ACS Membership Memorandum B. D. ITAEMBERSHIP
in the AMERICAN
V A N EVERA,
CHEM-
ICAL SOCIETY i s a badge of professional
competence. I t s standing and importance perhaps are best attested b y the efforts to obtain membership of many individuals not properly qualified. A member, senior grade, has proved adequate training plus experience. H e has been endorsed by t w o members in good standing and his qualifications have been checked and approved by t h e membership committee. Such a label, therefore, indicates certain attainments. There are a few members o f the Society who d o not realize that it h a s been a professional group since 1934. Because this misunderstanding exists and because there have been inquiries about how individuals who have acquired professional training outside the regular educational channels may qualify for membership, it is felt that a memorandum on the operation of the A C S Membership Committee should be published. The bylaws covering membership are specific. A person who has received adequate collegiate training i n chemistry or chemical engineering (interpreted b y the committee a s a bachelor's degree with a major in chemistry or chemical engineering) and -who has five years' experience in chemical work (two years if "certified") may b e approved b y the Membership Committee for member, senior grade. Persons adequately trained for or engaged in chemical work who d o n o t meet the requirements for member, senior grade, may b e approved as member, junior grade. Applicants who are college graduates present no serious problem and fortunately, most fall in this categorj'. ACS Bylaw 1 says that a person must have received adequate collegiate training or its equivalent in chemistry or chemical engineering before he may be approved for member, senior grade. T h e italicized words present a problem. What is the equivalent o f adequate collegiate training? Considering much of the discussion of chemical education today this obviously becomes a second order uncertainty! It can not be denned. T h e committee makes a decision in each individual case o n the b a s i s of what i t can determine of t h e person's training, accomplishments, and current professional status. The latter t w o are measured by publications, patents, positions held, and the opinion of h i s fellow chemists. T h e application blank has on i t space not only for recommending members to sign the application (after, we hope, reading what they are signing, particularly t h e paragraph just a b o v e the signature), b u t also for t h e names of additional references. These persons, who should be professional
VOLUME
2 7, N O .
Chairman, Mernembcrship Committee
associates, are asked for their opinions of the applicant's professional standing whenever there is any doubt of the "equivalence.* ' Anyone who signs the application of some person who does not have a bachelor's degree in chemistry or chemical engineering will simplify the committee's work and the prospect's path to membership if he will make certain that the application blank is filled out completely and supplemented by letter if necessary. Items most commonly inadequately treated w~^: (1) Details of collegiate irai »ng, particularly t h e listing of all chemistry courses completed when no degree has been obtained or where the degree is in a field other than chemistry or chemical engineering. (2) Details of professional experience including everything which provides evidence that the applicant has rectified academic deficiencies. Recently the head of an institute doing both physical and chemical work and member of the st^trT of an associated chemistry department, was rejected because his degrees were in physics and the application contained no evidence that he had ever done research in anything other than physics. Eventually evidence was presented that he was highly qualified in chemistry. Had the application been filled in properly, there would have been less correspondence and high blood pressure. (3) Signers must be members of the ACS. T h e application blank contains this paragraph just above the space for signature: We recommend the applicant as a person of good character and believe that he meets the requirements for membership in the ACS a s set forth i n Bylaw 1, Section 2. Conscientious members can ease the committee's work by considering this statement seriously before signing. Letters have been received saying, in effect, "I've signed the statement but it isn't true." (4) T h e persons named as references should, if possible, n o t be members of the same organization a s the applicant, particularly not subordinates. Distance lends a perspective that usually gives a clearer picture than is obtained from local references. There i s no grade of membership called student member, except as the term is used loosely and for convenience. However, a n y member who is a regularly matriculated student majoring in chemist™ or chemical engineering, taking at least six hours of course work (not necessarily all in chemistry), is entitled to a discount of one third in bis dues. H e must qualify for membership just as a n y other person does, and he may b e admitted to junior
