[phillyj]

Can you all give me ideas on which areas of chemistry are the best to study in terms of new developments and future job opportunities? I'm not sure what area to focus on. I guess I'll figure it out soon but what's the opinion around here?

Maybe my opinion of biochem may change but I really hated it for my BS. So not really interest in Biochem. Probably because I wasn't able to learn and see more about the practical aspect of it. I mean, I was learning the same thing a pre-med was learning and the lab was outdated, over-simplified concepts. I wanted to see the future but I learned the same stuff they taught 10, 20 years ago. It was like nothing big happened. Then again, I should have took more initiative but really, I was ignorant and unprepared for college education/culture.

[Mitch]

Analytical is usually considered the safest for job prospects.

[TheUnfocusedOne]

Analytical is usually considered the safest for job prospects.

Is it though? Not many graduate programs even offer it anymore. Honestly I see job posting for a wide assortment of chemical fields. Physical I'd say is sometimes hard to sell, but that doesn't mean there aren't any jobs at all. Analytical will get you a job at either an instrument making company (PerkinElmer, Agilent ect) or to the head of a QC department. If someone thinks otherwise, please dispute. I'm basing this off of a pretty extensive job search in the past year.

A good basis in Material Sciences is usually in demand, though I can never tell whether that still considered within the chemistry umbrella (I don't think it is).

[phillyj]

In terms of cutting edge research and being highly valued, whats the opinion? I realize that to be indispensable, I need to have a wide knowledge base but what should my core focus be?

Analytical chem really doesn't seem that innovative but I may be wrong. I was thinking about fields like polymer chemistry.

Whats in the future for chemistry? I read about lithium and battery technology, hydrogen fuel cells but the oil industry is also big. So is the energy sector the best?

As for physical chem, I think if you combine it with computer sci, you could probably do modeling.

[408]

Whatever it is that you enjoy most.  If you are passionate about something you will perform far better than if you are doing something just to get a job, and even if you are in a limited job market, your higher performance will at least negate market effects.

I know if I was doing analytical or physical I would have ate the barrel of a 12 gauge long ago.  Or dropped out and ended up a hobo, or some other hyperbole here.

My phd: BEST TOPIC IN THE WORLD
job prospects: pretty all right, because I made a name for myself.

[zs3889]

Whatever it is that you enjoy most.  If you are passionate about something you will perform far better than if you are doing something just to get a job, and even if you are in a limited job market, your higher performance will at least negate market effects.

I know if I was doing analytical or physical I would have ate the barrel of a 12 gauge long ago.  Or dropped out and ended up a hobo, or some other hyperbole here.

My phd: BEST TOPIC IN THE WORLD
job prospects: pretty all right, because I made a name for myself.

strongly agree!!

Analytical is usually considered the safest for job prospects.

Is it though? Not many graduate programs even offer it anymore. Honestly I see job posting for a wide assortment of chemical fields. Physical I'd say is sometimes hard to sell, but that doesn't mean there aren't any jobs at all. Analytical will get you a job at either an instrument making company (PerkinElmer, Agilent ect) or to the head of a QC department. If someone thinks otherwise, please dispute. I'm basing this off of a pretty extensive job search in the past year.

A good basis in Material Sciences is usually in demand, though I can never tell whether that still considered within the chemistry umbrella (I don't think it is).

any thoughts on drug discovery?

[marquis]

You have to be careful with drug discovery.  The long term outlook is still iffy.

The cost to develop a new drug is high.  Some of the industry publications list it as high as 1.5 billion US dollars. Then there are the educational requirements (a PhD is usually a minimum requirement).

Because of the high cost of US employees, many companies are moving the drug work offshore (India is a popular choice).

There is definitely a good current market.  Just can't say how long it will last.

[phillyj]

Because of the high cost of US employees, many companies are moving the drug work offshore (India is a popular choice).

That's not all that bad. If I can pay off all my loans here in the USA, then I could move back to India with my parents.

Oh well, I'll figure something out. Thanks for all the advice.

[fledarmus]

If you're heading back to India, opportunities in drug discovery are quite good. The market for new drugs is growing in India, there is a lot of investment from both Indian and US companies, and it is beginning to grow out of simply contract research and generic production for US companies to developing their own drug discovery programs. You may even be able to find a US company that is hiring in India that would help with the loan payoffs.

China and Eastern Europe also have growing contract research and beginning drug discovery programs. Most of this growth is being paid for by US pharmaceutical companies, and those companies are rapidly decreasing their American work forces and replacing them with contract work overseas.

[radleyharris]

I agree,drug discovery is the best chemistry field where one can have bright and secured future regarding job.

[wilfmcc]

Nanochemistry and cheminformatics and biochemistry are the best fields as on today

[zs3889]

I agree,drug discovery is the best chemistry field where one can have bright and secured future regarding job.

Even with just a B.S. degree in medicinal chemistry?

[hughjorgan]

I used to think the bio related stuff was best but recently watched the solid state chemistry lectures from MIT on youtube and am having second thoughts... 

[sdfsfgfdgdfdf]

does anyone here have any knowledge about computational modeling in chemistry? What future job prospects does it have? It seems very interesting, but I'm not quite sure exactly where I would work. Would you recommend this field to anyone?

[orgo814]

I feel (personal opinion) biochemistry is the best field right now because of the pharmaceutical industry which is currently doing very well. Organic Chemistry would obviously tie into this as well.

If you are not interested in biochem or organic, inorganic chemistry is a great field if you want to go into industry and work with metals.

I would pay attention to what you are interested in, not just the money. Although the money aspect is important, you need to like what you do.