Report T. J. Logan Miami Valley Laboratories The Procter & Gamble Company P.O. Box 39175 Cincinnati, Ohio 45247
Allerton Analytical Conferences During a visit to Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1979, Tim Nieman (University of Illinois) and Bob Libby (P&G) discussed an impending shortage of PhD analytical chemists. Later that year I began to get further input on this projected shortage from conversations with analytical professors on several campuses. In February 1980, Libby shared the problem, in a qualitative way, with the Society of Western Analytical Professors at their Salt Lake City meeting. This led to a meeting of Libby, Nieman, and myself over Christmas vacation, 1980, in Cincinnati. We decided at that meeting to assemble a group of academic and industrial people involved with the supply and demand of PhD analytical chemists to see if we could quantify any imbalance, examine the possible reasons for it, and identify specific actions that might correct this situation. From the beginning we recognized the similarity to another problem, the then-existing shortage of chemical engineers, and recognized that any success we had in increasing the number and quality of PhD analytical chemists would have applicability to other disciplines. We decided to start with a small group and arbitrarily set 20 as the maximum number of attendees, with equal participation from academia and industry. We drew up a list of 10 schools that were large producers of PhD analytical chemists and invited one representative from each. The industrial selection aimed at PhD recruiting managers from companies employing large numbers of PhD analytical chemists, including two oil companies, two pharmaceutical companies, one consumer product firm, one analytical equipment manufactur0003-2700/82/A351-1467$01.00/0 © 1982 American Chemical Society
There is a nearly twofold salary differential between starting salaries for industrial chemists and assistant professors.
er, and four large chemical companies (Table I). We looked at the geographical distribution of the people and decided on Illinois as a fairly centralized location. Tim Nieman suggested Allerton, an old estate owned by the University of Illinois in a bucolic setting about 20 miles west of Champaign-Urbana. This is where we had our first meet-
ing, on April 30 and May 1, 1981, and this is where the name "Allerton Analytical Conferences" originated. At this first meeting, expenses were paid by the industrial participants as a measure of their interest in the problem. Industrial/academic roomsharing cut costs and helped us get to know each other. The agenda led off with a sharing of what little supply and demand data were available. With the exception of two or three industrial members who had not yet experienced the supply shortage in the form of unfilled analytical positions, the group readily agreed that there was, in fact, supply/demand imbalance that was going to get worse if left to its own devices. I should add that these two or three came to agree with the group's assessment of the shortage during the following recruiting season. Importantly, Allerton I, as this meeting is now called, identified both quantity and quality of PhD analytical chemists as important concerns. The problem began with a heavy demand increase to meet government regulations in the 1970s. This created a shortage that drew people out of faculty positions and caused fewer candidates to seek academic positions. This, in turn, curtailed the ability to increase the supply of new analytical chemists. Next, we attempted to identify and discuss the specific factors that were responsible for the supply/demand imbalance and the quality problem (Table II). There is a nearly twofold salary differential between starting salaries for industrial chemists and assistant professors. This is comparing 9 months with 12 months, but, for young professors, obtaining a summer salary is
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competitive and not a sure thing. Additionally, a new assistant professor usually works more hours than his/her industrial counterpart, due to teaching loads, personal and directed research, and fund-seeking. Academicians now spend an inordinate amount of time soliciting research grants from a diminishing pool. Students rightly see this as a "no-fun" part of a professor's day, and it discourages many from pursuing teaching as a profession. Additionally, time spent seeking funds is not available for training graduate students, leading to part of the quality problem. The group expressed great concern about the equipment available in both undergraduate and graduate labs. It is often in a state of gross disrepair and if a student spends half his/her lab time trying to get a piece of apparatus to function, it is a turnoff to an analytical career choice. Even worse is the fact that so much equipment is outdated. We heard comments about the need to start a new PhD's career in industry with training on state-of-theart equipment that had not been available in grad school. The last item in Table II, the interfacing problem, is critical because graduate schools produce a product, the PhD, that is combined with capital, facilities, and management to produce the new industrial products that keep the economy viable. Without adequate dialogue, the PhD, "product" may not be acceptable leading to critical efficiency losses in industrial research and development. The group of 20 broke into smaller groups to develop ways by which these problems might be addressed. Some of the proposed solutions are listed in Table III. These and others, totaling over 30, were "fleshed out" by individual team members after Allerton I and sent to all members for further consideration and comment. Then on July 16 and 17,1981, at Indian Lakes (near Chicago), we convened Allerton II with the goal of reducing this large list to about five items that we judged would have the greatest impact on the supply/demand/quality problem and that were feasible to implement. The five chosen are listed in Table IV. A team was assigned to each to work out a detailed action plan for implementation. The schedule, with an evening session, followed by an all-day session, was totally consumed by the discussions, planning, and assigning activities required to complete these action plans. On Feb. 28 and March 1,1982, we met at Chicago's O'Hare Hilton for Allerton III to report on our progress with these implementations, to review our overall status, and to make further plans.
