expected to commit to the full time requirements of the workshop; please do not register for this workshop if you plan to leave early or arrive late due to other scheduling conflicts.

Workshop Schedule & Registration

Getting Started in Research Workshop

During this workshop, we will discuss the various forms of undergraduate research that take place on campus, guide students to develop a plan of action to locate research opportunities on campus, and discuss ways to contact faculty research mentors. Students will leave the workshop with (1) a better understanding of undergraduate research and how it takes place on our campus, (2) increased confidence to contact faculty research mentors, and (3) a list of faculty mentors to contact.

Preparing to Present at the Undergraduate Research Symposium

Prepare to give a successful presentation at the Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) by attending two insightful URS-themed workshops. The first, "The Application," delves into URS details, application insights, and presentation types. The second, "The Event," covers crafting and delivering engaging and successful presentations. While tailored for URS preparation, both sessions are beneficial for any student gearing up for a presentation. Join us for a comprehensive guide to showcasing your research effectively.

Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when dates are added --> Workshop Schedule & Registration Poster Presentation and Design Workshops will be scheduled for the spring -->

Poster Presentation and Design Workshop

Are you presenting at a conference this year? Need to design a poster for your class? This workshop will give you tools for communicating your research for academic conferences and professional meetings in a concise and visually effective poster presentation. This workshop is a collaboration between the Office of Undergraduate Research, Writers Workshop, and the University Library.

Giving Great Research Presentations

This workshop will help you figure out what your presentation should include, share tips and strategies to engage your audience, and discuss how to present with confidence. This workshop also will address some technical components of giving presentations, both live and online. We encourage students who are preparing for the Undergraduate Research Symposium to attend, but this workshop will also be useful to any first-time research presenter. This workshop is a collaboration between the Office of Undergraduate Research, Writers Workshop, and the University Library.

Workshop Schedule & Registration Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when dates are added --> Giving Undergraduate Research Presentations Workshop will be offered in the spring -->

Proposal Writing for Undergraduate Researchers Workshop

During this workshop, we will discuss the fundamentals of proposal writing, guiding students to formulate successful research projects and explain their research in a concise and compelling manner that is understandable to a general audience. Students will leave the workshop with (1) basic knowledge about research proposals and their structure, (2) tactics and tools to write successful research statements, and (3) a list of resources for assistance in the writing process. This workshop is a collaboration between the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Writers Workshop.

Workshop Schedule & Registration Subscribe to our newsletter to be notified when dates are added -->

Research to Resume Workshop

During this workshop, we will discuss strategies to successfully communicate research skills and experiences through job, graduate school, and internship application documents. Students will leave the workshop with (1) a better understanding of how to pull marketable skills from their regular research activities and (2) practical experience marketing these skills and experiences through cover letters, resumes, and CV's.

Request a Workshop or Presentation

We are also available to visit classes, Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), and campus units upon request to introduce our resources or deliver a customized and interactive presentation or workshop. Please submit a request using our Workshop Request Portal .

Non-OUR Workshops

Savvy researcher.

Organized by the University Library, the Savvy Researcher Workshop Series teaches a wide variety of research and information management topics. Workshop topics include general research skills (including citation management, literature reviews, and much more), data discovery and management, digital humanities, geographic information systems (GIS), scholarly communication (including copyright, author’s rights, creating online profiles), sharing your research (including poster presentation and design), and lots more.

Savvy Researcher Schedule & Registration

CITL Data Analytics

The Data Analytics Workshop Series, organized by the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (CITL), equips students with practical skills in data analysis. Learn how to use statistical software, qualitative programs, and design survey questionnaires on platforms like SPSS, R, Stata, Python, and Qualtrics. Enhance your data analysis capabilities to make data-informed decisions for your research project.

CITL Data Analytics Workshop Schedule & Registration

Overregulating the chemistry industry jeopardizes innovation, jobs, and economic growth. Learn more .

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Workshops and Conferences

LRI co-sponsors workshops and conferences with scientific societies, international organizations, and governmental agencies that are designed to focus on timely issues of mutual interest to these groups and to policy makers. The primary goals are to foster interactions among researchers and stakeholders, to stimulate discussions that can improve the scientific basis for policy-making and to support consensus building that can advance the risk assessment process.

Recent Workshop Reports

Reports are available from the workshops that LRI and its International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) partners organize to foster interactions among researchers and stakeholders, stimulate discussions that can improve the scientific basis for policy-making and support consensus building to advance the risk assessment process.

Advancing Chemical Risk Evaluations Through Use of New Approach Methods (NAMs): Challenges and Opportunities

Yokohama, Japan | 20-21 June 2022

The workshop was co-organized with the Japanese National Institute of Technology and Evaluation (NITE) and hosted by the Japan Chemical Industry Association. This hybrid workshop fostered participation and meaningful interactions of the more than 350 registrants from 26 countries/regions. This workshop facilitated sharing of information on NAMs, including  pilot applications for specific decision contexts. Discussions explored the challenges and opportunities for future research to accelerate the development and application of NAMs to improve the efficiency and relevance of chemical safety assessments. 

QSAR 2021: From QSARS to New Approach Methodologies

Virtual Conference | 7-9 June 2021

This 19th International Workshop on (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationships in Environmental and Health Sciences was co-organized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the American Society for Cellular and Computational Toxicology (ASCCT), and the International Council of Chemical Associations’ Long-Range Research Initiative (ICCA-LRI). More than 300 scientists from across the globe participated in presentations and discussions on development and application of QSARs and NAMs as transformational tools for advancing chemical safety science.

ICCA-LRI & JRC Workshop: 21st Century Approaches for Evaluating Biological Activity, Exposures, and Risks of Complex Substances

Regina Palace Hotel, Stresa, Italy | 19-20 June 2019

This workshop explored challenges, successes, strategies, and next steps in utilizing modern methods to evaluate complex chemical substances and mixtures. This workshop was co-organized by the International Council of Chemical Associations’ Long-Range Research Initiative (ICCA-LRI) and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC).

ICCA-LRI, Health Canada & USEPA Workshop: Demonstrating 21st Century Methods and Critical Tools for Risk-Based Decisions

Fairmont château laurier, ottawa, canada | 20–21 june 2018.

Highlights included: Discussed the changing landscape in toxicology and the challenges and opportunities that have arisen in recent years. Highlighted the novel tools and implications for toxicogenomics.

ICCA-LRI & JRC Workshop: Fit-For-Purpose Exposure Assessments For Risk-Based Decision Making

Sheraton lake como hotel, como, italy | 21–22 june 2017.

This workshop focused on understanding the opportunities and challenges faced in accelerating the use of advanced fit-for-purpose exposure science tools for risk assessments of chemical products. This workshop was co-organized by the International Council of Chemical Associations’ Long-Range Research Initiative (ICCA-LRI) and the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC).

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• American Chemical Society
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• Faculty Professional Development Workshops
• New Faculty Workshop

Next workshop:  May 29 - June 1, 2024  in Washington, D.C

• 2YC Faculty Workshop
• Department Chair Workshop
• Community of Practice

The New Faculty Workshops focus on sharing and developing essential skills that faculty need to successfully navigate the early years of their research and teaching careers. There is a strong emphasis on implementing active learning strategies in the classroom.  

Since 2012, more than 680 chemistry faculty have attended the New Faculty Workshops.

Applications available March 1 - April 15, 2024

This is a competitive application process, and unfortunately we are limited in the number of participants we can invite to attend these events.  We limit each event to a maximum of 30 participants.  A second event for 2024 is tentatively planned for October (to coincide with SERMACS)

This workshop is intended for faculty in the first three years of their first tenure-track or fixed-term position.

If you have questions about your eligibility or the application process, please contact us at nfw@acs.org .

Scholarships

A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available if department funds for professional development aren't available.

Please contact us at nfw@acs.org to request scholarship funds.

Registration & Travel

Once accepted into the June 2024 workshop, registration must be completed no later than April 30, 2024. Additional information for the October workshop will be available over the summer 2024.

Registration Link: (Available after April 15)

Registration fee: $900 covers meals, lodging, and workshop materials.

Travel:  For folks flying into DC,  Ronald Reagan Airport (DCA) is the most convenient to the DC Metro Area and is a short Uber/Lyft/Cab ride to ACS Headquarters.

• From the University of Virginia, a guide for crafting syllabi.
• Situational factors in backward design (contribution from workshop facilitators)
• Techniques for Assessing Course-Related Knowledge & Skills (contribution from facilitators)
• Example of an introduction survey for an inorganic chemistry course (contribution from facilitators).
• Just in Time Teaching guidance.

Testimonials

Facilitating the ACS NFW is giving back and sharing with a new cadre of faculty my experiences and methods I gathered as an attendee (Fall 2019). Most of the active teaching and learning techniques I implement in my courses were ideas gathered from the workshop and have served to create a conducive learning environment for our diverse student body. The experiences shared by the (Fall 2019) facilitators were eye-opening and instrumental in navigating my early years as a faculty. These, and the diversity nuggets received, are my raison d'etre of facilitating ACS NFW.

Dr. René Fuanta, NFW Alum Associate Professor at East Stroudsburg University

I introduced active learning in my chemistry courses when I realized that despite beautiful and “engaging” lectures, students could not demonstrate learning the material. As a facilitator. I love sharing my experiences of transforming my classes, hoping to inspire and help others appreciate the value of active learning. In the process I learn from others.

