February 2010 Archives

I've just noticed that BASF has a brilliant new site for school children aged 6-11. Kids Love Chemistry uses fantastic graphics to show how chemical products are useful in every day life, and especially for environmental improvement and challenges.

It has a series of micro-sites such as this one which highlights the use of energy in homes.

The challenge now will be get the site used by significant numbers of children. It is a great attempt to alter children's perceptions of chemistry for the better. 

By Lara Mcnamee

BASF has launched a German version of its Facebook site focused on careers at BASF.

It is home to information about career opportunities in Germany, videos and images. Postings will be exclusively German. 

For more on BASF click here.

By Lara Mcnamee

ExxonMobil recently held its "Introduce a Girl to Engineering" day where around 55 girls were invited to join employees at its Irving, Texas, US, headquarters.

The activities are part of a broader company-wide initiative to interest girls in science, technology, engineering and maths.

The students learned about a wide variety of career options available in the fields of maths and science and the growing need for more students who can solve "today's problems with creative solutions".

As part of their engineering experience, the girls heard presentations on engineering careers, interacted with a current engineering student and participated in experiments.

"Interest in maths and science careers is not keeping pace with the need for engineers in the workforce, and women are significantly underrepresented in related positions," says senior programme officer for ExxonMobil, Truman Bell.

"It's imperative that we capture young women's attention and curiosity when they are in middle school and show them the fun and excitement that a future in engineering can hold," says Bell.

ExxonMobil holds events at 14 company sites and reaches more than 3,500 students annually.

Watch a video about the initiative here.

Scientific recruitment service SRG has published its latest Science Labour Market Trends survey. It found that although the UK market had a tough time last year, shedding permanent and contract staff, some sectors have shown resilience and continued to hire scientific staff.

The outlook for 2010 is positive with nearly three times as many companies as last year forecasting an increased requirement for permanent staff. This should be particularly apparent in sectors such as biotechnology, environmental and oil/gas/petrochemicals sectors.

The survey - now in its fourth year - asked 554 UK employers of scientists a series of questions, including:

• Compared with one year ago, is your company finding it easier or more difficult to recruit scientific personnel?
• Is your company using more or less permanent full time scientific staff or contract/temporary scientific staff?
• Looking ahead over the next 12 months, will your company be looking to increase or decrease the number of permanent scientific staff?
  

It concluded that almost three times as many companies (29.5%) are looking to increase the numbers of permanent scientific staff they use in 2010 compared with the 10.5% looking to decrease numbers of scientists.

Visit the SRG website to read the full survey.

The Scottish chemicals industry has launched a partnership with academia and the government aimed at highlighting the country's R&D capabilities.

The new collaboration, called ScotCHEM, involves the chemistry departments of seven universities: Strathclyde, Glasgow, Heriot-Watt, Dundee, Aberdeen, St Andrews and University of Edinburgh.

By Lara Mcnamee

Evonik Industries has produced its latest Sustainability publication Amazing Answers to the Next Big Thing: Sustainability in which it talks about how it sees vocational training as being an investment in the future for young people, companies, and even industrial regions.

Evonik states that it gives people starting their careers lifelong opportunities through vocational training. In 2009, 600 young people began their apprenticeships at its Group companies. This it says is 9%, the apprentice ratio at Evonik which it claims is "well above average" for the German industry, which is at an average of 6.5%.  

The company offers over 40 vocational training courses that lead to officially recognized qualifications. Evonik invests around €57m/year in vocational training for young people.

The company believes that the number of people graduating from school is declining and that is reducing the size of the potential labour force. The company is currently preparing around 2,300 apprentices for future employment.

For more on Evonik's vocational training opportunities please click here.
 

By Lara Mcnamee

In the latest web magazine published by LANXESS there is an interesting article - The First Step Into the Future - about internship opportunities at the company.

The article states that "for many students, an internship with a company is an ideal complement to their studies at a university or university of applied sciences because it enables them to gather experience in a certain field and to see how people work at an international company".

In addition, an internship offers the opportunity to explore your own primary interests, establish important contacts, and discover the fun of practical work, it says.

LANXESS says it offers students exciting insights into the world of chemistry and the opportunity to try out their skills during an internship. Internships are concentrated primarily in the natural sciences as well as in technical and commercial fields. But the Germany-based specialty chemicals group also finds interesting assignments for such 'exotics' as social science or liberal arts majors.

