I’m currently sitting in a coffee shop, spending the day working on my laptop.  I’m here waiting for several boy scouts who are attending a Merit Badge University, and learning about Leatherwork, Public Speaking, and Reptile and Amphibian Study, among other things.  As I watched them head off to their respective  classes, it occurred to me how eager they were to learn new things, and explore the world around them.  In their case, if they are successful, they will come back with a completed merit badge to prove they now understand and can execute a whole new set of skills.  More than just a piece of cloth on their uniform, they have confidence in their ability to do and share their new knowledge.

For those of us who a are just a little bit older, it’s not quite so easy.  There are lot of things we want to learn about, but the effort and time commitment to sign up for a formal class is often more than we are willing to expend.

Fortunately, we often acquire new skills and knowledge without formal training, and sometimes without fully realizing what we have learned.  I recently taught a workshop to a group of graduate students, and in talking about resumes was asking them about their professional experience and significant accomplishments.  Several of them told me they didn’t have any work experience  - a statement I hope their graduate advisor would take exception to!

When I started probing, they were almost all able to tell me about something they had done of which they were very proud.  Maybe it was a compound they had synthesized, a particularly difficult analysis they had completed, or in some cases a class they had taught where they felt they really made a difference in the life of a particular student.  In every case, once they started talking about the event, they became animated and their excitement and pride was palpable.  As I asked questions about what they did and what they had learned, they started to realize just how much this particular event had meant to them, and how much they had learned in the process.

Sometimes, we need to step back and think about what we’re done lately, and reflect on what we have accomplished, and/or  learned.  New analytical instruments or tools are usually easy to recognize, but new non-technical skills are sometimes harder to spot.

Take a few minutes over your coffee today to think about what you’ve done lately, and what you’ve learned from it.  Have you given a talk, or written a report?  What did you learn, not only about the subject matter, but about the process and perhaps a better way to prepare for the next time?  Did you recently get through a difficult situation with a co-worker, and what did you learn about how you might handle a similar situation the next time?

Think also about what you haven’t learned, that might make your career better.  Is there some new technique or method that you’ve been meaning to learn, but just haven’t gotten to?  Maybe your last performance review pointed out oral presentation skills as an area in which you could improve.  Set aside a few minutes to read a few journal articles, or find and attend a Toastmaster’s meeting.

Too often we wait for a crisis to force us to take action, when we know we should have done it long ago.  Identifying gaps in your knowledge and addressing them is one of the best things you can do for your professional future.  Exploring new areas on your own prepares you for the future, and lets you move your career in the direction of your choosing, not into areas that others select for you.  You may not earn a merit badge (like both of my scouts did), but you will gain the satisfaction of knowing that your career is moving forward, and you are the one directing it.

This article was written by freelance scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2007). She blogs on Career Development for Scientists.

In a competitive job market, you need to do everything you can to make yourself stand out from other candidates. Especially when you get to the interview stage, you know you are competing against other candidates that are also highly qualified.

So in preparation for the interview, you take your suit to the cleaners, arrange transportation and lodging (if needed), and practice, practice, practice your research presentation.

You’ve heard that you should do some research on the company, so you spend an hour or so looking through their web site, clicking semi-randomly on pages and links that may be of interest.  You don’t learn much, but at least you feel good that you did it.  Right?

I often ask hiring managers what candidates should do that most of them don’t do.  Almost every time, the answer is “do their homework on the company before the interview”.  I’ve had some tell me they want the candidate to know everything that’s on the company web site, and at least one thing that is NOT on the company’s web site.

I was reviewing some industry analysis reports from the financial world today, and it struck me that the questions they proposed for use in evaluating companies for monetary investment were very similar to the ones you might want to ask before a job interview.

