Several calls for reform in STEM graduate education have been made throughout the past few decades. These and other reports and research projects call attention to the deficit of knowledge and skills that graduate students will need in their future advanced STEM careers. However, broad skills (i.e. communication, soft skills, etc.) are very often referenced, but not explicitly defined. This research attempts to determine the knowledge and skills chemists in all sectors need. A total of 31 chemists from teaching faculty, research faculty, industry, and government were interviewed to gauge their perceptions of what knowledge and skills were required for their positions. We are employing a novel qualitative strategy for analysis: One member of the research has open-coded the interviews while the present study focuses on the closed coding of the same interviews. Closed codes were developed by examining relevant literature and seeking definitions or expanded descriptions of many knowledge and skill components. After codes were initially developed an applied, our research exposed a lack of detail in the descriptions of knowledge skills needed for successful professional chemists. The majority of resources did not explicitly define knowledge and skills in their studies. The failure to definitively define the skills needed for chemistry graduate students leaves graduate programs without tangible learning objectives. This research highlights the need for exercise precision of language in defining skills in order to assess and address the gap in knowledge that graduate students currently have to the skills that professional chemists desire.

Identifying the knowledge and skills needed for chemistry: An exercise in precision of language

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.