Contributed by Madushanka Mevan Dissanayake, Technology Development Engineer, Intel Corporation, Natalie O'Neil, Director of Higher Education, Beyond Benign, and Juliana Vidal, Postdoctoral Researcher, McGill University
What comes to mind when you want to plan for pursuing a career in green chemistry or engineering? What job roles require expertise in Green Chemistry & Engineering? Did you find it based on the specific call-out for those skills in the job posting? If you are searching for a position, you may be disappointed when limited or no search results appear with the terms “Green Chemistry” or “Green Engineering”. Does that mean these careers do not exist? No, they do—trust us!
The symposium "Careers in green chemistry for sustainable use" on May 20th from 10:00 – 11:30 a.m. EDT will focus on the numerous career paths available to graduate students under the general umbrella of green chemistry and engineering in both academia and industry. Simultaneously, we aim to demonstrate the benefits that background knowledge in green chemistry and engineering has in the eyes of an employer. Both these objectives will fulfill an unmet need of delivering information on diverse career pathways to the attendees of the Annual Green Chemistry & Engineering (GC&E) Conference. As members of the Network of Early-Career Sustainable Scientists & Engineers (NESSE), we are hosting this session to build connections between scientists and engineers across disciplines by sharing inspiring career paths that incorporate green chemistry and engineering.
It is not uncommon for students involved in this community (and STEM fields in general) to be unaware of the value of their transferable experience, and the breadth of career options that are available to them after graduation. By assembling a series of career path examples, this symposium will directly address students’ ubiquitous question of what career options are available to them, and how they might go about pursuing them.
This careers symposium will provide attendees with an opportunity to learn about marketing their existing skills, particularly those that are unique to the green chemistry and engineering community as compared to their peers, and to discover the breadth of career options available to them. In addition, this careers-focused symposium will be intentionally composed of speakers that are willing to speak to students about careers, providing an additional networking opportunity for both the student attendees and the speakers themselves, especially from the perspective of potential employers.
Although students are the target audience for this symposium, all audiences are most welcome as this symposium could be similarly valuable to those who want to further their career paths, hiring managers interested in hiring relevant talent and retaining them, and those who want to explore new career opportunities available in the post-pandemic job market.
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