(330d) A Career in Managment for a Ph.D. Chemical Engineering Generalist

The author will use his own career path to illustrate how a sound educational foundation in chemical engineering enables one to function well in a variety of different career roles. Dr. Cramer initially started out along a career pathway that typically leads one to a career in R&D but a difficult employment market led to a first industry position with an engineering company. Discovering that he enjoyed the challenges and excitement of working on specific assignments and the interactions with clients and project team members gradually induced him into project and later technical department management. After more than 20 years of working in a consulting engineering environment the employment market once again made him change directions. This time he landed a position working for a technically oriented not-for-profit organization, none other than AIChE. The work was even more management and people oriented than his industry experience but now instead of having a more direct form of authority over a modest number of direct supports he had to develop an ability to influence large numbers of volunteer professionals. As the staff member responsible for guiding the development of much of the content for AIChE technical meetings he continued in this capacity for 18+ years until he retired and returned to being a volunteer with both AIChE and the National Council for Examiners of Engineering and Surveying. Throughout his entire career path, the principles he learned as both an undergrad and grad student in Chemical Engineering served him well and allowed him to adapt as required.