Professor Milagros Delgado, Florida International University

Very great atmosphere - friendly, welcoming, organizers were incredibly kind, patient, and helpful.

Beyond all the well-crafted sessions, the teaching demonstration was very helpful and informative to practice in a real-world scenario. I really appreciated the facilitators modeling real behaviors that students will display in the classroom.

I facilitate ACS NFW because I believe in the transformative power of teaching for both students and instructors. Teaching is a skill that can be learned, and all instructors deserve access to opportunities to increase their confidence, skill, and satisfaction with teaching.

Dr. Lynn Mandeltort, University of Virginia, Center for Teaching Excellence

Sessions included in the 2023 workshop

• Just in Time Teaching
• Backward Design
• When the World Collides with the Classroom
• Early Career Funding Opportunities
• Working with Students, Faculty, and Colleagues
• Developing a CURE
• Establishing an Inclusive Classroom/Lab Environment
• Active Learning Strategies & Resources
• Mentoring & Being Mentored
• Making the Most of Meaningful Service Opportunities

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SCIENCE RESEARCH WORKSHOP

SRW aims to provide community, accountability, and guidance for pursuing a funded summer research experience. Throughout the duration of the course, you will:

• Develop skills and trust necessary to get an independent research project
• Communicate effectively with lab personnel to develop stronger relationships with your mentors
• Understand how to dissect and synthesize scientific literature for effective engagement with research project and within lab meetings
• Explore feasibility constraints/considerations to develop a research idea that is achievable with your skill set
• Write and submit a 2-pg grant proposal of your research project to the Summer Undergraduate Research Grant deadline (March 8th @ 11:59pm)

WQ ’24 SRW will meet weekly Tuesdays @ 4:30pm-6:00pm CST.

We will have 9 full sessions starting january 9th – march 5th..

Eligibility:

First-year, sophomore, and junior undergraduate students who are interested in research lab-based science fields. It will only operate in person at a North Campus location.

Pre-Requisite: You must be in a lab to participate in this course. This means you must be accepted into a lab or research group by the add/drop deadline (January 9th).

Registration:

SRW is a course thus you must register on CAESAR with the Registrar’s Office. You can enroll starting in November when registration opens! The course number is GEN_LA 190-0 and follows the Registrar’s rules about adding and dropping a course. SRW’s GEN_LA 190-0 is a zero-credit course, meaning it does not count towards your 4 or 5 course limit. However, it will appear on your transcript as “Satisfactory” upon successful completion of the course.

Is SRW an official course/class?

Yes – it is! Its course number is GEN_LA 190-0 and it is a zero-credit bearing course. While this means SRW has no affect on your 4 or 5 course limit, it would be in your best interest to treat this like a formal class. Successful research projects are ones where students are able to commit the time to refine their project ideas, however, developing a project often happens alongside students’ full-time coursework and other obligations. SRW has been the most beneficial for students who understood the commitment needed to create a research project and endeavored to engage within and outside each session.

Additionally, SRW’s GEN_LA will appear on your transcript if you do not withdraw by the drop deadline. You can either receive “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory” depending on how complete the course.

I enrolled in SRW - what happens next?

Thank you for enrolling! Please keep an eye out for future correspondence confirming your enrollment as well as being added to the formal Canvas page.

If you enroll but are no longer able to participate, please contact our Education Program Manager immediately so we can prioritize students on the waitlist.

I wasn't able to enroll in SRW. Does this mean I can't submit a SURG?

If you are eligible but not able be to enroll, you will be added to the waitlist. In the event that some students drops the workshop prior to Session 1, we will work through the waitlist in an attempt to fill the spot. SRW ultimately does not work out for you, you absolutely can still receive support for creating an SURG proposal! You can attend any of our info sessions and/or schedule an Advising Appointment with our Advisors .

If you are not eligible for SRW – that is, you are still searching for a lab – you can get assistance through the other resources offered by our office. You can register for our Finding a Lab Support Group , attend our weekly Finding a Research Mentor Workshops , or make an individual advising appointment with our advisors !

What if the research I want to conduct doesn't take place in a lab?

If the research you want to conduct will take place in a Arts, Humanities, and/or Social Sciences, then you may be a fantastic fit for our Arts, Humanities, and Social Science Workshop (AHSS)! AHSS is similar to SRW in that it’s focused on helping students create a 2pg proposal for the SURG, but it’s for students specifically in non-lab disciplines. Many students don’t really have an idea of what project they would want when they begin. You can learn more on the AHSS page here.

Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

Publications.

Chemistry is all around us. That's why we bring together experts in chemistry and chemical engineering to develop solutions for pressing societal issues.

Together we organize research studies, roundtable events, and expert committees in order to spread knowledge and share insights on the future of chemistry and chemical engineering.

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The Environmental Health Matters Initiative

From the air we breathe to the water we drink, our health is defined by our natural environment. We bring together leaders from various sectors to share their knowledge and insights on how to solve a wide array of environmental health challenges.

Ongoing Activity

Chemical Sciences Roundtable

We provide a science-oriented, non-partisan forum to explore critical issues in chemical sciences and technology affecting the governmental, industrial, and academic sectors.

1:30PM - 3:00PM (ET)

May 22, 2024

July 31, 2024

September 30, 2024

• Roundtable on Plastics
• Costs and Approaches for Municipal Solid Waste Recycling Programs
• Future Implications of Open-Access & FAIR Data Practices on Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Publications – A Workshop
• Transformative Science and Technology for the Department of Defense: Standing Committee and Seminar Series
• Atmospheric Methane Removal: Development of a Research Agenda
• Advancing Drug Discovery: A Webinar Series of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
• Indoor Air Management of Airborne Pathogens: A Virtual Workshop Series
• Innovations in Catalysis to Address Modern Challenges - A Workshop
• Repurposing Plastics Waste in Infrastructure
• Assessing and Improving Strategies for Preventing, Countering, and Responding to Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism: Biological Threats

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Chemical Sciences Roundtable convened a workshop to discuss how the chemistry and chemical engineering communities can contribute practical solutions for improving chemical production through innovations in catalysis. Keynote presentations highlighted the implementation of sustainability in catalysis, including policy considerations and systems-level approaches to catalysis innovations. Throughout three presentation sessions, workshop participants discussed opportunities in various fields of catalysis, such as biocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and photocatalysis, as well as novel approaches to catalyst design and catalytic processes and reactions. The workshop also featured a session titled Vistas in Catalysis, in which 14 participants gave 3-minute presentations on topics ranging from photoelectrochemical water-splitting to machine learning in catalyst development. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

Innovations in Catalysis to Address Modern Challenges: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

The presence of virus particles and other contaminants provides unique challenges in indoor air environments, particularly if these contaminants can infect people through respiratory routes. These challenges were emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic because of the documented human transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through the air, but they also apply to other airborne pathogens. The Environmental Health Matters Initiative of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a three-part series on Indoor Air Management of Airborne Pathogens to consider the state of knowledge about building management, ventilation, and air cleaning for respiratory airborne pathogens; discuss experiences with management of indoor spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically of schools and public transportation; and suggest mitigation strategies to be adopted to make these spaces safer. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussion of the series.

Management of Indoor Air and Airborne Pathogens: Proceedings of a Workshop Series–in Brief

The field of quantum information science (QIS) has witnessed a dramatic rise in scientific research activities in the 21st century as excitement has grown about its potential to revolutionize communications and computing, strengthen encryption, and enhance quantum sensing, among other applications. While, historically, QIS research has been dominated by the field of physics and computer engineering, this report explores how chemistry - in particular the use of molecular qubits - could advance QIS. In turn, researchers are also examining how QIS could be used to solve problems in chemistry, for example, to facilitate new drug and material designs, health and environmental monitoring tools, and more sustainable energy production.

Recognizing that QIS could be a disruptive technology with the potential to create groundbreaking products and new industries, Advancing Chemistry and Quantum Information Science calls for U.S. leadership to build a robust enterprise to facilitate and support research at the intersection of chemistry and QIS. This report identifies three key research areas: design and synthesis of molecular qubit systems, measurement and control of molecular quantum systems, and experimental and computational approaches for scaling qubit design and function. Advancing Chemistry and Quantum Information Science recommends that the Department of Energy, National Science Foundation, and other funding agencies should support multidisciplinary and collaborative research in QIS, the development of new instrumentation, and facilities, centralized and open-access databases, and efforts to create a more diverse and inclusive chemical workforce.

Advancing Chemistry and Quantum Information Science: An Assessment of Research Opportunities at the Interface of Chemistry and Quantum Information Science in the United States

In the U.S., most plastics waste is disposed in landfills, but a significant amount also ends up as litter on land, rivers, and oceans. Today, less than 10 percent of plastics waste is recycled in the U.S. annually. The use of recycled plastics in infrastructure applications has potential to help expand the market and demand for plastics recycling.

These are among the findings in TRB Special Report 347: Recycled Plastics in Infrastructure: Current Practices, Understanding, and Opportunities from the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The report emphasizes that pursuing the recycling of plastics in infrastructure depends on goals, policy, and economics. To that end, life cycle economic and environmental assessments should be conducted to inform policies on plastics waste reuse.

