Careers in STEM (I): What Do I Do When I Grow Up?

My daughter, who advises STEM students at St. Catherine University, recently asked me to answer some questions students have asked her that she would love to have a Chemistry person's input on. I welcome other questions of similar nature and will try to answer as best I can.

Q: What advice do you have on careers and preparation?

Whenever students ask for my advice on future careers or graduate school, I always have the same initial questions for them: “What do you want to be in 5 years’ and in 10 years’ time?" and “What do you want to be doing eventually?" Based on the answers, we can talk about specifics.

It is important that you end up in a career in which you are doing work that you like. Or you will feel miserable. That does not mean that you will find the ideal job the first time or that you have to stick to one job your whole life. The average person actually changes jobs seven times in her/his life time. It may be due to promotions out of a job, it may be due to a relocation, it may be due to a shift in family responsibilities. Especially for a woman, it is important that she be flexible in her expectations and has a broad knowledge for different demands in different positions. Hopefully, each change represents an advancement in her career.

Are you a “people” person: do you like talking to people and help them solve their problems? Or do you like discovering new things, being the first one to find a piece of knowledge that no one has found before? Do you want to be your own boss or do you like to be second in command? Being in a leadership position means that you will also have to be ready to take on the responsibilities of being a leader: to be able to motivate those under you to work towards your vision and to accept the blame when things do not go well. And any kind of leadership position will probably require that you have an advanced degree: a masters or a doctoral degree.

If advanced studies is in your future, is it better to aim for a Ph.D. or a masters degree? A masters degree scientist will usually be working under somebody who has a doctoral degree. In academia, a doctoral degree is usually a requirement for tenure and promotion. In industry, it may actually be easier to get a position with a masters degree, but promotion to the highest position will usually require a doctoral degree or a MBA plus a scientific masters. I repeat “usually” because there are exceptions, no matter how rare: As of 2008, Koichi Tanaka, who worked in Shimadzu, was the only person without a post-bachelor degree who was awarded a chemistry Nobel Prize (see below).

Q: I will be getting a biology and chemistry degree and have an interest in medicine, toxicology, and the environment. What can I do with them?

Q: I thought I was interested in medical school, but I don't think being a doctor is for me. As a chemistry major, what can I do that will be interesting?

This is actually a time of many choices for students who have knowledge and training in chemistry and biology. The medical fields have discovered that chemistry can boost their research into the molecular level of diseases and drugs. Look at some of the recent chemistry Nobel Prize winners:

• 2002 - John Bennett Fenn, Koichi Tanaka: development of mass spectrometry analysis of biological macromolecules: one of the “hottest” techniques in biotechnology and biomedical research at this time; Kurt Wuthrich: nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution—the forerunner of MRI.
• 2003 - Peter Agre: discovery of water channels (aquaporins) in cell membrane; Roderick Mackinnon: discovery of ion channels in cell membrane. Discoveries were made using analytical techniques such as electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography.
• 2004 - Aaron Ciechanover, Avram Hershko, Irwin Rose: ubkjuitin-mediated protein degradation
• 2006 - Roger David Kornberg: transmission of genetic information from DNA to . Studies made using X-ray crystallography.
• 2008 - Osamu Shimomura, Martin Chalfie, Roger Tsien: discovery of green fluorescent protein (GFP) as marker for gene expression to track where and when certain genes are expressed in cells or in whole organisms. Studies used fluorometry.
• 2009 - Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz, Ada Yonath: atom-by-atom mapping of ribosome which give life and is also a major target for new antibiotics. Studies used X-ray crystallography.

Most of these studies are in the realm of structural biology, which utilizes chemical analytical techniques to determine the atomic structures of proteins and DNA, thus understanding their functions on a molecular level. Knowledge of chemistry and biology is crucial.

With a biology plus chemistry degree, sojourns into biomedical research such as structural biology, bioanalytical chemistry, biochemistry, clinical chemistry, and biophysics studies are possible. Interest in toxicology can be applied to forensic chemistry, environmental toxicology, and pharmaceutical sciences. The stronger you are in chemistry, the better opportunities you will have. Medical school, of course, is also available, especially a MD-Ph.D. program.

Q: Should I double major in biology and chemistry if I have an interest in medical-related areas?

Double majoring is preferred but not necessary. A major plus a minor will also work well. A lot depends on what you are interested in getting into: again, where do you see yourself in five years?

Q: I am a chemistry major interested in bioanalytical or clinical chemistry, but I don't have a lot of the biology courses listed. Does that mean I can't apply?

No. I would strongly encourage you to go ahead and apply. These programs are flexible and wish to attract graduate students from different disciplines. A strong chemistry background with exposure to biochemistry is an advantage, and you can always make up the missing biology courses. If your undergraduate qualifications enable you to obtain an assistantship (GPA above 3.0, undergraduate research experience, good recommendations, good GRE scores), your tuition scholarship will cover the courses you need to take.

Q: I like research and want to develop new mental health drugs. That's why I'm going to major in chemistry and psychology and do an MD-PHD program. Is that the right plan?

It is a good plan. A MD-Ph.D. program will enable you to do research on new drugs and bring them to clinical trials. Go for it. But you should be aware that other options are available, in case you change your mind about being a MD-Ph.D., which is a very vigorous program. How about pharmacology or medicinal chemistry, where you'll actually be developing and synthesizing new drugs?

Q: I am really interested in how drugs affect our environment. What should I major in and do to be able to make a real impact?

Study and research in environmental chemistry/science/toxicology will enable you to do that. It does mean a strong undergraduate chemistry curriculum plus some biology. And volunteering to work in an environmental science lab will give you practical field experience. By drugs’ effects on the environment, do you mean how pharmaceuticals affect water and soil supplies? In that case, understanding the chemistry between various chemicals and the environment: water, soil, air, will help you towards such a career. One former student I know has a B.S. in chemistry, M.S. in environmental chemistry and Ph.D. in environmental policy. He now is the head of the analytical lab of a big municipal water department.

I welcome further questions—post them in the comments section, and I will answer them in a future post.