Graduate Chemistry hosts evening with Bill Carroll, former President of the American Chemical Society
Chemistry Ph.D. candidate, Douglas R. Gisewhite, working with other members of Philadelphia’s Younger Chemists Committee and Bryn Mawr College’s department of chemistry, brought Professor Bill Carroll to Park Science Center for an evening of career advice and professional development.
Professor Carroll has had a wide-ranging career, working in both industry and academia and serving in leadership roles in several professional organizations. To the room of future chemists, he emphasized the importance of communication and professionalism. “Habits and perspectives developed early in your career set the tone for the way you will operate for its duration. In an era where you are less likely to remain in a job or even possibly a discipline for an entire career, how you manage yourself as a professional becomes critical.”
In addition to advice for early-career chemists, Professor Carroll also delivered a talk, “Statistics and the Shirelles: How Physical Sciences Thinking Informs Popular Music Analytics.” He discussed how analytical tools pioneered in the physical sciences were used to make sense of popular music data gathered by the music industry in an ‘around the world’ collaboration.
The evening also featured a Career Pathways workshop, offering attendees an in-depth look at how appropriate networking and an effective resume can be used to build one’s personal brand. Professor Carroll warned that commoditization occurs in the work force once fungibility is perceived. To avoid becoming a commodity employee, one must continually work toward developing a value added perception of their personal brand.