WHAT INDUSTRY WANTS of ITS CHEMISTS' GALT Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, Barberton, Ohio
B
EFORE startingon this, I am reminded very much of the experience of McNeill Whistler, the great American artist, who, as you may know, was sent to West Point. He claimed to have left there on account of failure in his chemistry examination. He was asked the question, "What is silicon?" His answer was, "Silicon is a gas." He afterward made the statement that if silicon had been a gas, he might have been one of the greatest military men in the United States, hut as silicon was not a gas, he decided to become one of the greatest painters in the United States, all of which was very lucky or unlucky for the country. As we see it here, after discussing the matter with our Director of Research, Dr. Irving E. Muskat, and our Technical Director, Mr. Dwight Means, colleges and universities should teach chemistry students fundamental scientific principles and sufficient facts to give them a sound working knowledge of the science. They should train students in the experimental approach to a problem, in the methods of scientific thought, and in the interpretation of experimental data. This applies particularly to chemical engineers, who should be taught how to determine the commercial feasibility and the economic soundness of the processes and products to be manufactured. To this end college or university curricula should be so planned that a student, upon completion of his graduate work, should have: 1. a background of general scientific training, with an understanding of the interlocking relationships of the diEerent branches of the sciences and the importance of the scientific method; 2. a specific knowledge of chemistry or chemical engineering; 3. a detailed knowledge of the branch of chemistry which he has chosen for his specialty. When it comes to the requirements for the successful prosecution of chemical research, this demands imagination, vision, and inventiveness, combined with a sound knowledge of the fundamentals of his science and an ability to draw valid conclusions from experimental data. A chemist with those qualifications has abetterthan-average chance for success and would be considered an asset to any industrial lahoratory. The question is, "Where are we going to get such men?" There are available chemists sufficiently well
trained to carry out experimental work under close supervision and with detailed instructions, but men of this character have a limited sphere of usefulness and will rarely rise beyond the status of technicians who are used to collect facts for others to interpret. The industrial research laboratories need and seek men who not only can solve the problems arising in plant operations or resulting from sales demands, but who can initiate research investigations to improve the products or processes in use and, further, to develop new products and new uses for the products now manufactured. It may be argued, with some justice, that the above attributes are a function of intelligence rather than education, but intelligence is certainly not so rare a quality that the universities can he exonerated of their share of the blame that so few such men are available. It cannot, in our opinion, be too strongly stated that the primary function of a college or university should he to teach its student body. A system under which the prestige of the department is measured solely by the prestige of the individuals of the staff, a system under which advancement in rank for the faculty is determined solely by productivity in research, almost automatically relegates teaching to a position of secondary importance. It is recognized that the faculty should conduct research in order to he able to teach it. The effectiveness of the teaching, however, depends in a large degree upon the attitude of the teachers, and altogether too frequently the professor is inclined to regard his students as so many "laboratory assistants," who will prepare compounds, run analyses, and collect data for him. Students are used by the teachers to do routine work and in turn are rewarded with a graduate degree. Later on these students find that, through no fault of their own, they are too expensively trained for technicians' work and too inadequately trained to do any other. The intelligent graduate may be able to supplement his training through the medium of his own efforts and by experience in a subordinate industrial position, but such supplementary training is often not effective and is, after all, very dearly bought. The obvious place to obtain fundamental training is the university, and both students and industry suffer when this is not the case.
To summarize we can say: 1. Present graduates are well trained for lahoratory Its Chemists, conducted by the Division of Chemical Education at the Ninety-second meeting of the A. C. S., Pittsburgh, Penn- assistants. 2. There are few leaders and orininal thinkers in the sylvania, September 10, 1936. 260
* Contribution to the Symposium on What Industry Wants of
group; this is the most serious shortcoming of all. 3. They have practically no knowledge of economic values. Depreciation, overhead, operation costs, return on investment, etc., are all matters of another world. The training should relate more to economic phases of industrial chemistry. School problems should contain more dollar marks, ton, and carload figures. 4. Graduates often do not make sufficient effort to cultivate the friendship and help of non-technical men. The most undistinguished operator or foreman will often make valuable observations to a technical man when he is a friend.
5. Many graduates are satisfied with mediocre performance from themselves. They are capable of doing good work, but are not willing to put forth the additional effort that makes the difference between "fair" and "very good." This is partly due to too many "activities" in school which reduce the amount of time available for studies to a point where one devotes a minimum of time and effort to his work. 6. Men are too much inclined to do good work only when their duties are pleasant. They should realize that they have to make good on every job before they move to something better.