Recycled Plastics in Infrastructure: Current Practices, Understanding, and Opportunities

Carbon materials pervade many aspects of modern life, from fuels and building materials to consumer goods and commodity chemicals. Reaching net-zero emissions will require replacing existing fossil-carbon-based systems with circular-carbon economies that transform wastes like CO2 into useful materials. This report evaluates market opportunities and infrastructure needs to help decision makers better understand how carbon dioxide utilization can contribute to a net-zero emissions future.

Carbon Dioxide Utilization Markets and Infrastructure: Status and Opportunities: A First Report

Wildfires in America are becoming larger, more frequent, and more destructive, driven by climate change and existing land management practices. Many of these fires occur at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), areas where development and wildland areas overlap and which are increasingly at risk of devastating fires as communities continue to expand into previously undeveloped areas. Unlike conventional wildfires, WUI fires are driven in part by burning of homes, cars, and other human-made structures, and in part by burning vegetation. The interaction of these two types of fires can lead to public health effects that are unique to WUI fires.

This report evaluates existing and needed chemistry information that decision-makers can use to mitigate WUI fires and their potential health impacts. It describes key fuels of concern in WUI fires, especially household components like siding, insulation, and plastic, examines key pathways for exposure, including inhalation and ingestion, and identifies communities vulnerable to exposures. The report recommends a research agenda to inform response to and prevention of WUI fires, outlining needs in characterizing fuels, and predicting emissions and toxicants.

The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface

People spend the vast majority of their time inside their homes and other indoor environments where they are exposed to a wide range of chemicals from building materials, furnishings, occupants, cooking, consumer products, and other sources. Despite research to date, very little is known about how exposures to indoor chemicals across complex chemical phases and pathways affect human health. The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased public awareness of indoor environments and shed light on the many outstanding questions about how best to manage chemicals indoors. This report identifies gaps in current research and understanding of indoor chemistry and new approaches that can be applied to measure, manage, and limit chemical exposures. Why Indoor Chemistry Matters calls for further research about the chemical transformations that can occur indoors, pathways and timing of indoor chemical exposure, and the cumulative and long-term impacts of exposure on human health. Research priorities should consider factors that contribute to measurable environmental health disparities that affect vulnerable populations, such as the age, location, and condition of buildings that can alter exposures to indoor chemicals.

Why Indoor Chemistry Matters

Chemistry plays a pivotal role in the strength of the U.S. economy and the advancement of humankind. Chemists' achievements include life-saving pharmaceuticals, advanced energy solutions, improved agricultural productivity, and novel materials used in products from clothing to electronic devices. The many sectors reliant on the U.S. chemical economy account for about 25% of the U.S. GDP and support 4.1 million U.S. jobs. However, a new and evolving chemistry landscape requires changes with regard to funding, training, and a focus on integrating sustainability into manufacturing, product usage, and product disposal.

This report identifies strategies and options for research investments that will support U.S. leadership while considering environmental sustainability and developing a diverse chemical economy workforce with equitable opportunities for all chemistry talent. The report recommends that funding agencies and philanthropic organizations who support the chemical sciences fund as large a breadth of fundamental research projects as possible. Chemical industry and their partners at universities, scientific research institutions, and national laboratories should align the objectives of fundamental research to directly assist with new practices toward environmental stewardship, sustainability, and clean energy. Additionally, the report recommends that funding agencies make substantial investment toward education research to enable innovative ways of teaching about emerging concepts, tools and technologies.

The Importance of Chemical Research to the U.S. Economy

Since March 2020, the standing committee has consistently generated real-time policy recommendations and paved the way for the National Academies to produce an unprecedented amount of timely, evidence-based guidance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This Annual Report summarizes the committee’s work in 2020 and highlights the short consensus study reports, rapid expert consultations, meetings, and affiliated activities conducted during the year.

Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats: Annual Report 2020

The wide-ranging portfolio of the standing committee’s work has illuminated many aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response efforts. This Annual Report summarizes the committee’s work in 2021 and highlights the short consensus study reports, rapid expert consultations, and meetings conducted during the year.

Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats: Annual Report 2021

Over the past century, the work of chemical engineers has helped transform societies and the lives of individuals, from the synthetic fertilizers that helped feed the world to the development of novel materials used in fuels, electronics, medical devices, and other products. Chemical engineers' ability to apply systems-level thinking from molecular to manufacturing scales uniquely positions them to address today’s most pressing problems, including climate change and the overuse of resources by a growing population.

New Directions for Chemical Engineering details a vision to guide chemical engineering research, innovation, and education over the next few decades. This report calls for new investments in U.S. chemical engineering and the interdisciplinary, cross-sector collaborations necessary to advance the societal goals of transitioning to a low-carbon energy system, ensuring our production and use of food and water is sustainable, developing medical advances and engineering solutions to health equity, and manufacturing with less waste and pollution. The report also calls for changes in chemical engineering education to ensure the next generation of chemical engineers is more diverse and equipped with the skills necessary to address the challenges ahead.

New Directions for Chemical Engineering

Wildland fires pose a growing threat to air quality and human health. Fire is a natural part of many landscapes, but the extent of area burned and the severity of fires have been increasing, concurrent with human movement into previously uninhabited fire-prone areas and forest management practices that have increased fuel loads. These changes heighten the risk of exposure to fire itself and emissions (smoke), which can travel thousands of miles and affect millions of people, creating local, regional, and national air quality and health concerns.

To address this growing threat, the National Academies brought together atmospheric chemistry and health research communities, natural resource managers, and decision makers to discuss current knowledge and needs surrounding how wildland fire emissions affect air quality and human health. Participants also explored opportunities to better bridge these communities to advance science and improve the production and exchange of information. This publication summarizes the workshop discussions and themes that emerged throughout the meeting.

Wildland Fires: Toward Improved Understanding and Forecasting of Air Quality Impacts: Proceedings of a Workshop

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Chemical Sciences Roundtable convened a workshop on how best to automate the laboratory and train the next generation of chemists, chemical engineers, materials and formulation scientists, and others. This workshop explored the benefits of laboratory automation and opportunities to make this space more accessible for resource-limited institutions and identified ways to prepare the science, technology, engineering, and medicine workforce. Panel sessions gathered together researchers from industry, academia, and government to focus on the various aspects of automation in the chemical sciences, including the challenges and benefits of automation in industry, automation training and development of curricula in academia, and the future of automation in the industrial laboratories and universities. This publication highlights the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

Empowering Tomorrow's Chemist: Laboratory Automation and Accelerated Synthesis: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

Emerging technologies have the potential to modernize pharmaceutical manufacturing and advance the quality of drug products. A 2021 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (the National Academies) identified these innovative technologies, including manufacturing processes, control and testing strategies, and product technologies. The report, Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing on the Horizon: Technical Challenges, Regulatory Issues, and Recommendations, also discussed technical and regulatory challenges to implementing these technologies and provided suggestions for overcoming some of those issues. A virtual dissemination workshop titled Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing on the Horizon was hosted by the National Academies on October 28-29, 2021, and provided a venue for discussing the 2021 National Academies report's recommendations and a platform for members of the report committee to reflect on the study. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the dissemination workshop.

Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing on the Horizon: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

The U.S. medical countermeasures (MCMs) enterprise is interconnected, complex, and dynamic. It includes public and private entities that develop and manufacture new and existing MCMs, ensure procurement, storage, and distribution of MCMs, and administer, monitor, and evaluate MCMs. The interagency group known as the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise (PHEMCE) is the nation's sole coordinating body, responsible for ensuring end-to-end MCM preparedness and response.

Ensuring an Effective Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise provides recommendations from an expert committee for a re-envisioned PHEMCE. Four priority areas of improvement emerged from committee deliberations: (1) articulating PHEMCE's mission and role and explicating the principles guiding PHEMCE's operating principles and processes, (2) revising PHEMCE operations and processes, (3) collaborating more effectively with external public and private partners, and (4) navigating legal and policy issues.

Ensuring an Effective Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise

A diverse workforce and inclusive workspaces are important components of future chemical and chemical engineering research. The workshop Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, held virtually on May 25-26, 2021, by the Chemical Sciences Roundtable, provided a venue for the chemical sciences community to discuss ideas and best practices for creating more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments. Specifically, the workshop (1) explored barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) that are specific to chemistry and chemical engineering, (2) examined successful programs and best practices for increasing DEI in these fields, and (3) explored innovative approaches to create a culture in which all have equal opportunities to participate and advance. Ultimately, the workshop provided a forum for academic, government, and industrial participants to increase awareness of potential barriers to DEI and gain information needed to create more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments in their workplaces. This document summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

Nitrogen fertilizer is used extensively in the United States to maximize crop yields. As an essential nutrient to plant growth, nitrogen is a critical input to enhance agricultural productivity. However, excess nitrogen can leach into soil and water and contaminate drinking water sources with nitrate, a water-soluble chemical compound of nitrogen. Too much nitrate consumption can pose a health risk. Users of public drinking water supplies and private wells in areas surrounded by farmland are particularly vulnerable to exposure to nitrate in their drinking water.

The workshop Reducing the Health Impacts of the Nitrogen Problem, held over five weekly virtual sessions from January 28 to February 25, 2021, provided a venue to discuss opportunities for reducing exposure to nitrate from agricultural sources in drinking water. More than 50 experts with backgrounds in agriculture, public health, economics, policy, engineering, water, social science, and other fields shared their perspectives through presentations and moderated discussions. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief provides the rapporteurs' high-level summary of the topics and suggestions for potential actions to address challenges surrounding human exposure to nitrate from agricultural sources through drinking water, as discussed at the workshop itself.

