August 2009 Archives

On a damp and dreary August morning, six eager volunteers from the ICIS Chemical Business editorial team in the UK convened for a battle of wits and chemical knowledge in the sleepy town of Dorking, Surrey.

The day marked the inaugural Great ICIS Chemical Hunt, a competition aimed at school children and students to raise awareness about the importance of chemical products in our everyday lives.

Split into two teams and armed with questions and a camera, it was a race against time to find selected items and regroup a few hours later with photographic proof.

A total of 24 chemicals and clues were listed, ranging from shoe polish (acrylic acid) and suntan lotion (titanium dioxide [TiO2]) to different examples of tattoos (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene [ABS] is used in the ink).

The competitive nature of the hunt spilled onto the Dorking streets and rubbed off on shopkeepers and pedestrians who helped the team track down the last remaining products.

The challenge threw up more than a few surprises and even our team had trouble answering some of the questions.

The scavenger hunt concept will be rolled out to schools and students as part of the ICIS Chemical Business Education and Recruitment Campaign, which officially launches on September 14.

To read more, click here. Have you heard of any similar initiatives or is your company raising efforts to engage with young people and attract them to the sector? Email us with the details.

Evonik Stockhausen has welcomed 20 young trainees as part of the company's recruitment program. The new employees will receive practical training in the chemical laboratory, while attending classes at the technical college for economics and management.

"Dedicated, highly qualified employees are and will remain the foundation of our company," said managing director Willibrord Lampen, "That's why we place such a high priority on an excellent, in-house training program."

Chemical technicians, chemical laboratory scientists, industrial merchants, information technology specialists, warehouse logistics engineers and an electrician specializing in automation technology, two chemical merchants are among the new recruits.

They first take part in an introductory seminar lasting several days, which includes roundtable discussions and workshops.

For more on the training program, click here.

By Elaine Burridge

The University of Iowa in the US has won a $598,500 five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health that will enable students in 22 doctoral programs to gain a formal certificate in bioinformatics.

The training program will address the need for life science graduates to gain formal skills in biomedical problem solving using modern computational methods.

The university said that many students in the life sciences and biomedicine have had limited exposure to quantitative fields such as advanced statistics and mathematics, or computer science and engineering.  

The program starts this autumn. Click here for more details.

ICIS Chemical Business regularly covers recruitment in the magazine. Here's an article published earlier this year.

Encouraging students to pursue a career in the chemical sector is becoming increasingly vital

The state of the world economy may appear a more immediate threat, but the lack of young people entering the industry is a ticking time bomb.

Perpetually vacant positions, a shortage of skills, and increased numbers of experienced workers retiring without passing on their knowledge all contribute to the mess.

Despite efforts to address the shortfall, there is still a dearth of college graduates opting for process and chemical engineering.

To read more...click here.

By Elaine Burridge

Wake Technical Community College in North Carolina, US, has unveiled a new short-term training program for unemployed people.

The BioWork program will equip students for entry-level jobs as process technicians in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and chemical industries.

The programs will start this autumn and will be offered several times over the next 18 months.

Click here for more information.

By Elaine Burridge

The US' Kanawha Valley Community and Technical Center has started classes this week for new chemical plant operators. One nearby chemical plant is already getting ready to hire and has already shown interest in the college's students.

Many plant operators in the vicinity will be retiring over the next three years and the local chemical industry is overseeing the training programs to ensure that the next generation of
workers will be available for recruitment.

Click here for more information.

By Elaine Burridge

The US' Wayne State University has received nearly $18m in research grants that will allow it to expand its work and hire more research assistants as well as giving more undergraduate and graduate students a chance to participate in its research programs.

The 32 grants include 27 from the National Institutes of Health with awards for research in the fields of biochemistry, biological sciences, pharmacology, microbiology and environmental health science.

Four grants have been received from the National Science Foundation.

Click here for more details.

Unfortunately, the recruitment crisis is nothing new to the chemical sector. Here's an ICIS TV special we recorded ahead of our March 3 issue last year to highlight some of the issues.

