Two Lectures

Meet Green Chemistry
Meet John Warner

Networking

Possibility to ask questions about green chemistry

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John Warner

Co-Founder, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry

John is a chemistry inventor who works to design and create commercial technologies inspired by nature consistent with the principles of green chemistry. With over 300 patents, he has invented solutions for dozens of multinational corporations. His inventions have also served as the basis for several new companies. Examples include: Collaborative Medicinal Development (ALS therapy), Hairprint (hair color restoration), Collaborative Aggregates (asphalt warm mix rejuvenators), Ambient Photonics (lowlight indoor photovoltaic devices for IoT and BIPV).

He is one of the cofounders of the field of green chemistry, coauthoring the defining text “Green Chemistry: Theory and Practice” and articulating the 12 principles of green chemistry with Paul Anastas. John has over 100 publications providing foundational work in the fields of noncovalent derivatization, polymer photochemistry, metal oxide semiconductors and synthetic organic chemistry.  John has received prestigious awards as an academic (Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Mentoring – President G. W. Bush & NSF, 2004) and the August Wilhelm von Hofmann Medal from the German Chemical Society, 2022), industrial chemist (Perkin Medal – Society of Chemical Industry, 2014), inventor (Lemelson Ambassadorship – Lemelson Foundation & AAAS) and for governmental chemicals policy (Reinventing Government National Performance Review – Vice President A. Gore & EPA, 1997). He received the American Institute of Chemistry’s Northeast Division’s Distinguished Chemist of the Year for 2002 and the Council of Science Society President’s 2008 Leadership award. Warner was named by ICI Services as one of the most influential people impacting the global chemical industries. In 2011 he was elected a Fellow of the American Chemical Society and named one of “25 Visionaries Changing the World” by Utne Reader. He serves as Distinguished Professor of Green Chemistry at Monash University in Australia and was named an Honorary Professor at the Technical University of Berlin. He served as the 2020 and 2021 Global Chair for the Center for Sustainable and Circular Technologies at the University of Bath. In 2017 the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and The Technical University of Berlin announced the naming of “The John Warner Center for Green Chemistry Start-Ups” in his honor. He serves as strategic advisor for the Science, Engineering and Health Committee of EPA Victoria in Australia.

John received his BS in Chemistry from UMASS Boston, and his PhD in Chemistry from Princeton University. After working at the Polaroid Corporation for nearly a decade, he then served as tenured full professor at UMASS Boston and Lowell (Chemistry and Plastics Engineering). In 2007 he founded the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry, with Jim Babcock (a research organization developing green chemistry technologies), and Beyond Benign with Amy Cannon (a non-profit dedicated to sustainability and green chemistry education). John is constantly giving keynote talks and workshops on Green Chemistry, Innovation, The Circular Economy, and Biomimicry. He continues to advise several international organizations.

14:00 Hrs - Student Lecture

Aimed for students and young researchers

Green Chemistry: The Missing Elements

Imagine if every consumer, every retailer, every brand owner and every manufacturer decided to buy, use, sell and make ONLY climate neutral, sustainable, green chemistry products. The unfortunate reality is that, even if this situation were to occur, our knowledge of materials science and chemistry would allow us to provide only a small fraction of the necessary products and materials that our economy is based upon., The way we learn and teach chemistry and materials science in academia is for the most part void of any information regarding mechanisms of toxicity and environmental harm. Green Chemistry is a science that seeks to reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous materials at the design stage of a materials process. It has been demonstrated that materials and products CAN be designed with negligible impact on human health and the environment while still being economically competitive and successful in the marketplace. This presentation will describe the history and background of Green Chemistry and describe how it relates to other approaches (sustainable chemistry, circular economy…) to create a sustainable future.

16:00 Hrs - Scientific Presentation

Aimed for more technical researchers

Green Chemistry, the Sustainability Pendulum
and the Circular Economy

The materials economy can be thought of as a pendulum with the field of chemistry at its apex. In one direction, the human-built world manifests through manufacturing and recycling. In the other direction, the natural world is a combination of extraction and degradation. The overlap between these two termini of the pendulum is a useful quantitative assessment of sustainability. This presentation will describe the 5 embedded cycles of use/reuse, assembly/disassembly, materials metabolism, regeneration and stable ecosystems. Examples from both the human-built world and the natural world will be presented to illustrate the issues and opportunities for green chemistry to design a sustainable future.

Key Messages

It is an honor and particular pleasure to welcome John Warner as one of the founding fathers of Green Chemistry at TU Wien. This is a unique opportunity to experience his vision of the future chemistry as problem solver from both the viewpoints of education and scientific developments. Make sure not to miss this occasion and take part in the corresponding audience!
Marko Mihovilovic
TU Wien
Green Chemistry is no longer a utopia but rather a fundamental part of the central mission of Chemistry, as a holistic discipline, to offer the solutions that our Society needs to face contemporary challenges. To welcome John Warner right here in Vienna, supporting our vision to make this city the Green Chemistry hub of central Europe, is a unique occasion and an opportunity that especially our younger researchers can benefit immensely from.
Nuno Maulide
UNI Wien
For Chemicals policy it is absolutely vital to display a concrete vision how chemical products should ideally be shaped, produced and applied. Green Chemistry represents exactly this vision and has formed the backbone of chemicals policy in Austria since the early days of this century. And since these day John Warner has kindly accompanied our endeavours with all his splendid expertise. A true “must see”!
Thomas Jakl
BM:K
Isn't it a nice recognition for our still young Green Chemistry master curriculum that one of the founding fathers of green chemistry comes by and visits us? We warmly welcome Prof. John Warner and invite all who are interested to attend his lecture and share his insights. Do not miss this unique opportunity!
Thomas Rosenau
BOKU

Program Agenda

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Bettina Mihalyi-Schneider

Dean of Academic Affairs

Muhammad Farooq Zia

Green Chemistry Project Manager

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