A S Y M P O S I U M

Instruttion in Polymer ChemLsWry

The symposium,1 jointly sponsored by the Polymer Division and the Division of Chemical Education, was organized to bring before a larger audience some of the current problems encountered in the teaching of polymer chemistry. Because the study of polymers has only recently received recognition as a separate branch of chemistry, all too frequently this entire area is never touched upon in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. As a result, the majority of our beginning graduate students have no previous ac- quaintance with polymer chemistry, and no apprecia- tion of the broad scope of fascinating research problems which it offers. On the other hand, due to the very rapid growth in the commercial importance of polymers, a substantial proportion of today's graduating chem- ists are finding employment in the polymer industry. I t appears certain that the demand of industry for chemists with some polymer training will continue to increase in the foreseeable future.

This situation creates a problem which is essentially twofold: first, how to bring polymer chemistry to the attention of larger numbers of undergraduate students, and second, the type of graduate curriculum which will best enable our students to make a maximum con- tribution to the research in this new field.

There was general agreement on the immediate need for a pioneering effort to incorporate the elementary principles of polymer chemistry into the courses which traditionally form the basis for the undergraduate program. The first part of the symposium, the papers by Ferry, Mayo, and Price, gave abundant specific examples of the way in which this can be accomplished.

The second portion of the symposium concerned the teaching of polymer chemistry, either in industry or a t the graduate level. As pointed out in the p:Lper by

1 A symposium sponsored jointly by the Division of Polymer Chemistry and the Division of Chemical Education a t the 134th Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Chicago, September, 1958.

Kice, more than half of the institutions granting degrees in chemistry have no polymer chemist on their staffs. This means that graduate level courses in polymer chemistry must be taught in these schools by men of other research interest. Any means of attracting more academic chemists to do research with macromolecules should help alleviate this situation.

The remaining papers provided a cross-sectional view of the methods in use today to teach polymer chemistry a t the graduate level. The essential problem is how to introduce the necessary polymer chemistry into the curriculum (which in many cases is already overcrowded) without diluting the student's basic knowledge in the four traditional areas of chemistry on the one hand, or seriously infringing upon his research time on the other. In addition to those printed here, a paper was read by C. K. Bump, J. D. Cotman, Jr., and E. H. Merz of Monsanto on their experience in teaching polymer chemistry in industry. C. G. Overberger of Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute told of the organization and course offerings of their "Polymer Division" in the Chemistry Department. Maurice Morton described the graduate program in polymer chemistry at the University of Akron, where the majority of the doctoral level work a t the institution is in the polymer field.

The solutions presented show a remarkable lack of uniformity, the course offerings ranging from a single survey course designed to acquaint all graduate chem- istry students with some of the fundamental prin- ciples, to a complete program (including hoth lecture and laboratory courses) which covers in detail hoth basic principles and the practical applications of polymers. Only the test of experience will reveal which of these alternatives best satisfies the requirements of t,his growing field.

William R. Krigbaum, chairman of symposium Duke University, Durham, North Carolina

156 / Journol of Chemical Education