Undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry majors' perceptions of careers in chemistry

Abstract

In recent years there has been an increased emphasis on recruiting and retaining STEM students in order for the United States to retain its position as a leader in STEM fields (President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, (2012), Report to the president, engage to excel: Producing one million additional college graduates with degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics; Chen, X. (2013), STEM attrition: College students’ paths into and out of STEM fields). Knowing that choice of major and choice of career are closely related (Negru-Subtirica O. and Pop E. I., (2018), Reciprocal associations between educational identity and vocational identity in adolescence: a three-wave longitudinal investigation, J. Youth Adolesc., 47, 703–716; Negru-Subtirica et al. (2018), Good omens? The intricate relations between educational and vocational identity in adolescence, Eur. J. Dev. Psychol., 15(1), 83–98), it is important that we understand what students know about careers available in the field of chemistry as well as what they know about what those careers are like. In this study, qualitative methodology was utilized using narrative inquiry and case study analysis methods in order to capture the lived experiences of six senior-status chemistry and biochemistry majors at a mid-sized, Midwestern university. Participants were interviewed, narratives were constructed from their interview transcripts, and the narratives were used as case studies that were compared to one another. It was found that students are not fully aware of the careers available to them with a degree in chemistry or biochemistry or what the career options they did identify were like on a day-to-day basis. It was also noted that resources are not distributed evenly to all students and that there were resources that were missing that students would have liked to have access to. Suggestions for improvement in chemistry career education are discussed along with limitations of the study and ideas for future work.

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Introduction

The United States has a continuing need to recruit and retain undergraduate students into STEM programs and to employ graduates in these fields upon their graduation. In order to remain a leader in both scientific and technological fields, the United States would need to graduate more than one million additional STEM graduates than they were projected to graduate by the year 2022 (President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012). While the need for these graduates is increasing, the number of students enrolled in these programs as well as the number of students leaving these programs has remained consistent (National Science Board, 2014). With these historical trends and future predictions in mind, it is essential that the United States increase the number of students entering STEM programs and find ways to retain those students once they are enrolled.

Chemistry is a field that falls under the STEM umbrella and, as such, it is no exception to needing an increased number of graduates to enter the workforce. There are several trends that have been occurring that are reason for concern in the area of chemistry. For one, there has been a decline in strategic research in industry as well as an overall decline of the traditional chemical industry in the United States. At the same time, there has been a trend of shipping industry off-shore, including research and development, and there has been growing competition from various countries around the world (Kwiram, 2004). Additionally, there has been a large increase in the percentage of basic chemicals and industrial chemicals that are imported while the amount of consumer imports has remained fairly constant over time, meaning there is a reliance on foreign nations to supply the chemicals used in the United States. “Unless substantial steps are taken to bolster the U.S. position scientifically and economically, there will continue to be a relative decline in employment of chemists” (Kwiram, 2004). If the number of chemists needed overall remains consistent or even increases, but the United States continues to fall behind on graduating chemists, the United States will have no choice but to move more and more of its chemical industry offshore, thereby putting its position as a scientific world leader in jeopardy.

It is clear that in order for the United States to remain a global leader in STEM disciplines, including chemistry, steps need to be taken in order to recruit and retain students in chemistry degree programs. There is a clear link between choice of major and choice of career. In a Romanian study, Negru-Subtirica et al. (2018) found that students’ educational and vocational identities are related. In addition, Negru-Subtirica and Pop (2018) found that “strong educational commitments supported the formation of strong vocational commitments across time” (p. 703) and that “vocational identity processes also supported educational identity formation, especially the reconsideration of educational commitments” (p. 703). Because educational identity and vocational identity are so closely related, it is important to understand both when recruiting and retaining students in chemistry programs.

One challenge in developing vocational identity in students is the very limited research on students’ perceptions of career options with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, as well as what those options look like on a day-to-day basis. There is, however, a body of literature indicating that students are uninformed about career options with a degree in chemistry or biochemistry. According to Solano et al. (2011), students often have to rely on their professors for career information in chemistry because they have limited to no access to professionals in the field apart from their professors. This oftentimes leads to the perception that there are only two possible career pathways within the field of chemistry: academia or industry. Due to the lack of industrial experience among many professors of chemistry and biochemistry, access to information on industrial careers is even more limited. Additionally, it has been noted that students often need help with career planning and gaining insight into what careers in chemistry are like (Solano et al., 2011) and that students would like more help with career planning during their academic careers (Ogunde et al., 2017). Grunert and Bodner (2011) found that when asked about careers at research intensive universities, many students have the perception that these are high pressure positions, with a need to publish and obtain funding from grants in order to be successful.

While research on career perceptions in chemistry is quite limited, there is a substantial body of literature on resources available to students for career planning (Woolnough et al., 1997; Eklund and McGowan, 2007; Grunert and Bodner, 2011; Solano et al., 2011; Tucci et al., 2014; Lucy, 2017; Ogunde et al., 2017; Pesch et al., 2018). Pesch et al. (2018) discussed that the more career exploration related activities that a student participated in, the more prepared they felt, often leading them to feel more confident in their career choices as well as more confident in seeking out information related to that particular field. In addition, this study showed that this knowledge did not necessarily relate to how much they actually knew about their chosen career pathway, but rather how much they believed they knew (Pesch et al., 2018).

