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AWARD-WINNING GREEN CHEMIST LECTURES ON "SUSTAINING A HIGH TECHNOLOGY CIVILIZATION" MARCH 7
FEBRUARY 28, 2001--Carnegie Mellon chemistry professor Terry Collins, a specialist in inorganic and green chemistry, will speak at Oberlin College Wednesday, March 7. The free public lecture, "Sustaining a High Technology Civilization," will begin at 4:45 P.M. in Kettering Hall, Room 9.
Collins' lecture will explore how green (also called sustainable) chemistry is addressing the maintenance of societies that are increasingly dependent upon technology. Green chemistry is important in the search for renewable energy sources and in the search for benign alternatives to polluting technologies.
"Of particular importance is the recognition of the role that technology plays in producing persistent pollutants," says Collins. "Persistent pollutants can spread throughout the environment through the use of technology. There are two primary classes of persistent pollutants--manufactured elements and elements used in vast quantities in processes not found in nature."
Collins' research focuses on the challenges confronting green chemists as they attempt to move the elemental balance of chemical technology closer to that of natural life processes. Currently, his research group is designing catalysts to activate natural oxidants--like hydrogen peroxide--to perform processes traditionally carried out by chlorine or chlorine-based oxidants. Collins' work was recognized in 1998 and 1999, when he received the Society of Pure and Applied Coordination Chemistry Award (Japan) and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (USA).
Collins received his Ph.D. from the University of Auckland (New Zealand) in 1978, and is a Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar and a Fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Oberlin College Department of Chemistry is sponsoring his visit to campus.
Media Contact: Sue Kropp
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