• The first thing you want to research is their products – What specifically do they sell?   (For example, pharmaceutical products can be prescription or over the counter, innovator or generic, and so on)?  What do they currently have on the market, and what is in development?  A company’s products, and its pipeline of future products, are its lifeblood.  A solid pipeline of products is essential for success.
• Have their past research and development efforts been successful?  What portion of their operating revenues are spent on R&D?  Is that part of the company growing or shrinking?  Research and development are key to finding those new products to fill the pipeline.
• Have they been involved in any recent mergers, acquisitions, or other partnerships?  While these may increase stock prices, in the short-term they can have a negative impact on employee morale, internal efficiency, and cause customer confusion.  You may not want to discuss this with the interviewer, but you certainly want to keep your eyes and ears open during the day for possible problems.
• What does their international profile look like?  Have they just opened new facilities overseas?  Have they closed local facilities?  This may indicate long-term stability of the facility at which you are being offered a position.
• What do their financial statements, or SEC filings, say about their sales growth, profit margins, earnings…?  Are they making capital investments, or maintaining the status quo?  This is further evidence of the company’s long-term strategy and success.
• What is the background of the company’s managers? You want strong, capable leadership that is knowledgeable in the industry.
• With whom will you be interviewing, and working? You can ask for a copy of the interview schedule in advance (it’s usually available if you ask), then use Google and LinkedIn and scientific literature searches to learn about their background, interests and experiences.  The more you know about your interviewers, the better questions you can ask, and the more likely you are to connect with them.
• What is the corporate culture?  If you’re lucky, they publish it right on their web site like Merck does. To ensure long-term satisfaction, you want to work in a corporate culture that is consistent with your values. Values you might want to look for include commitment to innovation, quality, excellence, professionalism, teamwork, diversity, continual improvement, organizational learning, and so on.

Some of these questions you have probably  looked into before you applied for the position (hopefully!).  However, just before the interview is when you really want to make sure you have all the information you need to ask intelligent, probing questions that will allow both you and the company to evaluate your fit for their needs.

The financial/investment community is expert at determining the value of companies, and conducting extensive research and due diligence on specific companies and industries. Their systematic approach to company valuation is exactly what you do before you invest in a company – either with your money, or  with your time by seeking a job there.

This article was written by freelance scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006). She blogs on Career Development for Scientists.

With all the bad news around lately, it’s nice when something positive shows up.  Perhaps that’s why my interest was piqued when I saw an article entitled American Graduates Finding Jobs in China in the New York Times recently.

According to this article, there is a new wave of Americans moving to China to be part of the entrepreneurial boom there.  With lower unemployment (4.3% in rural areas in China, as compared to 9.4% in the United States) and a gross domestic product that rose 7.9% in the most recent quarter (as compared to the same period last year), China looks to be a land of great opportunity.

In reading through the article, and the individuals mentioned therein, several things struck me.  First, several people mentioned being hired for their “familiarity with Western modern dance”, their ability to “communicate with the Western world”, or their understanding of the social and cultural nuances of the West.

Almost all of these people are being hired to facilitate relationships between Chinese companies and Western markets.  Their knowledge of how things work in Western societies is their most important skill, and the particular domain expertise is secondary.  Building relationships between companies in different cultures can be difficult, and the people involved need to have intimate understanding of at least one of the cultures, and some immersion in the other culture as well.

Another thing mentioned in the article is that the educational systems in the two countries are different, and tend to reward different personality traits. These different educational styles, combined with societal influences, mean that people from different backgrounds tend to approach problems differently.  In recent years, we have realized that having people from different backgrounds on project teams is extremely helpful – everyone brings their own way of approaching the problem, as well as their specific technical expertise.

Since we now work with people around the world on a regular basis, we have learned to take advantage of these differences.  While others may have different ways of approaching problems, they just might see old problems in a new way.

Anyone who has a small child knows that one of their favorite questions to ask is “why?”. Why do you do this or that, and why do you do it that way, or in that order?  While sometimes there is an explanation, often the answer is “I don’t know” or “because that’s the way I’ve always done it”.  And upon reflection, you may realize there is a better, or different, way that would work just as well.

People not familiar with your culture can do the same thing for you.  By constantly asking “why”?, they make you think about what you are doing, and why you are doing it that way.  And sometimes, by making you stop to think about it, they just may make you come up with a better way to do something.

