I’m excited to share a new paper from our group, Exploring Instructors’ Professional Development Experiences and Needs in Green Chemistry Education, published in the Journal of Chemical Education.

A special highlight for me: Natalie Gil-Arcos, an undergraduate researcher in my lab, is a co-author on this work, and this is her first publication.

What the study asked

With green chemistry and sustainability now more explicitly emphasized in chemistry curricula, we wanted to understand how prepared instructors feel to teach these topics, what training they have pursued, and what support they still need.

We surveyed 89 chemistry instructors from over 17 countries (with just over half based at U.S. institutions).

A few takeaways

Strengths: Instructors reported high familiarity with Chemical Safety (76%) and Green Chemistry Principles (72%).
Clear gaps: Familiarity and perceived teaching ability were lower for topics like toxicology and life cycle impacts (for example, 44% reported being less familiar with toxicology at the molecular mechanisms level, and 74% reported Beginner/Intermediate ability with life cycle impacts).
Professional development barriers: About half of respondents had not pursued professional development in these areas recently, and cost and lack of funding came up repeatedly.

Overall, the results point to a real need for coordinated, accessible professional development that helps instructors build confidence and practical teaching approaches, especially in toxicology and life cycle thinking.