Colloquium To Feature 'Green' Chemistry Expert March 4 and 5

by Judy Long

Dr. Terry Collins, The Thomas Lord Professor of Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and director of CMU's Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry, will speak March 4 and 5 at Baylor University about "green" chemistry and sustainable science.
Credited with creating a new class of oxidation catalysts with the potential for enormous positive impact on the environment, Collins is internationally known for his contributions to green chemistry, his dedication to education and his public advocacy for greater use of green chemistry to achieve a sustainable civilization.
Collins will discuss "Uniting Chemical Research and Education with the Pursuit of a Sustainable Civilization" at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 4, on the fifth floor of the Cashion Academic Center on the Baylor campus.
On Friday, March 5, Collins will describe how civilization is not sustainable--that it cannot continue indefinitely using natural resources at the current rate--and will offer solutions. He will address "Designing Catalysts for Green Oxidation Technologies" at 3:15 p.m. in room 100 of the Marrs McLean Science Building.
Collins said chemists are master manipulators of matter who have the creative ability to cope with the sustainability problems facing society. "The three biggest sustainability challenges confronting chemists pertain to developing new technologies for solar energy conversion, pollution elimination and renewable chemical feedstocks," he said. "With major breakthroughs in these fields, chemists could revolutionize the technology base in favor of sustainability."
A New Zealand native, Collins received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Auckland. After postdoctoral work at Stanford University, he joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology in 1980 and Carnegie Mellon University in 1987.
His honors include the Environmental Protection Agency's 1999 Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award and Japan's Society of Pure and Applied Coordination Chemistry Award. He is an honorary professor at the University of Auckland, a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar and a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the World Innovation Institute.
He was the United States representative at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Workshop on the Funding of Sustainable Chemistry in Tokyo in 2000 and has
served on numerous Green Chemistry research and funding evaluation panels.
Collins has written and lectured widely on the possibilities of developing vibrant new economies promoting sustainability. His research program is focused on greening oxidation technologies by designing nontoxic catalysts for activating the natural oxidants, hydrogen peroxide and oxygen, for nonpolluting oxidations. Collins is currently the associate editor for the Americas of the journal Green Chemistry. He also serves on the editorial advisory board of C&E News.
The chemistry colloquium is sponsored by student affiliates of the American Chemical Society and the University Lecturers committee. For more information, contact the chemistry department at 710-3311.