Carlos G. Gutierrez is a professor of chemistry at California State University, Los Angeles. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1971 and a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from UC Davis in 1975. He is the recipient of the 1996 White House Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics & Engineering Mentoring and the 2001 ACS Award for Encouraging Disadvantaged Students into Careers in the Chemical Sciences.

What interesting chemical questions surely will be asked in the 21st century! Chemists have a lot of joyous but difficult work ahead as we either excitedly leap or tentatively inch toward a better molecular understanding.

	VALUING DIVERSITY Gutierrez (right) and his research group.

Certainly, the talents of creative and intelligent individuals must be developed and recruited to the chemistry enterprise. The most valuable commodity in chemistry will always be the creativity, inventiveness, and intellectual capital of the people who do molecular science. The fundamental concern, then, is, Who will do chemistry in this new century? It is in the interest of society and of chemistry that we include the best and the brightest from all backgrounds.

As chemists, we seek to gain through experimentation a molecular understanding of reality, and with that, the ability to describe, manipulate, and create. This exceptional human activity progresses in proportion to the quality and novelty of the research questions posed as well as the creative effort expended in answering them. Our world view is influenced by our life histories and circumstances, which include gender, culture, ethnicity, and social class. The value of intellectual diversity to the development of chemistry is that we gain a better understanding of molecular phenomena by having chemists formulate and answer chemical questions from these various perspectives.

The U.S. chemical enterprise has been well served by the intellectual diversity of its members. Notable was the entry of individuals from different social and economic circumstances in the decades after World War II. For the first time in U.S. history, large numbers of urban and rural students—many poor or of modest means—were able to pursue a college education. A disproportionate number of those students went into science and engineering. This influx of talent brought to U.S. chemistry life perspectives quite different from those of previous generations and greatly contributed to the success of this world-class venture.

However, participation in the chemical sciences by some groups in U.S. society—notably, African Americans, Native Americans, and Hispanics—is disproportionately low. These large populations are sources of talent that can bring additional intellectual diversity into the chemical enterprise. Federal agencies whose mission encompasses the development of the scientific workforce (primarily the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation) have established programs to create a diverse scientific workforce, and even though they are small in scope, they have been largely successful. Also, genuine altruism and enlightened self-interest have guided the American Chemical Society to become a major player in encouraging minority participation in the chemical sciences, through educational projects and the successful ACS Scholars Program.

Large numbers of minority students must be brought into the chemical sciences. As in any human endeavor, many will succeed and some will fail. Minority individuals must be freed from lowered expectations that dampen drive and achievement as well as from exalted expectations of those few who earn advanced degrees. As is true for all populations, from a large pool, the elite stars will emerge.

The challenge to all of us, then, is to create an environment within chemistry in which the intellectual talents of all Americans can be developed and applied. There are no simple formulas or clever insights to do this—just hard, committed work and support.

Who will do chemistry in the 21st century? The answer must be "All of us!" Otherwise, we shortchange chemistry.

 

Carlos Gutierrez
California State University, Los Angeles