Motivating and Enhancing the Chemical Instrumental Analysis Curriculum Through Chemical Entrepreneurship

The typical chemical instrumental analysis course serves as a vital part of the chemistry undergraduate curriculum, and serves as the most natural connection to the recent trends in higher education which have necessitated a stronger focus on career skills and job placement. Yet the normal focus on instrument design, application and function can leave little room for inspiration and connection to the integral role instrumentation plays inside chemical industry and the careers within it. Business development and entrepreneurship within the chemical sciences (referred to as chemical entrepreneurship) is an overlooked practical aspect of training within the undergraduate chemical curriculum. Chemistry students often desire to work within the chemical industry, but have no exposure to topics related to chemical enterprise, and are lacking an understanding of how businesses function and the place of chemistry within the economy. Chemical instrumental analysis can easily be augmented and enhanced to include topics related to chemical entrepreneurship providing the link to chemical industry needed within the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. This approach has motivated and energized students within the instrumental analysis course. Students utilized leading questions to develop, present and defend a business plan related to their own vision of a chemical business heavily utilizing chemical instrumentation. They reported developing a renewed appreciation of chemistry, and a new understanding of their value in chemical enterprise. Chemical entrepreneurship can successfully be utilized to motivate and enhance the typical chemical instrumental analysis course and to highlight the practical utilization of modern instrumentation and its interface with chemical industry.