CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING
NEWS VOLUME 40, NUMBER 32
The Chemical World This Week
AUGUST 6, 1962
Scientists Face Professional Obsolescence The fight to keep up with fast-moving scientific developments requires the resources of the individual, industry, and the academic Courses this summer on a West Coast campus in thermonuclear research and statistical methods. Plans for instruction in chemical engineering to be given next summer at plants in the Detroit area. These and similar programs, whether in company classrooms or on college campuses, mark a growing interest on the part both of scientists and engineers and the companies for whom they work in staving off professional obsolescence. Young scientists entering industry today have only a breather before they must plan to refresh knowledge and techniques, because at the current rate of discovery, their training will be adequate for about five years. But professional obsolescence can deliver a real knockout blow to older scientists. If they do not follow new developments and ideas, they may reach a dead end in their careers by the time they're 45 years old. Engineering educators summarize the problem like this: Unless graduates of 10 years ago spend 10% of their time developing knowledge beyond their college training, they cannot compete in value with new graduates. And this assumes that they have retained most or all of their previous training. But if the loss of unused knowledge is 10% and the advance in new knowledge is also 10% a year, engineers must then grow at the rate of 20% a year to remain of equal value to their employers. In the past, the chemical industry could depend on scientific meetings, conferences, and seminars to keep its scientists informed about new technology. But an annual research effort, estimated to be worth some $16 billion in the U.S. alone, is changing the pic-
ture. New data and techniques develop so fast that scientists must pursue additional, more personal study, or become the victims of creeping obsolescence. And industry must support flexible educational programs that professional personnel can adapt to their individual needs. As new plans are devised, they may take the form of advanced degree pro-
grams, including educational leaves of absence, and cooperative plans with universities where facilities and staff are available for advanced and refresher courses for scientists on the job. Whatever the plans, the trend seems to be toward more formal study. And industry will be depending on the schools to provide the required subject matter and competent teachers.
Tuition-Payment Plans—Popular Industry Programs for Upgrading the Educational Status of Employees Percentage of Companies in Survey
Companies that have formal tuition-payment plans
80%
Employees eligible to participate All employees Salaried employees only
75 25
Types of schools permitted Accredited only Accredited and unaccredited
77 23
Types of courses permitted Leading to degree Related to job Related to possible future job Vocational Cultural Correspondence
67 81 85 52 27 75
Portion of tuition paid by company 100% 75% 50% Other (60-80%)
40 12 32 17
Other costs paid Books Registration fees Laboratory fees
31 56 56
Source: A survey of 61 U.S. companies (500 to 100,000 employees) made by the industrial relations department, Outboard Marine Corp., Waukegan, III.
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Most of the employee education programs that the chemical industry supports for professional personnel are fairly new and still in trial stages, a C&EN survey of such programs indicates. Because of this, it is not possible to estimate clearly the number of scientists and engineers who have already started to update their training. But what little experience is available indicates that many of them have not taken the matter of personal obsolescence seriously as yet. And this suggests that the chemical industry must point out the value of its education programs to its working scientists. It could also exploit these programs to greater advantage in recruiting. For example, a check of the Journal of College Placement this year shows that 70% of the advertisers who use this medium for recruiting (55 of 85 ads on the average) hire chemists and chemical engineers. Most of these companies also support advanced degree programs and offer other educational advantages, but only a dozen of them mention it. The ads stress training programs, research successes, diversified operations, and plant locations. Educational benefits often are just listed in a footnote. Tuition-Payment Plans. Employee tuition-payment plans have existed in U.S. industry for some time. These plans become especially useful to scientists and engineers when they provide incentives and support for advanced degree study. A recent survey of tuition-payment programs, made by Outboard Marine Corp., suggests that the programs are growing more popular with industry but not necessarily with employees. Outboard Marine questioned 61 companies, primarily manufacturing firms ranging from 500 to 100,000 employees, -to determine how the plans are faring compared to similar surveys made in 1956 and 1958. Better than one third of these companies are in the chemical process industries, and over half of them hire chemists and chemical engineers. Results of the OM inquiry show that 80% of the 61 companies had some type of tuition-payment program in effect last year. And most of the remaining 20% expressed an interest in starting them. However, in 1961, an average of 6 to 7% of eligible employees took part in the plans, and the highest rate of participation was 20%. The survey provides no breakdown 26
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on participation by technical and administrative employees. But the company reports do include many special programs provided for updating professional employees. All the companies checked by OM that have tuition-payment plans pay at least 50% of costs for eligible employees, and all of them require only a passing grade or better to qualify for the payments. About one third of the firms specify a maximum payment under their plans—$250 a year, on the average. Average cost of the programs per company is about $100,000 a year, with the annual cost per employee running about $75.
