Donald Trump will be the 47th President of the United States. I’m not happy about that.
But this is not a blog about my personal feelings about politics; it is a blog to help chemists find jobs, and to help understand how to measure the quality of the job market.
We have a couple of months before he takes office. I plan to spend some time between now and then making predictions as to actual Trump Administration policy, and how it might impact the readers of this blog.
Five topics I can think of immediately:
- Immigration: What will immigration policy be under the second Trump Administration?
- Tariffs: How will Trump’s threatened tariffs impact American chemists?
- Regulation: How will the EPA and the FDA be impacted under their new leadership?
- Academic science: How will US academic science be impacted, in terms of funding for NIH and other federal funding agencies?
- Employment: How will this change the long-term trajectory of employment for American chemists?
What topics do you suggest I tackle? Please respond in the comments with specific topics and NOT predictions. (Please avoid posting lengthy political opinions in this thread. If you must post your political opinion, I ask that each person limit themselves to the same number of words as me - 6 words.) E-mails welcome: chemjobber@gmail.com
I'm interested in trends of hiring and retainment across states. Chemists who can get pregnant may have a mass exodus from certain states in an attempt to protect ourselves
ReplyDeleteI think regulation interests me most. In my field (photopolymerization) we've seen a lot of general nervousness since the most popular photoinitiator (PI) is getting banned in EU and the US was set to be close behind. This has led to a mixture of approaches: The first is a "designer drug" approach, where similar chemistries that aren't exactly the same as the PI being banned are just being subbed in place of the old PI. The second is taking a wholesale look at new PI moieties that avoid the functional group that is expected to be more broadly banned in a few years after this first PI.
ReplyDeleteMore generally: Will companies still move forward with phase-out plans for various chemicals, or will they be less aggressive assuming/hoping that planned regulations are paused/canceled? Very curious to see how the answers in other fields of chemistry with more regulatory concerns than mine compare.
Not sure if it's a priority for the incoming administration, but since personnel is policy, I would keep an eye on changes to accreditation standards at US educational institutions. How will future educational financial support (e.g. student loans) be impacted?
ReplyDeleteIf the new congress votes on any increase in DOD funding, will that trickle down to defense related R&D at national labs?
ReplyDeletei expect at least some will. I'm on the faculty job market and am preparing to discuss how I can leverage my DOD connections and reframe some of my research plans as being beneficial to DOD.
DeleteAcademic science, particularly federal funding and recruiting international students/scholars. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteHow will the basic education prepare our students for pursuing a STEM degree?
ReplyDeleteIt hasn't prepared our students for these degrees for a while. The kids that work at my local grocery store can't convert fractions to decimals on the scales.
DeleteI second this. Critical thinking is (or maybe always has?) been a weak point of the general public.
DeleteHow will changes at FDA impact drug R&D (how much will there be? will the likely modalities and research emphasises change? will who does it change?) - Hap
ReplyDeleteHow will the general public's trust in science change with the influx of anti-science politicians into federal agencies?
ReplyDeleteHow are US scientific organizations planning to effectively shape public discourse around sciences? Our organizations' attempts at "outreach" are lame and basically involve preaching to the choir. These organizations should take some responsibility for the state of science literacy in this country.
ReplyDeleteHow will Trump's climate policies affect the practice of chemistry? Will we see a rollback of regulations (e.g. relaxing restrictions on CH2Cl2)?
ReplyDeleteWill Trump follow through on his suggestion to staple green cards to university diplomas? How would such a program impact the chemical sector? Labor supply? Salaries?
ReplyDelete