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Home > Blogs > Hamilton Schools News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > October > 23 > Entry
Badin chemistry students meet with alumnus about careers
A group of senior and sophomore chemistry students at Badin High School received some career advice today from Badin alumnus Kip Sturgill, class of 1990, who currently works as research and development engineer at W. L. Gore & Associates.
Sturgill said that 20 years he was sitting where they were now, trying to figure out where he was heading with an interest in both chemistry and chemical engineering, and how he discovered that research and development allowed him to combine his interests to create new products and new processes.
“One of the most engineered products of the 20th century is the diaper,” he said. “A lot of research and development went into how to make a diaper and how to do it in a very cheap way.
“There are a lot of problems out there yet to be solved and a background in both of these areas will help you solve these problems,” he said.
He told the students that chemistry and chemical engineering are both highly-paid entry-level fields, with starting salaries of around $65,000 a year for bachelor degree graduates and up to $75-80,000 a year for those with a Ph.D.
After giving Mrs. Heinrich a gift of a Gore-Tex jacket and scarf, Sturgill gave the students a hands-on demonstration of the breathing qualities of Gore-Tex fabric, which is derived from Teflon, by putting a mitten of Gore-Tex on one hand and a plastic mitten on the other.
He explained that Gore-Tex fabric was discovered by a researcher at DuPont, but his company passed on the idea, so he developed Gore-Tex in his basement and started his own company. Gore-Tex is now used in over 1,000 products, he said.
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