enhancing graduate education in chemistry: the acs office of graduate education

Chemical Education Today

JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 80 No. 7 July 2003 • Journal of Chemical Education 729

Association Report: ACS Education

Enhancing Graduate Education in Chemistry:The ACS Office of Graduate Educationby Tamara Nameroff

Almost half (47%) of the students who complete abachelor’s degree in chemistry choose to pursue an advanceddegree in the chemical sciences (1). Some students are moti-vated by the rich intellectual challenges and opportunities ofscientific research. Others might be motivated by more prag-matic concerns such as a desire to enhance career oppor-tunities, increase lifetime earning power, or wait for theeconomy to improve. Regardless of their reasons, the AmericanChemical Society (ACS) is committed to helping these stu-dents receive a high quality and effective education.

Office of Graduate Education

The ACS Office of Graduate Education was establishedto give greater visibility and focus to the Society’s efforts toenhance the graduate education of chemists. As part of theACS Education and International Activities Division, theOffice is charged with promoting and assisting activities re-lated to graduate education across the Society and coordi-nating and disseminating information on graduate educationin chemistry. The Graduate Education Advisory Board(GEAB)1 was established in 2000 by the ACS Board of Di-rectors as a permanent body to provide guidance for theOffice’s activities.

The Office works closely with the Society’s governance,including the Society Committee on Education (SOCED) andthe Committee on Professional Training (CPT), as well asother ACS offices and technical divisions, to enhance com-munication about effective practices in graduate education.Organizing symposia on issues in graduate education at na-tional and regional ACS meetings is a major effort. A sym-posium at the spring 2003 ACS meeting in New Orleansfocused on the many faces and objectives of the Master’s de-gree. The Fall 2003 meeting in New York (in September2003) will feature a symposium on intellectual property pro-tection and commercialization issues, a topic of great impor-tance to graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and facultyalike. Other recent symposia have focused on how preparedPh.D. graduates are for the workplace and on the status ofpostdoctoral education. Future symposia will continue tohighlight important issues in graduate education.

Graduate Education Newsletter

The Office’s Graduate Education Newsletter focuses onissues relating to graduate training in the chemical sciencesand provides a forum for those who participate in the gradu-ate education experience. The newsletter is published twicea year, once in print and once electronically. The most re-cent issue, available on the ACS graduate education Web site2,featured a comment from ACS President Elsa Reichmanis on

the challenges to the academic community of ensuring thatthe breadth and vitality of modern chemistry finds its wayinto the formal education system. The next issue, to be pub-lished fall 2003, will focus on issues in postdoc-toral educa-tion. To subscribe to this newsletter, just contact our office.3

Online Information

Many other ACS resources and services on graduate edu-cation can be accessed from the Office’s Web site, which isdesigned to provide information related to master’s, doctoral,and postdoc-toral issues and activities to prospective and cur-rent students, educators, professionals, and employers. TheWeb site provides symposia proceedings, comments, essays,information, and sources of information on graduate educa-tion with links to related sites. For example, students can ac-cess information about the graduate experience to help themget started on their path to an advanced degree in chemistry.The Directory of Graduate Research and a free, Web-basedsearchable directory of master’s degree programs provide in-formation on many of the master’s and Ph.D. programs inthe chemical sciences offered by U.S. universities.

Resources for ACS Members

Creating and maintaining ties with the larger commu-nity of professional chemists and students is essential for stu-dents who have entered a graduate program. Through theirACS membership, graduate students can access the Society’smany resources and services: national and regional meetings,men-toring programs, award opportunities, internships, andcareer development workshops, videos, presentations andpublications.

Preparation for Faculty Careers

Students interested in finding an academic job (and theirmentors) might be interested in ACS’s efforts to help pre-pare chemistry doctoral students for faculty careers. ACS isworking with other science and mathematics societies andhigher education organizations on the “Preparing Future Fac-ulty” (PFF) initiative. PFF aims to enhance graduate educa-tion so that students who aspire to be faculty members willbe well prepared to make an informed career decision and tofulfill their expected roles at whatever type of academic in-stitution they choose. An outgrowth of ACS’s participationin the PFF project is the development of the book, And GladlyTeach: A Resource Book for Chemists Considering AcademicCareers (2). This book, to be published in summer 2003, willhelp readers evaluate whether an academic career is an ap-propriate option and will provide useful information abouthow to prepare for, acquire, and keep such a position.

Chemical Education Today

730 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 80 No. 7 July 2003 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu

Graduate Education Data Available

ACS also provides a wealth of data on graduate educa-tion. Recent CPT surveys provide a snapshot of graduateprograms and the opinions of the graduates of those pro-grams (3). ACS’s Office of Career Services provides infor-mation on salaries and employment patterns that can helpprospective students, faculty, and professionals gain an ap-preciation for the careers that freshly-minted graduates willenter.

In addition to providing resources and services, ACSis taking an active role in envisioning the future of chemis-try education. The increasingly interdisciplinary nature ofscientific research led ACS Past President Eli Pearce to ques-tion whether the traditional divisions of chemistry are ap-propriate in the context of modern science (4). He challengedSOCED to explore ways of reinventing chemistry educationat both the undergraduate and graduate levels. SOCED helda conference in June 2003, “Exploring the Molecular Vision”to respond to his challenge. This intellectual exercise mayinspire future meetings to discuss how to implement gradualor radical changes in the content of chemistry education.4

ACS is well positioned to help generations of studentsenjoy the rich challenges and opportunities of the chemi-cal sciences through a high quality and effective graduate ex-perience. Of course, we are always interested in knowing whatelse we could do to help enhance graduate education inchemistry.5

Ultimately, chemistry education must inspire and pre-pare students to explore the frontiers of this central and en-abling science. The vitality of our profession and the futureof the chemical enterprise depend on ensuring that thegraduate experience continues to be an attractive option forstudents of chemistry. With a wealth of resources and ser-vices, ACS is building an increasingly significant presencein graduate education to help ensure this remains the case.

Notes

1. The 2003 GEAB members are: Paul S. Anderson, (Chair);Daryle H. Busch (SOCED Chair, ex-officio); F. Fleming Crim(CPT Chair, ex-officio); Joseph G. Gordon (IBM); Alvin L.Kwiram (University of Washington); George F. Palladino (Univer-sity of Pennsylvania); Jeanne E. Pemberton (University of Ari-zona); Stanley H. Pine (California State University, Los Angeles);and C. Dale Poulter (University of Utah). Liaisons from several ACSgovernance committees also participate in GEAB meetings.

2. The ACS graduate education Web site is located at http://www.chemistry.org/education/student/gradeducation.html (accessedMay 2003).

3. To subscribe, send an email message to GradEd@acs.org.4. A detailed report on the conference is expected to ap-

pear in this column in a future issue of the Journal of ChemicalEducation.

5. Send your comments or suggestions to GradEd@acs.org.

Literature Cited

1. Heylin, M. Starting Salary Survey. Chem. Eng. News 2003,81 (14), 45–49.

2. Schwartz, A. T.; Archer, R. D.; El-Ashmawy, A. K.; Lavallee,D. K.; Eikey, R. And Gladly Teach: A Resource Book for Chem-ists Considering Academic Careers; American Chemical Soci-ety: Washington, DC, in press.

3. Committee on Professional Training. Graduate Education inChemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2002.

4. Pearce, E. Reinventing Chemical Education. Chem. Eng. News2002, 80 (49), 33.

Tamara Nameroff is Assistant Director for Special Projectsof the American Chemical Society Education and InternationalActivities Division, 1155 16th Street NW, Washington, DC20036; t_nameroff@acs.org.

Association Report: ACS Education