So even if you don’t want to move across the world to experience another culture, you can learn from people with different backgrounds – not only how they approach things, but maybe even how you do.

This article was written by freelance scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

Back when I was in high school (and dinosaurs roamed the earth), everyone knew who the popular kids were.  They hung out together in groups, oozed self-confidence, and had a whole second layer of people who just wanted to be close to them, to be popular by association.

Today, high schoolers have a whole new way of tracking their popularity.  Online social networks such as MySpace and Facebook let you track how many “friends” you have.  By comparing your number to your friends’ numbers, you can tell how popular you are relative to them.  In some groups it becomes a contest, to see who can have the most “friends”.  In fact, there is now a place where you can buy up to 5,000 Facebook friends for $654.30, or up to 10,000 Facebook fans for $1167.30.

LinkedIn, the professional social networking site, has a similar connection-based operation.  You make “connections”, and can follow their status changes, discussions and other professional activities.  But does having a large number of connections on LinkedIn mean you have a vibrant, healthy professional network?  Or does it just mean you are good at asking for connections from everyone you run into?

One way to test this is by looking at your list of connections, and asking yourself “Would this person take my phone call?”  An even better question – “If I lost my job and called this person, would they merely sympathize, or would they go out of their way to look for leads and opportunities that matched my background and professional goals?

To turn it around, how many of the people in your professional network have you talked to lately?  How many have you done a favor for, or passed along a tidbit that you thought might help them out?  How many do make contact with on a regular basis?  Or do you look your list of connections and try to remember where you met them, and why you wanted to connect in the first place?

Connections, whether tracked online, in an electronic database, or in an old-fashioned paper Rolodex, go stale with time.  Online systems make it easier to keep current contact information, because they update their information when they change companies, but just because you know how to reach someone doesn’t mean you have a real connection with them.  After all, it’s not hard to find the phone number for the White House, but would President Obama take your call?  It takes time and effort to maintain real connections with others in your professional network, just like any other type of relationship.

NOW is the time to take a look at your network, solidify the relationships that are important to you, and build on your new, tentative connections.  Delete people whom you can’t even remember (they probably can’t remember you either).  For people you haven’t talked to in awhile, make contact.  Send an email, write a card, or pick up the phone.

People who have large, strong networks know who to call when they need help.  But that’s because they have prepared ahead of time, by building relationships and helping others out.  After all, they way to measure the strength of your network is not by how many people you know, but by how many people really think about you.

This article was written by freelance technical writer Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

CNN recently published a list of the Most Lucrative College Degrees. Twelve of the top paying 15 majors were various forms of engineering, and the remaining 3 were computer science, actuarial science, and construction management – all of which require a significant degree of math skills. According to their numbers, engineering and computer science make up only about 4% of all college graduates, while social science and history each comprise 16%. Simple supply and demand means that employers who need graduates with math skills will have to be willing to pay more for them.

The same is true of careers for chemists. In recent ACS salary surveys, the unemployment rate for chemists is usually about 65% of the national average unemployment rate. (However, long-term trend data suggests that this gap may be narrowing.)

While you certainly should not choose a major or a career based on what is currently most lucrative, it is encouraging to see that the math and science that we love is also a good place to make a living – better than average, in fact.

It is also encouraging to note that one of the few job sectors experiencing growth is green technologies, which according to the United Nations Environment Programme Green Jobs report, involves “work in agricultural, manufacturing, research and development, administrative, and service activities that contribute substantially to preserving or restoring environmental quality. Specifically, but not exclusively, this includes jobs that help to protect ecosystems and biodiversity; reduce energy, materials, and water consumption through high-efficiency strategies; de-carbonize the economy; and minimize or altogether avoid generation of all forms of waste and pollution.” Do any of these sound like they could use the input of chemists and chemical engineers?

So if you have these highly desired math and science skills, how do you go about moving your career in a green (or any other) direction?

Start by learning as much as you can about the new field. What terminology do they use? Are there certain certifications or educational requirements that are required for particular positions? What skills and abilities do they value, and how similar are they to ones you current have? Basically, you want to do background research on your possible new career, and do a gap analysis to determine the difference between what you have to offer, and what they need.

