Experience and Postwar Training of Chemists DOROTHY HALL SMITH Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio HEMISTRY, which became one of America's leading industries after World War I, is probably due for another great expansion after the present conflict. To the Age of Chemistry which is just opening, we can a t present see no end. It follows that the postwar period will bring a steadily increasing demand for chemists. What kind of chemists should they be? Certain trends are already emerging. It is a commonplace that some of the most fruitful work today is being done between chemistry and biology--chemotherapy, for instance--or between chemistry and physics, or between all three fields. The tendency, therefore, is strongly away from individual and toward group work, in both academic and industrial research. Thus the chemist can no longer be a narrow, even if highly trained, technician. While he will not, of course, be an expert in more than his own field, he must be able to talk a common language with his fellow workers in other fields and to see significant trends. He must be able to work in cooperation as well as alone. The recipe hitherto used to produce a first-rate chemist has been four years of intensive and rather specialized training a t the undergraduate level, plus three years of specialized and intensive graduate study. Until the student emerges, he has little or no chance to work with people or to test his real interest in the field. Too often his training has been concentrated in chemistry a t the expense of the other basic sciences or of social orientation-also a need in tomorrow's world. A more intelligent plan might be to utilize some of the resources of industrial chemistry, which already possesses a t least half the best brains in chemistry and more than half the best equipment. Through actual experience the student could discover a t an early point whether he is fitted to go on. The college, meanwhile, by delegating some of the specialized training and applications to the industrial laboratory, could thus free itself to emphasize the related sciences and the over-all.liberal arts point of view. This a t least has been the theory of Antioch College, which since 1921 has been sending its students in all fields out onto regular jobs in alternation with campus study. And this practice may be more widely adopted after the war, just as it has seen a great extension in the last year or so. As a war measure, the alternation of school and work has become familiar to many who never heard of the Antioch Plan; some of the benefits of experience even in this hit-or-miss operation have become evident. A review of the Antioch experience may therefore have something
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to suggest to those looking toward a revision or extension of the usual college or university education in chemistry. Antioch's work-study plan is, of course, part of a larger educational whole which aims to produce no$ only competently trained but liberally educated young people. In the curriculum, science majors as well as literature majors must take philosophy, social science. literature, and art. Further, the education of science students is aimed less a t producing specialists a t the undergraduate level than students with a thorough background in the fundamentals of mathematics, chemistry, and physics, and some allied knowledge of engineering, geology, and biology. In each area there are specialized courses: in chemistry, specifically,Antioch offers an introductory inorganic course (7 quarter hours), qualitative analysis (6 hours), two courses in quantitative analysis (9 hours), two in organic chemistry (13 hours), two in physical chemistry (11 hours), and two in metallurgy (one 5 hours and one variable credit), as well as a course in industrial chemistry and special advanced projects. The emphasis in each of these courses, however, is on fundamental concepts. Specialization comes naturally through the cooperative plan. The cooperative plan operates by having, in general, two students for each job, one working while the other studies. At the end of three months they change places and the job goes on. The type of work performed may be anything from beginning laboratory analyses to--for qualified upperclassmen-opportunities as rese.arch assistants. During the war emergency, especially, Antioch upperclassmen have been able t o render a real service to industry and to the nation by helping carry forward important chemical jobs. Antioch students work with well-established firms as regular employees and a t the basic rate of pay. Companies among our recent or present cooperating employers are: Abbott Laboratories; American Aiilines, Inc.; Antioch College Chemistry Department; Battelle Memorial Institute; Calco Chemical Division, American Cyanamid Company; The Children's Memorial Hospital (Chicago) ; Chrysler Corporation; Ciba Pharmaceutical Products, Incorporated; The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station; Eastern States Cooperative Milling Corporation; Ethyl Corporation; C. F. Kettering Photosynthesis Research Foundation; Kollsman Instrument Division of Square D Company; The Lake City Malleable Co.; LibbeyOwens-Ford Glass Company; The Lowe Brothers Company; P. R. Mallory & Co., Inc.; Merck & Co.; Monsanto Chemical Company, Central Research
