Academia degree

Scientific control problems are widespread in both academia and industry. Large segments of the chemical industry are devoted to the synthesis of bulk chemicals and the plants in which synthesis is performed, run with a high degree of automation. For most practical purposes, any chemical plant that operates on an industrial scale runs completely under automatic control. 

Rich completed an Honours in Natural Science (Chemistry) in 1887, becoming a steamboat lady in 1904 to collect a degree from the University of Dublin. In the meantime, she had held posts as Science Mistress at Howell s School, Llandaff(1887-1888) Ladies College, Grantham (1889-1892) and Roedean School (1892-1905). Then, in 1906, she was appointed as a Principal at Granville School, Leicester. In 1922, she moved back into academia as Research Assistant to the Professor of Botany, Queen Mary College, London, a position that she held until her death in 1939. 

XIAO-TIAN LIANG received his BS degree from the National Central University (China) in 1945 and his PhD degree from the University of Washington at Seattle (USA) in 1951. After postdoctoral work at Harvard University he joined the faculty of the Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. In 1980, he was elected as an Academician of Academia Sinica (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and has served on the advisory editorial boards of Tetrahedron and Tetrahedron Letters, amor g other scientific journals. He coauthored more than 300 scientific papers and reviews, and has written or edited more than ten bcx ks. 

To date, chemists have developed, with varying degrees of success, a wide variety of heterogenization techniques which will steadily broaden their applicability in the future. Finally, the identification of more economic and reliable heterogeneous asymmetric catalytic systems with high activity, selectivity, stability and reusability remains a challenging, but very worthwhile, goal which calls for collaborative efforts from both industry and academia. 

Feed composition does not only concern steam. Industrially, additives are often constantly added to the feed. A reason frequently advanced is that the catalyst could in this way be replenished of elements it loses continuously. This suggests an area of research which should have fascinated Academia, because the use of such additives helps control the degree of doping during the whole life of the catalysts. In this case, the restriction concerning doping expressed above is not valid any more, because the doping elements are fed continuously rather than just introduced in the fresh catalyst. 

I love synthesis of small molecules that can be completed by a single person. During my professorship, I always gave a single target compound to each of my students. My students had to finish their syntheses within two, three, or five years. Otherwise, they failed to obtain their Master s or Doctor s degrees. The target molecules were therefore not too complicated to prepare. Successful students felt confident of their capability and skill as chemists, and could start fruitful careers in either industries or in academia. 

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