Brooke W. Kammrath

Meet Brooke W. Kammrath

There are two major skills that should be prioritized in our education of analytical scientists: communication and problem solving/logical reasoning.

First, scientific illiteracy is a plague facing the world. It is therefore critical for today’s analytical scientists to develop effective scientific communication skills so they can successfully apply their expertise to global issues such as climate change, clean energy, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), infectious diseases, and crime. Chemists do not work only with other scientists, and the average person often lacks a deep understanding of scientific concepts. Thus, if analytical scientists aim to drive meaningful change in our multidisciplinary world, they must be able to communicate all aspects of their work to nonscientists – including methodologies, results, conclusions, and their broader significance. Furthermore, scientists must be taught the art of enlightened disagreement: the ability to respectfully agree to disagree while fostering more productive discussions. Despite the polarizing divisions in today’s world, there is a need for people to come together and understand each other which will only happen through healthy conversations.

Second, analytical chemistry education should emphasize the scientific approach to problem-solving rather than the rote memorization of protocols. This focus will cultivate logical reasoning skills – induction, deduction, and abduction – which are essential for navigating complex scientific challenges. Although instrumentation and techniques are undeniably important, a scientist taught to think critically with a microscope (as in the early days of chemistry) can often be a more useful problem solver than one given a “recipe” to follow and an autosampler on a sophisticated and expensive instrument. I’m not denigrating the value of learning how to properly maintain and operate an analytical tool, however I maintain that the instruments we should be most concerned with optimizing are the minds of the next generation of analytical chemists. Tomorrow’s science leaders must be adept problem solvers, armed with the strongest intellectual and analytical tools, ready to take on any challenge.