Chemistry degree teaching tries to retool

[MillCreek]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/chemistry-departments-try-to-attract-more-students-by-retooling-the-major-1428880862 (paywall)

The real reason why chemistry is in the toilet is the lack of jobs in the field. This article talks about a chemistry degree as the entry to grad school or medical school, but hardly no mention is made of using a chemistry degree to work as a chemist. For several decades now, there has been a real lack of chemistry jobs and in recent years, the job market has contracted even further with Big Pharma cutting back and offshoring research/development and production. I certainly don't regret my chemistry degrees, but they proved to be essentially useless to my career since I had to retrain after not finding a job as an analytical chemist.

[T.O.M.]

Most of the chemistry types I know have degrees in chemical engineering, not chemistry per se.  Funny, because the work they talk about doing sounds a lot like what i would call chemistry.  My personal favorite is my friend who worked on the Olestra project.   

[230RN]

I've got a minor in chemistry and only used it in two jobs as incidental to my main quals.  Later on, I discovered that (at least analytical) chemistry had devolved into putting samples into a machine and pressing a button... well, just about.  No more of what I call "wet chemistry" with bubbles and precipitates and titrating and fun stuff like that there.

[roo_ster]

I am sure this will all be solved if we can only let in 100,000 H1B chemists from out of the country.

[MillCreek]

I've got a minor in chemistry and only used it in two jobs as incidental to my main quals.  Later on, I discovered that (at least analytical) chemistry had devolved into putting samples into a machine and pressing a button... well, just about.  No more of what I call "wet chemistry" with bubbles and precipitates and titrating and fun stuff like that there.

I did my research master's in 1982, and it was on the quantitative analysis of barbiturates in urine using GC/MS.  I had to do some degree of prep to the samples before injecting it into the GC/MS and then manually reading, measuring and interpreting the peaks and spectra on the printout to determine the makeup of the sample.  It is amazing nowadays with the computerized library of peaks and mass spectra loaded into the machines, that gives you a virtually instantaneous interpretation of the sample. 

[Sawdust]

Most of the chemistry types I know have degrees in chemical engineering, not chemistry per se.  Funny, because the work they talk about doing sounds a lot like what i would call chemistry.  My personal favorite is my friend who worked on the Olestra project.   

Ugggghh...Olestra.

I once ate some Chinese food that, I found out later, contained Olestra.

Not my proudest hygenic moment.

Sawdust

[Hawkmoon]

Olestra?

[charby]

Maybe if universities/colleges would invite industry in to see what industry is looking for in a employee with a Chemistry BS degree, then they can retool the program to make their graduates more employable.

[makattak]

Olestra?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olestra#Side_effects

Starting in 1996, an FDA-mandated health warning label read "This Product Contains Olestra. Olestra may cause abdominal cramping and loose stools (anal leakage). Olestra inhibits the absorption of some vitamins and other nutrients. Vitamins A, D, E, and K have been added".[12]

These symptoms, normally occurring only by excessive consumption in a short period of time, are known as steatorrhea, and caused by an excess of fat in stool.

[vaskidmark]

Olestra?

Rx as Olestra or OTC as Ali for weight control based on the ability to prevent absorption of dietary fat - which has to go somewhere.  A good aid in teaching what is truely a low-fat diet as opposed to merely avoiding deep-fried foods.  A good doc Rxinng it will discuss the use of adult diapers - both for the nearly uncontrolable urges and for the presrvation of upholstery.

Strangely little mention is made of the flatulance that may be experienced - which given its primary purpose can induce anxiety.

Thank goodness it is not designed to be a maintenance medication.

stay safe.

[vaskidmark]

Maybe if universities/colleges would invite industry in to see what industry is looking for in a employee with a Chemistry BS degree, then they can retool the program to make their graduates more employable.

You mean a Trade School?

Heard that too often in both secondary and post-secondary settings.

stay safe.

[charby]

You mean a Trade School?

Heard that too often in both secondary and post-secondary settings.

stay safe.

It's different than being a trade school.

Trade School you are taught the basics to be competent enough to begin in a trade. A university degree means that you are studied in a subject or two, but you also have a well rounded education.

[brimic]

Maybe if universities/colleges would invite industry in to see what industry is looking for in a employee with a Chemistry BS degree, then they can retool the program to make their graduates more employable.

There is that- at least in an industrial sense, new employees are stunned by the scale of reactions.

On the flip side- a lot of chemistry jobs are 'dirty jobs'- hours, even full days in Level B or Level A suits, handling heavy equipment/raw materials. In pharma/manufacturing sites I've worked at, I've seen far more people come out of college who couldn't/didn't want to do the physical work- a lot of them had a notion that they would sit at a desk all day or do small experiments at a bench top. They last 6 months to a year and either go back to school, get a teaching gig, or find a lower impact job.
Analytical jobs are every easy to come by in my area, but they don't pay well, unless you have an advanced degree and specialize in mass spec or NMR (where I work, they got rid of all of the advanced degrees in analytical and trained us B.S. monkeys how to run the NMR and mass specs for ourselves).

[vaskidmark]

It's different than being a trade school.

Trade School you are taught the basics to be competent enough to begin in a trade. A university degree means that you are studied in a subject or two, but you also have a well rounded education.

No offense meant towards your post or trade schools.  I was just repeating the "party line" of modern, progessive educators.

stay safe.

[charby]

No offense meant towards your post or trade schools.  I was just repeating the "party line" of modern, progessive educators.

stay safe.

No worries man. I work at university (until I find new employment) and I have that conversation all the time with the profts.

[MechAg94]

What is the average starting pay for Chemical Engineers versus Chemistry Majors now days?  I know when I was getting started, that was a major factor.  The chemical industry down here hires a lot more chemical engineers than chemists, but I normally meet operations and maintenance folks rather than R&D or lab people.