Reducing the Health Impacts of the Nitrogen Problem: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

Peer Review of Interim Report on Computational Fluid Dynamics Model for Predicting Wellhead Oil-Burning Efficiency at Bench and Intermediate Scales reviews OSRR 1063: Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Report: Computational Fluid Dynamics Model for Predicting Wellhead Oil-Burning Efficiency at Bench and Intermediate Scales: Interim Report (July 30, 2020), produced by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and funded by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE). Specifically, this report assesses the technical quality and completeness of the NRL report; the assumptions and approach used to develop the computational fluid dynamics model; and the completeness of the modeling results and experimental validation as an evidence base for determining whether wellhead burning is sufficient for mitigation of uncontrolled environmental release of oil in the event of loss of well control.

Peer Review of Interim Report on Computational Fluid Dynamics Model for Predicting Wellhead Oil-Burning Efficiency at Bench and Intermediate Scales

In 2002, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) launched the Pharmaceutical Quality for the 21st Century Initiative to encourage adoption of innovative technologies that would lead to an agile, flexible pharmaceutical manufacturing sector. The goal was to encourage a transition to manufacturing processes and approaches that could produce high-quality drugs reliably without extensive regulatory oversight. Much progress has been made toward that goal as the industry has developed and advanced new technologies, but more progress is required as recent natural disasters and the coronavirus pandemic have revealed vulnerabilities in supply chains and highlighted the need to modernize pharmaceutical manufacturing further.

At the request of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing on the Horizon identifies emerging technologies - such as product technologies, manufacturing processes, control and testing strategies, and platform technologies - that have the potential to advance pharmaceutical quality and modernize pharmaceutical manufacturing for products regulated by CDER. This report describes many innovations to modernize the manufacture of drug substances and drug products, to advance new control approaches, and to develop integrated, flexible, and distributed manufacturing networks within 5-10 years.

Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing on the Horizon: Technical Challenges, Regulatory Issues, and Recommendations

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning the possibility that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could be spread by conversation, in addition to sneeze/cough-induced droplets.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a standing committee of experts to help inform OSTP on critical science and policy issues related to emerging infectious diseases and other public health threats. The standing committee includes members with expertise in emerging infectious diseases, public health, public health preparedness and response, biological sciences, clinical care and crisis standards of care, risk communication, and regulatory issues.

Rapid Expert Consultation on the Possibility of Bioaerosol Spread of SARS-CoV-2 for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 1, 2020)

The quality of U.S. drinking water is at risk from many causes, including the nation's aging infrastructure and environmental conditions that affect source water conditions. Quality Water from Every Tap, a workshop held in Washington, D.C., on November 21-22, 2019, provided an opportunity for experts from government, affected communities, academia, and the private sector to explore both the challenges and factors that affect the delivery of water with acceptable quality and the paths to increase the quality of water for systems that do not meet today's drinking water standards - especially focusing on communities that lack adequate resources and expertise because they are small or have declining populations. This publication provides the rapporteurs' high-level summary of the topics addressed in the workshop and suggestions provided by workshop participants for potential actions to address the nation's water quality challenges.

Quality Water from Every Tap: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

This rapid expert consultation focuses on monoclonal antibody (mAbs) therapies authorized for use in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. This consultation describes the approaches taken in different jurisdictions at the federal, state, and local/institutional levels to ensure an effective, equitable, and fair allocation of mAbs and points to challenges in reaching underserved patients.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a standing committee of experts to help inform the Office of Science and Technology Policy on critical science and policy issues related to emerging infectious diseases and other public health threats. The standing committee includes members with expertise in emerging infectious diseases, public health, public health preparedness and response, biological sciences, clinical care and crisis standards of care, risk communication, and regulatory issues.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Allocating COVID-19 Monoclonal Antibody Therapies and Other Novel Therapeutics (January 29, 2021)

The COVID-19 pandemic has created both acute and chronic stresses on the health care system and on health care personnel nationwide. At present, the nation lacks a uniform system to collect, collate, and report illnesses and deaths among health care workers due to COVID-19, and only a few studies report on efforts to improve the health and well-being of health care workers.

At the request of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, this rapid expert consultation reviews current resources and methods for tracking and evaluating health care worker deaths related to COVID-19 in the health care setting. This rapid expert consultation also examines some ways to support health care worker well-being and safety during the pandemic.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Understanding Causes of Health Care Worker Deaths Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic (December 10, 2020)

Since the start of the pandemic, diagnostic testing has been critical to the medical care of those infected with COVID-19, the protection of health care and other essential workers, and the efforts to contain the spread of the disease. This rapid expert consultation draws attention to four critical areas in developing diagnostic testing and strategies to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections and deaths: (1) advantages and limitations of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing for viral RNA; (2) the status of POC testing; (3) testing strategies, namely, considerations in the deployment of types and sequences of tests; and (4) next-generation testing that offers the prospect of highthroughput, rapid, and less expensive testing.

This rapid expert consultation was convened under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Critical Issues in Diagnostic Testing for the COVID-19 Pandemic (November 9, 2020)

Modernizing pharmaceutical manufacturing is seen as offering a solution to drug shortages and vulnerabilities of drug supply chains, but there are technical, regulatory, and other barriers to doing so. The virtual workshop Barriers to Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing held on June 2-3, 2020, provided a venue for discussing barriers to innovations in the pharmaceutical industry and included sessions on integration, intensification, and control; innovative processing technologies; and disruptive technologies and convergent innovations. It was hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee to Identify Innovative Technologies to Advance Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and served as the second information-gathering activity to assist the committee with producing its consensus report. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop.

Barriers to Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

The use of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluroalkyl substances (PFAS) - fluorinated organic compounds that appear in such materials as firefighting foams, cleaning products, and coatings to treat carpeting, packaging, and cookware - has led to widespread environmental contamination. The first workshop of the Environmental Health Matters Initiative explored human exposure to PFAS, discussed options for controlling PFAS exposures, and considered innovative approaches for preventing PFAS exposures. The ultimate goal of the event was to highlight what various sectors can do to advance our understanding of the extent of human exposure to PFAS and to reduce or prevent PFAS exposure. This publication highlights the presentation and discussion of the workshop.

Understanding, Controlling, and Preventing Exposure to PFAS: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

This rapid expert consultation builds on prior National Academies reports on the Crisis Standards of Care (CSC) and the rapid expert consultation on March 28, 2020, and focuses on staffing needs for the care of COVID patients, including the deployment and allocation of expert clinical staff during COVID-19. It does not attempt to dictate exactly what choices should be made under exactly what circumstances, as that should be left to the judgment of the professional, institutional, community, and civic leaders who are best situated to understand the local conditions.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Staffing Considerations for Crisis Standards of Care for the COVID-19 Pandemic (July 28, 2020)

Global pandemics and the increasing severity and frequency of natural disasters have highlighted the vulnerabilities of drug supply chains and have underscored the need to modernize pharmaceutical manufacturing. The workshop Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing held in Washington, DC, on February 27-28, 2020, provided a venue for discussing potential technologies that are on the horizon in the next 5-10 years in the pharmaceutical industry. It was hosted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee to Identify Innovative Technologies to Advance Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and served as its first information-gathering activity for this committee. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop.

Innovations in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

Whether the result of an oil well blowout, vessel collision or grounding, leaking pipeline, or other incident at sea, each marine oil spill will present unique circumstances and challenges. The oil type and properties, location, time of year, duration of spill, water depth, environmental conditions, affected biomes, potential human community impact, and available resources may vary significantly. Also, each spill may be governed by policy guidelines, such as those set forth in the National Response Plan, Regional Response Plans, or Area Contingency Plans. To respond effectively to the specific conditions presented during an oil spill, spill responders have used a variety of response options—including mechanical recovery of oil using skimmers and booms, in situ burning of oil, monitored natural attenuation of oil, and dispersion of oil by chemical dispersants. Because each response method has advantages and disadvantages, it is important to understand specific scenarios where a net benefit may be achieved by using a particular tool or combination of tools.

This report builds on two previous National Research Council reports on dispersant use to provide a current understanding of the state of science and to inform future marine oil spill response operations. The response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill included an unprecedented use of dispersants via both surface application and subsea injection. The magnitude of the spill stimulated interest and funding for research on oil spill response, and dispersant use in particular. This study assesses the effects and efficacy of dispersants as an oil spill response tool and evaluates trade-offs associated with dispersant use.

The Use of Dispersants in Marine Oil Spill Response

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning the duration of viral shedding by stage of infection, clinical signs and symptoms and patient attributes; the levels and duration of antibody response and related resistance to illness; and optimal duration of isolation of cases. For each of these questions, this document provides relevant scientific evidence and the state of current scientific knowledge; an overview of scientists currently working in the area and what new results are anticipated; and recommendations for investigations that should be initiated or extended to provide more complete information.

Rapid Expert Consultation on SARS-CoV-2 Viral Shedding and Antibody Response for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 8, 2020)

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for information on the interpretation of laboratory tests, future developments and research needs. This publication provides scientifically grounded principles that are relevant to decision-making about the interpretation of laboratory tests.

Rapid Expert Consultation on SARS-CoV-2 Laboratory Testing for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 8, 2020)

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning the effectiveness of homemade fabric masks worn by the general public to protect others, as distinct from protecting the wearer. The request stems from an interest in reducing transmission within the community by individuals who are infected, potentially contagious, but symptomatic or presymptomatic.

