Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Award

Purpose

The Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Award provides national recognition and honor for outstanding student contributions to furthering the goals of green chemistry and engineering through research and/or studies. This includes but is not limited to the research, development, and implementation of fundamental and innovative chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry into chemical design, manufacture, and use, and that have the potential to be utilized in achieving national pollution prevention goals.

Description

The Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Award was established in 1997 in honor of Dr. Kenneth G. Hancock, former Director of the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation (NSF). Recipients of the award receive a one-time cash prize of $1,000 as well as reimbursement up to $1,000 for travel costs to attend the annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference. Two award winners are selected annually.

Eligibility

Undergraduate and graduate students (U.S. or international) are eligible to apply for this award. Applicants must demonstrate the relevance of their studies and/or research to green chemistry and/or engineering (see below, under “Award Scope and Objectives”).

Conference Participation

Award winners are responsible for meeting the abstract deadline date for the annual Green Chemistry & Engineering Conference where the awards symposium and ceremony will be held. Winners should be prepared to give an oral or poster presentation relevant to their graduate research. In addition, after the conclusion of the conference, all winners are required to submit a brief report that summarizes their conference experience.

Award Scope and Objectives

Green chemistry is defined as the use of chemistry for source reduction, the highest tier of the risk management hierarchy as described in the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. More specifically, green chemistry involves a reduction or elimination of the use or generation of hazardous materials—including feedstocks, reagents, solvents, products, and byproducts—from a chemical process. Green chemistry encompasses all aspects and types of chemical processes, including synthesis, catalysis, analysis, monitoring, and separations and reaction conditions that reduce impacts on human health and the environment relative to the current state of the art.

Applications for the Kenneth G. Hancock Memorial Award must describe studies or research in which the student has participated that address the scope and objectives of green and sustainable chemistry and/or engineering. The activity should address one or more principles of green and sustainable chemistry and/or engineering and, more specifically, address one or more of the following three green chemistry focus areas:

• The use of greener synthetic pathways. This focus area involves designing and implementing novel, greener pathway(s) for the synthesis of a chemical product. Examples include synthetic pathways that:
• Use feedstocks that are of lower inherent hazard to humans or the environment, and/or that are renewable (e.g., biomass, natural oils).
• Use novel reagents or catalysts, especially those that use earth-abundant metals, organocatalysts, biocatalysts, and microorganisms. Catalytic systems that contain precious metals (e.g., Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, Ag, Os, Ir, Au) at concentrations greater than 10 ppm are strongly discouraged unless they are heterogeneous and greater than 95% recyclable.
• Are natural processes, such as fermentation, or use biomimetic processes.
• Are mass and energy efficient and show economy of process (number of steps, separations, purifications, etc.).
• The use of greener reaction conditions. This focus area involves improving conditions other than the overall design or redesign of a synthetic pathway. Greener analytical methods often fall within this focus area. Examples include reaction conditions that:
• Replace hazardous chemicals (starting materials, reagents, etc.) and solvents with alternatives that have a lower impact on human health and the environment.
• Use solvent-less reaction conditions and solid-state reactions.
• Use novel processing methods that prevent pollution at its source.
• Eliminate energy- or material-intensive separation and purification steps.
• Improve energy efficiency, including reactions running closer to ambient conditions (temperature and pressure).
• The design of greener chemicals. This focus area involves designing and implementing chemical products that are less hazardous than the products or technologies they replace. Examples include chemical products that are:
• Less hazardous (environmental, health, and safety) than current products.
• Inherently safer with regard to accident potential.
• Recyclable or biodegradable after use.
• Safer for the environment (e.g., do not deplete ozone or form smog).