Training of Professional Chemists for Industry' RAYMOND E. KIRK Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York
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NE is Indeed .presumptuous who endeavors to cover m a relatively short time so large a topic as that here indicated. The problems involved are certain to become greater as chemistry becomes more complex and the demands of industry become more specialized. Nevertheless, i t is felt that there are certain fundamentals that can be presented in order to stimulate further thought and further discussion. It is desirable to emphasize that we are discussing the training that is deemed best for entrance to the profession of chemistry. The question of the exact time limit of such a program need not be raised. The director of a professional curriculum in chemistry is caught between the desire of his staff to extend the program, the pressure from industry for well-trained men, and the financial and traditional pressures that usually restrict the program to one of four years. Selection of entrants is by no means a complete solution to this pressing problem, since many young men only become aware of professional ideals and possibilities while in the traditional four-year program. First of all, it seems highly desirable to point out the differences in objectives that exist between the "technical institutes" and the "technical high schools" on the one hand and the "professional schools of chemistry" on the other. The State of New York is to witness soon after the war a tremendous expansion of technical high-school training and also of subprofessional training in the proposed technical institutes. These technical institutes, with State support, have been planned to prepare young men and women for technical and subprofessional employment. The need for such institutes is admitted by all. Their graduates will increasingly be called upon to do the routine work of the analytical laboratories and of the chemical plants. Nothing in what is hereinafter to be said should be construed as detracting in the least from the dignity and importance of this kind of training. As against the "technical institutes" one must set the professional schools of chemistry in colleges and universities as well as in independent institutes of technology. Their task will become increasingly one of preparing men to become leaders in the profession of chemistry. The chemical industries are coming to have a great appreciation of the importance of fundamentals both in the training of their research workers and in the operations of their research programs. For the purposes of this discussion it can perhaps be assumed that an institution which has been accredited by the 1 Paper presented before the Division of Chemical Education of the American Chemical Society, 108th meeting, New York
City, September 12, 1944.
American Chemical Society is operating a "professional school of chemistry." The rise of the technical institutes makes it even more important than before that the professional character of the schools of chemistry and chemical engineering in universities and institutes of technology be completely recognized. This is bpecially important since by tradition the holder of the baccalaureate degree in chemistry or chemical engineering has often started his career doing work that is admittedly subprofessional. He has then been expected by self-study or by eveningschool study to further his professional preparation, improve his general status, and thus rise above subprofessional tasks to professional ones. It seems rather likely to the writer that this practice will continue. The situation may therefore readily arise where men holding baccalaureate degrees from professional schools will for a time work side by side in the laboratory or in the plant with men of subprofessional training and status. This poses many problems for the persons responsible for professional curricula in chemistry and in chemical engineering. The young man who enters upon a career as a professional chemist must, of course, be a good laboratory technician; but he must be much more than that. He must have a thorough knowledge of the facts of inorganic and organic chemistry; but he must have much more knowledge than that. He must know the prevailing analytical practices, he must know the usual physical chemical techniques; but he must also show at as early a stage in his career as possible evidence of creative imagination. The young professional chemist must be a good glassblower, he must be good on computation, he must be deft and careful in his work; but, above all, he must have the ability to rise above routine performance and very quickly demonstrate his ability to direct the work of subprofessional men. This is, of course, a large order. The persons responsible for planning curricula in chemistry or chemical engineering are facing a tremendous responsibility in preparing the young professional man. These curricula must be carefully rebuilt. It seems to the writer highly desirable that this revision be very thoroughgoing. It also seems desirable that the curricula be planned both to permit entrance thereto of the specially capable graduates of the "technical insitutes," probably on a parttime basis, and also to prepare the specially capable students in the traditional four-year professional curricula for graduate instruction. One aspect of the revision of curricula thatlis of especial importance bas to do with the method and 'content of basic courses in science and mathematics. Ob-
viously, the first years of any professional curriculum must be primarily concerned with basic science and mathematics. It is often argued that the first year of any professional curriculum should be devoted entirely to such instruction together with auxiliary instruction in the humanities. I t seems desirable, however, that some practical and professional work be given a t this level and that some portion of the time to be devoted to general instruction in the humanities be held over for the junior and senior years. In the field of cheml istry the traditional laboratory courses in qualitative analysis seem to offer a great deal of promise as an introduction to professional work, especially when the time-saving possibilities of semimicro methods are fully utilized. I t seems especially important that the courses in physical science and mathematics be completely overhauled both to take advantage of the tremendous improvement that has taken place in secondary school courses in physics and chemistry and to utilize more completely the approach to the physical sciences now available because of the developments of atomic physics during the last 40 years. Current practice in fist courses in chemistry a t the university level has been to make considerable use of the concepts of atomic structure. It might be said parenthetically that a rather prominent professor of chemical engineering has recently objected to this as impractical and undesirable. The traditions of physics instruction in engineering classes are, however, still against any detailed use of modern physics in the .first courses. There still exists a tremendous tendency to relate all the illustrations to classical mechanics. These illustrations, desirable as they may be, should be recognized for what they a r e simple professional studies of great value to the embryo engineer but not necessarily the best illustrations for modern physics. It should also be noted that the traditions of physics instruction have long concerned civil engineering and mechanical engineering rather than modern electrical engineering, chemical engineering, or chemistry. Physical stituations involving modern ideas as well as those of classical mechanics should be used in the teaching of physics. We must, in the opinion of the writer, revise rather completely our first- and second-year courses in science and mathematics if we are to rise above the level of the "technical institutes." This will demand very drastic changes. The details of content and method in the first-and second-year courses in science and mathematics must be changed radically, but as a practical matter they must also be changed with the advice and enthusiastic cooperation of the teachers in these years. The current practice of turning over much of the instruction of these years to younger men without teaching and research contacts with the graduate school is to be deplored. The ablest members of the staff might well be withdrawn for part of each week from the research laboratories to reorganize and revivify these courses. Teaching by "hacks" is to be deplored in science and mathematics as in other fields.
