In 1990 President Jean Mayer of Tufts University led a group of University Presidents in framing and signing the Tailloires Declaration, which committed them to provide students with the education needed to meet the challenge of building a sustainable future. In 2017, Tufts president Tony Monaco reconvened the Council for the Sustainability of Campus Operations, which took on a sharper objective: to provide leadership and oversight of a plan for Tufts to reach carbon neutrality as expressed in the American College of University Presidents’ Climate Commitment signed by Tufts in 2016. Within three months, two Tufts undergraduates had begun their summer campus sustainability research projects, which they completed shortly after the fall semester began. These projects were a response to an earlier version of the council, which recommended that projects be undertaken with students using the campus as their lab, and with faculty and staff as partners. There was a strong conviction that opportunities existed which could obtain a greater return on investment than endowment was currently earning, and that these opportunities could be identified by student-faculty-staff teams. In Chemistry, possible projects had been suggested in a research paper of a student in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning, who happened to be employed in the Chemistry Department and had an insider's view of its operations. One student explored the purchase of a flash chromatography unit that would save thousands of dollars per year compared to conventional chromatography by reduced costs for solvent purchase and disposal, while also saving energy, carbon emissions, and student researchers' time. He worked closely with the professor whose lab was using large amounts of solvent, his students, Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) officers, purchasing personnel, and salespeople for the proposed instrument. The other student explored the removal of exhaust hoods from the general chemistry laboratories, by suitable substitution of safer chemicals in a few experiments. Since each of the twelve hoods uses as much energy as a typical home for a family of four in the U.S., there are again huge savings in money, energy, and carbon emissions. He worked with general chemistry instructors, HVAC Engineers, EHS personnel, and laboratory coordinators. These summer research experiences differ strongly from the typical REU in ways that mirror the ten point action plan of the Talloires Declaration.

A campus sustainability undergraduate research program for chemistry students

256th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.