Undergraduate chemistry research opportunities and internships are ways that students can gain laboratory experience and gain confidence in their abilities as a chemist (Woolnough et al., 1997; Grunert and Bodner, 2011). Seminar courses can also be useful in giving students tools to prepare for careers outside of academia (Harrison, 1994; Eklund and McGowan, 2007; Solano et al., 2011; Tucci et al., 2014; Lucy, 2017). Despite the effectiveness of these courses and the positive reviews they have received from students, Lucy (2017) found that less than half of the STEM doctoral institutions in the United States have these types of seminar courses or programs that have the goal of preparing students for careers outside academia. Little literature was identified on the utilization of professors as career information resources or on the use of online searches.

It is important to note that a large number of students change majors. Many students show an interest in STEM fields when they enter their undergraduate education, but end up changing their major along the way. A Bettinger (2010) study found that in 2001 about 48% of those who began in biology finished their degree in biology and about 71% of those in physical sciences, engineering, and math remained in their initial chosen major. Chen (2013) found similar trends with 28 percent of students in bachelor's degree programs choosing a STEM field during their academic careers, while 48 percent of students exit that STEM field along their way to earning a degree. While this percentage is large, it also fits in with attrition rates in non-STEM fields (Chen, 2013). While exact percentages vary by study, many students begin their academic careers as STEM majors, but then do not graduate with a STEM degree either due to switching majors or due to dropping out of college entirely.

Making career decisions, including those in the field of chemistry, are complicated processes. Many different resources are utilized when students make these decisions and while these resources can be useful, they are oftentimes not guided or informed by the students themselves. Little research has explored how students identify the career options available to them and how they perceive those career options. In addition, there has been little research on the resources that students actually utilize when making their career decisions or asking them what resources they would like to have available to them to aid in these difficult decisions and to help better their understanding of careers available. Therefore, the purpose of this project was to gain a richer understanding of what undergraduate students know about careers in chemistry and how they come to know those things using a qualitative approach. With this, future curriculum can be designed with the intent of educating students looking to explore careers in chemistry. This study utilized the narratives of senior chemistry students in the process of making decisions about careers to understand how they identified career options available to them and what informed their perceptions of these careers to inform future career-focused curriculum for students.

Research questions

The research questions addressed in this study were as follows:

1. What post-graduation career options do undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry majors identify for someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry?

2. What are undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry majors’ perceptions of the careers they have identified for someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry?

3. What informs chemistry and biochemistry majors perceptions of careers available to someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry?

Methodology

For this study, qualitative methodology was utilized. Qualitative methodology, which has been described as a “broad approach to a social phenomenon” (Marshall and Rossman, 2016), allows for an in-depth exploration of a problem and allows meaning to be assigned to a problem through the lived experiences of the participants, rather than through the views of the researcher on the problem (Creswell, 2013).

Methodological frameworks

In order to make meaning of the participants’ lived experiences as it related to careers available to recent graduates with an undergraduate degree in chemistry as well as their perceptions of those careers, two methodological frameworks were utilized: narrative inquiry and case study analysis. Each individual participant's interview responses were put together in narrative format, capturing their experience as a whole. These individual narratives were then treated as a separate case for case study analysis.

With narrative inquiry, one examines a problem in the context of each participant's life, rather than pulling individual statements or events out of context (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000). According to Clandinin and Connelly (2000), “the person in context is of prime interest” (p. 32). Through examining a problem in the context of the person's life as a whole, a deeper understanding of these experiences can be obtained and the researcher can connect with each person's story as a whole.

The other methodological framework for data analysis utilized in this study was case study analysis. Each narrative was treated as an individual case that could be compared against the narratives of other participants. By treating each narrative as a case, the researcher is able to live vicariously through the stories of the participants in a way that other methodologies cannot provide (Stake, 1995). Commonalities as well as differences in cases can be noted using this methodology, allowing for rich, in-depth information to be cultivated from the data.

Data collection

Prior to any data collection, IRB approval for the recruitment, methods, and data analysis for this study was obtained.

Participant recruitment. Students were recruited from Western Michigan University, a mid-sized public university located in the Midwest. The university where recruitment took place had a total of 22 562 students enrolled in the fall of 2018. Out of this population, 79% were undergraduate students (Western Michigan University, 2018a). In a typical year, about 170 students are enrolled as chemistry majors and 425 as chemistry minors (Western Michigan University, 2018b). Table 1 provides a demographic breakdown of the chemistry students at the university where recruitment took place.

Table 1 Demographic breakdown of undergraduate chemistry majors

	2017–2018 academic year	2018–2019 academic year
Total number of chemistry major undergraduates	176	165
Female	74	67
Male	102	98
American Indian of Alaska Native	0	0
Asian	6	7
Black of African American	23	18
Hispanic	7	10
International	9	10
No response	1	1
Two or more races	8	9
White	122	110

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Senior chemistry students were the focus of this study because they were at a crossroads in their academic and professional journeys as they decided on their next steps upon graduation. For some, that could have meant finding a job immediately upon graduation while for others it might have meant continuing their education in graduate school. Either way, it is important to explore their understanding of career pathways available to them upon graduation in order to determine how informed they were while making these important decisions. While understanding the knowledge of graduate students is equally as important, that fell beyond the scope of the experiences examined in this study.

