Younger Chemists Committee Statement

Thank you for the invitation to write a comment for the Younger Chemists Committee website. Please make this a dialog: visit www.billcarroll.org and let me know your thoughts and ideas.

While I may no longer be a younger chemist, at age 49 I am a relatively young candidate for President of the ACS. I believe ACS governance could benefit from more involvement of chemists in mid-career. I hope more companies and universities will give their senior managers and professors the opportunity to allocate time to this type of service as OxyChem has given me.

My first priority as President will be to increase the value of ACS to members of all categories. People value a product that provides personally relevant benefits. Working to create and improve benefits for members is my primary objective.

The younger chemists I meet in industry and in the classes I teach at Indiana University tell me they have many of the same concerns I did twenty-five years ago: finishing formal education, finding their first job, and developing a career. However, some things are different. Today’s chemists starting out can be almost anything--and over a career will probably be many things. They know they must prepare well and stay current in order to recognize and seize opportunity.

ACS can help younger chemists envision their careers and achieve their goals. To support chemists in industry, we must continually adapt and improve our technical short course and job clearinghouse services. To support those in academia, we must advocate for increased funding of research and allocation of funds to new faculty as they establish laboratories, generate results, and gain teaching skills during their critical first few years.

For all, I see a need for improved programs about career transitions, e.g., from student to professor, researcher to group leader or technologist to product manager. These could take the form of courses, seminars, or workshops on leadership and coaching, chemical marketing, commercial development —- even starting a business — oriented toward professionals who want to diversify their personal portfolio.

Perhaps most importantly, ACS must, through YCC, provide a strong sense of community for its members. For some, it will be a group of graduate students, post-docs, and young faculty at a university; for others, it will be a local section YCC group. Both communities, when linked to a national Society that is sensitive to its youngest members, will provide fellowship, support, and the foundation of a lifelong and nationwide network of contacts. Those of us with a few flight miles realize that education may be the solid rocket booster, but a personal network is the Shuttle itself: both vehicle and life support system for the long haul.

My second priority as President will be outreach, and I intend to spend significant time discussing the benefits of chemistry with lay audiences. But we can also teach and lead by example. I see public service —instigated by an activist, idealistic group like younger chemists — as an important way to demonstrate the value of chemists and chemistry. We do this now through National Chemistry Week, and we must use that success to do even more.

Most importantly, I will listen. The growing demographic in ACS is young, eager, and not necessarily Ph.D. Unless we understand the needs of those in this demographic and devise clear paths into local and national involvement for them, our growth and strength will fade.

As ACS President, I will work with younger chemists and others to change the way the Society serves its members and is seen by the public. By changing our point of view about value, outreach and service, we can transform the way ACS works and how it is perceived. Change is risky, to be sure; but risk is the mask opportunity wears when it wants to slip by unrecognized. Let’s go for it.

I would be honored to receive your vote and your active support. I look forward to working with young members of ACS and others to set the Society on a solid path for the next generation.