About

Dr. Adelina Voutchkova-Kostal, a pivotal figure in the green chemistry realm currently championing sustainable initiatives at GWU.

Starting with her academic foundations, Adelina pursued her BA from Middlebury College, diving deep into the chemistry of Pt anticancer complexes under the expert guidance of Prof. Sunhee Choi. Her thirst for knowledge and innovation led her to Yale University, where she achieved her PhD in organometallic chemistry. Here, under the esteemed Bob Crabtree, Adelina honed her skills, exploring the nuances of atom-economical catalytic transformations steered by NHC complexes.

Before gracing GWU with her presence in 2012, she dedicated her expertise to the Yale Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering. As a Research Associate and Postdoctoral Fellow, Adelina's central focus revolved around the strategic design of commercial chemicals, ensuring they bore minimal biological activity without compromising functionality.

At GWU, her research program ambitiously straddles two paramount aspects of green chemistry. On one side, she's pioneering green synthetic methods through supported catalysis. On the other, she's at the forefront of developing predictive techniques to identify chemicals that might pose toxicological risks. Her outstanding contributions haven't gone unnoticed. She's the proud recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the 2020 Early Career Researcher Award from GWU, and the notable 2021 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award, among other accolades.

The core mission of Dr. Adelina and her team revolves around the concept of a circular economy. They’re committed to converting renewables into chemicals that are not just functional, but also environmentally friendly and degradable. Their dual focus on catalytic processes and chemical design isn't just groundbreaking—it's equipping the next generation of chemists with a holistic understanding and a toolkit for ushering in sustainable technologies.