Two recruitment rounds took place, one in 2017 and one in 2018. In an attempt to increase participation, a gift card incentive was offered during the second round of recruitment. All chemistry and biochemistry majors at the university with senior-status based on the number of credits they had earned were contacted via e-mail. The university had 47 students that fulfilled this requirement in 2017 and 48 in 2018. Six individuals met the requirements two years in a row, meaning that they had reached senior-status in 2017, but had not yet graduated in 2018. This meant a total of 79 unique individuals were contacted and asked to participate in the study.

The recruitment e-mail contained a link to a short survey which collected demographic information in addition to information on their motivations for choosing chemistry or biochemistry as a major. The first question on the survey asked for consent and if the participant selected that they did not want to participate, their survey ended. For those that consented to participate in the study, the survey continued on to the demographic and motivation questions. The final survey question was a textbox to enter an e-mail address for those wishing to participate in an in-person interview. Out of the 79 students contacted for participation, eight completed the demographic survey, and six of those students completed the interview. Out of the six participants, five were White men and one was an Asian woman.

Data collection methods. Data collection took place using two different methods: a survey and an interview. The survey was primarily utilized to collect the demographic information of the participants. There were also some questions that were asked about the participants’ motivations for choosing chemistry or biochemistry as a major. These types of questions were used to inform the questions asked during interviews. For example, if a participant stated that they chose a major in chemistry because others expected them too, that was examined further during their interview.

The primary method of data collection was a semi-structured interview, which allowed for flexibility in the order questions were asked and how follow-up questions were utilized. This can help the interview maintain a conversational tone, allow for follow-up questions or clarification questions unique to each individual, and allow the interviewer to explore ideas that come up that might not have been anticipated. While there is this flexibility, the semi-structured format also gives the interview structure and guidelines to follow so that the conversation does not wander off track (Marshall and Rossman, 2016).

Before the interviews began, IRB approved informed consent documents were signed by the participants. The interviews in this study lasted an average of 29 minutes, ranging from seventeen to 44 minutes. The interviews took place in a location of the participants’ choosing. When the participant did not specify a location, a comfortable and neutral setting on the university's campus was utilized. This location was in the chemistry building at the university, a location that all chemistry and biochemistry majors at the university were familiar with, yet was in a more secluded part of the building to provide some privacy and lessen chances of being identified as a participant. The location was chosen not only for the physical comfort of the participants, but also the psychological comfort, as explained by King et al. (2019). The tone of the interviews remained conversational and the researcher did her best to convey “the attitude that the participants’ views [were] valuable and useful” (Marshall and Rossman, 2016).

While the interviews covered a range of topics related to careers in chemistry, a section focused on the perceptions the students had about what careers were available to someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry or biochemistry as well as what those career options were like. Some interview questions from the interview protocol addressing these topics included the following:

• What career options do you think are available for someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry?

• What does the day-to-day look like for these different career options?

• Where did you get your information on these career options?

Due to the semi-structured nature of the interviews, these questions often led to follow-up questions that varied depending on the flow of the conversation in each individual interview. Note-taking was utilized during the interviews to serve as a reminder to come back to certain topics (King et al., 2019). In order to help avoid projecting the researcher's views on a participants’ answers, the researcher asked questions when clarification was needed and in order to make sure that she understood the participants’ intended meaning.

All interviews were audio recorded with the permission of the participants, transcribed by a professional transcription service, and were then available for data analysis.

Data analysis

Interview transcripts were read over several times to get acquainted with each participant's individual story and to get a feel for their overall experience. During these readings, the researchers began to identify themes, and codes were developed from those themes (Creswell, 2013). In particular, themes surrounding the ideas participants had about the careers available to those with an undergraduate degree in chemistry, their perception of these careers, and the resources they utilized to develop these ideas were analyzed. During the process of reading transcripts and developing themes, data analysis was discussed with a group of researchers familiar with the project to help ensure that the researchers were not projecting their experiences on the experiences of the participants. Researchers met regularly and discussed the codes until there was 100% inter-rater agreement between the researchers on interpretation of participant meaning and how the codes were applied to the interview data. The themes were also informed by the literature, with constant comparison between the experiences of the participants and themes already established in the literature.

Researchers utilized emergent coding techniques (Creswell, 2013) during the data analysis process. As researchers generated themes from the interview transcripts, they also generated codes associated with those themes and entered them into Dedoose software. These codes included “Career Perception,” “Career Resource,” and “Career Option Identified.” As the researchers generated these codes from the data, earlier data was recoded and analyzed using the codes that emerged since the previous analytical cycle, creating an iterative process of data coding.

