We’re proud to celebrate our research student, Natalie Gil-Arcos, who presented her first research poster at the CLEAR 2025 Symposium, an online conference dedicated to innovative laboratory teaching in chemistry.

Her poster, titled "A Snapshot of Chemistry Instructor Knowledge of Green Chemistry Topics in the Laboratory Curriculum", examined how familiar higher education instructors are with green chemistry concepts and how often these topics are integrated into lab courses. This work is particularly timely as more institutions aim to embed sustainability into undergraduate chemistry education.

Natalie’s project, conducted in collaboration with Beyond Benign, drew from the Teacher-Centered Systemic Reform (TCSR) model to explore how personal, contextual, and instructional factors influence topic adoption in the lab. Survey results highlighted that instructors were most familiar with chemical safety, green chemistry principles, and chemical hazard assessment and safer alternatives. However, life cycle impacts of chemicals and toxicity concepts were less frequently understood and implemented—revealing potential areas for faculty development.

We’re thrilled to see Natalie take this important step as a researcher, and we’re excited about the impact her work can have in supporting broader adoption of green chemistry education.