Analytical Chemists Are Going Extinct?

Waters Staff

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Endangered analytical chemists face myriad obstacles today – lower than average job forecasts 1, costly and timely training, demand for more versatile knowledge, tighter regulations, and massive data management requirements. Perhaps most significantly, mass spectrometry market forecasts predict a lack of skilled users as a key market constraint2.

Senior analytical chemists are presented with a challenge: where will the next generation of scientists come from? At Waters’ annual India Executive Technology Forum, the problem of a deskilled workforce created a lively discussion. Delegates provided insights about the need for more experienced analytical chemists, specifically recent graduates with more liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC/MS) experience. Companies are highly dependent on an aging pool of experienced users, while fresh graduates are undertrained. The need for experienced LC/MS scientists is ubiquitous among the pharmaceutical industry, CROs, governments, and academia.save the chemists

In some industries, technology is reducing the need for a highly skilled workforce.  In the LC/MS world there is a strong demand for easier to use instruments. Is technology negatively influencing chemists’ development?  In a recent Bioanalysis Zone survey, one respondent predicted that instruments will get more sensitive and easier to use, but the inherent need for keen scientists will persist.

While there is no single solution to this issue, Waters is on the frontline of the fight to end the extinction of one of the planet’s most magnificent creatures, Analytical Chemists. Waters shares knowledge and educates through training and seminars. By engaging in partnerships through Waters’ Centers of Innovation (COIs), we promote a healthy environment for analytic chemists to thrive. Finally, we employ some of the most talented thought leaders and nurture new talent through internships.

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  1. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/chemists-and-materials-scientists.htm
  2. 2014, MASS SPECTROMETRY MARKET – Global Trends & Forecast to 2018, MarketsandMarkets