Graduate School
Starting salaries are generally higher for chemists who hold master's or doctor's  degrees. A chemist who wishes to teach at the college level or to lead research  projects in industry, academia, or government, usually holds a doctor's degree.  Although the amount of time required to earn advanced degrees varies with the  student's circumstances, the school's requirements, and the availability of funding,  the master's degree takes about 2 years, and the doctor's 4-6 years, beyond the  bachelor's degree. It is often not necessary to earn a master's before the doctor's  degree, though pursuing a master's degree first is useful for students who would like  to (1) explore research as an activity or (2) learn more about a subject without  investing the time required for doctoral work. Remember that the bachelor's degree in  chemistry is good preparation for graduate study not only in chemistry per se and  related fields (see Specialties), but also in other sciences and mathematics, and  even the arts and humanities.

[An aside: Ph.D. is an abbreviation for the Latin philosophiae doctor, which means  doctor or teacher of philosophy; it is a degree earned by successfully carrying out  original research in a given academic discipline, which may be in the sciences, arts, humanities, or engineering.]

Professional School
An undergraduate chemistry degree is good preparation for medical, law, dental, or  business school. Physicians, dentists, and other health-care professionals  increasingly find a working knowledge of chemistry helpful, if not critical, to  understanding the rapid and profound changes occurring in pharmaceuticals,  diagnosis, research, etc. Lawyers benefit from a familiarity with chemistry in several  ways, including patent law, scientific evidence, expert testimony, and government  regulations pertaining to the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. With a  chemistry background, business managers communicate more effectively with their  technical personnel, and understand more clearly the production, quality control, and  compliance aspects of their companies' operations.

Workforce
Rather than continuing with their formal education, some graduates with bachelor's  degrees in chemistry choose to enter the workforce directly as laboratory  technicians or sales representatives (see Chemical Industry). As technicians, they  carry out procedures in the laboratory as members of quality-control, research,  development, or analysis teams, the leaders of which often hold advanced degrees.  To monitor the quality of their companies' products, quality control chemists use  increasingly sophisticated instrumentation, coupled with an understanding of analysis  standards and data evaluation. Responsible for health and safety within the plant,  industrial hygiene chemists monitor compliance with regulations, assess the safety of  operations, and prepare written documents to inform and explain. In sales and  customer service, a chemistry background empowers graduates who hold bachelor's  degrees to act more effectively as liaison between technical staff and customers,  and to more clearly understand customers' needs.

High-School Teaching (Mainly B.S., M.S.)
Science teachers who are well-trained in science itself are in great demand. At
Rose-Hulman, a student who chooses this career path would take his or her science  courses on campus, while taking introductory education courses at nearby Indiana  State University. Alternatively, the student could enroll in education courses at  another school after completing the chemistry degree at Rose-Hulman. Some private  high schools do not require state certification of their teachers, in which case the  graduate with a bachelor's degree in chemistry could apply directly for a position.

Career Opportunities for Chemists

Academia
Research
Teaching
Chemical Industry
Food and Beverage Industry
Consumer Goods Industry
Government
Research Centers or Institutes
Analytical Laboratories
Water Companies
Museums
Wineries
Book and Software Publishers

Academia (Mainly Ph.D.)
College professors, or academicians, structure their careers around some combination  of research and teaching at academic institutions.

Research
Some faculty work on theoretical projects, whereas others pursue practical  objectives, such as drug development. Typical research activities include (1) writing  grant proposals to fund the research, (2) working directly in the laboratory or in the  field, (3) mentoring graduate students, (4) publishing research papers, review  articles, or books, and (5) presenting research results at conferences.

Teaching
Although out-of-classroom activities vary across disciplines and schools, they typically include (1) preparing lectures, demonstrations, and discussions, (2) planning  for the use of new technologies and pedagogical techniques, (3) staying au courant  in the discipline, (4) composing meaningful examinations, (5) writing grant proposals  to fund curriculum innovations, (6) developing useful project assignments, (7) writing  in-house laboratory manuals, (8) developing new and edifying experiments or projects  for laboratory courses and, of course, (9) meeting with students to help them with  the material.

Chemical Industry (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)
Industrial chemists with bachelor's degrees engage in technical laboratory work,  sales, marketing, or customer service (see Workforce), while some gradually move  into management. Chemists holding Ph.D. degrees, however, often lead teams or  projects in research or development, as well as becoming middle-and upper-level  managers.

