Chemist, Mining Industry - Norton Industries
Mining Industry
Charles Bucknam worked as a chemist at a winery and in the pulp and paper industry before joining Newmont Metallurgical Services where he now analyzes mined ores. Bucknam discovered found that training in one industry can be effectively applied to another. For example, he says, "My background from the paper industry was to do material balances. When I came to the copper mining business, I looked at the material that was going through the mill and the gold we were getting out of it, and I realized that something was going wrong. I wanted to figure out exactly how much gold we were losing." He used his knowledge of material balances to help accomplish this.
Bucknam is essentially an analytical chemist specializing in inorganic analysis. In his career, he has held a variety of positions. He has been the person in charge of instrumental analysis, measuring gold content in a number of inorganic materials; a shift supervisor, overseeing assay and quality control labs; and a member the staff in Newmont's exploration research lab. He also developed new processes for analysis of gold automated systems for sample preparation. He says his job has given him the opportunity to continuously expand his knowledge of mineral deposits and allowed him to travel and work with mining problems all over the world.
"In each job, you need to develop a working relationship between industry and government. Every new mine has its own set of problems," Bucknam explains. Often at the heart of this relationship are the environmental concerns of the region. "We work hard to develop mining processes that have a low environmental impact," he says.
Norton Industries
Tom Szymanski was drawn to inorganic chemistry. "I was fascinated that in many biological systems, the action is at the metal center," he says. Part of the general training for inorganic chemists is to look for interactions and look for cause and effect patterns, he explains. "It's a training that's widely applicable," he adds. Szymanski now works as a project manager, supervising research on ceramics used in the hydrocarbon industry. "Our expertise is to provide detailed ceramics for catalyst applications," he says. "All the systems we work on contain metal to oxygen bonds and my job is to ask myself 'what do I know about inorganic chemistry that enables me to alter the system I have so that it works better for our customers?'" he says. Most of the projects he supervises involve cooperative efforts with customers making good communication skills as important as training in the basic discipline.
Steve Feldman
Chemist
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services
Steve Feldman has a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry, but his job is working as an analytical chemist. Use of the latest technology in analytical chemistry is one of the things Feldman likes best about his work at USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Services. One of the projects he works on is analyzing for illegal use of the growth hormone, clenbuterol, in show animals. The hormone is used in Europe, but is banned in this country because it can cause severe allergic reactions if it finds its way into the human food supply. "The USDA tests for chemicals that get into foods and veterinary medicine," he says.
"If one eliminates education, the prospects for jobs for inorganic chemist are there, but they are not plentiful," he says. Feldman advises students of inorganic chemistry to choose courses that will broaden their knowledge, and also to get experience with analytical instrumentation such as gas chromatography, HPLC, and mass spectrometry.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Sara Scott trained as an organic chemist. She worked in Germany as a NATO/National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, and then shifted the course of her career to analytical chemistry, eventually becoming a group leader for an analytical chemistry group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She says she was ready for a change when she shifted her work to analytical chemistry and has enjoyed being in a management position. The group she manages performs analytical searches, development, and analyses of a wide variety of samples including nuclear materials, soils, dust, plastics, and alloys.
"In the environmental samples we analyze, we are looking for inorganic analyses and radio chemical components," she explains. The information gained from analysis of these environmental materials can contribute to the remediation of contaminated sites. "An important part of my work is problem solving. It's nice to be doing something tangible and to be able to show that a problem you have solved has made a difference."As a female manager in a large government lab, Scott says she has received support from her superiors. "When I took this job, I was pregnant," she says. "It never once crossed my mind that having a baby would jeopardize my career. I think it's a real credit to the management at this lab that this was not a concern for me."
