ACS program encourages community college students to become chemical technicians

This summer, four students from a New Jersey community college spent 10 weeks at Rowan University gaining skills to prepare them for careers as chemical technicians. They learned how to use instrumentation that is far beyond the budgets of most community colleges, says Christina Nase, a professor of chemistry at Rowan College of South Jersey, whose students took part in the internship program. The internships’ aim was to make the students more marketable by developing their soft and technical skills, and Nase says they have come back to her classes “a very confident bunch.” These internships were funded by an American Chemical Society PrepareCTP Seed Grant; CTP stands for “chemical technical professionals.” These seed grants are a part of the 2022–26 ACS Strategic Initiative on Fostering a Skilled Technical Workforce, which focuses on increasing the flow of skilled technical workers into the chemical industry. The chemical industry will soon be