Since beginning his independent research and teaching career at the UO in 1994, Hutchison has harnessed the power of chemistry to produce new materials and useful products. He has also pioneered numerous innovative education programs.

In his research, Hutchison and his team discovered ways to build molecular-scale architectures with useful properties. In the field of nanoscience, he discovered how to grow nanoparticles through atom-by-atom assembly, resulting in new materials with properties tailored with unprecedented precision. His team made significant contributions to green chemistry, codifying how nanomaterials could be developed safely and contributing to the formulation of safer consumer products. He founded the world’s first center for greener nanoscience, the Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative. He co-authored several reports of the National Academy of Sciences on nanotechnology and green chemistry, has published more than 160 scientific papers, and won numerous national awards.

Hutchison has also been instrumental in developing new undergraduate and graduate training programs designed to prepare students to solve important societal problems using chemistry.  He developed the first green (environmentally friendly) organic chemistry laboratory curriculum, published the first textbook in this area, and trained over 100 universities around the nation to adopt the new curriculum. He's been a champion of experiential and immersive graduate education programs. His efforts include the development of what has become the UO’s Knight Campus Graduate Internship Program, an accelerated master's degree program that combines lab and lecture content with a 9-month paid internship, the development of the Knight Campus’ innovative Bioengineering PhD program, and the Campus’ Bioengineering minor. Most recently, he launched the Knight Campus Brewing Innovation Lab which leverages science and engineering, history, innovation, and storytelling to teach the craft and science of brewing.