Department; The Mount Sinai Hospital (New York); NationalAdvisoryCommitteeforAeronautics; National Institute of Health; Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station; Charles Pfizer and Company, Inc.; Michael Reese Hospital (Chicago); Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, Inc.; Thompson Products, Inc.; U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry; Vernay Patents Company; Western Shade Cloth Company; Westvaco Chlorine Products Corporation; Women's and Children's Hospital of Toledo. It is one thing to assert that the cooperative plan h p been a successful method of training in the field of chemistry, .and another thing to demonstrate it. Antioch has, however, made two recent studies (1940 and 1943) of its chemistry graduates, which offer some interesting facts. I n the more recent study, for instance, i t was found that from 1923 through 1942, there have been exactly 100 chemistry graduates. Prior to service in the armed forces for some of them, their employment divided as follows: Industrial research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Industrial sales, service, etc., engineering.. . . . . . . . . . . 15 Other industrial chemistry.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Students now in graduate school.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Alumni now in teaching and university research.. . . . . . 6 Alumni now in Government service.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Other professional work related to c h e m i s t r y . . . . . . . . . 3 Writing and secretarial (technical). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 No relation to chemistry.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Deceased . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Thirty-four answered equivalent, twenty-four superior, one inferior. 3. Aside from the actual chemical training which you receiered either i n school or on the job, do you feel that there are any other factors (e. g., deuelofiment of initiative, training in working with other people) which tend to give the Antioch graduate a n advantage over p'adwtes of other institutions in the long run? What are they and how important are they?
The answers to the last question were, of course, varied, hut seemed to fall under certain well-defined heads. In the opinions which follow there is little disagreement, although some people stress one value over another. It is noteworthy that corroborating testimony is to be found in the current "job reports" which Antioch undergraduate students write about each job experience. I.-In general, the cooperative experience appears to contribute to knowledge and to stimulate study. For instance, a present undergraduate student writes on his job report: I found that I learned how to do something new each day and from talking to other fellows, that the process of learning never stops
Another current student says: This job fits in admirably with my academic interests. In my studying I've been able to work out a 14-page outline on plastics which will help considerably in our work and has given me a wonderful opportunity to become much better acquainted with the subjects of my special interest.
Three significant facts emerge about these people. A common result of the work experience is to make First, although the group is a relatively young one (the chemistry seem valid: oldest would still be under 45), 11graduates in industrial Here in the standards lab, I began t o see how vital analytical research already hold managerial jobs--one of them chemistry is to industry. I think I'll never forget how I felt as technical manager for a large chemical corporation, when, on my third day a t work, I analyzed two samples which five as executives in the metallurgical field, two as heads fell below specifications. Because of what my analyses showed, of biochemical departments in industrial research, one possibly a process was kept from failing. To study and work a t chemistry suddenly seemed valid beyond a doubt. as director of a glass research laboratory. Second, 31, or approximately a third of Antioch's The alumni agree that this was one of the effects of total graduates in the field, either have received or are the cooperative plan for them. A young research in process of receiving their Ph.D. degrees. chemist writes : Third, only six of the 100 are now engaged in work We had to go out on so many different jobs. We had to adapt distinctly unrelated to chemistry; conversely, four meager equipment to do the job. We usually did work years Antioch graduates who did not major in chemistry in advance of our collegiate training. I went through Getman's while in college are now doing chemical work. book on physical chemistry three years before I took a course The 1940 alumni survey was designed primarily in physical chemistry. Why? Because my job demanded t o discover whether Antioch graduates in chemistry it. I was doing graduate work in physiology long before I ever were satisfied, in retrospect, with the training received graduated. Why? Because there was work to he done. on the cooperative plan. Over 60 wrote extended Another alumnus Gate from graduate school: replies to questionnaires. Three questions were asked: The Antioch student's training is very similar to that obtained
Sixty answered yes and one answered no.
how do YOU seem to 2, In the light of your yourself to with graduates of other institutions? W a s your training S U ~ ~ Y ~ about O Y , eguivalat, inferior to theirs?
obtains a great deal of specialized knowledge and training from his job. He learns t o look things up because he wants to know them and not because i t was a class assignment. His knowledge, therefore, becomes less superficial, while a t the same time he is learning "tricks of the trade," practical expedients, and ,&,tions, not incorporated in standard texts. He learns critically to evaluate what he is being taught in class.