We'll be looking at how things have changed throughout the campaign.

Engineering graduates are claiming the top starting salaries when they leave college, according to the Summer 2009 Salary Survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) in the US.

NACE says that of the 15 top-earning degrees, petroleum engineering saw graduates awarded salaries of $83,121. This was followed by chemical engineering at $64,902.

"Many of the engineering disciplines benefit from an imbalance in the supply/demand ratio," says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director.  "Even in a tight job market, there are simply more opportunities requiring an engineering degree than graduates available to fill those positions. That drives salaries up."

For more, visit the website.

Some 216 students from 30 US states, as well as India, Greece and Dubai have participated in the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's 43rd Operation Catapult summer education program.

Students attending the two 16-day sessions in June and July were able to take part in numerous activities including hands-on projects, lectures and field trips to learn about engineering and science.

Among them this year were pupils from Terre Haute North High School who attempted to create biodiesel using microalgae. The students designed and built a bioreactor to grow lipid-producing algae, before converting it to diesel.

Visit here for more on the program.

By Lara Mcnamee

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is to honour the Ciba Foundation for supporting science education and the development of future scientists at its Heroes of Chemistry dinner, a black-tie event, on Sunday 16 August at the Park Hyatt Washington Hotel, US.

The Ciba Foundation had donated a $2m gift in support of science education and the development of future scientists.

"We are delighted to receive the generous gift of $2m from the Ciba Foundation," said ACS executive director and CEO, Madeleine Jacobs.

"The gift is the largest corporate contribution the Society has received since its capital campaign in the late 1980s and it is a sincere honour for us to have Ciba's legacy entrusted to the American Chemical Society," Jacobs continues.

Previous 2008 Heroes of Chemistry winners include ExxonMobil Research and Engineering, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

The Ciba Foundation is a separate legal entity from the Ciba Corporation, which was recently acquired by BASF.

By Elaine Burridge

The UK's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has launched a new website after a survey showed that four in five parents could not answer their children's science questions.

More than half of the 1,002 parents surveyed thought their children knew more about science than they did.

As well as giving information on answering tricky questions, the site has downloadable activity sheets and ideas of places to visit.

German specialty chemicals major Evonik is continuing to look for new trainees despite the economic crisis. The company says it has hired more than 600!

"Well-trained junior staff is the basis for the future," says Evonik chief human resources officer and board member Ralf Blauth.

Some 520 of the 600 trainees will be working within Evonik's chemicals business. Overall, the company has currently taken on around 2,300 young people.

Evonik's traineeship quota, which measures the number of a company's trainees in relation to its overall employment level, is around 9%, much higher than the 6.5% average in German industry, it said.

Read the full story on ICIS.com.

By Malini Hariharan

The economic crisis has led to one favourable result for the chemical industry. After years of seeing graduate chemical engineers migrate to more lucrative sectors such as IT or finance the chemical industry is now proving to be attractive.

I recently had an opportunity to meet Professor GD Yadav of Mumbai's Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) and Professor Ghosh of the Centre of Polymer Sciences at IIT Delhi and both confirmed this trend.

There are several reasons for this, explained Professor Yadav. "Earlier IT was seen as a white-collar job. The sector was attractive as it offered good jobs and salaries. But that initial attraction has gone," he said.

With IT companies leading the way in shedding jobs students have become wary of joining the sector. Additionally there are not too many jobs on offer. At the same time salary levels in the chemical industry have improved.

The 2010 recruitment season has started at the Institute of Chemical Technology and students have been placed at chemical companies with a starting salary of Rs600,000/year. The highest salary offered is Rs1,400,000/year.

Professor Ghosh also highlighted another trend - students who drifted to IT are now looking to get back to their core discipline.

He cited the example of a polymer engineering graduate who wants to return to the chemical industry after working at a large IT company for a couple of years. But compromises will have to be made as two years of industry experience has been lost.