15 » · » » A P R I L
11, 1949
grade or to senior grade depending on his qualifications. The committee h a s considered that t h e person enrolled for an undergraduate degree in chemistry or chemical engineering is engaged in chemical work. There is debate within the committee as t o t h e wisdom of this interpretation a n d i t m a y be changed. I t is possible that undergraduate students majoring in chemistry will be advised to apply for student affiliation. Graduate students are ineligible for student affiliation b u t , by virtue of their having "adequate collegiate training," may become members, junior grade, as soon as t h e y graduate. There seems to be a general idea that a member, junior grade, eventually becomes a member, senior grade, after t h e lapse of a proper interval o f time, and frequently the committee is asked what this interval is. Such is the case only with college graduates w h o lack sufficient e x perience t o b e members, senior grade. The individual who has n o t had collegiate training, but becomes a member, junior grade, because he is "engaged i n chemical work" will s t a y in t h a t category until h e is able to demonstrate t h e attainment o f "adequate collegiate training, or i t s equivalent." Since i t takes four years t o obtain adequate training i n college, plus five years of experience before o n e can become a member, senior grade, there is a nine-year period which c a n serve as a minimum reference interval in considering advancement of such individuals t o senior grade membership. However, it i s distinctly a minimum, since training o n the job is likely to b e a slower road than full-time academic study. The graduate chemist o r chemical engineer today has had basin work i n analytical, organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry, and presumably is able to apply the principles o f all t o a n y problem presented t o him. The individual w h o enters an industrial laboratory a s a laboratory assistant and learns enough technique t o be classed as an analyst, for example, will have to engage i n much study and o b tain considerable diversified experience to gain the breadth of knowledge which would constitute t h e "equivalent" state necessary t o become a member, senior grade. He m a y become a superior analyst of t h e materials with which h i s laboratory deals, b u t t h e scope of h i s knowledge of chemistry is something else. Chemists should be good technicians, but technicians are not necessarily chemists. Bylaws
Specific
The A C S Bylaws are specific in stating that t h e adequate collegiate training must b e in chemistry or chemical engi-
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neeriiig. There are a n increasing number of majors such as petroleum engineering, food technology, and textiles which may or may n o t be primarily chemical in back ground. For instance, one food technol ogy curriculum is organized under the bacteriology department of the parent institution; another is in the chemistry department. Petroleum engineering m a y be part of chemical engineering or of min ing engineering. A n increasing number of applications from t h e borderline fields— bacteriology, biology, pharmacology, agri culture, etc.—are being received. Sev eral women working in textiles and nu trition whose first training was in home economics have applied. In «each such case, unless t h e application blank is filled out to show t h e nature of the training and
experience i n chemistry, a special inves tigation m u s t be made. Sponsors can help t h e committee a great deal by check ing the items listed a b o v e t o be certain that t h e c a s e is proved. Summarizing letters from, sponsors and references, sent in with the application o r independently, are also helpful. ACS B y l a w 1 also states that the M e m bership Committee "may approve o n l y a reputable person . . . . " There are indi viduals whose activities are of dubious benefit to those they profess t o serve and who desire membership i n the Society as a cloak o f respectability. Each A C S member has a duty t o his Society a n d to himself to b e certain before h e signs an application blank t h a t t h e applicant is "a reputable person." Only by eternal
