The Chemistry Department and the Materials Science Institute were recently awarded a grant from the T&J Meyer Family Foundation to run a workshop for graduate students on “preparing graduate students to be scientific leaders in a sustainable society.”  The workshop will take place on September 4, 5, 8, and 9 (Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday).  In upcoming years, the workshop will last for two weeks, but this summer we are running a shorter trial program to test out certain ideas and formats. 

As you know, sustainability is one of the major scientific challenges of our time.  The workshop will get you thinking about the scientific aspects of sustainability, as well as the business and societal aspects.  Accordingly, the workshop will have a strong science component, but it will also feature a session on the entrepreneurial aspects of sustainability led by a professor from the business school, and there will be a full day session with experts from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) on communication skills and how to communicate science to the public.  The scientific portions of the workshop will focus on the sustainability aspects of energy, biotechnology, and plastics.  Professors Tyler, Lonergan, and Berglund will be leading these scientific sessions, and we anticipate participation by several of our other colleagues, as well. 

If you are interested in attending the workshop, please respond by e-mail before August 15 (chem@uoregon.edu). 

There are a number of advantages in participating in a workshop like this.  One advantage is that it is a great way to meet people from outside the Department who are interested in sustainability.  In addition to making connections with people from the business school and from OMSI, we anticipate eventual participation by Architecture faculty and their students who are interested in “green design.”  These types of contacts can be very important in helping your career advance.  Another advantage of participating in the trial workshop this year is that you can have a major say in how we run the longer workshop next summer.  In fact, we are hoping that many of you will be interested enough in sustainability that you will help us run the workshop next year. 

 

 

WEBMASTER
chem@uoregon.edu