Career Options in Chemistry Robert C. Belloli CaliforniaState University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92634
Our department has developed two related courses to prepare our bachelor's students for the "real worlds" of chemicallv based careers. One of these. Internshios in Chemistrv (&em 490B). will he described briefly later &I this paper ank is based on a fairly traditional Intemship/Cooperative Education off-campus work assignment. The major focus of this paper will he on Career Options in Chemistry (Chem 490A) which is an innovative course that provides career guidance and awareness of the nonacademic world of chemistry. Career Optlons In Chemlstry (Chem 490A) The Internship course and experience is encouraged but not required by our demee program. We have therefore instituted a requiredcourse Fur ail chemistry majors called Career Options in Chemistry. Becauseof thealready very high unit demand and course workload of our major, this course is taught on a credit/no credit basis and grants one semester unit of credit. Furthermore, credit is earned by faithful attendance at the 15 one-hour, seminar-style class meetings and hy the preparation of a satisfactory r6sum6. The course is offered only in the fall semester, and students are strongly encouraged to take the course in their junior year. First semester juniors will have time to make any desired changes in career preparation stimulated by information given in the course. The structure and contents of the course are described below. Class Meeting 1. Introduction. American Chemical Society (ACS) career materials' are distributed and briefly discussed. These include: "Futures through Chemistry. Charting a Course," "Career Options in Chemistry," "Careers Non-Traditional," "Careers in Chemistry, Opportunities for Minorities," and "ACS Salary Survey." ACS Student Affiliate applications are distributed and the benefits of affiliation are described. Class Meetings 2-3. Graduate School. Graduate education in chemistry and in related and unrelated fields is discussed. The relative merits of Bachelor's, Master's. and Doctorate deerees are described in terms of career paths, types of assignments, salary, and the like. ACS materials.' "Graduate Proerams in Chemistrv." and "Graduate school Information ~ i d s , "are distributed. Important factors in choosing a maduate school and a research director are discussed. ~ t t k c o is n also given to the standard expectations and requirements as one progresses through most graduate chemistry programs. Class Meeting 4. Aspects of the Chemical Industry. A 30-min siide-tape seminar, "Where Do Chemicals Come From?". is nresented. This oroeram is based on material developed by H. Wittxoff' for an SF Chautauqua-Type Short Course on "Industrial Oreanic Chemistw and Colleee Science Teaching." Several haniouts are alsodistrihutei and discussed. Typicalof thew. is one entitled "The Top 50 Chemicals Basad on a paper given at the 1983 Pacific Conferenceon Chemisby and Spectroscopy. Pasadena. CA. Oct. 26-28, 1983. ' Theseareavailablefrom the ACS Department of Educational Activities. Wiitwff, HBroid, "Notes for Industrial Organic Chemistry and College Science Teaching" Part 1: 1979, Harold Wincoff.
Produced in the U.S." This list ranks common industrially important chemicals by weight produced, gives the formula, method of manufacture, and principal uses for each. The fact that, before seeing the list, very few of the students can identifv the source of the 34.35 billion nounds of oxKen (rank no. 4) produced in 1980 emphasizes the need to provide this kind of oractical. descriptive material somewhere in the curriculum. Class Meeting 5. Chemistry. A Job or a Career? The ACS Committee on Professional Relations has developed a booklet with the above title and an accompanying 30-minute slide-tape program. These are utilized during this class period and deal with concepts of professionalism in chemical careers. Class Meeting 6. Resum&. A ~rofessionalstaff member from the Career Develooment ~ e n i eprovides r a great deal of oral and written information on the im~ortanceof a resum6 and on how to produce a nood r6sum6. &dents must prepare a fisum6 as one of the course requirements. Class Meeting 7. Interviews. A Career Development Center staff member impresses on the students the importance and characteristics of a positive interviewing experience. Videotapes of good and had interviews are shown and discussed. The interview and r6sum6 sessions are very important in dispelling the common student notion that degrees held and GPA achieved are the main determinants of successful job searching. Class Meetings 8- 15. Off-Campus Speakers. The remaining half of the class meetings are devoted to presentations by speakers from a variety of small and large government agencies and industrial firms. Our Orange County location in a hieh-technolorn -- suburban area near Los Aneeles allows useasy access to a uAde variety of potential employers of chemists. s ~ e a k e r have s recentlv come from Berkman Instruments, H&-~esson Foods, ~ a n t Ana a Crime Laboratory, U.S. Borax, Aerospace Corporation, Chevron Oil Field Research Corp., Union Oil Corporation, and a variety of smaller firms as well. Each speaker is asked to divide his or her presentation into two parts. First, the expectations of and opportunities for chemists with different degree levels and training within the organizational structure are described. Students are impressed with the strong and consistent emohasis olaced bv all of the soeakers on the necessitv eood " for " oral and written communication skills, flexibility, and willineness to learn. Second. each sneaker is asked to describe in some detail practical exa&ples if how chemistry and chemical orinci~lesare utilized in ~roiectsor Drocesses in his or her brgankation. While these-presentatick are not intended to be a short course in industrial chemistrv. thev do demonstrate many fascinating and practical asp& oi applied chemistry. lnternshlp In Chemlstry In the seminar course and in advisement materials, the value of having first-hand experience in an off-campus chemically-based work assignment is described. Because Cal Volume 62 Number 4 April 1985
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State Fullerton is in a high-density, high-technology region, a wide variety of work assignments are available for chemistry maiors. Manv ~ositionsare obtained directlv hv students while others ark developed by department o ~ c a ~ p coorus dinators. All ~ositionsmust he a .~.o r o v e din advance for Internship course credit, which is usually two units. Students file mid-semester and end-of-semester reporta and a 5 1 0 page term paper that explains the theoretical &academic basisand backmound for the Dracticd and applied pmiect of their work assi&ment. The department coordinatorvisits the internship site once during the semester, and the work supervisor files an evaluation before a grade is assigned. Although alternating plan assignments are available, the nature of our almost entirely communter student population in an area with many chemistry job opportunities nearby makes parallel plan assignments much more popular. Many of our parallel plan students work, in fact, a 30-40 h week with flexible schedules which allow a substantial academic course load.
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Conclusion
In summary, hecause most of our bachelor's graduates will enter government or industrial institutions directly or after graduate school, we make availahle an Internship program. Torecognize that these Internships providevalual~lelearning experiences and training, we allow students to olnain academic credit for them. However, this is not arequired course because the experience gained is not as beneficial or pertinent for a student whose interests are in the health professions or in K-12 teaching. The seminar course is a required course because i t allows us to deliver valuable career preparation advice and to enhance the practical aspects of our students' chemical education whether or not they have had a direct Internship experience.
