The Matter of Your Degree

A recent discussion on SOR group at LinkedIn is an interesting follow up to some of the posts [1,2] I've put up on rheological backgrounds.  Randy Byrne of Malvern Instruments asked which background was best for understanding rheological properties of all materials.  My background in polymer physics has served me well in jobs in materials science, instrument sales, and the food industry. 
Also, in this case, it is worthwhile to see what hiring managers want for rheological jobs [2].  The top choices are Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, and Polymer Science/Engineering.

[1]     Doc Rheo letter on studying food rheology
[2]     Jobs Report review on degree backgrounds

Ask Doc Rheo: Degrees of Food Rheology

Dear Doc Rheo:

What do you think of a degree in food rheology?
A student

Dear Student:

I’m the wrong guy to answer your question.

All my degrees are in Chemical Engineering, and my graduate work was in polymer rheology. While my current position involves food rheology, my employer wanted a chemistry or engineering major with experience in rheology.

When I was in school, I was often told that a Chemical Engineering degree was extremely flexible, as it could provide employment in many different industries. These comments were correct, as my former classmates and I work in a wide variety of fields. If you take a look at job report posts from this year and last year, you’ll see that generic rheological jobs ask for Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Polymer Science/Engineering, or Material Science backgrounds most often.

However, I have been contacted recently by headhunters who are trying to fill some food rheology jobs. I think that these folks have found me by entering “food” and “rheology” into the LinkedIn search function.

To get an answer to your question, you would be better off contacting food rheology professors. I have no experience with the requirements for a food science degree, so I’m not sure what generic benefits the degree confers.

Sincerely,
Doc Rheo

Ask Doc Rheo: Paper Coatings Companies

Dear Doc Rheo:
Can you give me the names of some paper coatings companies?
A Student (again)

Dear Student:
Here are some companies that I know make paper coatings--

• Stora Enso
• Dow Chemical
• PPG

Commenters--do you have any other names?

Here are some other coatings links--

• http://www.coatingsconference.com/
• http://www.pcimag.com/
• http://www.paint.org/meetings/coatings_tech.cfm

Good luck,

Doc Rheo

 

Ask Doc Rheo: Industries for Rheologists

Dear Doc Rheo:
 I would like to know more about rheology jobs in other areas besides polymers.
--A Student

Dear Student:
When I worked in sales and applications for a rheometer company, I looked at samples from adhesive, asphalt, building materials, cosmetics, food, ink, paint, pharmaceutical, polymer, and paper coatings industries.  This is by no means an exhaustive list; as materials and supplies have gotten more complicated and expensive, companies want precise methods of characterization.  If you would like to find out more industries that employ rheologists, do the following...

1. Take a look at job web sites like Monster or Careerbuilder.  My monthly job search shows results from all sorts of companies.  (Besides, it's never too early to start thinking about your job hunt.)
2. Take a look around your lab and note the instruments that are there.  Go to the instrument company web site and find the list of shows the company attends.  You will identify where the instrument companies have customers and prospects.

The good news about jobs in these other industries is that the top majors for rheologists are Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, and Polymer Science.


Respectively submitted,
Doc Rheo

A Personal Milestone

This week marks my fifth anniversary at ConAgra Foods Inc. For most big American corporations, this offers some significant financial advantages. I am fully vested in my retirement account. To celebrate the occasion, I wore a vest.


I looked up the original job posting for my position. The focus of the job has changed in the last 5 years, but readers can compare this position to the jobs offered by Wrigley and Kraft this year. Current job hunters should take note: this is not a posting for a position that’s currently available; this was the job advertised 5 years ago.

Summary
Collaborate with R and D support groups and project team in relevant areas: rheology, texture, and material science of food. Guide engineers to understanding how the process affects viscosity and how food texture correlates with sensory aspects. Assist with transferring of new technologies and implementation of cost saving programs.

Position Responsibilities
Under minimum direction from management, lead technical projects in the general area of material science of food. Ensure that the milestones of business objectives are met in a timely manner. Communicate program-related issues and status to management to keep them up-to-date. Aid plants with developing and transfer of new technologies. Support pilot and plant trials. Operate and ensure proper functioning of physical implementation in Rheology laboratories (40%).

Prepare project proposals, including experimental design and timelines. Participate in project planning, including the selection of technical guidelines for achieving objectives. Identify manpower and resources to meet primary objectives (20%).

Provide routine and non-routine support to client groups with solving urgent processing and production problems (20%).

Keep abreast of technical developments and utilize this knowledge initiating new projects on cutting edge of technology (5%).

Manage and direct technician resources (5%).

Position Qualifications
M.S. or preferably Ph.D. in chemistry/engineering or related discipline. 3-5 (post-M.S.) or 1-2 (post-Ph.D.) experience in the general area of rheology.

Requires ability to apply Rheology, Thermal analysis, Spectroscopy, Particle Sizing, and Optical Microsopy in the development of new technology and use these skills in solving complex problems of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, in-line viscosity measurement, process modeling, and equipment scaling.

This position requires knowledge of advanced statistics and experimental design, and proficiency in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Good communication skills, ability to work with multi-functional teams and understanding technical information including chemistry, physics, statistics, and food is required.

Rheologist Job at Wrigley

While logged on at LinkedIn, I was presented with the following job opportunity at Wrigley, in the Chicago area.

