Inside the 2026 Green Chemistry Summer School Applications for 2027 DEADLINE December 15, 2026

October 30, 2026

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by David A. Laviska and Cecilia Smith (American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute) After a week of green chemistry lectures, group work, poster sessions, and networking, Larissa Wielli Terrabuio, graduate student at UNESP in São Paulo, Brazil, addressed a lecture hall full of classmates, faculty, and program organizers to reflect on the 2026 ACS GCI Green & Sustainable Chemistry Summer School (GSCSS).

“When I started this week, I didn’t think I was going to be changed. I’m a very shy person, and when I came here, I said I was going to create an alter ego, and I was going to put myself out there, I was going to talk more, because this is what this program is for—you have to make yourself known. And I think I speak for mostly everyone when I say that we have really, truly been changed by this experience. All of our alter egos are now part of our personalities. We have definitely been molded by everyone here, and not just in personality, but also in our [approach to] research.”

The 2026 GSCSS took place from July 11-18th at the University of Vermont campus in Burlington, Vermont. A cohort of 77 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars traveled from North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean to participate in the highly selective, fully-funded weeklong program. The program, which has been held nearly every year since 2003, provides technical green and sustainable chemistry training to exceptional students who often go on to become leaders in green chemistry and sustainability related fields. This year’s classroom sessions were taught by 19 distinguished faculty from academia, industry, and non-profit organizations.

In addition to the intensive curriculum, the program also features a distinct emphasis on relationship building, mentorship, and personal development for students over the course of the week. In advance of the program, participants worked in groups preparing posters describing fundamental tools or techniques relevant to greener, more sustainable chemical syntheses. This “pre-work” enabled students to work with and get to know some of their peers in advance of the in-person GSCSS program. Additionally, David A. Laviska, Portfolio Manager for Green Chemistry and Sustainability in Education at the ACS Green Chemistry Institute, kicked off the week’s lectures by encouraging collaboration over competition and emphasizing the importance of building a welcoming environment for all participants and their unique perspectives and ideas.

Like Larissa, many students refer to the summer school program as a transformative experience. When reflecting on the program, Miracle Olatunde, graduate student at the University of Virginia, said, “On the first day David told us, ‘By the end of this week, you will be a different person.’ At first, I didn’t know what that meant. Now, I get it, after what we’ve learned, I am a different person.”

Professional development and relationship building at the summer school are complemented by in-depth instructional content, which is centered on three overarching goals:

Increase student understanding of the central tenets of green chemistry,

Provide examples of how green chemistry and sustainability concepts can be integrated into the work of chemists, engineers, and innovators, and

Instill confidence to start reimagining every aspect of research, development, teaching, and collaborations to leverage an inclusive, systems-level mindset while tackling global sustainability challenges.

Its reputation for providing students with the knowledge and tools to reimagine their research and innovate toward sustainability draws hundreds of students to apply to the summer school every year. Kehinde (Kenny) Makinde, graduate student at the University of Vermont, was particularly interested in learning about techniques for greening his chemical processes, commenting: “When I saw the advertisement for the summer school, I was really interested in attending the program because I wanted to know, what can I do to actually improve some aspects of my synthesis steps?”

At a workshop led by the ACS GCI Pharmaceutical Roundtable (GCIPR) several months prior to the summer school, Kenny says “I had the privilege of having a constructive discussion with Paul Richardson [ACS GCIPR co-chair], and I was really excited when Paul said that if you want people to buy your method, you have to consider green chemistry, you have to be green.” Kenny discussed solvent use with Richardson, and Richardson encouraged Kenny to switch out benzene, an irritant and carcinogen, for toluene, a somewhat less harmful alternative, in one of Kenny’s synthetic steps.

Building on this conversation, at the summer school, Loyd Bastin, professor of chemistry at Widener University, Isamir Martinez, ACS GCI Assistant Director, and Scott Plummer, Associate Director at Novartis, taught students about safer solvent selection and presented tools developed by the ACS GCIPR, including the CHEM21 Solvent Selection guide and tool. Lectures on safer solvent options—and discussions with Richardson—encouraged Kenny to reevaluate his use of benzene and ultimately resulted in Kenny’s switch to toluene.

“After switching from benzene to toluene, I was excited to see that the rearrangement proceeded even faster, with no observable side products and a higher isolated yield. It was a great example of how incorporating green chemistry principles into my research could improve not only the sustainability of the process, but also the reaction outcome,” said Kenny.

The summer school not only encourages sustainability through practical changes such safer solvent selection, but it also teaches students to look at chemistry more broadly and consider the relevance of their research beyond the laboratory. To frame out the importance of a holistic perspective, David Laviska taught a lecture on systems thinking and how it helps chemists account for the principles of green chemistry while attenuating their research goals to real-world sustainability challenges. In alignment with this approach, Audrey Moores, professor of chemistry at McGill University, encouraged students to “think beyond the arrow”—to take into consideration the many factors that affect a process’s impact beyond just the means to get from reactants to products—which became a theme that recurred many times throughout the week.

According to evaluation data, this year’s program was highly successful at achieving the three abovementioned goals. Instructional content received an average rating of 4.66 out of 5, with 4 as “very good” and 5 as “outstanding.” Opportunities for networking received an average rating of 4.72 out of 5, and overall satisfaction with this year’s program yielded an average score 4.77 out of 5 on the same rating scale.

Evolution & Future of the GSCSS

Each year, the summer school program evolves to adapt programming and ensure an innovative, impactful experience for participants. This year, local instructors from the Burlington area were invited to join the program for two days of classroom sessions and poster sessions, with the goal of “teaching the teachers” and proliferating green chemistry curricula and literacy among instructors. Additionally, faculty for the 2026 program included three experts from institutions outside of the U.S., underscoring the ACS GCI goals of global collaboration and representation at the summer school.

As coordinators of the 2026 program, we want to thank the faculty and GCI staff – 19 colleagues representing a broad spectrum of disciplines – who gave their time and expertise so generously. It was exciting seeing them teach, encourage, and engage with the students while exhorting them to think at a higher level about the roles chemistry and engineering play in tackling global sustainability challenges. The inspiring leadership from our volunteer faculty is at the heart of the student experience, and we thank them for the critical role they played in making the program such a huge success.

As we look ahead to future iterations of the summer school, we hope to expand the presence of international instructors and instructors from industry. We also plan to broaden the impact of the summer school by inviting faculty to attend the program and by inviting local high schoolers to attend the first day of lectures and interact with GSCSS graduate students at the Greener Synthesis Tools Poster session. Stay tuned for more information about this and other changes for 2027 to be announced in the coming months.

Applications for the 2027 program are due December 15, 2026. READ MORE