The formation of  Research Safety Student Initiative (RSSI) at Northwestern was catalyzed by a trip to the Dow Lab Safety Academy in Midland, MI. The group of students who attended the academy felt the need to promote a safer culture through a student initiative at Northwestern among the researcher community in conjunction with ORS, RSSI was thus founded in October 2017.

 

On February 2018, RSSI hosted its' inaugural Research Safety Awareness Week, engaging researchers across various departments in an effort to broadcast the importance of research safety, with events dedicated towards operating equipment and inviting safety experts across multiple disciplines.

​

In April of 2019, RSSI, launched a peer inspection program with select research laboratories in the Chemistry and Chemical Engineering departments in partnership with the Office of Research Safety. Later, this work would be highlighted in ACS Central Science, titled: "Building a Sustainable Student-Led Model To Promote Research Safety in Academic Laboratories."

​

Since then, RSSI has hosted 10+ events annually and assisted with hundreds of research safety-related incidents, including lab safety walkthroughs, NMR and process hazards, radiation safety trainings, laser safety trainings, chemical spills and waste, and many more.