UC Berkeley Establishing Sustainable Products and Solutions Program Based on Dow Gift

The University of California at Berkeley (UC Berkeley) announced on October 30 the establishment of a new Sustainable Products and Solutions (SPS) Program, based at the Center for Responsible Business at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and in partnership with UC Berkeley’s College of Chemistry. The Dow Chemical Company Foundation has pledged the seed money for the five years needed to initiate the program, driven by Dow’s commitment to sustainability through its 2015 Sustainability Goals and aligning with the Foundation’s strategic giving themes.

“As a company, one of our goals is to support innovative, sustainable projects that help serve the societal needs of tomorrow,” said Dave Kepler, Dow senior vice president and chief sustainability officer. “We believe this new program will lead to new thinking in the development of products that will be sustainable, improve the quality of life for people, while protecting health and the environment.”

The SPS Program will create a multi-disciplinary learning and research environment where the foundations of sustainability – society, science, engineering, environment, and finance – are considered simultaneously as new products and solutions are explored by UC Berkeley students and faculty. Focuses could be as wide-ranging as expanding clean drinking water supplies to exploring how to measure a product supply chain’s environmental footprint.

“The SPS Program will offer unique opportunities to support education and research related to all aspects of sustainability, and has the potential to help shape policies and benefit society for years to come. We are truly delighted to be a part of this very important initiative,” said Douglas Clark, a UC Berkeley professor of chemical engineering and faculty co-chair of the program steering committee.

In addition to the financial contribution, Tony Kingsbury of Dow is being provided on loan as an executive-in-residence at the Center for Responsible Business. Kingsbury will bring his industry perspective to bear in developing learning experiences and research projects for UC Berkeley students and will help recruit additional corporate and foundation partners to the SPS Program.

Funding for the program’s first round of research and education projects will likely be announced in early 2008. More details related to the Sustainable Products & Solutions Program can be found at http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2007/10/30_SPSprogram.shtml.