11.-A second important result of the cooperative plan is the sheer laboratory technique i t gives students. If a chemistry student in a regulation four-year college were to spend three hours an afternoon four times a week in the chemistry laboratory-which he seldom does-at the end of four years he would have spent some 1680 hours in the lahoratory. A study made of Antioch's chemistry majors from 1936 to 1940 showed the following number of hours spent in the lahoratory, on the cooperative job alone.
a recluse, living and working unto himself. As we have said, with modem research methods tending more and more toward group work, he must he ahle to communicate and cooperate. Antioch's alumni in chemistry are very articulate about this phase of the cooperative plan: The Antioch graduate learns t o fit himself into an industrial organization and cooperate with others. An industrial personnel man never overlooks this important point.
Or again: Development of initiative, learning tolerance, and how t o get along with others, cheerfulness and willingness to work hard and long, and a practical realistic attitude are factors of paramount importance which are gained a t work and a t school under the Antioch system.
Thus the average student worked 3250 hours in chemistry i n addition to the regular laboratory study for his college courses. Students also are aware of this value. Thus a girl with a drug firm writes: The co-op can't help improving his techniqu-we spend nearly as much time a t lab work per day as a student daes per week.
Another girl with a malleable iron company says: You leave the'job with an amazing amount of chemistry and technique that has become natural rather than necessary as it was before.
An allied discovery that many students make is the iucrease of interest that comes with knowing the why of the technical processes they are performing. I I I . 4 n e of the major benefits of the cooperative experience, naturally, and one especially stressed by graduates is the opportunity for vocational exploration and vocational adjustment. Here are two typical statements : I n my opinion the most important advantage of the Antioch system is that i t permits the,student to decide a t an early date whether or not chemistry is the field to which he wants t o devote his life work. It is important, because not until one has made up his mind on that score daes he tend t o devote his fullest and most sincere attention to a mastery of the fundamentals.
Learning to work with others frequently means, for students on the job, some honest hero worship. As one upper-classman recently said about a certain in. . nUSma loo:
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The fact that one works with fine men who are a t the top of their profession is to make this job very attractive to any student in the field of science.
V.Self-reliance, learning to find the answers to one's own questions, and developing theresearch point of view are necessary qualifications for success in chemistry. . In the following routine testing job, the student learned an important lesson: The co-op who takes this job must be responsible and intellectually honest. I have caught myself once or twice trying t o squeeze an end point into specifications when i t is on the line or barely under or aver. He must be ahle t o do the required work in the required time and vouch for his answers. He must he able to find quickly for himself a fact necessary for a calculation.
Once an Antioch studeut has shown that he can handle routine responsibility he will he given more advanced assignments, as these two men were: In the bacteriology lab where I am now working, everything we do is strictly research. There is no "right" answer, as each sample I work on is prepared in some different way.
I n my case my job experience showed me that my first choice of a career was wrong. Had I not the opportunity t o discover this while I wuld still change I would have been greatly handicapped later.
I am given a research project on which I work until i t is completed or given up for the time being. During the period of development I keep in touch with my superior, giving him results t o date and discussing problems. Everyone feels free to talk and advise you if he can.
Undergraduates, too, are aware of this advantage:
The testimony of the alumni agrees:
The job is just what I wanted since it gives me an excellent picture of the manufacture of organic products and I have the opportunity t o use and learn all the equipment in our department.
The co-op job helps the student to develop a research point of view. I n the conventional college this is left mainly for the graduate school. However, on the co-op job the student usually meets up with problems whose answers are not found in the textbooks. He learns to do experimental and development work. For example, he may work out an analytical procedure, suitable for a special purpose.
I a m primarily interested in industrial chemistry, especially in plant production and developmental work, and there was plenty of opportunity t o become acquainted with the work the other members of the department were c-ina . .on. This has been a chance to my had
jobcomplete in chemical industry the of where aplant,I have Far
a student planning to be a chemical engineer, this job i s an excellent one.
1V.-No
longer is the chemist-if
he ever w a s
More than courses are required t o make a good chemist. The cooperative system develops maturity and responsibility in the Student.
