Re “A Vision for Graduate Education” (President’s Page, Nov. 7): As a Ph.D. in chemistry who pursued a successful nonacademic career, I was pleased to see that about half of us Princeton Ph.D.s take that route. After 10 years conducting organic synthesis, five of them in industry, I switched to chemical-information services and had a successful career, 23 years in a petrochemical company and 15-plus years as a consultant. The training and experience I received at Princeton, especially the mentorship of Professor E.C. Taylor, were an excellent foundation for the rest of my career.
For the last several decades, I’ve made presentations to and mentored science students from high school to grad school about the nonacademic opportunities available to science and especially chemistry students. I congratulate Princeton’s Graduate School and the dean for acknowledging and promoting nonacademic careers.
Re “A Vision for Graduate Education” (President’s Page, Nov. 7): As a Ph.D. in chemistry who pursued a successful nonacademic career, I was pleased to see that about half of us Princeton Ph.D.s take that route. After 10 years conducting organic synthesis, five of them in industry, I switched to chemical-information services and had a successful career, 23 years in a petrochemical company and 15-plus years as a consultant. The training and experience I received at Princeton, especially the mentorship of Professor E.C. Taylor, were an excellent foundation for the rest of my career.
For the last several decades, I’ve made presentations to and mentored science students from high school to grad school about the nonacademic opportunities available to science and especially chemistry students. I congratulate Princeton’s Graduate School and the dean for acknowledging and promoting nonacademic careers.