ACS-PRF Green Chemistry Summer School: Profile
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Geeta Mehta’s summer experience played an integral role in her chemistry education
Geeta Mehta
“In my personal opinion, the summer school week was the best week of my entire graduate life. The whole atmosphere was charged with these extraordinary people who were driven by green chemistry.”
One of my thesis advisors at told me about ACS-PRF Green Chemistry Summer School. I was skeptical about attending because my MS thesis defense was in two weeks after the summer school. However, I was unaware of the wonderful and rare experience in store for me.
In my personal opinion, the summer school week was the best week of my entire graduate life. The whole atmosphere was charged with these extraordinary people who were driven by green chemistry. At each interaction I was amazed by the knowledge, passion, and humility of the highly accomplished professors and instructors. I was very inspired by the entire experience, which included lectures, discussions, debates, lab, documentaries, poster presentations, as well as many group activities.
I am in touch with some of the people I met in that time. Mary Kirchhoff, Kathryn Parent, and Terry Collins left an undeniable impression in my mind. Some of the students also teamed up to write a commentary about what we learned and its future implications in the journal of Green Chemistry.
I have recommended all of the graduate students in my research area at my institution and other places to apply for this wonderful opportunity.
This experience actually catalyzed a major change in my career choice. As a result of all interactions and feedback I decided to pursue a career in research and teaching. While teaching a lower level undergraduate chemistry lab soon after the summer school, I introduced the students to green chemistry. Although I am still working on my Ph.D., I plan to apply the fundamentals of green chemistry in my future research and teaching.