Next, figure out how to fill or bridge that gap. Are there books you can read, conferences you can attend, or classes you can take to obtain the missing knowledge? Can you use your current skills in another field to obtain a position related to your new field? Once you have a toehold in the new field, it will be much easier to move further into that field.

Figure out what accomplishments you have that will be relevant to the new field, and how to sell yourself. Companies are hiring you to do something, and the best way to prove that you can do it for them is by showing them how you have done just that (or something very close to that) already.

Finally, use the contacts you made while doing your initial research into the field to identify companies and departments that might have need of your particular skills.

This article was written by freelance technical writer Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

These days the career advice I hear most often is “go online and join a social network if you want to find a job”. While it is true that many people are finding jobs online through sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and the ACS network, it’s also true that just starting an account is not going to cause employers to beat down your door. To make the most of networking sites such as these, you must make them an integral part of your professional life, as well as a great online advertisement for YOU.

First, decide which ones you are going to join, and use. If you just set up an account and never visit the site again, you are wasting your time. Just like sending out resumes, determine where you are most likely to have success, then concentrate your efforts in that area. Surf around, or lurk on, various sites for a little while, and you’ll quickly figure out which are personal, which are professional, and which ones will work best for your particular purpose.

Once you decide to set up a professional profile on one of these sites, make sure it is a good one. Fill in as much information as possible about your current and past positions, career-related volunteer activities, knowledge, skills and abilities. Include all keywords that an employer might possibly search on, and a photo that represents the professional you. Include contact information – you don’t have to include your home address, but at least a reliable email address that you check and use regularly. In summary, make sure the entry is as complete and accurate as possible.

If possible, go beyond the basic profile. Include recommendations for and from peers and colleagues, links to additional information about your work, and join groups relevant to your professional interests. (Note that not all site have all these features.)

Next, start building your network. Find current and former colleagues, and connect with them. Don’t forget bosses, clients, and people you volunteer with outside of work. Watch the site for news of your connections connecting to others, and you’ll be surprised at how often you know the new person also. Send them an invitation to connect – but instead of using the boilerplate invitation, personalize it a little. Remind the person how they know you, and your acceptance rate will go up.

Don’t stop at just making connections. Update your status on a regular basis, letting people know what you are working on – without giving away any proprietary information, of course. Think about what new skills and responsibilities you want others to know about, and highlight those in your updates. Pose questions, and provide answers, in the discussion groups to which you belong. Over time, the information you post will provide followers with a picture of who you are, and what you can do. It becomes you personal brand, your online persona.

It goes without saying (but I’m going to say it anyway) that you should never post anything you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the New York Times.

Finally, don’t let your information go stale. Revisit the site on a regular basis and update your profile as your situation, or your professional responsibilities, change. Remember, this is your online resume, so you want to keep it as current as possible. After all, you never know when someone out there may need exactly what you have to offer – so make sure they can find you.

This article was written by freelance scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

Over the past several months, many friends and collegues have sent me their resumes, asking for a critical review. The majority had been laid off, and had not updated their resumes in a very long time. In recent weeks, the tide has shifted. I’m now getting more job descriptions with “here’s where I’m applying”, and have noticed an interesting trend in the sought-after positions. A significant number of them are government jobs, or a return to the classroom as a teacher.

This is a significant shift from what I usually see, which is almost all industrial positions. I wonder if this is related to the “current economic conditions” (which we’re all tired of hearing about, I’m sure). As people are forced to downsize, re-evaluate, and re-focus their lives, some are realizing that what they have been doing has not been what they really wanted to do. Many are realizing that they’d rather have a job with more security and less money than a high-paying job that might go away at any time. Government has traditionally been a very stable place to work, and education can also be fairly stable – there will always be a new generation of scientists needing to be taught. As the world in general becomes less secure, many people are looking for more stability in their professional lives.

