Analytical chemist

Earnings (Yearly Median): $87,180 (Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 2024)

Employment and Outlook: 8% (Faster than average) (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024)

O*NET-SOC Code: 19-2031.00

Related Career Clusters: Agriculture, Food & Natural Resources; Education & Training; Health Science; Law, Public Safety, Manufacturing

Scope of Work

An analytical chemist's work involves analyzing material identities, quantities, and properties through applying the principles of chemistry. This is essential for a number of practices and in many different contexts. In industrial applications, in which materials and specific compounds are produced, analytical chemists carry out procedures to determine that the materials being used and produced are the correct materials and of the correct purity for the specified standards. Analytical procedures are used to monitor the progress of chemical processes in order to control the rate at which they occur. In medical and biological fields, analytical chemists carry out procedures to determine and monitor the amounts of specific biochemical materials that are present in samples obtained from living systems, whether of human, animal, or plant origin. Forensic analysis, including DNA matching, is an invaluable tool in the investigation of criminal activities. Because all matter is chemical in nature, analytical chemists provide services in many fields, such as geology, art history, and archeology.

Education and Coursework

As a profession, analytical chemistry is a highly specialized branch of chemistry. At the same time, the methods and technologies of analytical chemistry are essential tools in the normal work of all branches of the chemical sciences. The value of those methods and technologies lies in a thorough comprehension of the underlying chemical and physical principles on which they are based. This requires that the individual has the appropriate training for the work that will be carried out. Understanding of the fundamental principles is acquired through the corresponding course of study, which will vary according to position. This requires as a minimum the completion of a bachelor’s degree with a specialization in physical and analytical chemistry, and including general, organic, and inorganic chemistry, as well as biochemistry. However, for the majority of analytical chemistry positions, a bachelor’s degree will not be sufficient; for analytical positions demanding the highest levels of accountability and accuracy, such as forensics laboratories and medical research facilities, a master’s or doctorate is required. In the undergraduate degree program, individuals study the basic scientific principles that apply to that particular field of application. For example, a program geared to routine biochemical analysis in an analytical service laboratory includes training in basic chemistry, physics, and mathematics, reaction kinetics, and the routine analytical methods relevant to biochemical systems. For the more advanced master’s and PhD degrees the training will be much more extensive and theory-based, including such subject matter as pharmacology, radioisotope processes, detailed chemical and biochemical reaction mechanisms, a broader range of highly specialized and powerful analytical techniques, and with the normal requirement of completing a thesis project of original research. As with other career options, it is possible to acquire an idea of what a career in analytical chemistry might be like by observing analytical chemists at work first-hand, by arrangement with local hospitals, colleges, and universities, or through private industries. Any of these may provide the opportunity to observe the work that is carried out in their facilities on a limited basis. Others may provide internships or volunteer opportunities. There are also a number of organizations whose purpose is to support the work of chemistry-based professions, including analytical chemistry, and several peer-reviewed journals in which the new work of analytical chemists is reported.

Career Enhancement and Training

In many cases, an individual working in an analytical service laboratory is required to hold certification from an accrediting organization as a requirement of the position. For example, a medical laboratory technician working in the analytical service department of a hospital typically must maintain certification credentials issued by the relevant society of laboratory technicians that sets the standards of performance that must be maintained by its members. In the United States, each state has its own regulatory body for this function. Through the appropriate society, as well as through numerous colleges and universities, ongoing training is available for its members, and is typically a requirement of membership in order to maintain currency with new standards and technologies as they become available. In other positions that require an advanced degree with a specialty in analytical methods, additional certifications are not required, but the individual is nonetheless expected to maintain currency of knowledge through additional training and continuous learning opportunities provided through training seminars presented by various industries and vendors of analytical devices, through attendance of workshops at professional conferences, and special postgraduate courses provided by colleges and universities. Networking is an important aspect of this ongoing education since it provides the opportunity for individuals working in different locations to learn from each other’s experiences, although the confidential nature of much of the material of analysis, especially in medical and forensic applications, can be an issue.

Daily Tasks and Technology

The typical day of an analytical chemist depends very much on the nature of the environment in which he or she works. For most, the day consists of preparing samples for analysis, keeping the appropriate records of the analytical procedures and results, and maintaining the equipment that is used. The technology of analytical chemistry is by far the most important aspect of an individual’s daily tasks, and a great many different devices and techniques have been devised.

