When she was a kid, Marieh Al-Handawi’s chemist father liked to conduct science experiments, like building a chemical volcano and creating ” elephant toothpaste,” to entertain her and her brother. Not surprisingly, she grew up with a passion for chemistry. When it came time for college, she chose pharmacy as her major, which she says “forms the backbone of medicinal chemistry.”

Chemistry is the study of the properties of matter and how it can change. Al-Handawi, a Syrian national, calls the field “a diverse science” and chose pharmacy as a path toward chemistry to “gain further insight about the way drugs are synthesized.”

A fifth-year undergraduate pharmacy student at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, she says she chose the school for its program and collaborative research study opportunities at other UAE universities, such as at New York University Abu Dhabi and United Arab Emirates University, which both have programs in chemistry.

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Her work under the mentorship of Pance Naumov, associate professor of chemistry at NYUAD, won first place in chemistry at the Third United Arab Emirates Undergraduate Student Research Competition in 2015, held at Abu Dhabi University. Her project addressed biomineralization as a fundamental natural phenomenon, a term that refers to the process of how living organisms form minerals.

“Through this project we aimed to understand the detailed mechanism in which biomineralization occurs in nature and at the same time contribute to the medical field,” says Al-Handawi. She says the project is ongoing with Naumov, a chemist well known in the field for his work in solid state research and materials science.

But chemistry is not all white lab coats, beakers and laboratories. The career path is broad. Chemistry degrees can lead to jobs in government, nonprofit organizations, entrepreneurial endeavors, academia and industry.

“They can work in an oil refinery, the petrochemicals industry, plastic and polymers, pharmaceuticals, quality control and the food industry,” says Mohammad Hayal Alotaibi, assistant professor at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, the national science agency and laboratory in Saudi Arabia.

Alotaibi says the agency is a research center and has students from King Saud University and other Saudi schools who do their research at the agency. He says Saudi Arabia draws chemists from all over the world who typically work at petrochemical companies like Saudi Aramco and SABIC.

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“When a country has oil, they will do oil refinery for the oil and in this process they will need chemists,” says Alotaibi. “They will have a petrochemicals industry to convert their oil to important products such as alcohols, for example methanol and cyclohexanol, toluene, xylene and polyethene and polypropylene. Converting oil to important petrochemicals will bring more money to the country.”

A degree in chemistry, known as the central science for its vital role in almost every scientific field, can prepare students for a variety of fields ranging from medicine to law to business.

“Critical thinking, sharp instincts and a keen eye for trends and patterns is what makes a good chemist or researcher in this field,” says Al-Handawi. “It is demanding, but nonetheless very rewarding.”

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Career opportunities within science are growing throughout the world, says Khaled Shawakfeh, professor of organic chemistry and chairman of the department of applied chemical sciences at Jordan University of Science & Technology. He says chemistry graduates tend to pursue teaching jobs and roles in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries. The school offers a Bachelor of Science in applied chemical sciences and a Master of Science in applied chemistry.

He says in Jordan the reasons men and women study chemistry differ. “The industrial sector in the Gulf area depends on our male chemistry graduates,” said Shawakfeh, via email. “In Jordan, most of the female graduates go to the teaching sector or pursue graduate studies.”

Al-Handawi will graduate this spring from the University of Sharjah. She says the research conducted during her studies, mainly in physical chemistry and supramolecular chemistry, led her to decide to pursue graduate studies in chemistry. She has applied to schools in the U.S., including New York University and the University of Chicago.

“It is my ultimate goal to contribute to the world’s leading scientific research communities in the most humanitarian way possible, by providing solutions that will cure diseases and mitigate the symptoms of people suffering them,” says Al-Handawi.

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