How the ICT program can prepare you for employment

When I was asked to answer this question by Bill Killian and Dr. Pasquale DiRaddo it brought to mind that in the last year, just by coincidence, I have been asked a similar question two times previously. The first time I was asked to present a paper at the 219th National American Chemical Society Meeting in a symposium entitled "Roles and Responsibilities of the Professional Technician in the 21st Century." The second time the question posed came from Norman Peterson, my major instructor in the ICT program. The question was "Could you have done all the things you have done had you gotten a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry?" Both of these questions had me looking to my past and this question does the same.

I graduated from the ICT program in 1964; we had slide rules for calculators and pen and paper for everything else. There were no personal computers, Internet, voice mail, Xerox, cell phones, or pagers. Computers were room size, which used punch cards or tape to feed the data and programs. Phones were dial, secretaries took messages and all reports and graphs were done by hand.

I went from Ferris State College (I was in the first graduating class for FSC) to the Dow Corning Corporation working in the Radiation and Radiochemical labs of the Physical Chemistry Department. This is a field that few if any, undergraduate or graduate level chemists were trained to work. I not only survived in this atmosphere, I thrived. The program had given me all the tools I needed to get started in my first chemical technician job.

The interesting thing is that the tools I arrived at Dow Corning with seem antiquated by today's standard but in those days 36 years ago, they were as advanced as the instruction is today. The backbone of the program is unchanged in the years since I graduated; however the content of the course work has changed. I arrived for my first day of work with a working knowledge of chemistry, physics and mathematics. The ICT course work, whose intent was to simulate industrial labs, had given the necessary skills to properly document experiments and write reports. I had learned to research experiments and the use of a slide rule to perform the calculations required. I had been exposed to different instrumentation. And maybe, at least in my opinion, I had acquired from Norman Peterson the most valuable tools; work ethic, a thirst for more chemical knowledge, and a curiosity for the chemical reaction.

Carbon chemistry was translated into Silicon chemistry. Calculations used to prepare lab samples in school were exchanged for Radio assay or Radiation dosimetry. The grounding in the use of instruments led to the use of more sophisticated and delicate instruments; and I might add without fear because of the experience of using them at FSU. Oral and written reports became easier with each succeeding effort. The secret to this success was the ICT program and the habits it instills in its graduates.

During the 25 years since I left the Radio and Radiation Chemistry group I have held a number of different positions, in a number of different fields. I have been an inspector at the construction of a nuclear power plant, quality control manager and development chemist. I have worked with thermoset molding compounds, thermoplastics, adhesives, and cleaning products for both soft and hard surfaces. Each of the moves has built upon the basic building blocks that I received from my initial education at Ferris and the ICT program. I have also gone on to take a number of courses in the years I have been out of school. All were aimed at furthering my usefulness as a technician. Over the years I have taken Polymer and Physical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Applied Surfactant Chemistry, Calculus, Statistics, Computer programming in PL1, COBOL, FORTRAN, and BASIC, several business courses and a large number of instrument short courses.

Today, I am a Technician Specialist. My primary function is to use my 36 years of experience to solve problems, which keep manufacturing from operation under normal conditions. In addition, I chair the Division of Chemical Technicians, Inc. of the American Chemical Society. How did the ICT program prepare me for my present position? In short it gave me the basics and the thirst to learn. It prepared me to join the laboratory team. It gave me the start of my self-esteem, self-confidence, and my work ethic. I value above all my integrity developed from its beginnings in the ICT program.