To learn more about Devin and what it's like to be a chemist, read on!

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Dr. Devin Flowers graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Ph.D. degree in chemistry in 2002. His research was part of the NSF Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes (CERSP). For more information about CERSP, please visit the web sites, www.nsfstc.unc.edu and www.science-house.org/CO2/. Devin was interviewed in May 2002, before he graduated, for this newsletter. Devin’s wife, Veronica, is a former pre-school teacher. They now have two daughters, Megan and Ashley. Megan was five years old at the time of this interview and about to begin kindergarten. Ashley was born later. Dr. Flowers currently works at DuPont Fluoropolymer Solutions in Wilmington, Delaware as a Technical Services Specialist.

Q: Why did you decide to become a chemist?
A: When I started school as an undergraduate at Alabama State University in Montgomery, I wanted to major in math, and later go into engineering. I had to take chemistry when I was a freshman, and I found that I really liked it. I liked chemistry so much that I changed my major to chemistry, and minored in math. I took a lot of chemistry and math courses, and some physics courses. Alabama State didn’t have an engineering department, so I couldn’t get an engineering degree there anyway.

Q: What advice would you give to middle and high school students who are thinking about pursuing a career in chemistry?
A: It’s important to like math and science to begin with, because the course work gets more intense as you go through school. If you do like science and math, focus on them, and do your best to learn as much as possible. If you don’t think you like science or math at first, stick with them anyway, at least through one course. You might find that you really do enjoy them. As I said before, I found out I really liked chemistry only because I had to take it at Alabama State. Take a lot of courses in math and science, and challenge yourself to take courses that are hard for you. You need to have good grades and SAT scores to get into a good college or university.

Q: Did you ever get discouraged, such as making a bad grade in school? What did you do when that happened?
A: My grades were usually in the "A or B" range but occasionally I did have a few test scores that were lower than I expected of myself. At first, I would be upset with myself because many times the mistakes I made were due to speeding through a test and making careless errors. So, on the next test I would read the instructions more carefully and focus each problem. Other times, I failed because I just did not understand the topics. In these cases, I would ask for more help from my teacher and get help from one of my classmates that understood the class better than I did. Finally, when I learned something new in a class I would study and practice it the same day I learned it and sometimes teach the topic to someone else, so I would remember what I learned.

Q: Did you have a hero or role model who influenced you?
A: I had many role models and people that influenced me while I was growing up. Most of them were teachers, coaches, and people in our community, but the most important were my mother and great great grandmother. My mother and grandmother taught me to be respectful and considerate of others and that if you want something in life you are going to have to work for it.

Q: Is either one of your parents a scientist?
A: While I was growing up, my mother worked in a shirt factory but now she works in the bookstore of a community college near my hometown.

Q: How did you get money to go to college?
A: I received a full scholarship to play football in college, so all of my college bills were covered. However, if I had not received a scholarship (like my brothers), I would have used a combination of Pell grant, work-study, and student loans.

Q: Do you have hobbies?
A: I played football when I was an undergraduate at Alabama State. While I’m in graduate school, though, I don’t have time to do much except work and spend time with my wife and daughter. My daughter Megan and I play video games together, such as Power Puff Girls®, and Winnie the Pooh®. After I finish my Ph.D. and start working, I hope to also have time to play golf and softball.

Q: Can you describe what a typical workday is like for you in graduate school?
A: My schedule varies a lot. Sometimes I work only 40 hours a week. Other times I work almost 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I do lab work, study, and read research articles. Some of the reading I do at home. I am hoping that after I graduate and get a job, I will only be working 40 hours a week.

Q: Why kind of job do you want when you graduate?
A: As soon as I finish my Ph.D., I will be working with DuPont in West Virginia as a "Division Chemist," and I’ll be doing research there related to carbon dioxide (CO₂). I’ll meet customers and ask them about products they want to have two to four years down the road. Then I’ll work on creating new products in the company, and work with sales and marketing to market these products. An example of a product I might be working on is making fluorinated polymers, like Teflon“, that coats wires in buildings to prevent fire from spreading. Teflon“ is being made at the Fayetteville, N.C. DuPont plant using CO₂. I like research that has real world applications, and meeting actual needs in the world. This job also gives me variety, which I like.

