Chemical Technology - Polymers

The Chemical Technician program from Cerritos College is designed to bridge the technical training in-process controls and plastic with the academic theoretical and practical laboratory skills of chemistry.  The goal is to provide students with training to move directly into the workforce in industries such as plastics, petrochemical, pharma, rubber, aerospace, water management.  This program would specifically focus on training students in research, development and production of plastics and rubber compounds.

Approximately 5/year.

Anecdotally, the students of just one chemistry 112 section were told of the nature of the work of a chemical technician.  Although many of these students were planning on transferring to a four-year university to pursue professional degrees, a hand full of the students were interested in employment in the technical field.  A brief “field trip” was taken to the plastics department with a demonstration by the instructor.  A small number of students expressed a significant interest in taking this course in their near future.  This response was just in a single Chem. 112course.  We believe that most students are completely unaware of job prospects in the chemical technician field.  Given the opportunity, we believe more students would pursue the certificate. Our industry partners echo this sentiment that the prospects for employment after obtaining the Chemical Technician Certificate are good.  Furthermore, many employers will encourage and even pay for the student/employee to continue their education as they work.  

The purpose of the Chemical Technician Certificate is to prepare students for entry-level employment in the polymer influenced industry.

Students will obtain hands-on training in polymers.  Skills include molding, fabrication, mixing, cutting, and laminating.

Students will obtain the theory behind the chemical processes.  Concepts include atomic-molecular theory, chemical calculations, chemical reactions, kinetics, acid-base theory and equilibrium. 

Students will develop laboratory skills such as titrations, quantitative and qualitative analysis, measuring, spectroscopy, graphical analysis, making conclusions, and scientific writing.  

The Chemical Technician Certificate with a specialization in polymers is designed to give students the skills required to gain employment in the plastics and rubber influenced laboratories and industries. Upon completion of this certificate program, students will be eligible to obtain entry-level employment as laboratory assistants, rubber manufacturing technicians, or polymer research and development technicians under the supervision of engineers and chemists. The content of the certificate contains a balance between the applied science and the theoretical chemical background.  Many local companies employ these types of trained technicians, including the rubber industry, the chemical industry, and the aerospace industry. The Chemical Technician with an emphasis in Polymers Certificate requires the completion of 18.5 units in required courses.  The degree requires two academic chemistry courses along with two CTE technology courses. A grade of C or above must be earned for each of the courses. 

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
CHEM 110	Elementary Chemistry	4.0	S1
CHEM 111	General Chemistry I	5.0	S2
CHEM 112	General Chemistry II	5.0	S3
PMT 100	Plastics Technology	2.5	S1
ET 103	Industrial Process Control	2.0	S2

The Cerritos College Chemical Technician –Polymers Program is a bridge between the academic area of chemistry and the career technical areas of Plastics and Process Controls. The courses for this program are already extant at Cerritos College. The Certificate program is modeled after the many Engineering Technology Certificate programs at Cerritos College. The main difference is the bridging of CTE and Academic coursework. We believe this gives our students a unique advantage in that they will possess the theoretical and laboratory experience and knowledge of the academic chemistry courses and the technical skill gained in the CTE courses.

There are a few Chemical Technician Certificate programs in Southern California. One is at San Diego Mesa College. The San Diego Mesa Program is different from ours. Their program is completely academic and completely from the chemistry department. At Cerritos, our program bridges the academic with the career technical. Another program is at LA Trade Tech Community College. The only overlap with our program at LATTC is Process Technology. They also require applied chemistry introductory physics. Fullerton College has a Biotechnology certificate program. (https://cte.fullcoll.edu/department/biotechnology/)

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