Chemistry courses in colleges traditionally are among the largest, in part because chemical training is needed not only for future chemists, but also for doctors, pharmacists, biologists, engineers, and nurses. Trained chemists are in demand in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries--industries in which the United States is highly competitive--and in many other fields.
Despite all this, chemistry suffers from an image problem. It is not always seen to be the science where the action is. In some quarters, chemophobia has also led to a negative stereotype and a tendency to credit other fields with the advances that chemistry makes. For instance, many groups are formulating plans to improve pre-college science education, and chemistry sometimes plays a small role in these plans.
Too few people realize, to cite another example, how modern medicines usually arise. Every pharmaceutical company has a large group of medicinal chemists designing and synthesizing new molecules with ...