V1.-Several alumni comment on the importance of the liberal arts background:
Antioch's program of required work in practically every field prevents one from specializing in any particular branch of chemistry, but since few students know just what part of the field they will eventually work in, i t is much more profitable in the long run t o get a good fundamental background in chemistry a n d also an insight as to the effect of chemistry on economics, .social aspects, etc. A man who knows nothing but solubility ,canstants and/or the laws of thermodynamics probably wouldn't recognize a molecule if one jumped up in his lap.
t o carry certain habits over from school to the job, and other habits from the iob to school. Over a ~ e r i o dof five vears the line of demarcation bcromes pro~rcssivrlyIr5s distinct, so that when he leaves college hc does not make much c h a n g ~in his habit patterns. .In Antioch studcnt has learned to rely on his own judgment somewhat in planning his courses, and one of the activities which he continues to carry on (to an extent increasing with time) during his cooperative work periods and after graduation is systematic, self-planned study.
A Fellow in graduate school concurs:
Another graduate of 1939:
The graduate from Antiach is not only well grounded in chemistry. The required subjects not only include the other sciences but courses in the social sciences and arts as well. The world today needs people who are more than specialists.
An industrialist. . .recently told me his analysis of college graduates. He said, "Graduates arrive a t the plant eager and i d a t e d ; then after a year or so the lid blows off...cynicism develops; and finally the individual accepts life and gets down t o work." I believe that most graduate Antiochians have gone through these stages. They are ready t o get down to work three to five years ahead.
VI1.-From the College's point of view, one of the excellent results of the cooperative plan is its stimulus to good teaching. Students who have had industrial experience are in general much more critical and demanding in courses than students without experience; and teachers have to make more effort to keep abreast of new developments. For instance, the instructor i n metallography made the statement that spotwelding of aluminum was not yet perfected. Up spoke a student, just back from a job in an airplane factory, to say that two batteries of 25 machines apiece for spotwelding aluminum had recently been installed. Another instructor, who prides himself on keeping up with the new medical developments, mentioned sulfamerazine, with the remark that we didn't yet know much about it. A student who had just been work'mg in a hospital laboratory said yes, they had been experimenting with i t even though the drug was not yet available on the market, and that it seemed to have several important advantages over the other sulfa compounds. Under the cooperative plan, both students and teachers are ahead of the textbooks-they have to be. A final question may remain: Granted the value of practical experience in chemistry, why should this experience come during college years? Would it not be more efficient to study in a block and then-with some initial handicap, perhapsget one's experience? One answer to this question has already been given: The student can discover from experience whether he really wants to go on in the field. And as a matter of fact, experience seems also to make for greater efficiency in study. As an alumnus of the class of 1930 puts it: While individual success is largely a matter of opportunity and is subject t o the limitations of the individual. I believe that .not unimportant to a serious student is the "soaking period" provided by the work interval. Course work can be reviewed i n retrospect; correlations and revisions of opinion indubitably result.
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A graduate of 1939: The very nature of the Antioch program forces the student
SUMMARY
Antioch's experience over a period of 20 years seems to point to the fact that actual experience in industrial or other chemical research during the student's undergraduate study is a highly desirable thing. Such experience exposes the student to some of the best men and procedures in the field, helps coutirm his vocational choices, adds tremendously to his technical knowledge and laboratory techniques, fosters initiative and self-reliance,helps him learn how to get along with people, and tends to sharpen his interest in his college work. Antioch suggests that a more general adoption of the work-study plan would be an economical use of both industry's and the colleges' time, since some of the present college instruction could be more efficiently performed by industry, thus giving the college opportunity to do the educational job that will make good chemists good scientists and good citizens as well. To Antioch. a t least. i t does not seem hard to envisage much greater postwar cooperation between industrial and research chemistry, on the one hand, and college and university training, on the other. The chemical industry might well recruit its future employees from among students in their undergraduate years-not by merely searching out a few individuals and bidding for their services, but by generous offering of experience helping to make available a large pool of competently trained individuals from whom, after further study, candidates could he selected. Such a plan might well improve not only the common undergraduate experience in chemistry, but graduate education as well. What the Age of Chemistry will contribute to our civilization depends in part on the quality of the men and women who are today preparing for the chemistry profession
