Pursuing original, scholarly research is particularly emphasized in Ph.D. training because practicing chemists believe that involvement in frontier-level research is the most effective method for helping graduate students learn many of the conceptual and professional aspects of the field. Yet the report, �Advancing Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences,� prepared by this organization's Presidential Commission on Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences brings into question the efficacy of current training practices with respect to new Ph.D. chemists' ability to function in the workforce. The results of our studies of graduate students and faculty suggest that one way to catalyze the student' robust development is by encouraging their maturation as professional chemists. In this talk I will present a developmental model of professional identity that resulted from a study of graduate students from the traditional sub-disciplines of chemistry. Additionally, I will discuss how studying the manner by which graduate students and faculty make decisions regarding their routine activities as scientists has helped us better understand how professional identity appears to be connected to the intellectual and ethical development of chemists.

Me, myself, and I: Professional identity in the epistemic and ethical development of chemists

247th National Meeting (2014)

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