On Presidents' Day, 2008 chemistry alumnus Danny Brooks gave a talk to our undergraduates about the pharmaceutical industry. He is currently a process development scientist at Par Pharmaceuticals near Detroit after working for several years at Boehringer Ingelheim in Ohio. Brooks enjoys the sometimes high-pressure, but very rewarding, responsibility of making sure that drugs are developed in a timely manner so they can be delivered and used on schedule to the millions of those in need. Knowing his audience well - and not wishing to neglect any of his former instructor's specialties - Brooks highlighted aspects of pharmacy that relate to each of chemistry's sub-disciplines. He also discussed the impact of various levels of education (BS, MS, and PhD) to job type and availability. With all of our full-time faculty being completely immersed in academics it was especially rewarding to have Brooks describe the ups and downs of industry. Also attending the presentation were two of this fellow 2008 chemistry graduates, Tina Shepherd (below center) and Jennie Polk (below right), and it was a pleasure to visit with them again after many years.