Rapid Expert Consultation on the Effectiveness of Fabric Masks for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 8, 2020)

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning survival of the SARS-CoV2 virus in relation to temperature and humidity and potential for seasonal reduction and resurgence in cases.

Rapid Expert Consultation on SARS-CoV-2 Survival in Relation to Temperature and Humidity and Potential for Seasonality for the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 7, 2020)

Advances in electrochemistry are enabling new developments in energy storage, energy conversion, catalysis, synthesis, separations, and instrumentation. The workshop Advances, Challenges, and Long-Term Opportunities in Electrochemistry: Addressing Societal Needs, held in Washington, DC, on November 18-19, 2019, provided a venue for scientists in various sectors to discuss electrochemistry applications and the future of the field. Specifically, the workshop reviewed emerging applications of electrochemistry; discussed instrumentation, educational, human-resource, and other needs to enable advances in electrochemistry; and highlighted new technologies and processes that could be developed in light of breakthroughs in fundamental and applied research in electrochemistry. Ultimately, the workshop explored how electrochemistry could transform technologies related to various applications. This Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop.

Advances, Challenges, and Long-Term Opportunities in Electrochemistry: Addressing Societal Needs: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning the implementation of crisis standards of care (CSC) in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Building on a 10-year foundation of work by the Institute of Medicine, this document summarizes the broad principles and core elements of CSC planning and implementation.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Crisis Standards of Care for the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 28, 2020)

A previous Rapid Expert Consultation, dated March 15, provided feedback to the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning issues of virus survival on surfaces and in the air, and virus/disease incubation period. This publication provides an update and elaboration on these issues, as well as some caveats about the work performed so far and as yet unmet needs.

Rapid Expert Consultation Update on SARS-CoV-2 Surface Stability and Incubation for the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 27, 2020)

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning questions about necessary data elements, sources of data, gaps in collection, and suggestions for data system design and integration to improve modeling and decision-making for COVID-19.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Data Elements and Systems Design for Modeling and Decision Making for the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 21, 2020)

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning the survival of the SARS-CoV-2 virus on surfaces and the incubation period between exposure and onset of symptoms.

Rapid Expert Consultation on SARS-CoV-2 Surface Stability and Incubation for the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 15, 2020)

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning questions about severe illness in younger adults in Italy infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Severe Illness in Young Adults for the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 14, 2020)

This rapid expert consultation responds to a request from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) concerning the effectiveness and costs of social distancing measures in contending with COVID-19.

Rapid Expert Consultation on Social Distancing for the COVID-19 Pandemic (March 19, 2020)

Plastics are used in various industries to produce lightweight, corrosion-resistant, durable materials, but many of the characteristics that make them valuable also make them environmentally unfriendly. Although some plastics can be recycled, the vast majority are simply discarded. The rapid proliferation of plastics in the environment has led to an urgent need to reimagine how plastics are created, used, and managed. The workshop Closing the Loop on the Plastics Dilemma, held in Washington, DC, on May 9-10, 2019, provided a venue for discussing opportunities to reduce the adverse environmental effects of plastics. Chemists, chemical engineers, and participants in related fields engaged in a rich discussion of approaches to improve plastics recycling and to promote the connection of product design with the end stages of the plastics life cycle. This brief proceedings summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop.

Closing the Loop on the Plastics Dilemma: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

Separation science plays a critical role in maintaining our standard of living and quality of life. Many industrial processes and general necessities such as chemicals, medicines, clean water, safe food, and energy sources rely on chemical separations. However, the process of chemical separations is often overlooked during product development and this has led to inefficiency, unnecessary waste, and lack of consensus among chemists and engineers. A reevaluation of system design, establishment of standards, and an increased focus on the advancement of separation science are imperative in supporting increased efficiency, continued U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, and public welfare.

A Research Agenda for Transforming Separation Science explores developments in the industry since the 1987 National Academies report, Separation and Purification: Critical Needs and Opportunities . Many needs stated in the original report remain today, in addition to a variety of new challenges due to improved detection limits, advances in medicine, and a recent emphasis on sustainability and environmental stewardship. This report examines emerging chemical separation technologies, relevant developments in intersecting disciplines, and gaps in existing research, and provides recommendations for the application of improved separation science technologies and processes. This research serves as a foundation for transforming separation science, which could reduce global energy use, improve human and environmental health, and advance more efficient practices in various industries.

A Research Agenda for Transforming Separation Science

Throughout much of human history, space was thought to be a void in which only ions or radicals existed. It was only in the last half of the 20th century that scientists began to discover the existence of molecules, such as ammonia, in space. Discovery has accelerated in the last decade with the installation of new facilities and cutting-edge advances in spectroscopic analysis. These exciting discoveries in astrochemistry—a multidisciplinary field that focuses on the chemical composition of and processes in astrophysical and planetary environments—have potential applications to the general chemistry and chemical-engineering communities. Accordingly, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop on November 8–9, 2018, to (1) explore the chemistry of space—its novel chemicals and reaction mechanisms, (2) discuss information from remote sensing through spectroscopy, and (3) consider discoveries from spacecraft missions in the solar system and laboratory studies of extraterrestrial samples. The ultimate goals of the workshop were to bring the various communities together to explore how discoveries in astrochemistry might provide insights or opportunities for the general chemistry and chemical-engineering communities and to promote understanding in the chemistry and chemical-engineering communities of how they might be able to help the astrochemistry community approach its challenges. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions that took place during the workshop.

Astrochemistry: Discoveries to Inform the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Communities: Proceedings of a Workshop–in Brief

Environmental engineers support the well-being of people and the planet in areas where the two intersect. Over the decades the field has improved countless lives through innovative systems for delivering water, treating waste, and preventing and remediating pollution in air, water, and soil. These achievements are a testament to the multidisciplinary, pragmatic, systems-oriented approach that characterizes environmental engineering.

Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges outlines the crucial role for environmental engineers in this period of dramatic growth and change. The report identifies five pressing challenges of the 21st century that environmental engineers are uniquely poised to help advance: sustainably supply food, water, and energy; curb climate change and adapt to its impacts; design a future without pollution and waste; create efficient, healthy, resilient cities; and foster informed decisions and actions.

Environmental Engineering for the 21st Century: Addressing Grand Challenges

To achieve goals for climate and economic growth, "negative emissions technologies" (NETs) that remove and sequester carbon dioxide from the air will need to play a significant role in mitigating climate change. Unlike carbon capture and storage technologies that remove carbon dioxide emissions directly from large point sources such as coal power plants, NETs remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere or enhance natural carbon sinks. Storing the carbon dioxide from NETs has the same impact on the atmosphere and climate as simultaneously preventing an equal amount of carbon dioxide from being emitted. Recent analyses found that deploying NETs may be less expensive and less disruptive than reducing some emissions, such as a substantial portion of agricultural and land-use emissions and some transportation emissions.

In 2015, the National Academies published Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration , which described and initially assessed NETs and sequestration technologies. This report acknowledged the relative paucity of research on NETs and recommended development of a research agenda that covers all aspects of NETs from fundamental science to full-scale deployment. To address this need, Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda assesses the benefits, risks, and "sustainable scale potential" for NETs and sequestration. This report also defines the essential components of a research and development program, including its estimated costs and potential impact.

Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration: A Research Agenda

In the quest to mitigate the buildup of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, researchers and policymakers have increasingly turned their attention to techniques for capturing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, either from the locations where they are emitted or directly from the atmosphere. Once captured, these gases can be stored or put to use. While both carbon storage and carbon utilization have costs, utilization offers the opportunity to recover some of the cost and even generate economic value. While current carbon utilization projects operate at a relatively small scale, some estimates suggest the market for waste carbon-derived products could grow to hundreds of billions of dollars within a few decades, utilizing several thousand teragrams of waste carbon gases per year.

Gaseous Carbon Waste Streams Utilization: Status and Research Needs assesses research and development needs relevant to understanding and improving the commercial viability of waste carbon utilization technologies and defines a research agenda to address key challenges. The report is intended to help inform decision making surrounding the development and deployment of waste carbon utilization technologies under a variety of circumstances, whether motivated by a goal to improve processes for making carbon-based products, to generate revenue, or to achieve environmental goals.

Gaseous Carbon Waste Streams Utilization: Status and Research Needs

Scientific advances over the past several decades have accelerated the ability to engineer existing organisms and to potentially create novel ones not found in nature. Synthetic biology, which collectively refers to concepts, approaches, and tools that enable the modification or creation of biological organisms, is being pursued overwhelmingly for beneficial purposes ranging from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. Although the contributions synthetic biology can make in these and other areas hold great promise, it is also possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten U.S. citizens and military personnel. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a realistic assessment of the capabilities that could be misused.

Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology explores and envisions potential misuses of synthetic biology. This report develops a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, assesses the levels of concern warranted for such advances, and identifies options that could help mitigate those concerns.