Advanced Degree Programs.
The
number of new industry-sponsored programs for advanced degree study by employees reflects industry's thinking on the need for continuing formal education among scientists. Shawinigan Resins Corp., Springfield, Mass., for example, has just awarded two of its technical employees—chemical engineer Vincent A. Aliberti and plant engineer William J. Schickler—expense-paid, academic leaves of absence to complete their graduate work. And Atlantic Refining Co. is permit-
ting technical personnel to work full time on research projects of their own choice for fixed leaves of absence from regular duties. First assignment goes to senior development engineer G. Richard Worrell, who will work at the University of Pennsylvania. His project, concerned with the effect of mixing on chemical reactions, will help him meet the university's Ph.D. requirements. On a broader scale, Western Electric Co. plans a master's degree program for engineering personnel at the company's research center in Princeton, N.J. Lehigh University will conduct the courses in Princeton starting next fall. Battelle Memorial Institute and Ohio State University also have arranged a new program that will help Battelle's staff members work toward advanced degrees while on the job. Established programs for advanced study are in effect in a good many chemical companies. For example, Dow allows employees who are within a year of attaining a B.S., M.S., or Ph.D. the leave required to meet oncampus requirements. Scholarship or fellowship funds often help finance these employees' educations.
COMMENT Academicians have traditionally taken advantage of sabbatical leaves to work in other laboratories in collaboration with some distinguished colleague. Even the change in "scenery" is good for the visitor, but the opportunity so presented of discussing a host of scientific problems with a group which may have a different point of view can be tremendously stimulating. Not infrequently, the visitor selects as host institution one in which some new technique or concept having great potential usefidness has been developed. The sabbatical year, therefore, is often used by the university faculty member as an effective mechanism for recharging his intellectual batteries and as a deterrent to professional obsolescence. Although in a few isolated cases, industrial scientists have been permitted to take advantage of the equivalent of an academic leave, this practice has not been generally accepted by the industry. It is my firm belief, however, that this situation will soon undergo a radical change when industrial managements become fully aware of the many benefits to be gained by
giving senior scientists periodic leaves of absence for advanced study. Indeed, this may soon be regarded by the industrial scientist as a fringe benefit under the terms of his employment. As I see it, professional obsolescence is a highly personal disease, and the extent to which it can be avoided is largely a personal matter. Every conscientious scientist, who wishes to grow professionally, should insist that his company or university provide him with certain facilities and an opportunity for growth. But once having done so, the burden is entirely his own, and he must expend every effort to take advantage of the opportunities so provided. This includes being willing to spend some of his own money for professional books and journals and devoting a sufficient amount of time away from the office or laboratory in quiet study and meditation.
Dr. Richard T. Arnold, president, Mead Johnson Research Center, before the American Institute of Chemists, Chicago, III., May 1962.
