The Problem with Plastics: Chemistry, Environment, Health & PolicyMaster ClassIn-Person
Tuesday, Oct 29, 2024
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m
The Design Studio
Columbia University
645 W 120th St
New York, NY 10027
Columbia Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Design (“Columbia Entrepreneurship”) was founded in the summer of 2013 at the direction of University President Lee C. Bollinger and the University Board of Trustees to support, invigorate, accelerate, and motivate the Columbia community’s programs and culture around innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship
Roughly seventy-five percent of all plastics are discarded into the environment, where they undergo degradation into micro and nanoplastics, also known as MNPLs. These particles cause considerable harm to human health and the environment, so reducing them is critically important, and yet currently only two percent of plastics are recycled. In this class, we will explore how these micro and nanoplastics are created in the first place, and examine how to reduce their effects. Additionally, we’ll focus on strategies for polymer recycling, especially their potential in a circular economy. Finally, we’ll also look at the role that economics, policy, and health experts can play in confronting this crucial issue.
CHEMISTRY, ENVIRONMENT, HEALTH & POLICY
Sanat K. Kumar
Sanat Kumar received his BS from Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai and an ScD from MIT, both in chemical engineering. After working as a postdoc at IBM Almaden, he joined the faculty at Penn State University, then Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and is currently in the chemical engineering department of Columbia University. Professor Kumar has worked in a broad range of polymeric and complex fluids systems, and his current interests lie in recycling polymers and the creation and mitigation of nanoplastics. He has received several honors, including visiting distinguished professorships and the Polymer Physics prize of the American Physical Society.