Biodefense in the Age of Synthetic Biology

New technologies and approaches are generating large, diverse data sets, and data science offers the tools that are needed to interrogate, analyze, and manage these data sets. Biology, material sciences, and other fields have embraced data science tools and used them to gain insights into, for example, gene–environment interactions, molecular mechanisms of disease, and implications of material characteristics on performance. Chemical sciences and engineering have also used data science tools to, for example, monitor and control chemical processes, predict activity depending on chemical structures or properties, and inform business and research decisions. However, data science applications in the chemical sciences and engineering community have been relatively limited, and many opportunities for advancing the fields have gone unexplored. Accordingly, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a workshop to explore opportunities to use data science to transform chemical sciences and engineering on February 27–28, 2018, in Washington, DC. Stakeholders from academia, government, and industry convened to discuss the challenges and opportunities to integrate data science into chemical sciences and engineering practice and data science training for the future chemical sciences and engineering workforce. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Data Science: Opportunities to Transform Chemical Sciences and Engineering: Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief

Improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are a type of unconventional explosive weapon that can be deployed in a variety of ways, and can cause loss of life, injury, and property damage in both military and civilian environments. Terrorists, violent extremists, and criminals often choose IEDs because the ingredients, components, and instructions required to make IEDs are highly accessible. In many cases, precursor chemicals enable this criminal use of IEDs because they are used in the manufacture of homemade explosives (HMEs), which are often used as a component of IEDs.

Many precursor chemicals are frequently used in industrial manufacturing and may be available as commercial products for personal use. Guides for making HMEs and instructions for constructing IEDs are widely available and can be easily found on the internet. Other countries restrict access to precursor chemicals in an effort to reduce the opportunity for HMEs to be used in IEDs. Although IED attacks have been less frequent in the United States than in other countries, IEDs remain a persistent domestic threat. Restricting access to precursor chemicals might contribute to reducing the threat of IED attacks and in turn prevent potentially devastating bombings, save lives, and reduce financial impacts.

Reducing the Threat of Improvised Explosive Device Attacks by Restricting Access to Explosive Precursor Chemicals prioritizes precursor chemicals that can be used to make HMEs and analyzes the movement of those chemicals through United States commercial supply chains and identifies potential vulnerabilities. This report examines current United States and international regulation of the chemicals, and compares the economic, security, and other tradeoffs among potential control strategies.

Reducing the Threat of Improvised Explosive Device Attacks by Restricting Access to Explosive Precursor Chemicals

The American Chemical Society’s (ACS’s) 2017 launch of ChemRxiv—a free, online preprint server designed specifically for the global chemical sciences community—has sparked renewed debate about the potential impacts of preprint servers on the research enterprise and the publishing process. A workshop held by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Chemical Sciences Roundtable, at the 254th ACS National Meeting on August 22, 2017, provided a neutral forum for representatives of funding agencies, scientific journals, foundations, and academia to discuss their views. This publication briefly summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

ChemRxiv: Publishing in the Age of Preprint Servers: Proceedings of a Symposium—in Brief

Building on an increasingly sophisticated understanding of naturally occurring biological processes, researchers have developed technologies to predictably modify or create organisms or biological components. This research, known collectively as synthetic biology, is being pursued for a variety of purposes, from reducing the burden of disease to improving agricultural yields to remediating pollution. While synthetic biology is being pursued primarily for beneficial and legitimate purposes, it is possible to imagine malicious uses that could threaten human health or military readiness and performance. Making informed decisions about how to address such concerns requires a comprehensive, realistic assessment. To this end, the U.S. Department of Defense, working with other agencies involved in biodefense, asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to develop a framework to guide an assessment of the security concerns related to advances in synthetic biology, to assess the level of concern warranted for various advances and identify areas of vulnerability, and to prioritize options to address these vulnerabilities.

This interim report proposes a framework for identifying and prioritizing potential areas of concern associated with synthetic biology—a tool to aid the consideration of concerns related to synthetic biology. The framework describes categories of synthetic biology technologies and applications—such as genome editing, directed evolution, and automated biological design—and provides a set of initial questions to guide the assessment of concern related to these technologies and applications.

A Proposed Framework for Identifying Potential Biodefense Vulnerabilities Posed by Synthetic Biology: Interim Report

The 21st century has witnessed a complete revolution in the understanding and description of bacteria in eco- systems and microbial assemblages, and how they are regulated by complex interactions among microbes, hosts, and environments. The human organism is no longer considered a monolithic assembly of tissues, but is instead a true ecosystem composed of human cells, bacteria, fungi, algae, and viruses. As such, humans are not unlike other complex ecosystems containing microbial assemblages observed in the marine and earth environments. They all share a basic functional principle: Chemical communication is the universal language that allows such groups to properly function together. These chemical networks regulate interactions like metabolic exchange, antibiosis and symbiosis, and communication.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Chemical Sciences Roundtable organized a series of four seminars in the autumn of 2016 to explore the current advances, opportunities, and challenges toward unveiling this “chemical dark matter” and its role in the regulation and function of different ecosystems. The first three focused on specific ecosystems—earth, marine, and human—and the last on all microbiome systems. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the seminars.

The Chemistry of Microbiomes: Proceedings of a Seminar Series

Between 1973 and 2016, the ways to manipulate DNA to endow new characteristics in an organism (that is, biotechnology) have advanced, enabling the development of products that were not previously possible. What will the likely future products of biotechnology be over the next 5–10 years? What scientific capabilities, tools, and/or expertise may be needed by the regulatory agencies to ensure they make efficient and sound evaluations of the likely future products of biotechnology?

Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology analyzes the future landscape of biotechnology products and seeks to inform forthcoming policy making. This report identifies potential new risks and frameworks for risk assessment and areas in which the risks or lack of risks relating to the products of biotechnology are well understood.

Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology

A decade ago, the U.S. chemical industry was in decline. Of the more than 40 chemical manufacturing plants being built worldwide in the mid-2000s with more than $1 billion in capitalization, none were under construction in the United States. Today, as a result of abundant domestic supplies of affordable natural gas and natural gas liquids resulting from the dramatic rise in shale gas production, the U.S. chemical industry has gone from the world's highest-cost producer in 2005 to among the lowest-cost producers today.

The low cost and increased supply of natural gas and natural gas liquids provides an opportunity to discover and develop new catalysts and processes to enable the direct conversion of natural gas and natural gas liquids into value-added chemicals with a lower carbon footprint. The economic implications of developing advanced technologies to utilize and process natural gas and natural gas liquids for chemical production could be significant, as commodity, intermediate, and fine chemicals represent a higher-economic-value use of shale gas compared with its use as a fuel.

To better understand the opportunities for catalysis research in an era of shifting feedstocks for chemical production and to identify the gaps in the current research portfolio, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine conducted an interactive, multidisciplinary workshop in March 2016. The goal of this workshop was to identify advances in catalysis that can enable the United States to fully realize the potential of the shale gas revolution for the U.S. chemical industry and, as a result, to help target the efforts of U.S. researchers and funding agencies on those areas of science and technology development that are most critical to achieving these advances. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The Changing Landscape of Hydrocarbon Feedstocks for Chemical Production: Implications for Catalysis: Proceedings of a Workshop

The U.S. Department of State charged the Academies with the task of producing a protocol for development of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that would serve as a complement to the Chemical Laboratory Safety and Security: A Guide to Prudent Chemical Management and be included with the other materials in the 2010 toolkit. To accomplish this task, a committee with experience and knowledge in good chemical safety and security practices in academic and industrial laboratories with awareness of international standards and regulations was formed. The hope is that this toolkit expansion product will enhance the use of the previous reference book and the accompanying toolkit, especially in developing countries where safety resources are scarce and experience of operators and end-users may be limited.

Chemical Laboratory Safety and Security: A Guide to Developing Standard Operating Procedures

Oil and gas exploration in the United States has expanded with the increased use of horizontal, or directional, drilling to facilitate the recovery of shale gas and tight oil resources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 25,000 to 30,000 new hydraulic fracturing wells were drilled each year between 2011 and 2014, and the impact of those wells and the use of hydraulic fracturing has been a topic of public and policy discussion in recent years. Though chemistry and chemical engineering are used extensively in the hydraulic fracturing process, their roles are not well understood outside of the oil and gas industries. In a workshop held May 18-19, 2015 in Washington, DC by the Chemical Sciences Roundtable, practitioners and experts in these fields came together to discuss shale gas and tight oil resource development. This report summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Chemistry and Engineering of Shale Gas and Tight Oil Resource Development: Workshop in Brief

In the last few decades great strides have been made in chemistry at the nanoscale, where the atomic granularity of matter and the exact positions of individual atoms are key determinants of structure and dynamics. Less attention, however, has been paid to the mesoscale--it is at this scale, in the range extending from large molecules (10 nm) through viruses to eukaryotic cells (10 microns), where interesting ensemble effects and the functionality that is critical to macroscopic phenomenon begins to manifest itself and cannot be described by laws on the scale of atoms and molecules alone.

To further explore how knowledge about mesoscale phenomena can impact chemical research and development activities and vice versa, the Chemical Sciences Roundtable of the National Research Council convened a workshop on mesoscale chemistry in November 2014. With a focus on the research on chemical phenomena at the mesoscale, participants examined the opportunities that utilizing those behaviors can have for developing new catalysts, adding new functionality to materials, and increasing our understanding of biological and interfacial systems. The workshop also highlighted some of the challenges for analysis and description of mesoscale structures. This report summarizes the presentations and discussion of the workshop.

