Actually, the U.S. supply of Ph.D.s in analytical chemistry is rising. The compound growth rate of 6.7 percent between 1981 and 1985 was almost double the 3.7 percent that applied to all chemistry Ph.D.s. But that level of growth is still too slow to meet the rapidly rising industrial demand. In fact industry recruiters worry that their offers of high salaries and state-of-the-art equipment will draw too many analytical chemists away from academia, and hence threaten the supply of the next generation of Ph.D.s.
What has created the demand? Experts point to a combination of advances in basic chemistry, new technology, and the broadening nature of present-day research.
With the emergence of large molecule chemistry and biotechnology, explains Henry Blount, program director for analytical and surface chemistry at the National Science Foundation, analytical chemists have to make their measurements in entirely new and tough environments—in fermentation vats, and at extremes ...
