Chemistry Careers

What use is a Degree in Science (Chemistry)?

A huge number of disciplines have a link with Chemistry, which means the Chemistry graduate has a large number of avenues in which to pursue employment. Studying Chemistry can enable you to specialise in the chemical field or leap frog to related areas such as Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, Engineering, Geochemistry, Forensic Science.

A Chemistry degree means you will not only get a rewarding education, but gain valuable analytical, communication, critical thinking and problem solving skills. Chemistry opens up a world of possibilities, expands your choices and is a vital element in your future. It is a great choice if you want to keep your options open.

Will I get a job at the end of it?

The graduates from the School of Chemistry have an excellent record in obtaining employment quickly after graduating. The training that a UOW Chemistry graduate receives is valued by employers. Chemistry graduates can go on to work in a variety of sectors such as:

There are endless possibilities for the UOW chemistry graduate!

Chemistry can provide career opportunities that are both stimulating and rewarding.

Chemistry profoundly affects the world we live in:

1) 1911 Rutherford experimentally and 1913 Bohr theoretically provide a rational explanation for the atom - the solar system model - which eventually evolves into the Quantum mechanical model of the atom during the 1920's due to the work of Schrodinger, Dirac, Heissenberg, Bohr, and others.

2) During the 1910's and 20's W.H. and W.L.Bragg (1914), M. von Laue (1912), and others devised the technique of x-ray diffraction crystallography and refined it to the point that it could be used to determine the shape of molecules. More importantly, x-ray crystallography gives details of bond lengths, bond angles, torsion angles, and all of the other parameters critical to understanding the shape of molecules.

3) 1916 G.N. Lewis devised an explanation of the chemical bond and how molecules were held together.

4) 1931 J.A. Nieuwland discovered the polymerization of acetylene to give "neoprene" - synthetic rubber - and W.H. Carothers discovered the artificial polymer "nylon".

5) 1930's the sulfa drugs were discovered and the whole of the pharmaceutical industry took off - specifically, the work of Domagk with sulfanilamide and Fleming's penicillin.

So, the discovery of the atom and its observation, the method of combining atoms to make molecules, the making of BIG molecules, and the making of small molecules all directly impact upon modern life.

Take 1939 alone: francium was discovered, DDT synthesized, Vitamin K discovered, the role of essential minerals to living organisms was first elucidated, and the anti-bacterial substance tyrothricin was first isolated. All of these had an important impact upon chemistry.

Obviously this list is just a tiny fraction of the amazing discoveries that have been made in Chemisty. The process of dicovery is racing ahead both in the worlds of Science Research and Business & Technology.

Many exciting and rewarding carreers at the forefront of modern science can be based on a Chemistry Degree