Grand Valley State University will host the fifth annual “GreenUp” conference Wednesday and Thursday in the Eberhard Center on the Pew Campus.

The conference, officially known as the Michigan Green Chemistry and Engineering Conference, will have discussions on how to design a sustainable state. Researchers, chemists, engineers, industry CEOs, students, educators, entrepreneurs and policymakers will be attending to hear and share ideas on how to “green up” the state through green chemistry and engineering.

The conference may help produce jobs for GVSU graduates, said Dalila Kovacs, a faculty member involved with the conference.

“The job market (has) started to demand basic knowledge in green chemistry and green engineering,” Kovacs said. “The conference will open with a career workshop led by the American Chemical Society, which is free for attendants, followed by a one-on-one resume review throughout the two days of the conference.”

In addition to the career workshop and resume reviews, the first day of the conference will also feature a Green Chemistry and Engineering 101 workshop and networking reception.

The second day will include the fifth annual Michigan Green Chemistry Governor’s Awards; keynote presentations by Terry Collins, professor of green chemistry and director of the Institute for Green Science at Carnegie Mellon; and 15 breakout sessions each with their own speaker. There will also be a student poster contest with a prize of $500, as well as exhibitors who will conduct resume reviews.

As GVSU’s chemistry department is at the forefront of green chemistry education in the state, having won the 2009 Michigan Governor’s Award for Green Chemistry Education, the conference is especially in line with the values of GVSU and the university’s commitment to sustainability.

Along with Michigan Technological University, GVSU is one of the only two universities in the state that is part of the Green Chemistry Commitment for Education.

“Green chemistry is the chemists’ and engineers’ contribution to sustainability,” Kovacs said. “As a matter of fact, green chemistry is referred to—more often than not and especially in industrial settings—as sustainable chemistry.”

About 150 people are registered to attend the conference so far.

The Green Chemistry 101 workshop from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m. has a $45 registration fee for non-students and $15 fee for students, and the reception following is complimentary. The conference on Thursday has a $100 registration fee, reduced to $25 for students. The Career Workshop from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday is free.

To register, visit www.deq.state.mi.us/eforms/2013GreenUpRegistration.html.

For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/events and search “greenup.”

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