Finding Education, Mentorship, and Success in Your Spectroscopy Career

Seeking opportunities for career growth is important for early-career scientists to explore new skills, connect with mentors, and gain insights into the field. Professional societies and educational programs can be invaluable resources, providing mentorship, training, and networking opportunities that can accelerate career success in spectroscopy.

You have completed your degree, and are ready to embark on your career in spectroscopy. Maybe you are entering the workforce after receiving a bachelor’s or a master’s degree. Course work has provided a lot of information that you understand and feel you are qualified to apply for a position calling for these skills. Or maybe you have just completed your doctoral degree. You have spent a lot of time learning state-of-the-art science, and have proven that you can research your chosen topic independently. So, these skills have prepared you for your first industrial position. Or have they?

As many new scientists discover, the gap between the information provided during your education and what you need to do your job can be a wide chasm. In the academic environment, you are taught to research and explore the science, and learn on your own. But industry expects employees to know what is required to do a job—they can’t afford the luxury of having you learn by making mistakes. For many, the first few months in an industrial position are an eye-opening experience for a recent graduate.

So, how do you make it to the other side of the chasm and become a productive industrial scientist? There are several approaches that can give you the tools you need to succeed, all of which fall under the heading of mentorship and education.

Seeking Continuing Education

Outside of the Workplace

In industry, finding opportunities for continuing education can be challenging.

In a large industrial organization, your colleagues may provide on the job training, sound advice about the organization, and, if you are lucky, mentorship that extends beyond the practical aspects of the job. At a smaller organization, you may be expected to be an expert in your specialty, and, coming from an academic program that is focused on theory, you may find yourself struggling to apply what you know in a practical way. In addition to the practical elements of the job, no matter where you work, you also must negotiate the business environment, interact with management that has unrealistic goals, or deal with a change of plans mid-stream.

But there are ways that you can find opportunities for continued learning outside of your job. The first way that you can do this is by taking advantage of continuing education offered by the professional societies, like the Coblentz Society or the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. These societies offer a variety of resources including curated lists of research and educational webcasts, links to educational and practical information, and downloadable resources.

Societies also provide access to continuing education. In-person short courses are offered at professional meetings such as EAS, Pittcon, and SciX. Virtual learning opportunities are also available to the spectroscopist from professional societies and commercial organizations. Short courses, for example, provide practical continuing education on the exact topic you need to understand. It might be how to use a particular instrument and accessories, interpret data, or get an introduction to a new field.

Let’s look at a concrete example in my field: vibrational spectroscopy, which includes infrared (IR), Raman, and near infrared spectroscopy (NIR). This is a topic that is given very brief coverage in most chemistry curricula, and is not covered at all in biology, biochemistry, or material science. But as a recent episode of the Analytically Speaking podcast discussed (1), there is a big disconnect between what academia teaches and what industry needs. For example, IR spectroscopy was in the top five skills expected for industrial scientists, but academia does not cover it well.

Theory on these spectroscopies is usually covered in physical chemistry and analytical chemistry, but neither are covered in depth, and, as mentioned above, these courses may not have been required or available in areas other than traditional chemistry curricula. But a half day short course such as “Introduction to Infrared, Raman, and Near-infrared Spectroscopy,” taught by members of the spectroscopic professional societies, can help to fill this gap.

Many early career spectroscopists also need additional education on collecting and preparing the sample and data analysis. For example, using Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) and its accessories can be complicated. A short course like “Collecting Infrared Spectra and Avoiding the Pitfalls” fills that gap.

Now that you have the data, what do you do with it? Infrared spectra can be used for identification of commercial materials, and extensive libraries exist, but searching those libraries only works if you know how and what to search. Infrared spectra are also information rich, but most are not taught in class work beyond where the carbonyl is in the fingerprint region. But an infrared spectrum can provide significant structural information. You can interpret the structure of an unknown, see the impact on the molecular environment of a solvent or a phase change, or quantify a component in a mixture. Yes, IR can be used for quantitative analysis, but very little or none of the topics mentioned above are taught in an academic curriculum. “Searching Infrared and Raman Spectra,” “Spectral Interpretation of Vibrational Spectra,” and “Introduction to Data Analytics for the Analytical Chemist,” all produced by the professional societies, provide the necessary information.

Most of what we have discussed so far are basics of spectroscopies. But advanced topics like “Technologies and Applications for Miniature Optical Spectrometers and Spectroscopic Sensors,” “Two-Dimensional Correlation Spectroscopy (2D-COS),” and “Beyond the Beer-Lambert Approximation: Towards Evaluating Infrared Spectra Based on Wave Optics and Dispersion Theory,” are also relevant to the vibrational spectroscopist, and are short courses produced by the professional societies. Every one of these courses is designed by the instructor to fill a gap that they have seen in the audience’s knowledge. In these high-level courses, isn’t it more efficient to work with an instructor rather than trying to learn it on your own?

How to Find a Mentor Who

Will Help You Succeed

While working in industry, it can be challenging to find mentorship and education outside of your company, because many organizations don’t want you talking about their products and technologies, as it may provide an advantage to competitors. We have all heard horror stories about academic technical discussions at conferences and then finding yourself scooped in the literature. But mentors from professional societies understand this challenge, and realize the sensitivity of the information being discussed.

Attending conferences and networking with colleagues in your industry provides another learning opportunity. At a conference, you may be able to network with the instructor from the short course, and extend the discussion to your specific question or problem. I have sat with students of one of my short courses after the course and discussed, explained, and interpreted their data. That was something they could not get easily any other way.

Professional societies can also provide mentors that help you navigate your professional life. A professional society focused on your field has members at all levels of technical and business experience, and they want to help you succeed. These mentors can provide advice on doing your job, solving a technical problem, working with a difficult coworker, and can even help you find a new role . Mentors from a professional society focus on supporting you, not your employer, and often want to pay it forward because they, too, benefited from mentorship

I vividly recall a conversation with a younger scientist, where I shared how I balanced two demanding careers, raised two children, and still managed to maintain my composure. We discussed the strategies I had used, the negotiations that took place both with my spouse and my employer, and I pointed out that the professional societies are also working to provide support. For example, the Coblentz Society has a dependent care award designed to help with the financial problems that arise when you need to pay for childcare, even if it is in the form of having a grandparent stay with the children.

Mentoring and education go together in developing early-career scientists, especially in industry, to be productive in their careers;in general, these activities encourage the “pay it forward” mentality to ensure that these activities will continue.

Reference

(1) EP. 15: “Building Professional Spectroscopy Skills and Valuable Networks with the Coblentz Society”. https://www.spectroscopyonline.com/view/ep-15-building-professional-spectroscopy-skills-and-valuable-networks-with-the-coblentz-society (accessed 2024-10-29).

Ellen V. Miseo is a practicing vibrational spectroscopist who has had several roles over her career. She initially worked in contract R&D and then transitioned to instrument companies in both product development and marketing. During her career she has run commercial laboratory operations in both the food and material science areas.Currently she is consulting on several projects including technical development and education.

Miseo is actively involved in a number of professional societies related to spectroscopy. Currently she is the Secretary for the Society for Applied Spectroscopy as well as the education coordinator for both SAS and the Coblentz Society. In addition, she was president of the Coblentz Society and president of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. She is also a member of the American Chemical Society. She received her BS in chemistry from St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY and her Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Polytechnic Institute of New York, now part of NYU.