Want to connect what you care about with your chemistry

abilities to create a satisfying career?

These chemists will share how they devised out of the
ordinary paths to do just that!
Chemistry Plus Passions, Interests: Careers
on the Road Less Traveled

Joint with the Office of Undergraduate Programs
Co-sponsors: Division of Chemical Education (CHED), the Society
Committee on Education (SOCED) and the Division of Professional
Relations (PROF)

248th ACS National Meeting
Sunday, August 10, 2014
1:30 PM 5:20 PM
Moscone Center
North Bldg. Rm 132
San Francisco, CA

Undergrads, grad students and post-docs thinking about a career choice and chemists
looking to enhance their current roles or take a new direction will find insights and
inspiration from these presentations.


BMGT Sunday, August 10, 2014
Chemistry Plus Passions, Interests: Careers on The Road Less Traveled

Combining ones interests and passions with our chemists skills and abilities can open
opportunities beyond the traditional lab and classroom roles for those with a sense of adventure.
Speakers will share their journeys to unusual roles in entrepreneurial, business, government and
academic environments.

Location: Moscone Center, North Bldg.
Room: 132
Cosponsored by: CHED, PROF, SOCED
Organizers: Carol Duane, Greglynn Gibbs
Presiders: Carol Duane
Duration: 1:30 pm - 5:20 pm


Pres Time Pub
#
Presentation Title
1:30 pm Introductory Remarks
Carol Duane
1:35 pm 1 Mixing a career in stand-up comedy and the chemical sciences to enhance technical
education, communication, and innovation
Peter J Ludovice
2:05 pm 2 One chemist's reflections on the alleys and paths that border the road less traveled
Christopher J. Bannochie
2:35 pm 3 Research technician: A path frequently traveled and frequently overlooked
Greglynn Gibbs
3:05 pm 4 There and back again: What if I like science AND business?
Mick Hurrey
3:35 pm Intermission
3:50 pm 5 Chemists Without Borders: Solving humanitarian problems by mobilizing the
resources and expertise of the global chemistry community and its networks
Bego Gerber
4:20 pm 6 Working for ACS: Chemistry and chemists from a different point of view
David E. Harwell
4:50 pm 7 From science to science policy
Dorothy Miller


Abstracts:
1 Mixing a career in stand-up comedy and the chemical sciences to enhance technical
education, communication, and innovation
Peter J Ludovice

, Associate Professor, PhD, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Chemical &
Biomolecular Engineering, 311 Ferst Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0100, United States , 404-385-4026, 404-894-
2866, pete.ludovice@gatech.edu

While stand-up comedy is not a passion normally associated with a career in the chemical
sciences, they can be mixed to enhance education, communication and innovation in the field of
chemical sciences. How ten years of performing nationally as a stand-up comedy was integrated
with a faculty career in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Georgia Tech to
produce unique efforts in education, research, STEM outreach and two start-up companies will
be described. Specific examples of this integration will be illustrated with research efforts that
include the use of improvisational humor to catalyze technical innovation, and an NSF-funded
effort to use humor to improve technical education. Artistic examples will be discussed including
stand-up comedy at technical symposia, numerous television auditions, and a nationally touring
one-man show that is a hilarious and educational look at science and engineering and their
practitioners. Media applications will also be discussed including a weekly podcast and a weekly
radio show on science and technology whose motto is Science, only funnier.
2 One chemist's reflections on the alleys and paths that border the road less traveled
Christopher J. Bannochie , Fellow Scientist, PhD, Savannah River National Laboratory, Environmental
Stewardship, MS 773-42A, Aiken, SC, 29808, United States , 803-725-8088, 803-725-8829,
cj.bannochie@SRNL.doe.gov
College, graduate school, a postdoctoral appointmentnow what can you do and where will you
do it? How does one make a choice between a small radiopharmaceutical firm located in Silicon
Valley and a large Department of Energy facility in South Carolina? What are the realities of
those choices? What surprises may lie ahead along each potential career path? What
opportunities does one make for oneself? How can your passions become a part of your paid
employment? These and many other questions will be addressed as we explore the alleys and
paths that border the road less traveled.

