Michael Owens, “Creation of Sustainable Inventory Management Protocols and Safe Chemical Storage Methods”
Mentor: Alexander Arnold, Chemistry & Biochemistry
Poster #136

We present a method for monitoring the use and condition of chemical inventory within a research laboratory setting. The system created provides a readily available, accurate, and user-friendly method for determining what compounds are available and in what quantities. It also provided a way to locate where different compounds were located within the lab based on their unique safety storage requirements. Safety concerns for the chemicals in the inventory were identified using the NFPA Hazard Diamond, created by the National Fire Protection Association, and the GHS Classification and Labelling system of chemicals, managed by the United Nations. Inventory management was done by various computer data management systems, mainly Microsoft Excel and ChemManager+. In the future, the system we created will serve as the basis for a permanent, evolving inventory control system which will facilitate easy of use for ongoing research projects.