Once the interviews were read multiple times and coding was finished, each participants’ interview was utilized to create a narrative regarding that participant's experience in developing an interest in chemistry, choosing chemistry or biochemistry as a major, choosing a career pathway in chemistry or biochemistry, their perceptions of what careers are available to someone with a degree in chemistry or biochemistry, their perceptions of what the careers they identified are like on a day-to-day basis, and the resources they utilized to make major and career decisions as well as to develop their perceptions about the careers they identified. These narratives were designed to tell each participants story regarding their decisions surrounding becoming a chemistry or biochemistry major as well as finding their career path. They were created after spending much time with the interview data, coding and developing themes. Although the interviews were not member checked, care was taken during the interview process to make sure the interviewer understood what the participant meant by their statements and the data was discussed with other chemistry education researchers.

Once each narrative was developed, it was treated as a case study. The narratives were analyzed using cross-case analysis. Both commonalities and differences were identified, with the goal of maintaining the integrity of each individual case on its own while looking for patterns between the data (Yin, 2018).

Theoretical framework. The theoretical framework used in the data analysis process for this project was social constructivism. Social constructivism examines the collaborative nature of learning in which cognitive processes and structures develop through collaboration with others (Vgotsky, 1978). This was used to shape data analysis in that it was important to examine each individual's perception of careers and how they used social interactions to develop those perceptions.

Results

There were a total of six participants in this study (Table 2). Their demographic and identity information can be found in Table 1.

Table 2 Participant identities

Pseudonym	Participation date	Major	Age	Gender identity	Race/ethnicity
Justin	2017	Biochemistry	22	Man	White
Brian	2017	Chemistry	21	Man	White
Nicole	2017	Biochemistry	20	Woman	Asian
Robert	2018	Chemistry	24	Man	White
Dean	2018	Chemistry	21	Man	White
Jon	2018	Biochemistry	22	Man	White

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Career options identified

The responses to questions regarding what careers are available to a recent graduate with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry were quite limited. There was very little variety in the answers the six participants provided. Career pathways that were identified included laboratory technicians, quality assurance/quality control positions, pharmaceuticals, and environmental chemistry.

All six participants mentioned some kind of entry-level laboratory technician position when asked what careers were available to someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry. Robert stated that “lab assistant positions” were available with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry, and Justin said, “I know that there's a lot of entry level stuff you can get.”

After entry-level laboratory positions, there was little consistency among answers provided to questions related to careers available to those with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry. Many of the participants discussed specific chemistry applications that could be career pathways. Nicole mentioned cosmetic chemistry as one of her “back up plans.” Robert and Dean both mentioned pharmaceutical research as a potential career option, and Brian discussed field chemistry and environmental chemistry as career pathways for someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry. In addition, Jon and Brian talked about Quality Assurance or Quality Control positions.

With the exception of Brian, most participants were only able to name one or two different potential career pathways for someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry. Brian was able to name off several career options including entry-level research positions, environmental chemistry and/or renewable energy research, quality assurance/quality control positions, field chemistry, chemistry transportation, and hazardous waste disposal. When asked what careers were available to someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry or biochemistry, Brian responded, “I would classify it as technicians, some entry chemistry jobs, QA/QC jobs, stuff like that. Even a lot of field chemistry work, I would say, and sometimes like transportation chemicals like hazardous waste.” Brian's mother worked in a quality assurance lab and so he was able to get some career related information through that relationship. He also took it upon himself to do a lot of online research on his own about various careers. This internal motivation to do career research contributed greatly to his knowledge of various career pathways for one with a degree in chemistry.

Career perceptions

While all participants identified entry-level laboratory technicians as a position available to someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry, there was general uncertainty surrounding what the day-to-day activities of that position included, with four out of the six participants saying they were unsure about the day-to-day at this type of position. When asked what the day-to-day life of a laboratory technician might look like, Jon responded, “Frankly, I don’t actually know what the day-to-day [looks like] …I know there's a lot of writing up and keeping track of results but – as for the actual day-to-day – I’m not actually sure.” Despite having a close family member that worked in a laboratory technician position, Justin echoed Jon's sentiment, saying, “I’m not 100 percent sure what the day-to-day for a lab tech would be….” Robert answered, “I’m not too sure. I would think it would be a 9:00 to 5:00 experience where I would go to the lab and do research. I don't know what that entails really because I’ve never worked in an actual research lab setting.”

Despite the great uncertainty surrounding what the job duties of a laboratory technician would look like, many of the participants still had overall feelings about these types of positions. Several adjectives were used to describe both the duties of the positions as well as the work that comes out of these positions. Robert and Dean both stated that someone in these roles would be doing preliminary work like preparing samples or setting up an experiment for someone higher up to run. Justin said that the work was “mindless” and that “you [weren’t] given anything really important to do.” Nicole used the work “mundane” to describe industry work while Brian described it as “low-level” and “monotonous.” There was a shared perception that laboratory technician positions were routine and not intellectually engaging.

In addition to feeling like the positions available to someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry or biochemistry were limited and that these positions were “boring,” “mundane,” and/or “unimportant,” many of the participants felt that in order to advance in these types of careers or to have more options for careers in these fields, one needed to pursue further education. This could be in the form of an advanced degree like a Master's or PhD or in the form of some kind of specialization. Justin stated, “…there's a lot of lab tech things out there, but I also know that…if you want to advance or get a better job in a better field…you have to usually get specialized in something.” Brian said, “Usually to get into research, you have to either get a Master's or a Doctorate.” The participants perceived a lack of opportunities for advancement without further education.