Graduates are, for the time being, valuing job security over salary. Chemical companies should welcome them even as they battle to keep trim costs and boost profits.

Swiss life sciences giant Roche is sponsoring 100 students to take part in a week-long arts event in Salzburg, Austria. This is all about innovation!

The aim is to encourage students to engage in a new and unconventional way of working together and in so doing to explore the concepts of creativity and innovation in the arts, music and science.

"Innovation is not just the key to success in our industry", commented Franz B. Humer, Chairman of Roche's Board of Directors, "there are many areas in life where people have to be willing to discover and embrace new things. The seeds of progress and innovation are sown in people's minds, and our aim is to foster a climate of creativity, openness and listening in which students are encouraged to explore unfamiliar paths and try new things."

By Lara Mcnamee 

Looking to get into the chemical industry, or perhaps you already are but find it all a little daunting? You may want to have a look at an upcoming course from ICIS training: Petrochemicals: Part I - A Beginner's Course.

The one-day course explains the fundamental relationship between oil/gas, petrochemicals and the everyday products we purchase and consume. You will gain an understanding of the petrochemical chains, discover the major industry players, as well as benefit from an introduction to pricing and price analysis.
 
The next course is running on Tuesday 13th October in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The standard registration fee is €995.

To register, click here or visit the website for more information.
 

By Malini Hariharan

Are women not interested in teaching chemical engineering? This issue was highlighted by Professor Yadav of Mumbai's Institute of Technology at a programme organized by Borouge last week to announce its scholarship programme.

The institute's chemical engineering programme attracts girls but not many are willing to teach. The programme's 22-member faculty has only one woman on its rolls. But 25 girls have enrolled for the chemical engineering course, out of a total class of 75.

The professor thinks this is because not many girls pursue doctoral programmes and prefer to get jobs right after they obtain their engineering degree. This could be because salary levels in universities are not very attractive or because of family pressures.  But he stressed there is a need to attract more women to teaching and he is trying to do this by encouraging companies to sponsor girl students.
 

Rhodia's Foundations for the Future program seems to be working well for new engineering graduates as they apply their educational background in real world production for 18 months at different Rhodia sites across the US.

After finishing the program, Rhodia said participants are often considered outstanding future candidates for senior level positions.

"The new engineers will apply their educational backgrounds in ways they never thought possible," explains Angelia Washington, human resources manager and Foundations coordinator. "It's intense and rewarding and positions them for leadership opportunities early in their careers."

This year, 6 college graduates were chosen to attend the program. Engineering students who are interested in the program are invited to e-mail Angelia Washington for more information at angelia.washington@us.rhodia.com.

[Photo from Rhodia: Caption: Penn State graduate Katherine Umlah enjoys "hands on" work at chemical company Rhodia Inc. in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she participates in a career development program for promising young engineers.]  

By Malini Hariharan

Plastics producer Borouge - a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Borealis - is working with two educational institutes in India to provide scholarships to high-performing students of polymer science and engineering.

Borouge Undergraduate Scholarships will be granted to 12 students at the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai, with a Borouge Fellowship also awarded to a postgraduate Masters student at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

"We want to attract young talent to the industry. Ultimately, we want to attract them to Borouge," says Craig Halgreen, vice president global communications.

The scholarships will be awarded on the basis of academic achievement. It involves financial assistance to the selected students. In addition, up to two students would have an opportunity to work for two weeks at Borouge - either at its plants or innovation centre in Abu Dhabi. This would give students an opportunity to experience working with innovative plastic products.

Besides India, Borouge has also launched scholarship programmes with the East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai and the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou.

Borouge is also looking at other scholarship programmes - one with the Beijing University and another in the Middle East.

"We see talent in India and China. We need diversity. Our mission is value creation through innovation and we need young talent to come up with ideas," he adds.

Borouge, which currently has 1400 employees, will be adding manpower as it is working on two major projects. "We will need people in sales and marketing and plant engineers. We are investing in finding the best talent; it is good time to look," says Halgreen.