Our final CSSM Sustainability Ambassadors Program was held July 18-20, 2022.  The program continued to address concerns relevant to trainees in the center, namely ideas of separations science to impostor syndrome, exploring the academic job market, Ukrain War and its effects on critical metals, and industrial approaches to valorizing PGMs.  We are so fortunate to have had such dynamic and open speakers in this program.  The schedule included:

The program hosted a total of 71 attendees over all the talks.  To find links to some of the talks, please click below:

Joan Brennecke – Ionic Liquids for More Sustainable Separations

Joe Martino – A Networking Refresher

Devin Swiner – Building a Community on Social Media

Mary McRae – Life Cycle Assessments: Benefits and Challenges

Marta Guron – The Academic Unicorn: Tales of Finding the Magical Fit in the Greater Academic Job Market

Gavin Harper – The Ukraine War and its Impact on Critical Metals Supply

Maria Macia – Recent Developments in Mandatory Disclosure Laws for Public Companies in the US: What they     Mean for Recycling

Andrew Pawlikowski – A Brief Overview of Johnson Matthey and Operations at the PGM Refinery in West Deptford, NJ

Thank you to all our speakers and attendees!

 

The second annual CSSM Sustainability Ambassadors Program was held July 20-22, 2021.  This is a cornerstone program for CSSM’s professional development efforts, where the goals are to provide trainees with unique knowledge and information for career and personal development that are adjacent to their research work.

 

The 2021 program gave trainees insights into new aspects of separations science from biological, industrial and economic lenses, provided concrete tips for how to approach a postdoctoral position and how to transition into an independent career from a postdoc as well as in writing resumes/CVS, and gave access to softer skills like thriving in ambiguity and amplifying scientific voices in science communication and governments.  Additionally, the program acted as fuel for collaboration as trainees from across institutions worked together in workshops to provide future directions for Outreach programs and engaged in social activities and targeted discussions with speakers to encourage networking.

 

The schedule for the 2021 Program included:

 

As the program was conducted virtually, attendees spanned from across partnering CSSM institutions, as well as from university and community partners. The program enjoyed a little over 75 attendees spanning undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs, as well as community participants.

 

Recordings from the Sustainability Ambassadors 2021 sessions may be found below, but may also be found as a playlist on the CSSM YouTube page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first annual ‘CSSM Sustainability Ambassadors Program‘ was held August 3-5, 2020.

 

The 2020 program  empowered trainees through specialized training and information about scientific publication, development of professional outreach programs, communicating with science journalists, science journalism as a career, patenting/intellectual property, commercialization of fundamental discoveries, critical materials policy, the environmental impacts of mining on local communities, time management, maintaining mental health in academic research, and fostering character traits of grit and resilience.

 

The speakers were from a range of expertise and backgrounds including the fields of history, venture capital/finance leadership, journalism, policy, and psychology. Speakers for this workshop included:

 

Prof. George Schatz, Northwestern University Scientific Publishing	Prof. Jonathan Sessler, UT Austin Commercializing Discoveries in Fundamental Science	Prof. Jen Shafer, Colorado School of Mines Developing Time Management Skills for Researchers
Dr. Roger Turner, Science History Institute Developing a Professional Outreach Program	Dr. Roger Pettman, Executive Chairman, Cycladex Inc. Starting a Company in Gold Recycling	Prof. Suzanne Bart, Purdue University Mental Health in Academic Research Training
Dr. Maddie Stone, Freelance Journalist Science Communication, Critical Materials, and Journalism Careers	Angela Pachon, Kleinman Center for Energy Policy Critical Metals and Renewable Energy Policy	Prof. Julie Klinger, University of Delaware Impact of Rare Earth Extraction on Local Communities

 

Having shifted the CSSM Sustainability Ambassadors Program online for the inaugural workshop, we also opened the program to all members of the chemistry departments at Penn, Purdue, Colorado School of Mines, UT Austin, and Northwestern. The event had 75 registrants from undergrad, grad, postdoc, faculty, and staff populations of those departments.

Here are links to some of the recorded speakers:

George Schatz – Scientific Publishing

Roger Turner – Professional Outreach Program

Maddie Stone – Science Communication, Critical Materials, and Journalism Careers

Jonathan Sessler – Commercializing Discoveries in Fundamental Science

Angela Pachon – Critical Metals and Renewable Energy Policy

Jen Shafer – Developing Time Management Skills for Researchers

Suzanne Bart – Mental Health in Academic Research Training

Julie Klinger – Impact of Rare Earth Extraction on Local Communities