What are your primary job responsibilities?

On a high level, I am responsible for providing chemistry support for a wide variety of Ecolab’s developing technologies. For some projects, this support involves running experiments to optimize a product so that it hits a key performance indicator or to develop a work-around for a problem a manufacturing plant is facing. For other projects, this support is more procedural, with me analyzing plant samples, interpreting the data, and making / sharing conclusions. Lastly, I am also part of larger innovation projects where the research is similar to in academia and aims to establish proof-of-concept for new technology we hope to leverage.

What is a typical work day-in-your-life like?

Overall, my schedule is comparable to graduate school, with a mix of desk work, lab work, and meetings. On average, each of these tasks receives an equal quantity of my time, though as I progress in the technical track, meetings and desk work will progressively start to outcompete lab work in my schedule. Ecolab grants employees the option to work from home two days a week, so occasionally I will take that option if I am not needed in the lab since I find it easier to focus in a quiet place.

How did you find your first job?

Finding this job, which is my first, came out of routine searching through LinkedIn while in my final year of graduate school. Though I was doing my own searching, a fellow graduate student in my lab found the listing and recommended I apply given my background with polymer and synthetic chemistry. While on the job market, I set up email notifications from LinkedIn and a number of company-specific jobs sites to reduce my chance of missing a promising one. 

What level of education (Bachelor's, Masters, PhD, etc.) is required to do your job? 

To be hired directly as a Principal Chemist, it is necessary to have a PhD or multiple years of industry experience on top of a lesser degree. Over time, employees without doctorates can work their way up to the Principal Chemist level (and beyond), but it requires time and they tend to not progress quite as quickly as those who have PhDs. Of course, this pace of advancement varies based on more factors than just education level. 

What is your work schedule like? Do you ever work weekends or nights?

At Ecolab, the expectations around hours do not exceed eight hours per day, five days a week. On select instances, it will be necessary to work beyond this schedule to accomplish time-sensitive work, but it certainly is not the norm. That being said, many people do work beyond these hours, sometimes well beyond, but those who do not are held in equal regard. I personally put in about 8.5 to nine hours a day, which seems light after graduate school. 

What is your work environment like? Do you work mostly with a team or mostly independently? Do you stand, sit, or move most of the day?

All work is very collaborative at Ecolab. No project of mine is a solo effort. Though I design and run experiments on my own, the goals these experiments aspire to meet are the product of team discussions. Unlike in graduate school, most of my sample characterization work is done by a dedicated analytical chemistry group who receives my samples and the question I would like answered; they design the best way to acquire the necessary data. My days involve a considerable amount of movement, especially when running experiments, and I asked for a standing desk to further limit sedentary periods. 

What are some tools or skills that you can't live without? These can be technologies, soft skills, hardware, or anything else you can think of.

Beyond the hardware in our labs—which is similar to that of a synthetic organic lab with a polymer chemistry twist—soft skills are key to success. In particular, communication and collaboration skills have a uniquely high premium in industry since the work involves not only research, but the presentation of the results to people of all different backgrounds (e.g., marketers, engineers, regulatory specialists, executives, etc.). At least at Ecolab, some of these people will be actively involved during the research and development stages as well, so being able to keep them informed in an understandable way (and also to understand their points of view) is critical. I have found that these skills will be honed on the job, but are certainly of note to hiring managers as well. 

What's the best career advice you've ever received? What career advice would you give to someone starting out in your field?

As I was looking for jobs, perhaps the most useful guidance I received was to place your personal goals and values before your professional ones. Decide where and how you want to live before searching for jobs and think hard about compromising these goals if a job would require doing so. Most of your life is spent out of work, so putting yourself in a situation where you live life in a way that works for you will pay great quality-of-life dividends and almost certainly make you a more enjoyable and productive employee. Along these lines, you should make sure your personal values align with those of your employer, both in terms of the work your employer does and how they treat their staff. In a nutshell, prioritize your wellbeing over all else and good things will come both personally and professionally. 

Do you have a favorite memory from your time at the University of Minnesota?

A few come to mind as contenders: late-night practice sessions on the pipe organ in Ferguson Hall; getting involved with research in the Topczewski group; and leading the UMN chapter of Out in STEM (oSTEM).