Iron use for haeme synthesis is under control of the yeast frataxin homologue (Yfh1)
Emmanuel Lesuisse1,*, Renata Santos1, Berthold F. Matzanke2, Simon A. B. Knight3, Jean-Michel Camadro1 and Andrew Dancis3
Mining Industry
Charles Bucknam worked as a chemist at a winery and in the pulp and paper industry before joining Newmont Metallurgical Services where he now analyzes mined ores. Bucknam discovered found that training in one industry can be effectively applied to another. For example, he says, "My background from the paper industry was to do material balances. When I came to the copper mining business, I looked at the material that was going through the mill and the gold we were getting out of it, and I realized that something was going wrong. I wanted to figure out exactly how much gold we were losing." He used his knowledge of material balances to help accomplish this.
Bucknam is essentially an analytical chemist specializing in inorganic analysis. In his career, he has held a variety of positions. He has been the person in charge of instrumental analysis, measuring gold content in a number of inorganic materials; a shift supervisor, overseeing assay and quality control labs; and a member the staff in Newmont's exploration research lab. He also developed new processes for analysis of gold automated systems for sample preparation. He says his job has given him the opportunity to continuously expand his knowledge of mineral deposits and allowed him to travel and work with mining problems all over the world.
"In each job, you need to develop a working relationship between industry and government. Every new mine has its own set of problems," Bucknam explains. Often at the heart of this relationship are the environmental concerns of the region. "We work hard to develop mining processes that have a low environmental impact," he says.
Norton Industries
Tom Szymanski was drawn to inorganic chemistry. "I was fascinated that in many biological systems, the action is at the metal center," he says. Part of the general training for inorganic chemists is to look for interactions and look for cause and effect patterns, he explains. "It's a training that's widely applicable," he adds. Szymanski now works as a project manager, supervising research on ceramics used in the hydrocarbon industry. "Our expertise is to provide detailed ceramics for catalyst applications," he says. "All the systems we work on contain metal to oxygen bonds and my job is to ask myself 'what do I know about inorganic chemistry that enables me to alter the system I have so that it works better for our customers?'" he says. Most of the projects he supervises involve cooperative efforts with customers making good communication skills as important as training in the basic discipline.
Steve Feldman
Chemist
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services
Steve Feldman has a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry, but his job is working as an analytical chemist. Use of the latest technology in analytical chemistry is one of the things Feldman likes best about his work at USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Services. One of the projects he works on is analyzing for illegal use of the growth hormone, clenbuterol, in show animals. The hormone is used in Europe, but is banned in this country because it can cause severe allergic reactions if it finds its way into the human food supply. "The USDA tests for chemicals that get into foods and veterinary medicine," he says.
"If one eliminates education, the prospects for jobs for inorganic chemist are there, but they are not plentiful," he says. Feldman advises students of inorganic chemistry to choose courses that will broaden their knowledge, and also to get experience with analytical instrumentation such as gas chromatography, HPLC, and mass spectrometry.
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Sara Scott trained as an organic chemist. She worked in Germany as a NATO/National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, and then shifted the course of her career to analytical chemistry, eventually becoming a group leader for an analytical chemistry group at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She says she was ready for a change when she shifted her work to analytical chemistry and has enjoyed being in a management position. The group she manages performs analytical searches, development, and analyses of a wide variety of samples including nuclear materials, soils, dust, plastics, and alloys.
"In the environmental samples we analyze, we are looking for inorganic analyses and radio chemical components," she explains. The information gained from analysis of these environmental materials can contribute to the remediation of contaminated sites. "An important part of my work is problem solving. It's nice to be doing something tangible and to be able to show that a problem you have solved has made a difference."As a female manager in a large government lab, Scott says she has received support from her superiors. "When I took this job, I was pregnant," she says. "It never once crossed my mind that having a baby would jeopardize my career. I think it's a real credit to the management at this lab that this was not a concern for me."
Iron use for haeme synthesis is under control of the yeast frataxin homologue (Yfh1)
Emmanuel Lesuisse1,*, Renata Santos1, Berthold F. Matzanke2, Simon A. B. Knight3, Jean-Michel Camadro1 and Andrew Dancis3
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