Food and Beverage Industry (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) (see Food Chemistry)
Chemists analyze foods and beverages for the purpose of quality control, as well as  researching additives, formulating new products, and monitoring compliance with  regulations. As in the chemical industry, B.S. chemists generally work as technicians  or as sales representatives, while Ph.D. chemists often lead research and  development teams.

Consumer Goods Industry (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)
This sector of the industry manufactures such products as dishwashing and laundry  detergents, household cleaners and disinfectants, toothpaste, deodorants, perfumes,  disposable diapers, cosmetics, shampoos, antiseptics, and bandages. As in the other  industry sectors mentioned above, B.S. chemists generally work as technicians or as  sales representatives, while Ph.D. chemists often lead research and development  teams.

Government (B.S., M.S., Ph.D.)
Whether involved in basic research or in law enforcement (see Forensic Chemistry),  various government agencies employ chemists as technicians or research scientists.  As in industry, the chemist who holds a bachelor's degree will likely join a team led by  a scientist who holds an advanced (Ph.D.) or professional (M.D.) degree.

Research Centers or Institutes
In these venues occurs research that is often interdisciplinary and collaborative,  perhaps involving more than one institution and serving academic, industrial,  governmental, and philanthropic interests. As in other venues, B.S. chemists work  mainly as laboratory technicians on teams led by Ph.D. chemists.

Analytical Laboratories
These laboratories may be public or private, and they may be autonomous or part of  larger organizations. They serve companies, universities, hospitals, institutes, and  other clients who wish to have samples analyzed chemically. The B.S., and  sometimes M.S., chemist carries out the analytical procedures, as well as operating  and maintaining the instrumentation. Sometimes, however, the Ph.D. chemist  operates the most sophisticated instruments and uses those techniques that are still  experimental or that are not yet routine.

Water Companies
Employing chemists, some water companies operate their own on-site laboratories  not only for the purpose of routine testing and quality monitoring, but also for  research into taste, odor, and disinfection.

Museums
Art museums employ chemists in systematic scientific efforts to preserve and  authenticate art and antiquities (see Preservation/Authentication Chemistry).  Science museums employ chemists to conduct original research.

Wineries
Some vintners employ chemists and biochemists not only to monitor routinely the  quality of their product, but also to pursue basic research (see Enological (Wine)  Chemistry).

Book and Software Publishers
With today's rapid changes in the textbook and academic software industry comes  the need for personnel who are trained in science. Such personnel must understand  their companies' products, their customers' needs, and how to match one with the  other.

Specialties

Organic Chemistry
Inorganic Chemistry
Analytical Chemistry
Physical Chemistry
Computational Chemistry
Biochemistry
Polymer Chemistry
Materials Chemistry
Medicinal Chemistry
Pharmacognosy
Natural Products Chemistry
Pharmacology
Toxicology
Environmental Chemistry
Geochemistry
Food Chemistry
Clinical Chemistry
Forensic Chemistry
Detergent Chemistry
Textile Chemistry
Soybean Chemistry
Paper Chemistry
Soil Chemistry
Preservation/Authentication Chemistry
Archaeological Chemistry
Enological (Wine) Chemistry

They're myriad. As we noted above, we've tried to include examples of both the  customary and the unusual. Because chemistry touches every aspect of human life,  the number of conceivable specialties is limited only by the chemist's imagination.

Organic Chemistry
This subdiscipline of chemistry focuses on carbon and its  compounds. In many provinces of science, organic chemists are at work synthesizing  compounds (e.g., pharmaceuticals, polymers), predicting reaction products, relating  chemical structure to function, and modeling molecules.

Inorganic Chemistry
Studying compounds of all elements, inorganic chemists  synthesize new catalysts for organic reactions, develop new materials for  technological uses (e.g., electronics, magnetics, optics), and study the chemical role  of metals in biological systems.

Analytical Chemistry
The analytical chemist identifies, quantifies, and  characterizes chemical substances. Moreover, he or she often develops novel  techniques and instruments in order to improve the state of the art.

Physical Chemistry
Changes in energy during chemical reactions capture the  attention of physical chemists, who use mathematics and physics to explain and  predict chemical phenomena

Computational Chemistry
In this subdiscipline, chemists use computers to solve  chemical problems, from the practical (e.g., the design of new drugs and safer  pesticides) to the theoretical (e.g., energies of transition states and prediction of  molecular properties).

Biochemistry
Concentrating on the chemistry of living things, biochemists study  the structure and function of biological molecules, as well as the chemical processes  that occur in biological systems.

Polymer Chemistry
This is the synthesis, processing, and characterization of  useful long-chain molecules, such as polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyester.

