career opportunities .
TRANSCRIPT
Career Opportunities . . . A limited cross section of the var iety of lifetime pur
suits which offer themselves to men with chemical train
ing. By accomplishment and exper ience the authors
are qualif ied to offer their ideas of the areas they cover
The Industrial Research Chemist CARROLL A. HOCHWALT AND NICHOLAS Ν. Τ. SAMARAS Monsanto Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo.
Today's industrial research chemist and his counterpart in the university have important similarities and basic differences.
In common, industrial and academic researchers must have firm grasp of the fundamentals of their science, the ability to apply this knowledge in solution of daily problems, and unfettered imagination and breadth of understanding. They both must possess personal and intellectual honesty. Both must be long on patience—reflected from an inherent love of their work.
It is in a corollary to this genuine fondness for their work that differences in the motivations, roles, characteristics, and incentives of the industrial and academic research chemist begin to appear. For, additionally, the industrial scientist must b e capable of an emotion akin to affection for his organization. "Loyalty" and "morale" are formal terminology sometimes used in defining the capacity of the industrial researcher to enjoy his contributions to an industrial entity, to a "whole" of which he is but a "part."
Ideally, the industrial scientist should be able to articulate with clarity and logic, both orally and in writing. Applying attributes of personality—such as common sense, forcefulness of character, and ability to work with others—he should implement his understanding of the role of "selling," whether of his project, product, or himself.
Manipulative dexterity is extremely desirable; equally so are speed and ability to improvise. A willingness to shoulder responsibility, so that he will "earn," and not simply "get," short-range and long-range monetary rewards, is also the hallmark of the well-rounded industrial scientist.
The young industrial research chemist must realize that improving a process for an established product— perhaps one of the organic chemicals which are traditional breadwinners of the industry—is often more diffi
cult and more important than alternative work on an original development. Indeed, his company's competitive position is often protected and enhanced by improvements in established processes—improvements occasionally achieved by routes which the younger chemist, fresh from the university laboratory, himself may believe impossible or impractical. In these instances he must rely on the experience of his predecessors and his administrative superiors, just as he must sometimes rely on and profit from his association with veteran plant personnel and laboratory technicians.
In a few years the industrial research chemist must make a decision essentially his alone to make, though, in its execution, he will draw on the advice and experience of his senior associates. He must decide whether or not to stay in research, and, if so, whether to pursue the path toward heavier administrative responsibilities or toward the by-now well-recognized status of lone researcher—the senior scientist left free of administrative tasks to do his own work, with his own hands, based often on his own ideas. Remuneratively, in enlightened chemical companies, this choice is no longer a restrictive one.
Nor are the roads out of research closed to the chemist who has learned in two to five years at the bench that his talents may be used elsewhere to his own advantage and to that of his company. As abilities, leanings, and temperament emerge into a portrait of the whole man, periodically evaluated both by the scientist himself and by his management, it may be found that his capabilities and satisfactions can be realized more fully in application research. (New product application, in contrast to new product creation or development, is unceasing.) Or in production, personnel work, or sales. These fields are well-peopled by research chemists of yesteryear.
Also, in today's research-minded chemical industry are high administrative posts—and the board tables, once familiar only to bankers and lawyers. For the research chemist willing to adapt himself to an organization and capable of fitting into its complex of closely meshed creative and mechanical factors, the opportunities are diverse and challenging, the rewards both tangibly and emotionally satisfying.
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