Table I.
Representatives at Allerton Analytical Conferences
Academic
Industrial
Michael Burke, University of Arizona
Frank Stacey, Du Pont
Robert Sievers, Carl Koval, University of Colorado
Dale Fox, Monsanto
Timothy Nieman, University of Illinois Gary Hieftje, Indiana University Peter Uden, University of Massachusetts Stanley Crouch, Michigan State University Harold Swofford, University of Minnesota Royce Murray, University of North Carolina Graham Cooks, Harry Pardue, Purdue University
Stuart Cram, Varian William Samuels, Union Carbide John Crooks, Eli Lilly Gerald Kochanny, Dow Chemical Ron Thompson, Upjohn Isaac Dvoretzky, Shell Development Steve Grant, Bob Koch, Sohio Ted Logan, Bob Libby, Procter & Gamble
James Taylor, University of Wisconsin
Table II. Factors Responsible for the Supply/ Demand Imbalance and the Quality Problem Large salary differentials in favor of industry Outdated equipment at both undergraduate and graduate levels
Table III. Proposed Solutions to the Quantity/ Quality Problem Undergraduate and graduate summer research Faculty visit programs Industrial visits Industrial adjunct professorships
Funding shortages at national level
Personnel exchange programs
Poor image of professors
Regional workshops
Quality of entering graduate students
Postdoctoral redirecting
Lack of knowledge about analytical chemistry as a career option
Tutorial symposia
Inadequate industry-academic interfacing
The status of these five proposals is presented below. • The Contest. The goal here was to heighten awareness of graduate schools to the need for increased efforts to get more students to pursue the PhD degree in analytical chemistry. We were looking for fresh ideas and wanted to stimulate thinking about how to recruit graduate students. The idea was to award $5000 to the school submitting the best plan for accomplishing this. We announced the contest in Chemical & Engineering News, received 42 submissions, and picked the University of Pittsburgh as the winner. Pittsburgh's proposal is to challenge undergraduate students to think of problems that have analytical solutions. Winners will be brought to campus for implementation of the solution, to meet analytical professors and graduate students, and to hear of career opportunities in analytical
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Starter grants for young academic chemists Equipment upgrading
chemistry. Other ideas involved analytical graduate students traveling to feeder colleges to talk about analytical chemistry, workshops, increased stipends, and paid day visits. Procter & Gamble and Eli Lilly provided the $5000, and details of the winning submission appeared in the April issue of A N A L Y T I C A L C H E M I S T R Y . Monsanto
has pledged $5000 to support a second contest [Chem. Eng. News 1982,60 (42), 71]. • Summer Undergraduate Research Experience. Bob Osteryoung operates the ACS Analytical Division Summer Intern Program for analytical undergraduate employment in industry. Procter & Gamble has a similar Summer Analytical Research Program for graduating seniors aiming for PhDs in analytical chemistry. Other companies have related programs. The NSF Undergraduate Research Program gave many undergraduates the
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If a student spends half his/her lab time trying to get a piece of apparatus to function, it is a turnoff to an analytical career choice.