Process and Equipment Costs Considered A STAFF REPORT Γ IVE local sections of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers combined forces t o sponsor a symposium in Colum bus, Ohio, on March 18 which was frankly aimed a t the practical economic problems facing t h e chemical engineer wording in plant operations. Under t h e title 'Opera tions and Equipment Cost Symposium" the program of nine papers included pres entations dealing with economical methods of* conveying and crushing; on the relative costs of high temperature process heating; and similar specific subjects. T h e 250 production level engineers that attended the meeting agreed that they had spent a profitable d a y and made tentative plans for a similar symposium to be held next year in Cleveland. Typical of t h e tenor of t h e meeting was a presentation by L. S. Stinson of the El liott Co. in which comparative costs of mechanical vacuum pumps and steam jet ejectors were compared for various types of service. D r . Stinson characterized the reciprocating dry vacuum pump as having a high first cost and expensive mainte nance and as being suitable for handling only clean d r y gas t o pressures of 75 mm. in a single stage. T h e water-sealed rotary pump, h e said, has a low first cost and low maintenance but its poorer efficiency makes it more expensive to operate and scale formation from hard sealing water m a y increase the maintenance costs. Its performance i s limited by the temperature of the sealing water giving about 75 to 100 mm. absolute pressure a t 6 0 ° F . The oilsealed rotary pump on t h e other hand has good efficiency over a wide range of pres sures, according t o Stinson, and will at tain pressures of less than 1 m m . How ever, even t h e largest models of this type have only a small g a s capacity. Steam ejector pumps were said to have lower first cost and maintenance cost than
1054
mechanical vacuum pumps as w e l l as lower installation costs. T h e y can handle wet, dirty, o r very high temperature gases with little deterioration and will often run from 5 to 2 0 years w i t h o u t repairs i n con trast t o the usual take-down period of 2 to 3 years for mechanical pumps. However, mechanical pumps will evacuate a system from atmospheric t o operating tempera tures i n less time than a n ejector a n d will stand u p better under an overload o f noncondensable gas,, according to the speaker. A deviation from the general theme of the meeting was made b y E. C . Dybdal of Monsanto Chemical Co. who spoke on the importance of economic evaluation of de velopments while they are still in the bench scale laboratory stage. He showed that engineering economic studies of a process can be m a d e before i t leaves the research laboratory and outlined a specific program for making such a study. D y b Cliarles JB. Cooper, B. F . Co., presided at the opening
Goodrich session
CHEMICAL
vigilance on t h e part of the membership can the fine reputation now enjoyed by the Society b e maintained. T h e membership of the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY has decided t h a t the
Society -should be professional i n char acter, a n d the Membership Committee is charged with the responsibility o f seeing t h a t new members meet the professional a n d moral standards set u p to achieve that e n d . T h e committee realizes t h a t many truly professional chemists do n o t meet t h e formal requirements of education. It wishes to admit all such persons w h o apply. The continued cooperation of all members is necessary i n this endeavor. T h e committee will be glad t o receive comments a n d will try to answer the questions raised.
d a l said that the most important reasons for such an approach are to detect as early as possible, projects that are economically unsound and to eliminate impractical a p proaches to a problem. Such a study also permits the anticipation of engineering and design problems s o that the maximum amount of coordinated thought can be brought to bear on them. H e stressed the importance o f including capital require ments i n such evaluations and cited a case in which two parallel processes for produc i n g a certain product showed a production c o s t differential of 2 cents per pound on preliminary analysis. However, when nonproduction costs were reverse? and the process that a t first had appeared the most expensive proved t o have the lower gross c o s t by a margin of 7 cents per pound. Dr. D y b d a l set down several rules of thumb for calculating total production c o s t before operating data is available. H e recommended 8,000 hours per year a s a conservative annual operating time. In stallation of machinery and equipment figured at 1 5 % of initial cost. Building coste were said t o range from $ 7 to $12 per*square f o o t for the structure with as much a s 5 0 % added cost for services. T w e l v e to 2 0 % of labor and supervision costs w a s suggested as suitable for payroll charges and a dollar per week per man for clothing and laundry charges for operating personnel. Factory supplies were set a t 0 . 5 to 1.0% of machinery and equipment cost, building depreciation a t 3 % of in stalled cost, taxes a t 2 % and insurance a t 0 . 2 % o f installed cost of machinery and equipment plus buildings. Controllable indirect costs including ail overhead charges not specifically provided for can b e calculated as 4 0 to 6 0 % of direct labor o r 15 t o 30% of direct conversion costs, ac cording to Dybdal. Machinery repair charges should fall between 5 a n d 1 5 % of initial cost and building repairs will run about 5 % of cost. The symposium was sponsored by the Cleveland, Akron, Central Ohio, Ohio Valley, and Pittsburgh Sections of the AIChE.
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