It seems highly desirable in the first courses in physical science to integrate the scientiiic ideas now current, whether they originated before the 20th century or not. It would seem to be possible, for example, to follow problems in classical mechanics involving the various dynamic variables of systems by a discussion of the situations encountered beyond certain well-recognized limits. One might well use the now very familiar illustrations of the position and the momentum of the electron. Why should our knowledge of the limitations of classical mechanics be withheld from the student of the physical sciences until he is a senior or graduate student? If this demands that our students of science and engineering acquire in their first years a knowledge of the algebra of operators, what of i t ? Is the sequence of mathematical subjects so sacred that i t cannot be changed in order to improve the training of scientists? It seems to the writer that we have only started to revise our fundamental sequence of ideas in the field of chemistry itself. We are still too loathe to include in the first course in chemistry ideas that came to us in the graduate school. Here, too, the young, vigorous, and fully trained man from the research laboratories can be of tremendous assistance. The ideas of modem chemistry need to be introduced a t as early a date as possible if we are to train professional leaders in chemistry. It is not intended to argue that no practical instruction should be given in the first years of the professional curriculum. Indeed, much of laboratory practice must be utilized. The traditions of past years, however, must not be permitted to dominate the curriculum or to dictate sequences. The problem of the humanities is another vexing one. No one seriously argues against the desirability of achieving a broad understanding of man and society in the training of professional men. The question is not the desirability of this broad understanding for the professional chemist but how best to achieve this broad understanding. Is this to be had by traditional and isolated courses under an elective systenl? Will it be guaranteed by requiring a certain percentage of the four-year curriculum to be devoted to isolated and incidental courses? Moreover, what percentage is necessary to guarantee the desired result? Doctor M. L. Crossley suggests that not less than 40 per cent of the undergraduate program should be devoted to the humanities. A distinguished committee of the Society for the Promotion of Engineering Education suggests 20 per cent. What assurance have we that the professional chemist will become the broad-gage human being that we wish him to be if we devote 20 or 40 per cent of his time to suchstudies. It seems to the writer that only in so far as the student of chemistry acquires an interest in human affairs and the desire to know more about human affairs will he then achieve our ideals. Someone has said that the broad understanding possessed by a professional man is more closely related to what he reads after six o'clock during the &st ten years after he gets out of college than i t is to the courses he took in
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college. The inspiration of a forceful teacher of English or history, or economics, or even chemistry, seems often to be the explanation of why certain men develop the desirable traits of broad human understanding, sympathy with human aspirations, etc. One institution has for years turned out engineers and chemists with an interest in and an enthusiasm for the theater, mainly because of the senior course in Modem Drama that they took with a powerful and stimulating teacher of English. If the teaching of chemists in English, in history, in economics, and in sociology is turned over to hacks, no amount of education will serve to turn out broad-gage scientists and engineers. One course with a master is worth ten with a drudge! The interests of students in general affairs outside their science is often stimulated by their activities in student organizations. The "student affiliate" branches of the American Chemical Society are aiding,, I am sure, in providing young chemists with an interest in their fellows and in organized endeavors for the benefit of the profession. Such student organizations should be stimulated and zealously fostered. Faculty supervision should not of necessity fall upon the youngest member of the staff. Other student organizations, such as dramatic clubs, debating clubs, world affairs clubs, etc., can be of great benefit. When these activities are carefully and tactfully supervised they can be of great benefit in making young professional men aware of the larger implications of their professions. Another aspect of the professional training of chemists that will become very prominent in the postwar years is that concerned with part-time and "in-service" training. Many returning veterans will wish to enter a t once upon active professional careers and utilize their evening hours for "refresher" and advanced training. Many of the universities and institutes of technology located in metropolitan areas have already established vigorous programs of this sort. It is anticipated that these will be very much enlarged. It seems likely that the extension services of the state universities will also establish similar programs in in-
dustrial centers removed from the campuses. The desirability of such training and the success of such programs have been clearly demonstrated where tried. It may well be that this "in-service" type of advanced training will even extend to post-doctoral programs. The rapid expansion of fundamental knowledge in specialized fields has made it impossible for a doctoral candidate to cover all the desirable fields of knowledge in the full-time graduate programs of our universities. A newer feature of "in-service" training that will evidently be greatly expanded is short courses or "clinics" designed to give specialized instruction in principles or techniques to professional chemists. Such clinics can extend for one or two weeks as full-time courses. These clinics will utilize the special knowledge and equipment of the research laboratories of our institutions of higher learning. In the few instances in which they have been offered the chemical industries have demonstrated their willingness to pay the costs of instruction and to support their chemists while in residence. Such short courses are equally feasible for the institution in a large city and for the institution in a small country town. Their desirability is apparent. Professional education in chemistry in America is fortunate in that it is carried on in institutions of very different sorts, in liberal arts colleges, in large universities, and in institutes of technology. One would be bold indeed to assert that any one of these institutions provides the only possible answer in the professional training of chemists. Each will be free in the future as in the past to work out a pattern for the training of chemists. It is desirable in the opinion of the writer that the American Chemical Society set the broad pattern as it is doing. It is hoped that this pattern will never become so narrow that i t prevents thoughtful experimentation in method and curricula or so rigid as to prevent planned deviation from the general pattern. The emphasis upon faculty rather than upon details of curricula is in my opinion a correct one. I t follows further that the problem of recruiting and training young faculty members is one of pqamount importance. It is far too large to be discussed here.
