For many years, faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Michigan-Flint had an ongoing interest in trying to establish a Green Chemistry program and develop more green research opportunities. However, we were a small department and although we had passionate faculty, we were not sure how to offer a competitive program. In 2015, the Flint water crisis and the resulting long-term ramifications of people’s actions, brought a focus to our campus and on the impact chemistry can have on a community—our community. To further our place as leaders within our campus, city and State, the department became signers of the Green Chemistry Commitment in February 2017. This started the process of developing curricula on Green Chemistry to be imbedded across the curriculum of the department. We were also able to grow our expertise with two additional tenure-track faculty members that has allowed us to teach the key course of toxicology within the department and broaden our research offerings. During this process we realized that the expertise of other faculty across UM-Flint’s campus put us in a unique opportunity to take our curriculum a step farther. Thus, a multidisciplinary B.S. degree in Green Chemistry has been developed that will be housed in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and includes key coursework from Engineering and Political Science. The process of how we developed the program and its curricular structure will be presented.

Developing a multidisciplinary bachelor of science degree in green chemistry at the University of Michigan-Flint

255th National Meeting (2018)

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