ACS / SENCER Issues & Innovations

Energy, food and trash! One's own campus provides an almost inexhaustible source of content. Equally importantly, topics in campus energy use, food supply chains, and waste ñdisposalî can help engage students in learning content in their introductory chemistry, physics, biology, and environmental science courses. Furthermore, these topics offer opportunities for undergraduate research and civic engagement A win-win-win scenario!

For 20 years, I served on the author team, including as editor-in-chief, of Chemistry in Context, a national project of the American Chemical Society. This textbook engages students in learning chemistry through real-world contexts such as air quality, stratospheric ozone depletion, water, and energy. Five years ago, I began using the real-world context of my own university campus, connecting campus issues to larger regional and global ones. This presentation tells the campus stories, both what worked well and what did not.