Mesoscale Chemistry: A Workshop Summary

Historically, regulations governing chemical use have often focused on widely used chemicals and acute human health effects of exposure to them, as well as their potential to cause cancer and other adverse health effects. As scientific knowledge has expanded there has been an increased awareness of the mechanisms through which chemicals may exert harmful effects on human health, as well as their effects on other species and ecosystems. Identification of high-priority chemicals and other chemicals of concern has prompted a growing number of state and local governments, as well as major companies, to take steps beyond existing hazardous chemical federal legislation. Interest in approaches and policies that ensure that any new substances substituted for chemicals of concern are assessed as carefully and thoroughly as possible has also burgeoned. The overarching goal of these approaches is to avoid regrettable substitutions, which occur when a toxic chemical is replaced by another chemical that later proved unsuitable because of persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, or other concerns.

Chemical alternative assessments are tools designed to facilitate consideration of these factors to assist stakeholders in identifying chemicals that may have the greatest likelihood of harm to human and ecological health, and to provide guidance on how the industry may develop and adopt safer alternatives. A Framework to Guide Selection of Chemical Alternatives develops and demonstrates a decision framework for evaluating potentially safer substitute chemicals as primarily determined by human health and ecological risks. This new framework is informed by previous efforts by regulatory agencies, academic institutions, and others to develop alternative assessment frameworks that could be operationalized. In addition to hazard assessments, the framework incorporates steps for life-cycle thinking - which considers possible impacts of a chemical at all stages including production, use, and disposal - as well as steps for performance and economic assessments. The report also highlights how modern information sources such as computational modeling can supplement traditional toxicology data in the assessment process.

This new framework allows the evaluation of the full range of benefits and shortcomings of substitutes, and examination of tradeoffs between these risks and factors such as product functionality, product efficacy, process safety, and resource use. Through case studies, this report demonstrates how different users in contrasting decision contexts with diverse priorities can apply the framework. This report will be an essential resource to the chemical industry, environmentalists, ecologists, and state and local governments.

A Framework to Guide Selection of Chemical Alternatives

Recent serious and sometimes fatal accidents in chemical research laboratories at United States universities have driven government agencies, professional societies, industries, and universities themselves to examine the culture of safety in research laboratories. These incidents have triggered a broader discussion of how serious incidents can be prevented in the future and how best to train researchers and emergency personnel to respond appropriately when incidents do occur. As the priority placed on safety increases, many institutions have expressed a desire to go beyond simple compliance with regulations to work toward fostering a strong, positive safety culture: affirming a constant commitment to safety throughout their institutions, while integrating safety as an essential element in the daily work of laboratory researchers.

Safe Science takes on this challenge. This report examines the culture of safety in research institutions and makes recommendations for university leadership, laboratory researchers, and environmental health and safety professionals to support safety as a core value of their institutions. The report discusses ways to fulfill that commitment through prioritizing funding for safety equipment and training, as well as making safety an ongoing operational priority.

A strong, positive safety culture arises not because of a set of rules but because of a constant commitment to safety throughout an organization. Such a culture supports the free exchange of safety information, emphasizes learning and improvement, and assigns greater importance to solving problems than to placing blame. High importance is assigned to safety at all times, not just when it is convenient or does not threaten personal or institutional productivity goals. Safe Science will be a guide to make the changes needed at all levels to protect students, researchers, and staff.

Safe Science: Promoting a Culture of Safety in Academic Chemical Research

Undergraduate Chemistry Education is the summary of a workshop convened in May 2013 by the Chemical Science Roundtable of the National Research Council to explore the current state of undergraduate chemistry education. Research and innovation in undergraduate chemistry education has been done for many years, and one goal of this workshop was to assist in the transfer of lessons learned from the education research community to faculty members whose expertise lies in the field of chemistry rather than in education. Through formal presentations and panel discussions, participants from academia, industry, and funding organizations explored drivers of change in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education; innovations in chemistry education; and challenges and opportunities in chemistry education reform. Undergraduate Chemistry Education discusses large-scale innovations that are transferable, widely applicable, and/or proven successful, with specific consideration of drivers and metrics of change, barriers to implementation of changes, and examples of innovation in the classroom.

Undergraduate Chemistry Education: A Workshop Summary

Technological Challenges in Antibiotic Discovery and Development is the summary of a workshop convened by the Chemical Sciences Roundtable in September 2013 to explore the current state of antibiotic discovery and examine the technology available to facilitate development. Through formal presentations and panel discussions, participants from academia, industry, federal research agencies discussed the technical challenges present and the incentives and disincentives industry faces in antibiotic development, and identified novel approaches to antibiotic discovery.

Antibiotic resistance is a serious and growing problem in modern medicine and it is emerging as a pre-eminent public health threat. Each year in the United States alone, at least two million acquire serious infections with bacteria that are resistant to one or more antibiotics, and at least 23,000 people die annually as a direct result of these antibiotic-resistant infections. In addition to the toll on human life, antibiotic-resistant infections add considerable and avoidable costs to the already overburdened U.S. health care system. This report explores the challenges in overcoming antibiotic resistance, screening for new antibiotics, and delivering them to the sites of infection in the body. The report also discusses a path forward to develop the next generation of potent antimicrobial compounds capable of once again tilting the battle against microbial pathogens in favor of humans. Technological Challenges in Antibiotic Discovery and Development gives a broad view of the landscape of antibiotic development and the technological challenges and barriers to be overcome.

Technological Challenges in Antibiotic Discovery and Development: A Workshop Summary

Based on a one-day public workshop held in Washington, DC, Opportunities and Obstacles in Large-Scale Biomass Utilization: The Role of the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Communities: A Workshop Summary explores the current state of biomass utilization for bulk-production of sustainable fuels and chemicals. The discussion focused on the chemistry and chemical engineering opportunities to meet the aforementioned objectives. Both formal presentations and breakout working groups were components of the workshop in an effort to stimulate engaging discussion among participants from widely varying fields.

Opportunities and Obstacles in Large-Scale Biomass Utilization: The Role of the Chemical Sciences and Engineering Communities: A Workshop Summary

The Chemical Sciences Roundtable (CSR) was established in 1997 by the National Research Council (NRC). It provides a science oriented apolitical forum for leaders in the chemical sciences to discuss chemistry-related issues affecting government, industry, and universities. Organized by the National Research Council's Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology, the CSR aims to strengthen the chemical sciences by fostering communication among the people and organizations - spanning industry, government, universities, and professional associations - involved with the chemical enterprise. One way it does this is by organizing workshops that address issues in chemical science and technology that require national attention.

In September 2011, the CSR organized a workshop on the topic, "The Role of Chemical Sciences in Finding Alternatives to Critical Resources." The one-and-a-half-day workshop addressed key topics, including the economic and political matrix, the history of societal responses to key mineral and material shortages, the applications for and properties of existing minerals and materials, and the chemistry of possible replacements. The workshop featured several presentations highlighting the importance of critical nonfuel mineral and material resources in history, catalysis, agriculture, and electronic, magnetic, and optical applications.

The Role of the Chemical Sciences in Finding Alternatives to Critical Resources: A Workshop Summary explains the presentations and discussions that took place at the workshop. In accordance with the policies of the NRC, the workshop did not attempt to establish any conclusions or recommendations about needs and future directions, focusing instead on issues identified by the speakers.

The Role of the Chemical Sciences in Finding Alternatives to Critical Resources: A Workshop Summary

Small particles are ubiquitous in the natural and built worlds and have tremendous impact throughout. However, a lack of understanding about the properties and chemical composition of small particles limits our ability to predict, and control their applications and impacts.

Challenges in Characterizing Small Particles: Exploring Particles from the Nano- to Microscales summarizes presentations and discussions at a 2010 National Academies roundtable. Speakers at this roundtable discussed the crucial types of information that need to be determined about small particles in different media. They also explored the critical importance of small particles in environmental science, materials and chemical sciences, biological science, and engineering, and the many challenges involved in characterizing materials at the nano- and microscales. The discussions on characterization included static, dynamic, experimental, computational, and theoretical characterization. The workshop also included several "research tool" presentations that highlighted new advances in characterizing small particles.

Challenges in Characterizing Small Particles: Exploring Particles from the Nano- to Microscale: A Workshop Summary

It is critical that we increase public knowledge and understanding of science and technology issues through formal and informal learning for the United States to maintain its competitive edge in today's global economy. Since most Americans learn about science outside of school, we must take advantage of opportunities to present chemistry content on television, the Internet, in museums, and in other informal educational settings.

In May 2010, the National Academies' Chemical Sciences Roundtable held a workshop to examine how the public obtains scientific information informally and to discuss methods that chemists can use to improve and expand efforts to reach a general, nontechnical audience. Workshop participants included chemical practitioners (e.g., graduate students, postdocs, professors, administrators); experts on informal learning; public and private funding organizations; science writers, bloggers, publishers, and university communications officers; and television and Internet content producers. Chemistry in Primetime and Online is a factual summary of what occurred in that workshop.

Chemistry in Primetime and Online examines science content, especially chemistry, in various informal educational settings. It explores means of measuring recognition and retention of the information presented in various media formats and settings. Although the report does not provide any conclusions or recommendations about needs and future directions, it does discuss the need for chemists to connect more with professional writers, artists, or videographers, who know how to communicate with and interest general audiences. It also emphasizes the importance of formal education in setting the stage for informal interactions with chemistry and chemists.

Chemistry in Primetime and Online: Communicating Chemistry in Informal Environments: Workshop Summary

Prudent Practices in the Laboratory —the book that has served for decades as the standard for chemical laboratory safety practice—now features updates and new topics. This revised edition has an expanded chapter on chemical management and delves into new areas, such as nanotechnology, laboratory security, and emergency planning.