Security is one of the six values ACS describes when talking to scientists about their careers in the “Planning Your Job Search” workshop. The others are Advancement, Altruism, Autonomy, Balance, and Challenge. Balance is the probably the easiest value to understand as it relates to work. Do you need flexible hours to care for children or elderly parents? Do you need to be able to take time off in the middle of the day and then work late in the evening, or to keep travel to a minimum? Are the family-friendly policies just written on the books, or can employees take advantage of them without being penalized in subtle (or perhaps not so subtle) ways?

The other values are just as important, though perhaps less obvious.

Do you derive great satisfaction from solving difficult, challenging problems but don’t get to do that in your current job? Result: You will be bored.

Do you enjoy working on your own – taking ownership of a project or team, and making decisions to move the project to a successful conclusion – but your current supervisor insists on micro-managing every detail? Result: You will be annoyed.

Many times when you are unhappy at work, it’s because your values and the company’s values (or your supervisor’s values) are not aligned.

Take some time to think about which values are most important to you. Are they being met by your current position? Have your values changed since you started the position? Personal values change over time, but may people fail to notice the gradual shift until a major event (such as a lay-off) forces them to re-evaluate everything.

You can prepare yourself periodically reflecting on your values and how they have changed, as well as how the world in which you live has changed. This will allow you to pro-actively evaluate where you are in your career and set a direction for your future.

This article was written by freelance technical writer Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

I spent the past weekend cabin camping with a boy scout troop.  The point of the trip was to take the boys on a challenge course.  They spent all day Saturday facing various physical obstacles, learning to work as a team, thinking creatively, and solving challenging problems.  For example, in one challenge they had to get all 7 members of their team over a 12 foot high wall, using only each other.  In another, they all had to walk across a 20’ log that was suspended several feet off the ground.

In the afternoon, they got into safety harnesses, climbed up a 8” wide ladder, and then walked across logs and wires 30 feet above the ground, with only a “ground buddy” yelling encouragement.  I am proud to say that every scout made it all the way across, with no one falling off or needing rescue.  While some did have more extreme coaching from the ground, every one made it all the way to the end, where they angel-repelled back down to the ground.

Did I mention this entire day was spent outdoors, with a temperature that never got above 30 degrees Fahrenheit?  And we had a light dusting of snow in the afternoon?

It was amazing to see teenage boys so nervous and cautious as they walked the high wires, then collapsing with relief as they reached the ground at last. They accomplished something they were not sure they could do, and you could see them swell with pride when they looked back up and realized what they had done.

That night, as I lay in my sleeping bag in the cabin, I thought about how well the smaller challenges on the ground had prepared the scouts for the larger ones on the high ropes.  By taking on the smaller challenges and successfully completing them, they built both their skill level and their confidence, so they were ready for the big challenge when it arrived. I had plenty of time to think, as the cold breeze made it hard to sleep. 

In the morning, I found out the cabin window near my cot had been cracked open, and that was the source of the cold breeze.  The irony was striking – here the scouts had risen above all sorts of physical challenges, but I couldn’t even be bothered to get out of my warm sleeping bag to find and eliminate the source of my own discomfort. 

Sometimes we are like that in our careers.  We get stuck in a rut, doing the same thing because that’s what we’ve always done, and it’s safe.  We may not like it, but can’t be bothered to step out of our comfort zone and learn a new skill, explore a different field, or try expanding our horizons – even when we know doing it would improve our situation in the long run. 

So, where are the “cold breezes” in your career?  What can you do to stop them?  Is there a class you can take, a new project you can ask to work on, or a meeting that you can attend to challenge yourself to learn something new – and perhaps make your own situation more comfortable in the long run. 

This article was written by scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants, and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

With all the bad news we’ve been hearing lately, I thought it was time for some good news. I looked around for some, and here’s what I was able to find.  

For those looking for a second career, or a way to keep busy with a little income after retirement, teaching has always been a viable option.  In fact, many places are now looking for more math and science teachers.  While teaching is certainly not for everyone, for those with the interest and aptitude it can be a great way to give back and share your love of science with the next generation.  

Other areas are hiring as well.  In this time of increasing globalization, Foreign Service Officers and junior officers are in demand, to work for the United States Government and help build self-sufficient governments in other parts of the world, in many cases by serving as a technical resource or transferring basic scientific knowledge from one area to another.
 