While the overall theme amongst participants was a general uncertainty about the everyday life of a laboratory technician, many participants were still able to describe what they thought some of the job responsibilities might entail. Robert said that if you were in one of these positions you might go into the lab on a daily basis and set up experiments for those in higher level positions to actually run. Three out of the six participants discussed running some type of instrument or collecting data, and four out of the six discussed things like paperwork and reporting experimental results. Justin summed up these ideas succinctly when he stated, “I’m not 100 percent sure what the day-to-day for a lab tech would be. I know usually it's operating whatever machine that you’re put on. I know my mom worked the bench for like 20 years or something, and she pretty much just had her one machine that she ran and whenever a sample came in, run it, record it, send results, that kind of thing.”

While the majority of the participants offered very similar views of the careers that they identified for someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry or biochemistry, Dean had a different point of view because he was pursuing an active military career. He stated that he did not have a good understanding of the careers available or what those careers would be like because he did not have much say in whether he would be in a chemistry-related position in the military or not. He did not look into these careers much simply because he was not interested, and they were not actually options for him while he was active in the military. He stated, “I can’t actually say that I know. I haven’t really explored [laboratory technician positions] a whole lot because, obviously, I’m doing active duty military.” He did state that his understanding of being a chemist in the military was that you would act as a sort of liaison between the Air Force and civilian contract chemists.

Despite the participants being unable to identify a variety of careers for someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry or biochemistry, there was an overall feeling that the degree offered a wide range of versatility. This information is seemingly contradictory, but participants stated that they felt that chemistry was a very versatile degree with a lot of options for future pathways, yet were unable to identify what those pathways were. There seemed to be this overall idea that majoring in chemistry or biochemistry did not close any doors for their future whether they intended to go to graduate school, pursue employment immediately after graduation, or were unsure what they wanted to do. Their socially constructed knowledge (Vgotsky, 1978) informed them on multiple occasions that chemistry or STEM in general was very useful or versatile without informing them on the specifics of what that variety consisted of. While this idea was stated by many of the participants, Nicole summed it up when she stated, “…chemistry is extremely versatile because everything is chemistry. And you can do chemistry in almost anything. You can develop any kind of product; you can develop any kind of drug.” Additionally, four of the participants felt that they would pursue an entry-level laboratory technician positions upon graduating with their bachelor's degree and three of those participants were not sure if they would stay in that type of position or if they would leave to eventually pursue higher education. Justin stated, “I’m gonna try to get an entry-level tech type of thing for probably at least six months to a year. Eventually, I know I want to go to grad school in something because I don’t see myself working in a lab my whole life, but I can do that for a while.”

Career resources

Another theme that emerged from the interview data was the discussion of resources utilized in developing participant perceptions of the careers they identified for a recent graduate with a degree in chemistry or biochemistry. Four out of the six participants had some type of personal connection with someone in the field of chemistry. These connections were either family members, friends, or acquaintances who held positions similar to the ones they were describing. Some of the participants talked about utilizing connections that were made based on happenstance circumstances. For example, Nicole talked about having discussions with people in the chemistry field at her job serving coffee and sitting next to someone on a flight. Jon discussed that his guide during Welcome Week at his university happened to be a chemistry major so he was able to gain insight on resources available to him.

Other participants had internships and they used those experiences to get a feel for their day-to-day work responsibilities. The two participants who did have internships, Brian and Justin, stated that their internships were very useful because they showed them what they did not want to pursue as a career rather than confirm a career aspiration. “Honestly, I would say it [the internship] helped solidify – polymer science isn’t really something I’m interested in, something I want to go into, but it's always nice to get that experience,” said Brian. Justin stated of his internship experience that, “more than anything, it probably taught me that I don’t want to spend my whole life in a lab.”

In addition to utilizing personal connections for gathering information on careers in chemistry and biochemistry, two of the participants, Brian and Justin, talked about utilizing their professors to have conversations about careers. Other participants did not find their professors approachable to have these discussions. Some even went as far to say there was an intimidation factor in initiating conversation with their professors, including conversations about careers in chemistry and biochemistry. Robert stated, “…career options-wise, I think it was, I mean, pretty difficult because I was kind of – You know it's intimidating going up to your professor and being like, ‘What do you know about working?’”

There were a few other resources that participants discussed for getting a feel for what entry-level chemistry positions are like. Two participants talked about utilizing job postings with lists of job responsibilities to get an understanding of these types of positions along with Internet searches, and one participant was able to job shadow someone in the field.

One career resource that was discussed a couple of different ways was a seminar class offered by the university. Out of the six participants, only Dean entered the university as a chemistry major and was therefore the only one who took the seminar course offered through the university's chemistry department. Dean stated, “Well, I really liked the fact that the first semester chemistry majors – and I think biochemistry majors – have is the first-year chemistry seminar. I can’t remember if it's required or not, but that was definitely very helpful because it gave people a way of seeing what it would look like over the next four years, as well as any jobs after.” Brian discussed that he took a course in the physics department that covered careers in physics. He stated that this was very beneficial to him, but that he did not think the chemistry department had a similar seminar course.