Materials Chemistry
Chemists in this field develop new materials for such uses as  prostheses, superconductors, artificial organs, aircraft skins, and electronic  components.

Medicinal Chemistry
In this field, chemists design, synthesize, and characterize  new drugs.

Pharmacognosy
Scientists in this specialty isolate and characterize  pharmacologically active compounds that occur naturally in plants and  microorganisms. This field overlaps with that of natural products.

Natural Products Chemistry
In this subdiscipline, chemists search for  naturally-occurring compounds useful to humankind, examples being drugs (see Pharmacognosy), flavors, dyes, sweeteners, pesticides, polymers, and fibers.

Pharmacology
The pharmacologist studies drugs, specifically their metabolism,  properties, effects, and mechanisms of action.

Toxicology
In simplest terms, this is the study of poisons. It encompasses,  however, their properties, mechanisms of action, chemistry, and detection, along  with the development of antidotes.

Environmental Chemistry
In this specialty, chemists detect, identify, and quantify  chemical contaminants in air, water, and soil, studying the transport, distribution,  and degradation of pollutants in the environment.

Geochemistry
Geochemists use the theories and methods mainly of inorganic,  physical, analytical, and organic chemistry to study materials of and within the earth,  including minerals, rocks, petroleum, seawater, and magma.

Food Chemistry (see Food and Beverage Industry)
Drawing upon organic,  inorganic, analytical, physical, and biological chemistry, food chemists study the  chemical composition of foods, as well as chemical changes that occur during  processing and storage, the efficacy of additives, and the chemistry of flavor and  aroma.

Clinical Chemistry
To provide critical information to physicians for the diagnosis  and treatment of disease, clinical chemists analyze body fluids, tissues, and excreta.  As researchers, furthermore, they pursue improvements in laboratory techniques and  instrumentation and in the interpretation of data.

Forensic Chemistry
Analyzing evidence in criminal investigations, forensic  chemists  work both in the field and in laboratories. Among their many duties are DNA  fingerprinting, analysis of tissues for poisons or drugs, and identification of blood  stains, of accelerants in arson fires, and of environmental pollutants.

Detergent Chemistry
Typically working in the consumer-goods industry,  detergent  chemists formulate cleaning agents for household, commercial, and  industrial use.  These scientists must understand not only the chemistry per se of  detergents, but  also how such compounds are likely to behave in water of  unpredictable composition  and cleanliness, and how quickly they degrade in the  environment. Moreover,  detergent formulation occurs in a cultural context, inasmuch  as consumers'  expectations and criteria for accepting the product vary widely  around the world.

Textile Chemistry
This branch of chemistry focuses on the composition, structure,  and properties of textiles at the molecular level. Textile chemists work to improve  dyes, strengthen fibers, and develop new fabrics. [For an amusing, albeit satirical,  diversion on this subject, watch the 1951 British motion picture The Man in the White  Suit.]

Soybean Chemistry
Though its name may raise an eyebrow, this comparatively  new branch of applied chemistry is burgeoning as scientists discover ever more  potential nonfood uses for biodegradable soy products, including inks, lubricants, dust  suppressants, and soaps.

Paper Chemistry
In an effort to improve both paper itself and the papermaking  process, these chemists study cellulose, lignin, bleaching, corrosion, wastewater  treatment, pigments, deacidification, biodegradability, and suspension rheology.

Soil Chemistry
With the goal of improving agriculture, soil chemistry focuses on the  chemical composition of, and the reactions occurring in, soil, encompassing such  issues as acidity, alkalinity, salinity, fertilization, contamination,  adsorption/desorption, precipitation/dissolution, chelation, and gas-solution  processes.

Preservation/Authentication Chemistry (see Museums)
As old books, historical  artifacts, and great works of art age, the demand for improvements in preservation  intensifies. To meet this need, chemists use the tools of modern science to preserve  old, even ancient, objects, and to develop superior methods for doing so. To assist  curators, collectors, and insurers, chemists also use the science to authenticate  works of art whose provenience is questionable.

Archaeological Chemistry
To help archaeologists and historians illuminate the  past, this specialty uses modern chemistry to date and to otherwise analyze ancient  objects. Techniques include radiocarbon and luminescence dating, electron  microscopy, and DNA analysis.

Enological (Wine) Chemistry
In or for the wine industry, scientists study the  chemistry of color and aroma, DNA profiles of grape cultivars, the chemistry of ageing  in oak barrels, wine stabilization, yeast metabolism, and the regulation of gene  expression in both yeast and grapes.