This has also been a Good Week for Green Jobs – those positions involved in supporting the solar, wind, biomass, hydro, hydrogen and fuel cell industries, many of which require scientific expertise and backgrounds. In fact, the newly formed Presidential Middle Class Task Force initially focused on how the creation of “green jobs” can help fuel the economic recovery and bolster the middle class. As more federal attention is paid to these issues, the number of opportunities can only be expected to increase.

If neither of those appeal to you, there may be a surge in interest for
Careers in Science Writing, Editing, Broadcasting, and Public Relations. While good communication skills are required for almost every job, in some cases you can make a career out of those skills alone.  

And finally, if you don’t get all the self-satisfaction you need from your day job, how about finding a second job that lets you explore other passions? Office Hand by Day; Rock Diva by Night talks about several people who get additional satisfaction, and a little extra money, by indulging their passions. For example, if your passion is movies, how about combining that with your scientific expertise and look into the Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences to provide “entertainment industry professionals with access to top scientists and engineers to help bring the reality of cutting-edge science to creative and engaging storylines”.

Having an interesting second job or hobby can also help when you get that Interview Question:  What do you do in your spare time? Giving some thought beforehand to what you have learned from your hobbies, or how they are related to the job for which you are applying, can help you stand out from the crowd of applicants who “watch TV”.

Finally, if you are young and looking to get experience in a new area, a something new on the horizon is Internships for Sale. While you will hopefully be able to gain experience without having to pay for it, it’s nice to know that there is a fallback option.

This article was written by scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants, and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).

If you are anything like me, you came home from the recent ACS meeting with a stack of business cards collected over the week in Salt Lake City. With some of them, just glancing at the card instantly brought up the memory of who they represented, where I had met them and what we talked about. With others, I had been smart enough to jot a few words on the back of the card that reminded me of the person.

But once you have the stack of cards back home, what do you do with them?

You could leave them in a pile on your desk, collecting dust, until they get “accidentally” thrown away. You could put them in a drawer, or a other filing system, and trust that you will remember where to find the card for the guy you talked to at the YCC party, who worked for that instrument company…..what was its name?

Or, you could enter the data into your addresss book. Enter not only the name, company, and contact info, but in a comment field include where you met them (“ACS Spring 2009 SLC”, for example), what you talked about, and anything special you learned about that person. Their work area, hobbies, kids, volunteer role with ACS, or anything else you learned about them during your interaction. All those little details that you recall so easily now will fade with time, so the sooner you get them down on paper (or in silicon), the better.

Several of the cards I have collected at this meeting are memorable in their own right. I noticed many more are starting to use color, which does make the cards look more professional and less homemade. As the cost of color printing, and printing in general, continues to decline, this is going to become almost a requirement. One of the cards had a list on the back of “5 Things To Remember About Christin” – a great way for her to summarize what makes her stand out from every other chemistry graduate student at the meeting. Another card was from a chemist/author, and included a picture of the cover of his book. Instantly recognizable, very memorable, and I knew exactly what his interests were by the title of the book.

Now might be a good time to take a few minutes and critically evaluate your own business cards, and make sure they reflect the image you want to convey.

Does your name stand out?

Are the fonts clean and large enough to read?

Is there a professional logo or image?

Is there enough white space for both layout clarity and for the recipient to write notes?

Does the card feel nice, with a high quality, thick paper?

Would judicious use of color or an image make it stand out more?

Whether it’s your card or someone else’s, the information on it only matters if it is in a usable format. Suppose in a few months you meet someone and they mention they are thinking about making a career change into public policy. Will you be able to do a quick search of your electronic rolodex and and pull out the name of the person you met at the last ACS national meeting who has done just that, and might be able to provide advice for your new contact? Or will you have to look at the pile of dusty cards on your desk and say “I think I might know someone ….”

This article was written by scientific communication consultant Lisa M. Balbes, Ph.D. of Balbes Consultants, and author of: “Nontraditional Careers for Chemists,” published by Oxford University Press (2006).