High School (Secondary School) Students

Join science educators from across New York's Capital Region for the 42nd Annual Eastern STANYS Spring Conference. This regional gathering returns to Siena University and brings together K-12 teachers, local experts, and science organizations to share effective classroom strategies and enhance science instruction across various disciplines.

All sessions are aligned with the New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS). Attendees can participate in two 45-minute sessions, along with the keynote address, to earn 5 CTLE credits.

👋 If you attend, be sure to connect with Beyond Benign Certified Lead Teachers Stefanie Loomis and Annette Sebuyira.

🗓️March 6, 2026

⏰4–9 p.m. ET

📍Siena University

🔗 Learn more and register

This free, virtual event is designed to empower undergraduate and graduate students with insights and connections to pursue meaningful and impactful careers in green chemistry and sustainability. Participants will hear from and interact directly with industry leaders and academics about career pathways, internship opportunities, and co-ops while building their professional networks.

Why Should You Attend?

• Gain valuable insight into green chemistry and sustainability career paths.
• Connect with professionals across industry, academia, government, and NGOs.
• Discover specific opportunities and resources to support your career journey.
• Network with peers and professionals committed to advancing diversity and sustainability in STEM fields.

Full program information can be found here.

At the end of the panel discussion, there will be "Career Speed Dating” breakout rooms with different professionals from academia, industries, and government organizations. When registering -please select the top 2 breakout rooms you would like to attend- see descriptions below:

Breakout Room 1: Career Paths in the Pharma Industry– If you are interested in learning more about the pharma industry, hearing from a biocatalysis expert, and potential co-ops. Internships and more, join this room.

Breakout Room 2: Career Paths in the Beauty Industry–If you are interested in the cosmetic industry and innovations in sustainable beauty, join this room.

Breakout Room 3: Career Paths in Academia– If you are interested in becoming a professor and the steps to leading a research lab as an associate professor, join this room.

Breakout Room 4: Career Paths in Tech – If you want to understand how to use your chemistry skills to advance in the tech space and potential job opportunities, join this room.

Breakout Room 5: Career Paths in Non-Profit –If you want to learn how to use your chemistry background to have a successful and impactful career in the non-profit sector, join this room.

Note: If you don't receive a confirmation email soon, check your spam folder in case it landed there. Upon registration, you will be added to the Beyond Benign email newsletter list—you can update your preferences at any time.

Reducing total CO₂ emissions to zero is called #CarbonNeutrality. To achieve this, industrial and energy reforms must be undertaken within the next decade. However, the specific measures are not generally known…

Join us for a special webinar with Junji Nakamura, a Research Professor at the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research, Kyushu University, to explore what the path to carbon neutrality looks like.

🗓️ When: February 6th from 6-7 p.m. EST / February 7th from 8-9 a.m. JST.

🧪 Register: This is the second installment of the webinar series, “Promoting Chemistry Applied to World Needs” presented by Beyond Benign and IUPAC CHEMRAWN. If you haven’t already registered for this free series, RSVP here! 

The Chemistry Faculty of Visayas State University - Tolosa is thrilled to reach out to Dr. Juliana Vidal, Program Manager for Higher Education at Beyond Benign, with an invitation to share her invaluable expertise on the Green Chemistry Commitment (GCC).

As proud members of the GCC consortium, we are organizing a series of virtual workshops focused on integrating green chemistry principles into academic curricula, and we believe Dr. Vidal’s insights will set the perfect tone for this initiative.

Are you an aspiring chemist, a passionate climate advocate, or an interested member of the public? Do you want to change the world through science? Join the IUPAC CHEMRAWN and Beyond Benign throughout 2025 to learn from experts in the field who are leading the charge to solve existential, world needs through chemistry. Speakers will orient their presentations around the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), as well as the IUPAC Top 10 Emerging Technologies, to demonstrate the power that chemists hold in shaping, and preserving, the future. 

Each talk will be accompanied by  2-3 minute videos on the topic, for chemistry students in high school, university, and for the general public.

January Webinar 

“From Detoxifying Chemical Warfare Agents to Treating Nuclear Wastewater: Adventures in the Synthesis of Metal–Organic Frameworks” 

Ashlee Howarth, Concordia University

01/24/2025 | 9:00 – 10:00 AM EST

Webinar Description:

Named by IUPAC as one of the “Top 10 Emerging Technologies in Chemistry” in 2019, what can metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) really do? IUPAC CHEMRAWN Committee and Beyond Benign invite you to learn more about MOFs and join the discussion with Prof. Ashlee Howarth from Concordia University! Prof. Howarth is dedicated to using green chemistry principles and practices to design and synthesize rare-earth cluster-based MOFs which can then be applied to clean up wastewater from coal and nuclear power plants, as well as decontaminate military equipment. Other applications investigated by Ashlee also include catalysis, drug delivery, X-ray detection, and chemical sensing applications to solve our current environmental challenges. 

More About Professor Ashlee Howarth:

Ashlee J. Howarth is an Associate Professor and Concordia University Research Chair at Concordia University in Montréal. She was born and raised in London, Ontario. She obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Western Ontario in 2009, and then went on to do her PhD in inorganic materials chemistry at the University of British Columbia under the supervision of Michael O. Wolf. Before joining the faculty at Concordia, she completed an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University with Joseph T. Hupp and Omar K. Farha. At Concordia, the Howarth group is focused on the design and synthesis of rare-earth cluster-based metal–organic frameworks targeting applications in pollution remediation, catalysis, drug delivery, X-ray detection, and chemical sensing. Ashlee is also the contact point for the Green Chemistry Commitment at Concordia University.

Discover the latest addition to the 4-H STEM Curriculum for Grades 9-12: Sustainable Polymers: Confronting the Plastic Crisis. This curriculum was created in partnership with the CSP and is designed to engage youth in understanding and addressing the environmental impacts of plastic waste.

Webinar Details:

#1: May 15, 2024

10am PDT | 11am MDT | 12pm CDT | 1pm EDT

Register at https://bit.ly/Polymer1 

#2: May 23, 2024

9am PDT | 10am MDT | 11am CDT | 12pm EDT

Register at https://bit.ly/Polymer2