Discussion

When identifying career options for someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, the participants in this study were only able to provide limited options. Many discussed going into entry-level laboratory technician positions and a few were able to list other positions. Those positions included quality assurance, quality control, fieldwork, chemical transportation, and health administration. However, these other options were limited both in number and by the number of participants who were able to provide them. These results seem to echo those of Solano et al. (2011) who found that students have such limited exposure to careers in chemistry that they are unable to identify pathways outside of academia or industry and, at the same time, fail to identify the variety of careers available within these two tracks.

While the participants were unable to identify many different options for someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, they still felt as though there were, in fact, options. The participants saw chemistry as a versatile degree, offering them many different pathways, but they were unsure what those pathways were or what pathway they were hoping to pursue. These findings support what Ogunde et al. (2017) found in their study when they saw that one of the reasons students chose chemistry as a major was because of the career options available to one with a chemistry degree. The participants in this study saw the value in a chemistry degree and even though they were unsure of what all of their options were, they did not feel that earning a degree in chemistry would shut the door on any option they might consider pursuing in the future.

In addition to the uncertainty about the types of positions available to one with a bachelor's degree in chemistry, there was also uncertainty surrounding what the identified positions looked like on a day-to-day basis. Some participants admitted to simply not knowing what the positions were like while others referred to them as “mundane,” “boring,” and even “unimportant.” Despite these negative descriptors of entry-level chemistry positions, several participants planned to pursue one of these positions upon graduation, even if that was a temporary career for them.

The mystery surrounding careers in chemistry is concerning for several reasons. If the United States needs to graduate more students in STEM fields (Kwiram, 2004; President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012; National Science Board, 2014), increasing knowledge and accessibility of careers in chemistry should be a priority. Given the perspectives of chemistry majors in this study, many of whom were planning on obtaining an entry level position in chemistry, it stands to reason that the general public would have very little knowledge of what chemistry careers are like. While most people have a general sense of what someone in a professional field does due to some exposure to that field in everyday life (i.e. most know what the job of a doctor or nurse consists of since they have been exposed to that career route through going to an appointment), most people do not get a view into the life of a chemist. Fortunately, there are ways to improve this understanding, some of were utilized by students in this study. Personal connections, professors, and seminar courses are all ways to increase student understanding of careers in chemistry.

Personal connections were one of the resources that the participants reported utilizing when learning about careers in chemistry. Several had family members in the field and others had coincidental meetings that helped them to develop a fuller picture of what it means to be a chemist. Essentially, these participants had an “in” in the field of chemistry. Despite having this inside information, they were still unsure about what the day-to-day life of a chemist looked like. Many people don’t have regular interactions with chemists, so they are at a disadvantage when learning about careers in chemistry and the options available to them. This can further perpetuate unequal representation in chemistry, with students from minoritized groups having fewer opportunities to learn about careers in chemistry. While these personal connections are useful for those that have them, there needs to be a more systematic way to educate the general public on the role of chemists. The general public has exposure to careers like medicine, law, and sales just because of the nature of those positions. People interact with professionals in these fields regularly through the use of their services. However, chemistry and biochemistry careers are often inaccessible to the general public and so the number of children and even adults exposed to the field is limited. If the general public was better educated on the field of chemistry and the careers available, children would have exposure to the field earlier. In other words, if one never has access someone in the field, they are less likely to pursue it as a career for a lack of knowledge on what it is that a chemist actually does. Additionally, exposing students to careers in chemistry and biochemistry earlier in their academic career, for example in middle school and high school, could help them develop a passion for the subject and as a career, giving them time to create valuable connections in the field sooner. The earlier exposure to the chemical industry through formal education in conjunction with a better understanding of the field by the public would lay the groundwork for increasing the number of future chemists that the United States needs.

Because we know that students utilize relationships with others to gain perspective on careers in chemistry, cultivating those relationships is an important way to expose students to career options in chemistry and help them learn more about potential careers. The field of chemistry should not be an exclusive field where only those with an “in” get to see what a career in the field looks like. Universities and local industry should make mutually beneficial partnerships with one another where students gain access to information they may not get another way and industry professionals can encourage students to apply for their open positions when they come open. It serves as a networking opportunity for both sides of the relationship. In addition, efforts should be made to introduce students to the wide range of careers in chemistry outside of the two pathways of academia and industry. Connections with those in teaching, outreach, non-profits, science policy, patent law and other law, instrument sales and/or maintenance, science communication, and other less visible career pathways should be cultivated and utilized to further student understanding of the wide array of career options available to them.

One point of access to careers in chemistry that is currently available to college students is college professors. It has been documented that students utilize professors to gain insight into chemistry careers (Solano et al., 2011) and that the majority of students would like more help when it comes to career planning (Ogunde et al., 2017). This reliance on professors for information about careers limits the amount of information students receive as very few professors have experience in chemistry careers outside of academia. In addition, the participants in this study found their professors to be unapproachable, intimidating, or just not open to having career conversations. Those that were able to have conversations with professors regarding careers stated that it was up to them to initiate the conversations, which can be difficult for students with more passive personalities. Knowing that students can be uncomfortable approaching them to initiate career conversations, professors can make it a point to incorporate career notes in lectures so that all students have access to information about careers in the field and might feel more comfortable initiating conversations outside of class. Additionally, professors can state in their syllabus and give reminders to students that they are open to having career discussions during office hours. This might take some of the pressure off of students to initiate career discussions which could level the playing field for students who might have more difficulty initiating conversations with those in authoritative positions.