Q: What kind of research do you do in graduate school?
A: Our basic purpose here at the Center is to decrease the amount of water used and organic wastes, which can be harmful, that are produced when certain products are made, such as semiconductors. A semiconductor is important because it is used in computer memory devices, transistors, and other electronic devices. We are replacing the water and organic wastes with carbon dioxide. The way we use CO₂ in our research does not harm people or the environment. In my graduate school research, I must make polymers for semiconducting that work in CO₂ instead of in water or organic compounds. A polymer is a very large molecule made of many repeating units, and it is important because so much of our world is made of polymers. (For more information about polymers, please refer to the activity "Fun with Polymers!") These polymers must have similar properties as the "normal" ones, and must also function in CO₂. There are many challenges to making this work. The way I have made these polymers is by taking polymers that normally work in water or organic compounds, but that are not normally soluble in CO₂, and adding fluorine to them. Fluorine, or fluorinated groups, make the polymers more soluble in CO₂. However, fluorine is expensive. These "new" polymers must have the same properties as the original ones, accomplishing the same goal they did before in semiconducting. The difference is that now they must be soluble in CO₂ instead of water or organic compounds.

(Note: If you want to learn more about the some of the concepts that Devin describes in his research, consult a good high school chemistry textbook and ask a science teacher for help. Look for information on terms such as polar, nonpolar, soluble, insoluble, organic, and inorganic.)

To find out more about careers and degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering, read on!

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Jobs and Salaries for Chemists

To get a job as a chemist, a college degree is usually required. Jobs for chemists are available in industry, government, and academia. In general, the more advanced degree a person has, the higher salary that person will earn as a chemist. According to a November 2003 article in Chemical & Engineering News (Volume 81, #47, pp. 41-46), the median annual salaries of chemists with full time jobs in 2003 were as follows, listed by degree earned and employer: (For more information about specific careers in chemistry, visit the American Chemical Society web site, www.acs.org.

Schools that Offer Degrees in Chemistry

For degrees in chemistry, there are many choices of universities, listed below. For information about how to apply to these schools and these departments, please visit the web sites listed.

• The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill: www.chem.unc.edu or www.unc.edu
• North Carolina State University (NCSU): www.ncsu.edu/chemistry or www.ncsu.edu
• North Carolina A&T State University (NCATSU): www.chem.ncat.edu or www.ncat.edu
• The University of Texas at Austin (UT-A): www.cm.utexas.edu or www.utexas.edu
• Georgia Institute of Technology: www.chemistry.gatech.edu or www.gatech.edu

Schools that Offer Degrees in Chemical Engineering*

For degrees in chemical engineering, there are many choices of universities, listed below. For information about how to apply to these schools and these departments, please visit the web sites listed.

• North Carolina State University (NCSU): www.che.ncsu.edu or www.ncsu.edu
• North Carolina A&T State University (NCATSU): www.ncat.edu/~chemeng or www.ncat.edu
• The University of Texas at Austin (UT-A): www.che.utexas.edu or www.utexas.edu
• Georgia Institute of Technology: www.che.gatech.edu or www.gatech.edu

Getting Money for College

For information about how to get money to attend one of these universities, please visit the web sites listed below.

• The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill: www.unc.edu/studentaid
• North Carolina State University (NCSU): www7.acs.ncsu.edu/financial_aid
• North Carolina A&T State University (NCATSU): www.ncat.edu/~finaid/index.html
• The University of Texas at Austin (UT-A): www.utexas.edu/student/finaid
• Georgia Institute of Technology: www.finaid.gatech.edu

*What is the difference between chemistry and chemical engineering?

An oversimplified explanation is that a chemist discovers a new material. A chemical engineer will figure out a way to apply this discovery so that it is useful in the real world. For example, a chemist discovered Teflon® while doing research in a lab. A chemical engineer helped develop ways to make frying pans with Teflon®, and to manufacture enough of these so that people could afford to buy and use them in their kitchens.

This is a publication of the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes (CERSP), NSF Cooperative Agreement CHE-9876674. For more information about CERSP, please visit the web site, www.nsfstc.unc.edu.