The Students for Green Chemistry organization held its first guest speaker seminar after school in LGI 1 on Wednesday with a turnout of over 120 students.
Dr. Bruce Lipshutz, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, joined students for a virtual meeting to discuss green catalysts and their role in making chemistry reactions possible in water to minimize waste and toxic byproducts.
Executive President Jason Chen reached out to Lipshutz after reading an opinion paper written by Lipshutz about reducing drug prices with green chemistry.
“I thought [the paper] was really cool, so I cold-emailed him, and he was very expressive and wanted to help us,” Chen said. “He wanted to come speak for us, and he’s been a really great support for helping me run the organization. He’s given us advice, recommended other people to email, and he’s been great.”
For junior Annabel Qiu, the meeting taught her about the intersection between chemistry and economics.
“It was really interesting how they combined chemistry with economics, because it’s chemistry that you have to apply to the real world,” Qiu said. “You have to consider other factors beyond what you typically learn in the classroom.”
Students for Green Chemistry’s next guest speaker meeting will be during Cardinal Hour in the auditorium on Oct. 22 with Dr. Jin Wang from the Baylor College of Medicine. Wang will go over the role of biocatalysis in therapeutic innovation.
To learn more about Students for Green Chemistry and future meetings, join its Remind @gccbhs and visit its website at tinyurl.com/students4gc.