Dow also works with the University of Michigan on a master's degree program in engineering and with Michigan State on a master's program in chemistry for Midland employees. About 40 employees currently are enrolled in these courses. Texas A&M and Dow also provide similar opportunities for Dow employees in Freeport, Tex. Degree candidates in the Dow master's programs are granted educational leave for one summer, on full salary, to fulfill resident requirements. In-Plant Programs. Mead Johnson's employees may work toward advanced degrees at Evansville (Ind.) College. But the company's Mead Johnson Institute provides additional in-plant educational opportunities for technical employees. Lecturers for the institute courses may be selected from within or outside the company. Last year, Dr. V. J. Shiner of Indiana University's chemistry department gave a survey of modern organic chemistry to 55 employees in 30 one-hour lectures. This year, senior members of the company's pharmacology department are presenting a survey course for their younger associates and for scientists from other departments of the research center. To date, the institute has held about 50 courses. In addition to the scientific programs, these have included foreign languages, literature, communications, business and marketing, and psychology. Most of Mead Johnson's technical employees attend at least one course a year. Humble Oil Co. has been inviting scientists to conduct courses at its Baytown, Tex., research center for the past 16 years (C&EN, Sept. 25, 1961, page 50). Its programs differ from many in-plant programs in that lectures are strictly technical—no management or economics, for example. Employees have full-time assignments to attend courses on company time. The lectures generally run for two weeks. Archer Daniels Midland held an inplant course in organic chemistry during the 1961-62 academic year at its Minneapolis plant. Forty-six of its technical personnel—chemists from the control lab, desk-bound administrators, and lab technicians from researchattended the weekly classes which met in two sessions during the course. Dr. Walter Budde of ADM's specialty chemicals section conducted the program. Dr. Budde says that the classes at-
MODERN ENGINEERING COURSE. Dr. Willard F. Libby, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, lectures to the 1961 Executive Conference held by the University of California, Los Angeles, at the Ojai (Calif.) Valley Inn
tempted to reverse the forgetting process as well as bring chemists up to date on some modern concepts of organic chemistry. Further, the course gave the company's chemical technicians a chance to try some advanced work. The organic refresher was so successful that ADM plans another course for this year—perhaps in new instruments and techniques. In any case, the course chosen will give ADM's chemistry graduates of 15 to 20 years ago some new knowledge that did not exist when they were in school. College Programs. Industry-college cooperative programs, whether for advanced study or refresher courses—more often both—develop in two ways. In some instances, industry looks for a college that can take care of the educational needs of its employees. In others, the colleges organize study programs and offer them to industry—as extension courses, oncampus or in-plant. Wayne State University is now planning an in-plant program in chemical engineering which it will offer to industry in the Detroit, Mich., area starting in 1963. The university will develop intensive course work from its undergraduate and graduate chemical engineering programs to be taught by regular faculty members during the summer. Classes would be conducted at the plants in morning, afternoon, or all-day sessions, supplemented with evening discussion periods. And courses will be designed to suit the requirements of three groups of employees: • Executives who need a refresher to supervise today's graduate engineers.
• Engineers who desire a review or introduction to new theory. • Scientists who have only a limited chemical engineering background. Dr. Charles E. Wales of Wayne State's chemical engineering department says the proposed program has been favorably received by industry in the area, and four chemical companies have already requested the courses for next summer. The University of California has been in the business of keeping industry personnel up to date on technological advances since World War II. Its extension division says that for every frontier currently facing science, it will offer a corresponding short course in its engineering or physical sciences departments. UCLA calls its courses demanding and rigorous. And because it reaches for top-notch teachers from universities, industry, and government, the courses are also expensive. This summer UCLA expects scientists from as far away as the East Coast to join its short course in controlled thermonuclear research. And its courses on reliability and statistical methods in industry have proved so popular in the past that two sessions are offered this summer. UCLA holds courses on its campuses, at industry locations, or at resort conference centers. Its executive conferences—designed to keep industry leaders informed about changes in the scientific language and give them modern tools for management—are held at the Ojai (Calif.) Valley Inn. The 1962 summer session, June 17 to July 27, cost $2300. AUG.
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