Developed by experts from academia and industry, with specialties in such areas as chemical sciences, pollution prevention, and laboratory safety, Prudent Practices in the Laboratory provides guidance on planning procedures for the handling, storage, and disposal of chemicals. The book offers prudent practices designed to promote safety and includes practical information on assessing hazards, managing chemicals, disposing of wastes, and more.

Prudent Practices in the Laboratory will continue to serve as the leading source of chemical safety guidelines for people working with laboratory chemicals: research chemists, technicians, safety officers, educators, and students.

Prudent Practices in the Laboratory: Handling and Management of Chemical Hazards, Updated Version

Traditionally, the natural sciences have been divided into two branches: the biological sciences and the physical sciences. Today, an increasing number of scientists are addressing problems lying at the intersection of the two. These problems are most often biological in nature, but examining them through the lens of the physical sciences can yield exciting results and opportunities. For example, one area producing effective cross-discipline research opportunities centers on the dynamics of systems. Equilibrium, multistability, and stochastic behavior--concepts familiar to physicists and chemists--are now being used to tackle issues associated with living systems such as adaptation, feedback, and emergent behavior. Research at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences discusses how some of the most important scientific and societal challenges can be addressed, at least in part, by collaborative research that lies at the intersection of traditional disciplines, including biology, chemistry, and physics. This book describes how some of the mysteries of the biological world are being addressed using tools and techniques developed in the physical sciences, and identifies five areas of potentially transformative research. Work in these areas would have significant impact in both research and society at large by expanding our understanding of the physical world and by revealing new opportunities for advancing public health, technology, and stewardship of the environment. This book recommends several ways to accelerate such cross-discipline research. Many of these recommendations are directed toward those administering the faculties and resources of our great research institutions--and the stewards of our research funders, making this book an excellent resource for academic and research institutions, scientists, universities, and federal and private funding agencies.

Research at the Intersection of the Physical and Life Sciences

A strong chemical workforce in the United States will be essential to the ability to address many issues of societal concern in the future, including demand for renewable energy, more advanced materials, and more sophisticated pharmaceuticals. High school chemistry teachers have a critical role to play in engaging and supporting the chemical workforce of the future, but they must be sufficiently knowledgeable and skilled to produce the levels of scientific literacy that students need to succeed. To identify key leverage points for improving high school chemistry education, the National Academies' Chemical Sciences Roundtable held a public workshop, summarized in this volume, that brought together representatives from government, industry, academia, scientific societies, and foundations involved in outreach programs for high school chemistry teachers. Presentations at the workshop, which was held in August 2008, addressed the current status of high school chemistry education; provided examples of public and private outreach programs for high school chemistry teachers; and explored ways to evaluate the success of these outreach programs.

Strengthening High School Chemistry Education Through Teacher Outreach Programs: A Workshop Summary to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Bioinspired Chemistry for Energy: A Workshop Summary to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Exploring Opportunities in Green Chemistry and Engineering Education: A Workshop Summary to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Preparing Chemists and Chemical Engineers for a Globally Oriented Workforce: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Are Chemical Journals Too Expensive and Inaccessible? : A Workshop Summary to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Water and Sustainable Development: Opportunities for the Chemical Sciences: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Reducing the Time from Basic Research to Innovation in the Chemical Sciences: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Minorities in the Chemical Workforce: Diversity Models that Work: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

Considerable international concerns exist about global climate change and its relationship to the growing use of fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is released by chemical reactions that are employed to extract energy from fuels, and any regulatory policy limiting the amount of CO2 that could be released from sequestered sources or from energy-generating reactions will require substantial involvement of the chemical sciences and technology R&D community.

Much of the public debate has been focused on the question of whether global climate change is occurring and, if so, whether it is anthropogenic, but these questions were outside the scope of the workshop, which instead focused on the question of how to respond to a possible national policy of carbon management. Previous discussion of the latter topic has focused on technological, economic, and ecological aspects and on earth science challenges, but the fundamental science has received little attention. This workshop was designed to gather information that could inform the Chemical Sciences Roundtable in its discussions of possible roles that the chemical sciences community might play in identifying and addressing underlying chemical questions.

Carbon Management: Implications for R&D in the Chemical Sciences and Technology

For a period of history no women worked outside the home. Bust as years have gone by and society has changed, Women are working varying jobs every day. They are, however, underrepresented in some sectors of jobs. This includes women in the engineering and science fields. To matters worse, women do not ascend the career ladder as fast as or as far as men do.

The impact of this and related problems for science, the academic enterprise, the U.S. economy, and global economic competitiveness have been recently examined. The Chemical Sciences Roundtable evaluate that the demographics of the workforce and the implications for science and society vary, depending on the field of science or engineering. The roundtable has organized a workshop, "Women in the Chemical Workforce," to address issues pertinent to the chemical and chemical engineering workforce as a whole, with an emphasis on the advancement of women.

Women in the Chemical Workforce: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable includes reports regarding the workshop's three sessions—Context and Overview, Opportunities for Change, and Conditions for Success—as well as presentations by invited speakers, discussions within breakout groups, oral reports from each group.

Women in the Chemical Workforce: A Workshop Report to the Chemical Sciences Roundtable

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2024 NSF Chemistry Early Career Investigator Workshop

March 18, 2024

The 2024 NSF Chemistry Early Career Investigator Workshop will bring together junior faculty from a broad range of institutions and demographics, as well as established investigators, NSF program officers and program directors from other funding agencies. Attendees will discuss strategies for crafting research ideas, planning educational and outreach activities, and assessing and evaluating project goals.

This event will be held from May 5-7, 2024, at the Embassy Suites in Alexandria, Virginia.  

The workshop is organized by  Giulia Palermo  from the University of California-Riverside and  Sarah Tasker   from Franklin & Marshall College. Junior faculty members are encouraged to apply.

Visit the NSF Chemistry Early Career Investigator Workshop website to submit your application.

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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• Chemical Data Workshop

Data in the Disciplines: Chemical Data Workshop

• Chemical Data Modules
• Ethnographic Data Workshop
• Ethnographic Data Modules

About the Workshop

As chemists and information specialists, we know how important data is and recognize its growing influence within the research process.  Data is everywhere; we create data, sift through data available online and in research literature, and share data among our co-researchers and peers.  It can be downright challenging to organize data, curate it, share it, and also comply with grant requirements and professional standards. As educators, we strive to teach students valuable concepts and skills that they can apply in graduate school and professional careers.  Many students at our institutions, however, do not receive formal training in data management and curation.

To help address these issues, five institutions ( Lewis & Clark College , Reed College , University of Puget Sound , Whitman College , and Willamette University ) have come together to explore how we as researchers and educators can more effectively manage and curate data through a one and a half day workshop.  

Workshop Format

The workshop will take place over a day and half on June 6th and 7th, 2019.  We welcome individuals or teams composed of faculty, students researchers, librarians, IT members, technicians, instrument specialists, etc., or any combination therein.

Day One of the workshop will cover the lifecycle of research data and research data management and curation (RDMC) content specifically tailored for chemists and their unique needs. Participants will have the opportunity to:

• Develop file-naming and organizational strategies for commonly encountered chemical data types (e.g. spectra and other instrument output, physical samples, assays)
• Discuss best practices for capturing and cross-referencing key details of experimental narratives in lab notebooks
• Commit to keeping working data safe by establishing effective and efficient back-up procedures and routines
• Review current practices for data-publishing and data-sharing within the discipline, including emerging repositories in the field.
• Explore strategies and tools specific to various analysis outputs, such as SEM images or protein conformations.

Day Two will distill some general concepts around chemical data literacy and culminate in the collaborative creation of a one-hour RDMC curriculum module for chemistry majors. Student, faculty, and librarian participants will work together to develop a flexible draft module suitable for ready integration into the undergraduate curriculum.  

Attendees are encouraged to bring examples from their current work to apply what is learned, and implement RDMC practices at their campuses. By working together as a team from each campus and supporting each other across institutions, researchers along with librarians and Information technology staff will build successful services, as well as have a powerful impact on how future researchers utilize these important skills.

Workshop Partner

We are partnering with Dr. Ye Li, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Librarian at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to develop the curriculum and facilitate the Chemistry Research Data Workshop. Dr. Li earned a Ph.D. in Chemistry as well as an M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa. She spent six years working as the Chemistry Librarian at the University of Michigan before moving to the Colorado School of Mines and ultimately MIT. She is a member of the Research Data Alliance Chemistry Research Data Interest Group and has published on chemistry research data management, research data sharing, and improving chemical information literacy.

Location and Time

This one-and-a-half day workshop will be held on the Lewis and Clark campus ( directions to campus ).  It will be held on June 6th (9am -5pm) and June 7th (9am-12pm).  

Registration and Cost

Please register for the workshop here .

There is no registration cost for the workshop. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Day One and breakfast and lunch on Day Two will be provided. Participants may apply for lodging and funding to support travel; preference will be given to participants traveling from outside of the Portland area. Contact a member of the Chemical Data Planning Group if you have questions.

Workshop Materials (Forthcoming)

Chemical data planning group.

• Eli Gandour-Rood, University of Puget Sound
• John  Repplinger, Willamette University
• Robin Ford, Reed
• Parvaneh Abbaspour, L&C
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