How is chemistry changing?

“Chemistry is a science that is ever evolving. People are making contributions to this great field on a daily basis. Because of medications that have been through the use of chemistry, we can now enjoy longer lives with decreased discomfort. I believe that these advances will only increase in the coming years.”
Sylvester Mosley, former ACS Scholar; Postdoctoral Research Associate, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Bethesda, Md. He is a 4-year ACS member.

“Chemists are looking for new challenges. The greatest of these challenges involves addressing the chemical complexity of biological systems. Thus, there are increasing numbers of chemists working at the interface of chemistry and biology.”
Philip Portoghese, Distinguished Professor, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; editor, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. He is a 48-year ACS member.

“The field is changing in that it is much more multi-disciplinary. In order to work on a specific problem you need to have a team approach and draw ideas from various aspects of science, engineering as well as social sciences. This makes the field much more dynamic.”
Frankie Wood-Black, Senior Air Professional, Trihydro Corporation, Laramie, Wyo. She is 21-year ACS member

“I used to cringe after I mentioned to someone that I was chemist because the response always seemed to be a face of incomprehension or ‘wow, you must be a genius.’ Now I know it’s an opportunity to educate those about the accomplishments and future of chemistry and that we need everyone involved to succeed.”
Michael B. McGinnis, Professor of Chemistry, North Georgia College & State University, Dahlonega, Ga. He is a 17-year ACS member.

“Chemistry is always trying to improve what is already known and is constantly trying to find new knowledge, new discoveries that improve and transform the quality of live. Through new discoveries and a better understanding of what is affecting our quality of life, including health, the environment and energy, chemists have sought and will continue to produce solutions all these problems.”
Ingrid Montes, Professor of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, San Juan. She is a 28-year ACS member.

“Scientists don’t work in isolation anymore. Chemists, engineers, physicists, mathematicians and biologists are more likely to working as team these days. The ability to speak other scientific languages is more critical than ever.”
Janet Bryant, Scientist/Engineer IV, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash. She is a 12-year ACS member.

“Chemistry is changing in that it used to be that new discoveries were more easily turned into solutions to problems. Today, new discoveries such as nanotechnology seem to be waiting for problems to solve. This means that today's chemist or engineer has to be more in tune with the problems than ever before, so that whatever discoveries are made can ‘find a home’ as a solution as quickly as possible.”
Gary Calabrese, Vice President, Science and Technology, Corning, Inc. Corning, N.Y. He is a 30-year ACS member.

“Being a chemist or chemical engineer today is vastly different from years earlier. Today, it is more common to see chemists working as science policy analysts, journalists, patent lawyers, sales representatives and chemical information specialists/scientists in addition to the common tracks—academia and industry. We have a skill set that we can apply to any area and adapt.”
Sibrina Collins, Director of Graduate Diversity Recruiting, University of Washington. She is a 12-year ACS member.

“I don't think it's changing much, though the computer has certainly made differences in the way we do chemistry. We still make molecules, and identify them; so synthesis and analysis remain the primary chemical activities.”
Roald Hoffmann, 1981 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and the Frank H.T. Rhodes Professor of Humane Letters, and professor of chemistry, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. He is a 45-year ACS member.

“Chemistry changes as our global demands change, so being a chemist or chemical engineer means keeping up with these changes and continuously pushing the limits of what we think is possible.”
Keith G. Reed, former ACS Scholar; Ph.D. candidate, School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. He is an 8-year ACS member.

“Teaching high school chemistry is changing. The first chemistry lab experiment I experienced in high school was dramatic—the reaction to form a vivid yellow precipitate of lead(II) chromate. With the difficulties encountered with proper disposal of chemicals these days, I doubt that lab is seen as often. Teachers joke that all they can use in labs these days is water and table salt. There is a challenge to teach using labs that are “greener”, and to move more toward kitchen-type chemicals.”
Erica Jacobsen, secondary school chemistry education editor, Journal of Chemical Education, The Dalles, Ore. She is a 4-year ACS member

“We as chemists have a dual responsibility. We must educate the public about the many positive contributions chemistry has made to our lives. And at the same time we need to use chemistry to help mend what ails this earth, keeping research in the environment a key emphasis in our research and education. Science holds the key to improvement in a vast amount of areas, and we as scientists need to use it to unlock the doors to a greener, more responsible, healthier Earth.”
Jill Rockwood, science teacher, Montessori Children's House, Peoria, Ill. She is a 10-year ACS member.

“I believe that being a chemist these days is to be committed with the duty of preserving the world for the future generations. Chemists helped to construct a modern society and they will certainly be involved in changing what mankind is doing with the world.”
Claudio J.A. Mota, Institute of Chemistry, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a 15-year ACS member.

“For an organic chemist, pure synthetic chemistry is becoming more automated. It is also easier to do as better reagents become available. At Merck, we are able to do green chemistry well because we do chemistry well. Developing solutions based on green chemistry principles can initially be more challenging. But in the end — because these processes are safer, more efficient, less energy-intensive, and produce significantly less waste — we reduce the costs of production and encourage innovation.”
Joseph Vacca, Executive Director, Merck Research Labs, West Point, Pa. He is a 31-year ACS member.

“Chemistry is becoming more interdisciplinary, more collaborative and broader. Scientists work as teams sharing their knowledge and complementing each other to advance investigations that present solutions to problems that affect our daily life.”
Ingrid Montes, Professor of Chemistry, University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras, San Juan. She is a 28-year ACS member.