While including career discussions into lectures and inviting students to attend office hours to discuss careers in chemistry are beneficial for students, these suggestions to do not overcome the fact that many professors do not have knowledge in fields outside of academia. This is where a partnership between universities and local industries could be beneficial. Career and research talks during special seminars, guest speakers from the field during a seminar course, partnerships for job shadow opportunities and internships, and participation in job fairs are all mutually beneficial to the chemistry industry and students. These relationships provide universities with the opportunity to recruit students based on their strong industry ties and industry to benefit from access to a highly trained and informed individuals student pool to recruit from. Not only will this allow some of the mystery surrounding careers in chemistry to be clarified, it will also allow industry professionals to market their positions in a way that is appealing to students.

As stated before, many of the students that participated in this study felt that entry-level positions in industry were boring and unimportant, but they were planning to pursue them and explore the career once they were in it. They would reevaluate their career and education choices after working in industry for a period of time. This can be problematic as the wait and see mentality delays students in reaching their true career goals. It is clear that for many of these students, working an entry-level career position was not their dream job, but they were unsure what else to do so they felt this was their best option. Seeing careers in industry in action and learning about the paths professionals take to get to those positions would help students identify and pursue their career goals. Additionally, knowing how students view these entry-level positions can be beneficial to industry professionals. For one, they need graduates to fill these positions. Knowing that students view these positions as unimportant can help them highlight the importance of such positions both to the company and to humanity overall. They can gain insight from students to find out what would make the positions more appealing and include opportunities for their employees to pursue these more appealing aspects. In addition, if the participants’ views on careers in chemistry aren’t accurate, insights into careers available to someone with a bachelor's degree in chemistry could help in recruiting graduates to positions they might not previously have considered.

One way to potentially build relationships between industry and academia that many universities already incorporate into their curriculum is a seminar course in chemistry (Harrison, 1994; Eklund and McGowan, 2007; Solano et al., 2011; Tucci et al., 2014; Lucy, 2017). Seminar courses are part of the curriculum, in this case chemistry or biochemistry, and focus on topics that are not necessarily the core content of the major. Some of the information covered may be program specific, like the development of a course plan for the program and other information might be relating to general skills like developing a resume or a CV. However, other information included might be surrounding careers in the field including what careers look like, connections with industry folks, and information on gaining internships and job shadow experiences. These seminar courses have been shown to be beneficial to students by providing them tools to explore careers outside of academia (Harrison, 1994; Eklund and McGowan, 2007; Solano et al., 2011; Tucci et al., 2014; Lucy, 2017), and were referenced by participants in this study. One participant, Dean, came in as a chemistry major and was able to take the freshman seminar course offered at his university. He felt that course was useful in giving him insights into careers in industry and also research done by professors in his department. Interestingly, another participant, Brian, described a course in a different department that he wished was available in the chemistry department that went over career information. His description of the course was very similar to what Dean described the freshman seminar course to be like. One of the problems with this course was that it was listed as a freshman seminar course, so was only taken by students who were entering the university as chemistry or biochemistry majors. In this study, only one of the six participants entered their undergraduate degree program as a chemistry or biochemistry major and therefore only one student took the seminar course. This is not uncommon as students often change major during their academic careers (Bettinger, 2010; Chen, 2013). In order to maximize the usefulness of a seminar course, the structure of the course along with the timing of the course should be reevaluated. Some options to make this course more beneficial would be to offer it and market it to students at any point during their program (not just for entering first-year students), make it a requirement for graduation, and even make it a series of courses containing pertinent information at each stage of their program rather than just a single course at a single point in time. It would be important to gather students’ insights on what they want to know or need to know to be successful chemists both in their academic program and beyond. Additionally, because students are not always aware of what they don’t know, using student insight in conjunction with the suggestions of faculty and chemistry professionals would provide a well-rounded knowledge base to inform the development of such a seminar program.

Social impact statement

Without participants who identify as members of an underrepresented group in STEM (Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino/a/x, Native American/Indigenous/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander) in this study, it is difficult to draw any conclusions about the experiences of students from these groups based on the data collected. However, based on the experiences of those students that did participate, it seems likely that the same areas of uncertainty that exist for White and Asian students likely exist for students from underrepresented groups as well. Students from minoritized groups graduate with chemistry or biochemistry degrees at a lower rate than White and Asian students, so it is even more important to make sure these students are included in future research to ensure that their views and experiences are properly represented in solutions proposed.

The participants in this study often reported being unsure of what chemistry careers were actually like on a day-to-day basis. Those that had some ideas had parents or other family members or friends in chemistry fields. In other words, they had access to inside information on careers in chemistry. Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students are much less likely to have access to this information and are therefore put at an even further disadvantage when it comes to understanding what a degree in chemistry can actually lead to career-wise. This disadvantage further perpetuates the discrepancies between students in chemistry and does nothing to break down the barriers of systematic racism in the fields of chemistry and biochemistry or, more broadly, STEM and academia as a whole.