opportunity to get their first taste of research. Allerton members believe this program was effective in causing many students to choose a science ca reer. Unfortunately, the program lost its funding. Although we can't totally replace that program, Union Carbide has pledged over $15 000 for a similar program and James Taylor (Universi ty of Wisconsin) and Bill Samuels (Union Carbide) are presently work ing out details for implementation. • Career Development Grants for Young Academic Analytical Chem ists. A look at the current system re veals that a relatively small number of outstanding analytical professors is producing most of the new PhD chem ists. For the reasons stated earlier, the young academicians that could replace this group in, say, 10 years, are not en tering the pipeline. They are instead taking industrial positions, which means we are "eating our seed corn." This is obviously an area in need of support, and the corporations repre sented in Allerton wish to financially support promising young men and women who want to teach and train future analytical PhDs. Schools do a reasonably good job of providing firstyear support (to attract the new young professor), so the critical period is the second year to the tenure year, usually the fifth. This is the period when teaching load, research program start up, and fund-seeking can combine to be an overwhelming impediment to a satisfying career and attainment of tenure. The academic Allerton partici
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pants are presently working to identify professors worthy of such support. Du Pont, Lilly, and Shell have ear marked funds for this purpose. On Sept. 10 Du Pont announced that James Jorgenson, University of North Carolina, would be awarded a $25 000 starter grant for 1982-83, renewable for the same amount in 1983-84. • Regional Analytical Workshops. The Allerton group believes that too few undergraduates have adequate op portunities to learn of the career op portunities and options in analytical chemistry. They may also get an outdated impression of analytical chemistry from their undergraduate courses. We need to show them that analytical chemistry can be exciting, challenging, and demanding, and that it can lead to outstanding job opportu nities. The regional workshop would be an event wherein undergraduates and their professors from driving-dis tance feeder schools would convene at a major analytical graduate school for a two- or three-day workshop in which they could see and use state-of-the-art equipment, hear about how important problems have been solved with ana lytical methodology, and listen to ca reer opportunity talks from professors and industrial representatives. The sponsoring school would derive re cruiting benefits from the event. At Allerton HI we reexamined the scope of this idea and decided that the organizational and housekeeping tasks were monumental. We've therefore decided to hold smaller events at sev eral individual schools. These will occur in future months, and local in dustries will be asked to provide tours of facilities, so students can see mod ern analytical equipment and hear more career opportunity talks, etc. In addition, a workshop of the original, larger scope is still being planned, as discussed below. • Equipment Upgrading. A shop ping list of needed equipment, both small and large, is being assembled for circulation to industrial R&D organi zations and lab equipment manufac turers to see if help can be provided. A
Table IV. Selected Solutions to the Quantity/ Quality Problem Undergraduate recruiting contests Undergraduate summer research experience Young faculty support Regional analytical workshops Equipment upgrading
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Young academicians are not entering the pipeline. They are instead taking industrial positions, which means we are "eating our seed corn."
problem here is that industry often tends to provide a large piece of complex equipment because the donation is more visible. But most undergraduate and many graduate schools also need smaller instructional equipment. Many potential donors are small companies that cannot contribute NMRsized equipment but might be in a position to help with the smaller needs. An obvious solution is "pooled" money to satisfy these needs, but companies do not care for anonymous donations. "Consortium" money does not meet competitive industries' needs to show specific accomplishments for dollars spent. It should be mentioned that Allerton conferees have strongly recommended that existing programs to support analytical chemistry be continued and expanded in addition to the above implementations. Dow has added a summer analytical fellowship and P&G is continuing to support two analytical fellowships. The aforementioned summer programs by the ACS and by various industries are growing. Sievers at Colorado and Libby of P&G have managed to secure funds from the ACS Corporate Associates Pro-
result of this meeting, shifting funds to the Allerton starter grant program and plan to organize and convene the aforementioned large-scope regional workshop in Pittsburgh. Allerton and these societies are now sharing activities and plans, since the goals of each are in many respects similar. Allerton IV is in the planning stages. We will be inviting additional industrial and academic participants and representatives from the Analytical Division of ACS and the Pittsburgh Conference organization. We'll also review our progress and begin to develop specific suggestions focused on the quality problem. Summary Allerton is a clearinghouse for ideas aimed at improving the quantity and quality of PhD analytical chemists in the eighties. Members represent both industrial and academic analytical chemistry and, as such, their recommendations should find acceptance and credibility with the entire analytical community. Our role is to identify problems, to collect and document information, and to suggest possible solutions that will be implemented by individual graduate schools and industries to fit their individual operations and needs. Allerton per se is not a direct implementor. We believe that our major accomplishment will be to heighten the scientific community's awareness of the problems and needs of analytical chemistry. Solutions must start with awareness. We already have many examples of this awareness leading to financial support. The Allerton model wherein industrial and academic representatives sit down to share concerns, develop mutually agreed-upon solutions, and guide implementations has applicability to a variety of problems in many disciplines.
gram to provide ANALYTICAL C H E M -
ISTRY subscriptions to selected undergraduate schools to be used in conjunction with instrumental analysis courses. On June 16, the organization, activities, and proposed implementations of Allerton were presented to the two societies that organize the Pittsburgh Conference each year, namely the Society for Analytical Chemists of Pittsburgh and the Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh. They are considering, as a
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Ted Logan earned his PhD in organic chemistry at Purdue University in 1958. For 20 years he worked in research and development at the Procter & Gamble Company, where he is now manager of PhD recruiting.
