Career profile Chemistry Professor

Table of Contents

• What does a Chemistry Professor do?
• What is a typical salary for a Chemistry Professor?
• What personality traits are common among Chemistry Professors?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Chemistry Professors need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does a Chemistry Professor do?

Chemistry Professors teach courses pertaining to the chemical and physical properties and compositional changes of substances.

In addition, Chemistry Professors

• work may include providing instruction in the methods of qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis,
• includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching, and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

What kind of tasks does a Chemistry Professor perform regularly?

Chemistry Professors are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as anatomy, therapeutic recreation, and conditioning theory.
• Establish, teach, and monitor students' compliance with safety rules for handling chemicals, equipment, and other hazardous materials.
• Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, projects, assignments, and papers.
• Supervise students' laboratory work.
• Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
• Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations or assign this work to others.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, or handouts.
• Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
• Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
• Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in scholarly journals, books, or electronic media.
• Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, giving presentations at conferences, and serving on committees in professional associations.
• Advise students on academic and vocational curricula, and on career issues.
• Write grant proposals to procure external research funding and review others' grant proposals.
• Select, order, and maintain materials and supplies for teaching and research, such as textbooks, chemicals, and laboratory equipment.
• Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
• Write letters of recommendation for students.
• Prepare and submit required reports related to instruction.
• Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
• Clean laboratory facilities.
• Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.
• Serve on committees or in professional societies.

The above responsibilities are specific to Chemistry Professors. More generally, Chemistry Professors are involved in several broader types of activities:

What is a Chemistry Professor salary?

What personality traits are common among Chemistry Professors?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Chemistry Professor are usually higher in their Social, Investigative, and Realistic interests.

Chemistry Professors typically have very strong Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Also, Chemistry Professors typically have very strong Investigative interests. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Lastly, Chemistry Professors typically have moderate Realistic interests. Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Chemistry Professor tend to value Achievement, Working Conditions, and Independence.

Most importantly, Chemistry Professors very strongly value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Second, Chemistry Professors very strongly value Working Conditions. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions.

Lastly, Chemistry Professors strongly value Independence. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Chemistry Professors must consistently demonstrate qualities such as analytical thinking, integrity, and attention to detail.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Chemistry Professors, ranked by importance:

What education and training do Chemistry Professors need?

Many Chemistry Professors have earned a graduate degree. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a doctoral degree, such as a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D..

Chemistry Professors may need some on-the-job training, but most candidates will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Educational degrees among Chemistry Professors

• 0.6% did not complete high school or secondary school
• 1.4% completed high school or secondary school
• 2.0% completed some college coursework
• 1.8% earned a Associate's degree
• 14.6% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 32.1% earned a Master's degree
• 47.4% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Chemistry Professors

Important Abilities needed by Chemistry Professors

Chemistry Professors must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Chemistry Professors need abilities such as oral expression, written expression, and oral comprehension in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Chemistry Professors, ranked by their relative importance.

Critical Skills needed by Chemistry Professors

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Chemistry Professors frequently use skills like reading comprehension, writing, and speaking to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Chemistry Professors, ranked by their relative importance.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

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