Addressing the issues of unfair advantages for certain students to give all students access to quality career information will give all students access to mentors in the fields of chemistry and biochemistry. The introduction of seminar courses or programs that provide connections between academia and industry professionals will help foster relationships between students and professionals and the eventual trickle-down effect will lead to more students from minoritized groups in chemistry to serve as role models and mentors for younger generations. Change has to start somewhere and providing resources to students so that they better understand what it means to be a chemist is a place to start.

Doing studies in chemistry education, we are limited to the participants that are available and that are willing to participate in studies. The populations we are examining are therefore not typically representative of all students. We make conclusions about what is best for all students when our studies only look at the views and needs of a homogenous group of participants. Therefore, when trying to being more inclusive for all students, we don’t know if we are actually missing the mark on inclusivity in our practices because in many studies, we have only collected data from majority populations due to the demographics of those agreeing to participate and how few students from minoritized groups are even available to participate.

Conclusions

The participants in this study had an overall lack of knowledge and understanding of what careers were available to someone with an undergraduate degree in chemistry and what those careers were like on a day-to-day basis. Even when they were able to give some details on what they thought the day-to-day might incorporate in some of the positions they identified, they still did so with an air of uncertainty and lacked confidence in those perceptions. If the field of chemistry is to continue to grow by recruiting and retaining more students into chemistry degree programs, these uncertainties need to be addressed.

The resources students identified that they utilized when making career decisions and understanding the day-to-day activities of those positions were limited in number and in availability. Some students had an advantage over others by having a family member in a similar field or by meeting someone through happenstance encounters. Others had an advantage through personality traits that helped them be more confident in approaching their professors about research opportunities or having career discussions. In order to make the field of chemistry more accessible, these inequitable advantages need to be addressed in order to level the playing field and get students the information they need to make informed career decisions.

One way to address these inequities is to encourage connections between universities and those working in the chemistry profession. Not only does this provide students with direct connections to industry professionals and others working in a variety of chemistry careers so that they can get firsthand knowledge of what the chemical industry is actually like, it also provides professors and university personnel with that access. Since professors don’t always have access to career information outside of careers in academia, these connections can provide them the information they need to better educate their students on careers in the field. This access to industry professionals should be paired with training for professors on how to incorporate career information into lectures or to make their office hours more welcoming to these types of conversation. Additionally, seminar courses that are informed by the students and industry professionals would be beneficial as a platform to provide equitable career information for all students who take the course.

Dissolving some of the mystery surrounding careers in chemistry both for the students already majoring in the subject and younger students exploring potential fields of study and careers is beneficial for the field as a whole. Opening up opportunities for students to explore chemistry and biochemistry in ways that they may not have otherwise considered will create a more diverse field that lends itself to differing points of views that could serve to enhance create solutions to the variety of problems the world is facing.

Limitations

There are several limitations to this study. For one, the study was done at a single university in the Midwest. The programming available to students was specific to the university they attended, so the views presented by the participants may not necessarily apply to students at other institutions. The participant pool was quite small despite efforts to increase participation through multiple rounds of recruitment and including a gift card incentive for participation. Finally, the sample of students in the study was not a diverse sample, as five white men in their early twenties and one Asian woman in her early twenties participated. Not only is this sample not diverse, but it is also not representative of the entire student population making it difficult to know if the findings represented the perceptions of all students, especially those who are from minoritized groups at the institution. While there are limitations of this study based on the sample size and the sample diversity, the general consensus shared by those that did participate lends credibility to the findings and indicate that limited knowledge about careers in chemistry is likely a widespread issue amongst students.

Future work

The results of this study lead to several opportunities for future research into the areas of careers identified and perceptions of those careers by chemistry and biochemistry majors. To start, a similar study could be conducted with multiple institutions and a more diverse participant pool. This would allow researchers to identify how widespread the lack of student knowledge about careers in chemistry is, which would be beneficial for universities working to improve students’ knowledge about careers in the field of chemistry.

Other areas of research include the design and implementation of resources to help students develop a better understanding of the careers available to them with a bachelor's degree in chemistry. Resources ranging from pamphlets and career websites to seminar courses and internship programs could be designed and evaluated for usefulness to students. These materials and programs would be designed utilizing the information generated by this study to address gaps in student understanding. Then these materials could be evaluated and improved using the input of the students who are most likely to utilize them.

Another avenue for future work is in developing better connections between universities and chemists in the field. Industry panels could be developed to provide opportunities for students to ask questions and talk with professionals in the field. These could be incorporated into the curriculum through a seminar course or they could be offered as extracurricular events for those students interested in learning more. Also, with students developing an interest in chemistry during high school in many cases, programing designed to give high school students a glimpse into the life of a chemist could also be beneficial. Future research could revolve around the implementation and evaluation of such programming.

Research on student perceptions of careers in chemistry and biochemistry is an essential part of recruiting and retaining talent in these fields. Without insight into what students know about potential career options in chemistry and biochemistry and how they perceive those options, educators cannot adequately address gaps in student knowledge or understanding. It is therefore important that this type of research be carried out in order to attract future talent to the fields of chemistry and biochemistry.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts to declare.

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