Broader training for industrial careers

The chemical profession in the U.S. has suffered distressing times in the past few years. The most basically painful evidence of this stress was the widespread unemployment and underemployment. Other broad signs were the recession in industry, the starving for support in universities, and the wilting of science policy in the government. The aftermath of recession was a shambles of the narrowly trained with little versatility of resources, mature scientists with depth of background no longer in demand, and the possessors of what should have been valuable intellectual resources in a state of shock. At this moment the industrial demand for chemists and chemical engineers is rising strongly. Yet there are still too many unemployed. And the outlook for the universities is by no means promising. There should not be another generation of chemists and chemical engineers trained without early attention to the base for versatility and flexibility. There is no substitute in training for ...