Regardless of the nature of the chemistry-based science in which analysis is being performed, the sole purpose of each and every device is the measurement of some very specific chemical or physical property. In the vast majority of cases, the property being measured is the quantity of a specific material that is present in a sample. Analytical chemists test water samples to determine the amount of dissolved materials that they contain, ranging from naturally occurring metallic salts such as iron and calcium to any of the various compounds considered to be pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and any of the hundreds of different pesticides and fertilizing materials that are used each day throughout the country. Analytical chemists in medical service laboratories routinely test blood, serum, and tissue samples for the amount of materials such as cholesterol, proteins, potassium, calcium, sodium, and other chemical and biochemical components that are present.

In forensics laboratories and chemical research facilities, analytical chemists use sophisticated devices such as high performance liquid chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectrometers, mass spectrometers, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometers, and many other devices to determine the molecular structure and absolute identity of specific compounds that have been recovered from crime scenes. The materials of interest may be biological or chemical in nature, and range from DNA to simple dust. The important feature is the unique identity of the material, characterized through precise and strictly defined measurements.

Analysis is also an essential tool of quality control programs and process monitoring, especially in food sciences, pharmaceutical preparation, and the innumerable formulations used in industrial production processes.

Earnings and Employment Outlook

Automated analytical devices have replaced many of the positions that have traditionally employed analytical chemists, especially those in which the analyses are both routine and repetitive according to set procedures. An automated device can carry out literally hundreds of analyses per day, something that once required the work of several analytical chemists. The unfortunate aspect of this trend is that employment opportunities for analytical chemists have decreased in traditional areas, although new opportunities have arisen in other areas. Thus, the outlook for this career is that it will experience average growth. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that chemists and materials scientists as a whole will experience about 8 percent job growth per year from 2022 to 2032. Because analytical chemistry is a more specialized field, it tends to command higher rates of pay. The median pay for all kinds of chemists in 2023 was $87,180 per year. This compares very favorably with other career options such as chemical technician, and this trend is not likely to change significantly given the vital importance of analytical chemistry in many fields. A bachelor’s degree is considered the minimum credential for an entry-level analytical chemist position, although an associate’s degree in a specific area of application, as mentioned above, is the minimum for the most basic positions in the corresponding area of application.

Related Occupations

• Environmental Scientist: Environmental scientists use analytical chemistry methods and techniques to determine the environmental presence of materials and the effects of human activities.

• Agricultural and Food Scientist: Agricultural and food scientists conduct chemical analyses of foodstuffs and the agricultural processes by which they are produced in order to help protect the safety of the world’s food supply and to enhance the productivity of agricultural operations.

• Biochemist or Biophysicist: Biochemists and biophysicists use the methodologies of analytical chemistry in medical laboratories to study the chemical and physical principles of biological systems.

• Geoscientist: Geoscientists use analytical chemistry methods and techniques in the geological sciences to study and elucidate the chemical processes at work within the planet. They may also work in fields such as in archaeology.

• Project Managers and Quality Control Specialists: Analytical chemists are well suited to project management and other management positions, and are essential to quality control processes in many fields of application.

Future Applications

Analytical chemistry is bound to maintain its central and important role in the chemistry-based sciences as new methods and technologies arise. The introduction of more effective digital electronic devices, for example, will provide greater sensitivity in analytical procedures, and perhaps produce entirely new methodologies for those procedures. In medical sciences, the growing population and the drive to achieve a complete understanding of biological processes ensures that the demand for corresponding analytical chemistry-based procedures will also continue to grow apace. Similarly, environmental concerns are placing increasing pressure on analytical chemists to use and develop the science in order to achieve solutions to environmental problems. For example, analytical chemistry is essential for monitoring the conditions arising from the many and various environmental disasters, large and small, that occur throughout the world, from possible groundwater pollution to major disasters such as oil spills or the radioactive contamination resulting from the 2011 tsunami that struck Japan. Geochemistry is also a growing area of analytical chemistry, as nations seek to find environmentally better and more effective means of extracting and processing petroleum resources, and to replace those resources with renewable resources of biological origin. Every aspect of every science that deals with the chemical interactions of materials therefore requires the services of analytical chemists, and although growth of the profession in general is expected to be relatively slow in terms of employment opportunities, specific branches of the science can be expected to grow at more rapid rates, and someone considering a career in this field would be well advised to research specific growth areas in order to identify the greatest opportunities.

Bibliography

"19-2031.00 – Chemists." O*NET Online, 24 Apr. 2024, www.onetonline.org/link/summary/19-2031.00. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.

"Chemists and Materials Scientists." Occupational Outlook Handbook, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6 Sept. 17 Apr. 2024, www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/chemists-and-materials-scientists.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.