Ask any student who’s taken a class with Dr. Jihyun (Ji) Kim, and they’ll know that “green” is good chemistry. Kim’s commitment to sustainability is the catalyst for her teaching, her research and her service. She is a tireless scholar and gifted educator whose application of green chemistry principles and active, community-based pedagogy reaps positive academic and civic outcomes for her students.
Her efforts have garnered the support of her Guttman department and beyond to expand the college’s chemistry lab resources. As one of CUNY’s 25 Building Bridges of Knowledge Faculty Fellows, Professor Kim was busy designing Open Educational Resource materials and methodologies this summer that help chemistry students to responsibly and ethically use AI tools. This fall, she is pilot testing them with her classes and collecting student feedback for revision. Her interest in AI has also led to work on university-wide AI policy with the CUNY Innovative Teaching Academy (CITA). As a CITA Fellow, Kim’s development and implementation of generative AI-assisted tutoring in organic chemistry has caught the attention of University Dean for Technology and Community & Information Systems Aankit Patel. She has invited Dr. Kim to join CUNY’s team in submitting a proposal to Complete College America’s AI Readiness Consortium.
This year, thanks to Kim’s dedication and years-long persistence in adding Organic Chemistry I and II to the curriculum, she secured funding that earned the college a $10,000 2024 Beyond Benign Green Chemistry MSI Education Challenge Award. The grant facilitated laboratory redesign for organic chemistry that incorporates microscale glassware kits and supported her creation of 10 new modules that promote green chemistry practices.
“These courses complement Guttman’s A.S. degree program and serve as a crucial gateway for life science and chemistry majors, as well as pre-allied and pre-med programs,” said Kim. “By employing non-toxic solvents and enabling students to conduct microscale experiments outside a chemical fume hood, we will significantly reduce chemical waste and enhance safety in the laboratory. The use of microscale apparatus kits and implementation of green chemistry principles will reduce our reliance on traditional, space-consuming equipment, so we can offer high-quality organic chemistry education even with limited resources,” she said.
A recipient of American Chemical Society (ACS) grants, this CUNY Learning Mindset Ambassador has embedded growth mindset principles into applied math in chemistry in Guttman’s introductory courses and was one of 15 faculty nationally to be accepted into ACS’s inaugural 2-Year College Community of Practice.
Drawing from the innovative teaching in her own and virtual classrooms with global collaborators, Professor Ji Kim has published two articles this year in the Journal of Chemical Education: “Exploring Climate Change through Experiential Learning Activities for Nonscience Majors” and “An Online Global Learning Activity to Enhance Underrepresented Community College STEM Students’ Career Competencies and Chemistry Engagement: Water Testing in New York City and Jordan” with Guttman colleague Dr. Grace Pai and Jordan University of Science and Technology Lecturer Salaheddin Abu Yahya.
Collaboration is an important aspect of Professor Kim’s research and public scholarship, and it’s an ethos she models for her students. Selected for this year’s CUNY cohort of Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Faculty Fellows, Kim is investigating the “Impact of PFAS Contamination on Communities of Color: A Study on Race, Equality, and Social Justice in Drinking Water” with her College of Staten Island co-PI, epidemiologist Dr. Shiryn D. Sukhram. In work sponsored by Beyond Benign and the New York State Pollution Prevention Institute with Rochester Institute of Technology, Dr. Kim has developed case studies focused on green alternatives to the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) typically used as fume suppressants in the metal plating industry. These case studies serve as signature project writing assignments in organic chemistry courses, enriching students’ practical understanding of sustainable industry practices and emphasizing the importance of environmental stewardship.
Guttman’s faculty continue to stand out among their peers in higher education and Professor Ji Kim is an exemplar in embodying the college’s evidence-based, student-centered instructional practices. She not only excels in the field of chemistry but continues to ignite passion for sustainability in her science students.