Job Description

Rheology is the study of the physical, 'flow', behavior of materials under stress / strain and core to fundamentally understanding our products at every stage of processing, storage, consumption and disposal. Today we lack the core competence in this critical area of science and this position will lead building a rheology centre of excellence that is key to delivering strategic initiatives.
* Conducts fundamental research to determine & understand the material chemical & structural drivers that influence key performance attributes [i.e. sensory (texture), processing, removability, etc.].
* Builds, transfers & validates new rheological methods for internal applications by collaborating with internal & external partners.
* Advises & trains other scientists & technicians on the application of new methods across innovation. Supports the design, collection, analysis & interpretation of the rheological studies performed by internal partners.
* Communicates results through technical reports & presentations to technical & non-technical associates.

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company is a recognized leader in confections with a wide range of product offerings including gum, mints, hard and chewy candies, lollipops, and chocolate. The company has operations in more than 40 countries and distributes its world-famous brands in more than 180 countries. Three of these brands - Juicy Fruit®, Wrigley's Spearmint®, and Altoids® - have heritages stretching back more than a century. Other well-loved brands include Orbit®, Extra®, Starburst®, Doublemint®, Skittles®, Freedent®, Airwaves®, Life Savers®, Eclipse®, and Winterfresh®. Wrigley is headquartered in Chicago, Ill., and operates as a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated, a private, family-owned company founded in 1911. Mars, Incorporated is one of the world's largest food companies, generating global revenues of 30 billion dollars annually and producing some of the world's leading brands in six segments that include Chocolate, Drinks, Food, Petcare, Symbioscience and Wrigley.

* MS with 3-5 years' experience, or PhD with 1-2 years experience in the application of dynamic rheology to complex fluids.Experience in dynamic & transient rheometry & method development.
* Knowledge of polymer / materials science preferably in food applications.
* Knowledge of chemistry preferably in food applications.
* Knowledge of other analytical tools / methods relation to materials characterization (i.e. DSC, TGA, SEM, etc.).
* In depth experience with analytical rheometers - including data collection, analysis and interpretation
* Ability to develop & lead own research programs.
* Understanding of DOE, statistics & data interpretation.
* Computer skills, including MS Word, Excel & PowerPoint.
* Rheometer software skills, including TA Orchestrator or TRIOS.
* Managing research projects
* Communication skills - able to convey complex science to all levels

Currently, this job is not found using my standard "rheolog*" at Monster.com.

You can find this job at Wrigley's career site.

Disclosures: I once interviewed for a similar position at Wrigley; they turned me down.  I currently work for ConAgra Foods, which is a consumer food company similar to Wrigley.

Link of the Moment: JS from RT gets interviewed

John Spevacek, proprietor of the Rheo Thing (that other rheology blog), is interviewed about polymer chemistry by Chemjobber.

Rheologist Job at Kraft

The SOR advertised a position at Kraft Foods through its email list last week.  I looked up the job description at Kraft Foods, and here it is.

The Scientist-Rheology position provides an excellent opportunity to build and apply scientific and rheological expertise to a wide range of leading food products and related food systems in a fast-paced rewarding environment.

Key responsibilities include the following:
•Leverage a strong Rheology and scientific understanding to support various R and D projects for a broad range of food systems
•Apply current and develop new and innovative rheological approaches and understanding to solve practical problems
•Develop and apply a broad physical characterization expertise
•Develop and apply ingredient, formulation and process understanding governing rheology and texture of food systems
•Collaborate across R and D as a cross-functional team member and develop technical leadership
•Communicate effectively technical findings to project team and management - maintain lab notebook, write technical reports and present project summaries
•Build, maintain and leverage strong internal and external network of technical experts

Qualified candidates should possess the following:
•Highly motivated PhD in Engineering or Sciences with a strong proven expertise in Rheology
•1-2 years of postdoctoral or industrial experience will be a plus
•Demonstrated in-depth understanding in two or more of the following areas: Polymer Science, Colloid/Emulsion Sciences, Physical Chemistry, and Process Engineering
•Strong experimental skills, with a talent to apply scientific findings to solve practical problems
•Passion to apply multi-disciplined background to Food Industry
•Excellent interpersonal and project management skills
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills
•Ability to build strong customer/client relationships

Primary Location : NA-US-IL-Glenview

Interestingly, this position cannot be found using my standard keyword search rheolog* on Monster.com.

The job, as advertised, is similar to my job at ConAgra.  (I'm not planning to apply for the job; I'm doing fine at my current position.)

Disclosure: ConAgra competes against Kraft  in a variety of markets.

Link of the Moment: Aspen Research

A few months ago, someone asked what rheology was like from the industrial perspective.  John Spevacek from the Rheo Thing blog writes up a description of his job and company here.

Knowing 'X'

John S's thoughts on the new hardness tester reminds me of an instrument we have in our lab: a texture analyzer.  The texture analyzer attempts to quantify the performance of a variety of materials, often in their use state.  For foods, texture analysis becomes useful when paired with sensory analysis.  The sensory analysis (performed by customers or trained panelists) describe the performance of the product, while the texture analysis puts a number on the performance.  As John mentions, comparing '2x' to 'x' is useful, but knowing what 'x' means is another matter.
Back in my selling days, we often used the x:2x comparison to get in the door to see a new industrial customer.  The standard pitch was "give me a good sample and a bad sample and a description of the problem, we'll test the product, and see if we can identify the problem rheologically.  Then, you'll have a quantitative description of the problem and can find the appropriate solution, such as a new ingredient, different process, etc."
It's my impression that a lot of industrial rheology works this way.  One runs a comparison to an internal standard; but, because of time pressures, 'x' may not need to be understood, as long as the product is working for the customer.