In addition to pre-study internships and internships during basic and main studies, LANXESS also offers positions to selected applicants wishing to write their diploma or doctorate thesis. The same applies to students in bachelor's or master's programmes.

The company says that interns receive personal support and can also get an optimal impression of a possible start to their professional careers.

Interested students can apply for an internship online via the LANXESS homepage.

By Lara Mcnamee 

ExxonMobil and Bernard Harris Jr, the first African American to walk in space, will hold a series of free Summer science camps for over 1,500 US students in around 30 universities.

The programme is said to be the largest of its kind in the US and lasts for two weeks. Students typically come from urban districts around the country and are recommended by their teachers based on leadership skills and science and mathematics aptitude. 

"ExxonMobil shares Dr Harris's passion for maths and science education," says chairman and chief executive officer ExxonMobil Corporation, Rex Tillerson.

"These camps help students explore beyond their horizons to encourage a life-long love of maths and science and a better future," says Tillerson.

At camp, students attend daily classes in the natural sciences, engineering, mathematics and technology, taught by faculty of participating universities and secondary classroom teachers, who receive professional development training.

Activities include classroom study, experiments, individual, team and group projects, weekly field excursions and motivational guest speakers.

Since 2006, almost 4,000 students from across the US have attended ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camps.

More information about student eligibility and selection criteria can be found at the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp website.
 

Students from Harper Park Middle School, in Leesburg, Virginia, and Eagle Ridge Middle School in Ashburn, convened today to compete in the Chemical Educational Foundation's You Be The Chemist (YBTC) Challenge. The competition is sponsored by the National Association of Chemical Distributors and is aimed at grade 5-8 students.
 
The participants consist of the top four scorers from a qualification exam held at each school in January. Those with the top 20 highest scores from each school's qualification exam will receive Challenge T-shirts, note pads, and pencils. The top three winners of the Local Challenge will receive monetary prizes.

The winner of the competition will advance to the National YBTC Challenge on June 18 to go head to head with winners from across the country.

We reported on last year's winners on this very blog!

The latest issue of ICIS Chemical Business features another article focusing on our Education and Recruitment Campaign.

In finding a solution to the skills shortage problem, see how technology can help companies in the chemical and other process industries

Consultant's corner
John Taylor/AspenTech

ACROSS THE Western world in particular, process engineering companies have typically benefited from being able to access experienced talent in the form of operators, control/process engineers and general IT staff. Today, we are seeing the effects of a demographic time bomb. Thousands of engineers are on the verge of retirement and there is a shortage of staff with sufficient skills to replace these employees.

With pressure from the market and companies looking at rationalizing assets, this situation is likely to worsen - at least in the short term. Heightening the problem further is the fact that a prolonged recession is likely to accelerate the current trend among engineers to take early retirement.

The problem is particularly acute across the oil, gas and chemical sectors. According to international trade body the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the average age of a petroleum worker is 51. Nearly 60% are 45 or older. This represents a peak in the profile of existing workers and suggests that approximately 40% of the workforce will be lost over the next decade.

Continue reading the article...

What makes a boat float? How do magnets work?  What is liquid density? The CDP/EDP group in Allentown will be exploring these questions through interesting experiments with kindergarten and first grade students at the Saturday Morning On Campus (SMOC) program.

This enrichment program allows East Penn students to explore the wonders of science and is designed to explore various areas of scientific concepts by learning through hands on activities, beyond what they are exposed to during their weekly classes.  

Interested in volunteering for a Saturday in February or March? For more information email Air Products' Leroy Covington.

The UK's North East Process Industry Cluster (NEPIC) is trying to find out how the regional chemical industry interacts with schools and colleges. NEPIC seems to be quite pro-active in encouraging engagement with local communities. How else will a huge site like Wilton, with residential developments not far away, continue to get the support of local people? Reducing the fear of the unknown is a key duty of the chemical industry and NEPIC should be praised for their work.

Click here for a link to the survey

The survey will help NEPIC's STEM Education Team decide upon the strategy that they should adopt when working with educationalists in the region: "we are seeking to map the interactions that companies have with schools, colleges and other related groups. These might be direct links that have been built by the company, or more indirect links through individuals within the company."

The deadline is 05/02/2010.

Any questions should be sent separately to ian.findley@nepic.co.uk.

 

The Wilton site at sunset