Thursday, September 15, 2011

Alternative careers in chemistry: public policy

In this week's chapter of "Nontraditional Careers for Chemists"*, Lisa Balbes covers three people who are involved in public policy. There's a National Research Council mid-level director, a senior science advisor at a national law firm and a lobbyist/corporate VP of research.

How did the law firm advisor get to her position and what does she do?:
[After her Ph.D.], Lee really wanted to combine her interests in science, public policy, and writing and to do more research and public-policy work. A friend from graduate school heard about a law firm that was looking for a chemist to serve as an advisor and recommended Lee. She jumped at the opportunity, went for the interview and was hired.  
Lee's responsibilities have increased in the five years she's been at the law firm. She is now engaged in a much wider variety of activities. In addition to writing policy and technical papers and advising on scientific matters, she spends a significant amount of time in a a management role, helping lead and coordinate activities in which the firm's clients are involved. She explains, "This may involved coordinating the activities of testing labs or managing scientific or industry working groups." 
How did the lobbyist get their position? (This is a good one).
Jim's first job after graduate school was an assistant professor of chemistry at Davidson College, where he taugh and conducted research for 12 years. While at Davidson, he successfully ran for a position on the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners. He was a commissioner for six years, serving as chairman for the latter parts of this tenure there... Looking for a ways to make more of an impact, Jim ran for a seat in the UI.S. House of Representatives in 1972. He was elected and ended up serving six consecutive terms... In 1984, he was elected governor of the state of North Carolina... In 1993, he stepped down as governor and prepared to return to private life... He was offered a position heading the research lab at Carolinas Medical Center.. In 1999, instead of retiring, Jim again left the research world to move into public policy, this time as a lobbyist. 
I should definitely do a post on chemists that end up in government -- there seem to be a fair number of them...

*As always, CJ's copy of the book helpfully provided by the author, Dr. Lisa Balbes.
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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    Hey I heard of that guy. Chemists make good Governors. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2011 at 3:40 PM

    Technically, neither of these qualify as examples of alternative careers for chemists. In the first case the person took a well-trodden legal path. What she did after that does not matter. In another we have a tenured (I assume) faculty member going into politics which is a highly unusual event, a classic example of anecdotal evidence.
    What's gonna be the next career advice? Follow Greg's example and become a full professor at a top-notch school before switching to adminstration and becoming a president of a university?

    ReplyDelete
  3. ChemjobberSeptember 15, 2011 at 4:11 PM

    A12:40p:

    Sorry this week isn't for you. Perhaps future topics: safety, computers/IT, HR and non-college teaching will be more to your liking.

    What exactly are you looking for? I'd like to provide it, especially since you took the time to write a comment.

    ReplyDelete
  4. leftscienceawhileagoSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:32 PM

    Romania's minister of education was a head student if Jean-Marie Lehn:

    http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110112/full/news.2011.8.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. leftscienceawhileagoSeptember 15, 2011 at 7:34 PM

    Autocorrect crazy:

    Grad student of

    ReplyDelete
  6. elbiliscibusSeptember 15, 2011 at 10:04 PM

    I find the topic interesting as I'm considering a move to policy/research administration. However, it seems that the first step is going to be quite difficult. I'm finishing my 1st postdoc and trying to come back to Europe. I've been advised by someone working at funding agency that I would need another 2/3 years as a postdoc. Haven't seen a lot of positions anyway, apart from a few unpaid internships...

    ReplyDelete
  7. ChemjobberSeptember 15, 2011 at 10:09 PM

    It's kind of a silly question / I'm not sure it's up your alley, but I seem to recall that the UN hires scientists for those type of positions...

    ReplyDelete
  8. elbiliscibusSeptember 15, 2011 at 10:21 PM

    That would be interesting but I remember looking at the un career website a while ago and that I couldn't find much for scientists.

    ReplyDelete
  9. ChemjobberSeptember 15, 2011 at 10:40 PM

    I think I was tempted by the Young Professionals Program at some point:

    https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=NCE

    ReplyDelete
  10. elbiliscibusSeptember 15, 2011 at 11:28 PM

    I was kind of interested too. Maybe next year depending on the position offered. The Junior Professional Officer Program also seems interesting (http://www.jposc.org/content/programme/presentation-en.html#1).
    There seem to be quite a few opportunities like this but the advertisement for them is quite poor.

    ReplyDelete
  11. mamidSeptember 16, 2011 at 8:51 AM

    @leftscienceawhileago:

    Yes, but as the Minister of Education, Research, Youth and Sports, he's been nothing more than an incompetent but arrogant @$$hole.

    ReplyDelete

looks like Blogger doesn't work with anonymous comments from Chrome browsers at the moment - works in Microsoft Edge, or from Chrome with a Blogger account - sorry! CJ 3/21/20