3 Research Technician: a path frequently traveled and frequently overlooked
Greglynn Gibbs, Research Technician, Penn State Berks, Department of Chemistry, 204 Luerssen Bldg.,
Tulpehocken Red., Reading, PA,19610, United States , 6103966363, 6103966024, gdw104@psu.edu
Experience in a diverse set of disciplines can provide the flexibility one needs to maneuver
through changing career landscapes. Life situations, such as being a non-traditional student faced
with socioeconomic challenges, or a working mother, can affect both career choices and
mobility. Achieving work-life balance takes priority while utilizing and maximizing skills in a
variety of areas, as well as making the most of creative and professional opportunities and
outlets that can help to highlight and expand on ones skills. Satisfaction comes in owning who
you are.


Abstracts p.2:
4 "There and back again: What if I like science AND business?
Mick Hurrey, PhD, Scientific Diplomat, United States, 35 Seneca Lane, San Ramon, CA, 94583, United States ,
650-522-6366, mick_hurrey@yahoo.com
What you are taught in graduate school does not prepare you for working in the private sector.
You are taught how to think critically and to do research in an academic setting. However to be
successful in the private sector, it requires additional skills that are not taught while receiving
your degree. Practical concepts such as managing timelines, learning what is just enough to solve
a problem, and learning to fail often are all important concepts for the industrial chemist, which
all build off of the critical thinking and scientific fundamentals taught in graduate school.
The grass isn't always greener, however. There is a surprising lack of talented managers in the
private sector that have the scientific background, the practical know-how, AND the skills to be
an effective manager. These skills are soft skills such as coaching and feedback, reaching
consensus, delegation, strategic planning, and require training just like any other important skill.
However, few in management have these skills and those that do aren't often considered for
promotion because of a bias toward the seasoned technophile.
This talk will give you a glimpse into my career as I have traveled through the private sector
from pharmaceutics to the non-profit world and back again in the search of a role in which I can
balance my passion for doing science and my knack for business.

5 Chemists Without Borders: Solving humanitarian problems by mobilizing the resources
and expertise of the global chemistry community and its networks
Bego Gerber, PhD, Chemists Without Borders, 745 S Bernardo Ave #A121, Sunnyvale, CA, 94087-1003,
United States , 408-962-0256, begogerber@chemistswithoutborders.org
When I was young, I was told, "Get a good education, get a good job, and everything will be
fine." They were right - and they were wrong: The times changed and so did the rules of
business. The new Millennium arrived and with it the Internet and the Information Age. But life
is less about changing circumstances than about how we respond to these changes. Things are
rarely what they seem and much of life is about guesswork, randomness and attitude. We will
discuss unexpected discoveries from both inside and outside chemistry that have made all the
difference.





Abstracts p.3:
6 Working for ACS: Chemistry and chemists from a different point of view
David E. Harwell , Assistant Director, American Chemical Society, Department of Industry Member Programs,
1155 16th Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20036, United States , 202-872-6359, d_harwell@acs.org
My career path has not been linear. Very few are these days. As an undergraduate, I dreamt of
becoming university professor. I wanted to be just like the professors that I idolized. They were
smart, helpful, and wise. Being altruistic at my core and seeking the intellectual challenges that
chemistry provided, becoming a chemistry professor seemed the best of all possibilities, and so I
set off on my journey. I completed my B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in record time, and I set off for a
postdoc at UCLA. After the postdoc, I reached my goal becoming an Assistant Professor at the
University of Hawaii. I loved teaching and I enjoyed my research, but at a research intensive
institution, it really should have been the other way around. My altruistic nature exceeded my
ambition, and I spent as much time helping k-12 teachers and students as I did completing
research in my lab. My true passion was in helping others attain their goals. Luckily, my friends
and colleagues were equally as giving, and more in touch with reality. They encouraged me to
make the jump from ACS member to ACS staffer, and I have been in a position to assist, guide,
and train other chemists through Society programs ever since.
7 From science to science policy
Dorothy Miller, Director, Systemwide, University of California, Presidents Office, 1111 Franklin Street, Oakland,
California, 94607, United States, 510.987.9340, Dorothy.miller@ucop.edu
We all start out passionate about something for me, this was investigating what makes things
work the way they do. And, I grew this passion in undergraduate and graduate studies in
Chemistry. However, following my passion quickly took me beyond the lab: from coast to coast
and from gas-phase cluster ions to science policy. In this talk, I will share some of what I learned
and what I wished I would have learned earlier.