Thursday, February 11, 2016

Grad School

I sent off six graduate school applications before leaving for vacation in December.  It's not that the application process was so much work, but I dragged it on for a long time.  (I tend to have unrealistic expectations of myself to finish things way before it's necessary, which means whether or not I am actively working on said things, they are hanging over my head for quite some time.)  In this case, the process started with me taking the GREs well over a year ago, and I had been thinking about grad school even before that.

It's just as much of a relief as I anticipated having the ball in someone else's court.  Every weekend rolls around and I realize that not only do I not have to work on applications, I don't even have to think about working on applications!  Of course, I'll have plenty to think about in the coming months as I begin to make decisions.  For now, though, I don't even know what choices I will be deciding among, and it seems pointless to do too much comparing and ranking too soon.

In any case, I'll be going to school in the fall!  Probably due to the time I spent job searching not very successfully, I had some doubts in the back of my mind about if I was applying enough places, if my statements were good enough, if I'd even get in anywhere, if I'd have to figure out something else completely.  I've gotten one acceptance so far, so thankfully those thoughts are laid to rest.  I'm looking forward to having more news to share with you when my specific plans are clearer!

For those of you asking what I'll be going back to school for, here's part of what I wrote about my reasons for wanting to go and wanting to go now:
I’ve become convinced—without much difficulty, in fact—that the only way to utilize chemistry responsibly anymore is through green chemistry. It is clear that we cannot keep using resources and processes without regard for long-term human and environmental impacts. Chemists have a responsibility to work toward greater sustainability, both through thoughtful, incremental modifications to our everyday tasks and through revolutionary ideas and actions that engender change to positive, restorative practices across the board. Chemists play a critical role in educating manufacturers, designers, lawmakers, and the general public about the harms associated with certain chemicals, as well as in providing alternatives and adding to the repertoire of benign and useful chemical building blocks. 
I want to focus my career on this intersection of chemistry and sustainability, so I have been looking for ways to build on my undergraduate chemistry degree and become better equipped for this work. I recognize problems in the ways we make and use chemicals and need to increase my level of expertise in order to understand the many contributing factors and find meaningful solutions. My desire to gain more tools for using chemistry for its greatest good is what is motivating me to pursue graduate studies. Not only do I want to expand my knowledge of chemistry as a general field, I want to learn some specific ways of thinking about and responding to problems—ways of thinking that I see demonstrated by those people currently working in green chemistry. 
Although I have acquired bits and pieces of green chemistry knowledge up to this point, I now desire a more rigorous, in-depth approach to learning about the topics that interest me. I am eager to discover more links among the ideas I have previously learned but also to try new things and find my own place in the field. By the time I complete a graduate program, I want to possess the following:
  • An extensive knowledge of chemistries used in common materials and industrial processes and of their corresponding hazards
  • Ideas about what kinds of chemical policies and regulations are most effective in increasing health and safety
  • Ability to find novel clean syntheses and make the business case for their implementation
  • Competence in using toxicology, life cycle assessment, and the principles of green chemistry to evaluate and make sound judgments among alternatives. 
To summarize, I am looking for a cross-disciplinary education in green chemistry. Because I’m more concerned about the why than the what of my future work, a variety of research areas interest me—everything from recyclable catalysts to alternative/benign solvents to bio-inspired materials to decontamination agents. 
After graduate school, my goal is to be a sustainable chemistry specialist, bringing chemical expertise, a life-cycle mindset, and a knack for problem-solving to any industry that wants to do better by human health and the environment.

5 comments:

  1. Any idea when you might hear back from other other schools? Also, I think you made a typo in the first bullet (chemistries instead of chemicals). Love you! So glad you finally posted something new. :)

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    1. March? Not sure.

      I did mean to say that, but I don't know if it's really an accepted usage.

      And yeah, I'm feeling somewhat more private about posting things, but I figured I shouldn't let a whole year go by with nothing...

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  2. Good for you!! I'm excited to hear more about your decision making and where you end up next year.

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  3. I'm also playing the waiting game with grad school applications. I wish I could be as relaxed about having "the ball in someone else's court" as you are though!

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  4. I'm also playing the waiting game with grad school applications. I wish I could be as relaxed about having "the ball in someone else's court" as you are though!

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