Chromatography Forum

I am a Master student in Biological science. Cancer research now.
But I have little interest in that research area.Boring!
I find myself more interested in Chromatography, because i like industrial environment rather than the pure science research.

So I plan to apply for PHD positions in Chromatography.

Anybody knows which university provides the excellent education and research opportunities on Chromatography?

I just want to change my life course a little, and I expecting a better salary after PHD. Anyone knows how much can a Chromatographist earn a year? $50,000 ?

Does career in industry really get more money than in academic field?

A degree in Biology or (more commonly) Chemistry can get you a position in a chromatography lab. For advanced degrees in chromatography based research, you probably want to look into molecular biology or analytical chemistry - both make good use of chromatography. Any decent university offering advanced degrees in biology or chemistry should have plenty of chromatography equipment (though the majority of it may be in the chemistry dept.). This means you can interview with many potential PhD advisors and choose one with good chromatography experience.

To find potential advisors, I'd read Journal of Chromatography articles that you find interesting and contact the authors that are affiliated with universities. (Dr. Georges Guichon, U. of Tennessee comes to mind).

Can you recommend me any universities whose PHD programs in bio-sepration science education are more focused on industry research?

And anyone can give me a figure on the propective on the salary?

Salaries can vary by quite a wide amount depending on the size and regionn of the company. You mention 50K in your first post...a person with a B.S. can make that much with a couple of years experience in the right situation, whereas a PhD starting out with a small company in the southern states may start out at 60K or less.

I am glad to hear that you want to go for a Ph.D. degree. I work for a biopharma company. the starting position for a new graduate with MS degree is several levels below a new Ph.D., and salary difference would be in 20K to 30 K range. It will take the person with a MS at least 8 years to be at the entry level for a Ph.D. future career advancement perspective is also brighter for those with a Ph.D. The time spent in graduate school is well worth it.

here we pay 90K for a new Ph.D. graduate (big company, in California).

Do you find your brand-new PhDs qualified? Or like so many in their 20s or less, aren't used to figure out stuff on their own (like the cell phone is always there to call someone to ask, like a teenager?) ?

I would say most of them are well qualified (we are very picky in selecting candidates). In fact, some of them are so confident in their ability to figure out stuff on their own, I wish they had asked someone first before proceeding with their ideas. In those cases they just made things more difficult for themselves but haven't caused too much damage. they need to realize what the differences are between academic and industrial research. once they get over that, they are indeed quite good.

As other mentioned, time spent in graduate school is well worth it. I met many people overtime with lower degrees and most of them were complaining about their ideas not taking seriously or in general under consideration, and that the possibilities for promotions were limited. Having said that, I personally value any good ideas and do not discriminate if the person has or not a PhD...

If you want a PhD in bio-separation science, Dr. Guichon wouldn't be the most appropriate supervisor... I would suggest Northeasten university (i.e. Barry Kanger, Bill Hancock, Paul Vouros etc). They will probably find your background in biological science and cancer research interesting (as long as you ommit to mention that you find it boring...).

About the salary... (by the way in your age you should be thinking about saving the world by doing good science and not how much money you will earn )I recently participated in a salary survey and they sent me the results which I already misplaced. Entry level PhD in academic was >50K, in national laboratories/government was >70K and industry was >80K. Having said that, salaries in industry will vary a lot depending on the sector (i.e. pharmaceutical pays much better than food industry).

I have looked at the website of Northeastern University ,and read about what they guys are researching. I found it a good lab,but too emphasis on analytical. I think the salary for engineer on analytical work is less than on process engineering. I mean I want to be an engineer on bioprocess engineering with chromatography tech and emphasis on production , eg: quality control, new technology research & development, etc.

I am still searching for the potential positions on the internet!

There will be a very large number of institutions that offer degrees in Bioprocess Engineering ( or similar title ), and many of them may consider the topic as part of their chemical engineering stream.

As you're looking for money, as a general rule, globally, qualified chemical engineers ( and qualified specialist engineers in related disciplines ) tend to earn more than chemistry and biology graduates.

I'd suggest looking for an institution that offers the course as part of chemical engineering stream, rather than biological streams, such as fermentation technology.

Lawyers and most politicians do even better, so perhaps a change to those disciplines should also be considered.

Bruce Hamilton