It is quite conceivable that three decades from today, you might work in a building that generates its own power. You might get there in a car that drives itself, parks itself, and even fuels itself – while you drive – through a wireless power delivery system. For lunch, you might eat a new kind of pizza that is healthier than kale and tastes even better than the pizza you are thinking about ordering right now.

These things might sound like fantasies, but they are grounded in science that is being developed today.

In fact, we are in one of the most exciting moments for chemistry in a very long time – with greater opportunity than ever to invent, create and bring the power of innovation to billions of people around the world.

Around the time I graduated college, a little longer ago than I’ll care to admit, there was a popular word of advice, and that word was “plastics.”

This curious career tip was passed from an older man to Dustin Hoffman’s character, Ben, in the movie The Graduate – a box-office sensation at the time. “There’s a great future in plastics,” the man said. “Think about it.”

Ben ignored the advice – he had other things on his mind – but, in many ways, I followed it.

After graduating as a chemical engineer from the University of Queensland in Australia, I joined what was then one of the world’s largest plastics manufacturers, The Dow Chemical Company – responsible for household names like Saran Wrap, Ziploc and STYROFOAM™.

But, as I quickly came to realize, plastics was only one element of what Dow had done, and only a part of what it and chemistry could do.

Since I joined Dow more than three decades ago, imagination, chemistry, and the courage to dream have combined to make many extraordinary technologies seem entirely ordinary, and Dow has played a part. Take for example, the smartphone and water desalination.

Today’s chemistry thrives at the intersections of all the sciences. It is a bridge between biology and physics, materials science and electronics, ideas and applications. It works in partnership with every other field to bring to bear the magic of the 118 elements (and counting) of the periodic table, creating entirely new industries, and enabling innovations like carbon fiber composites, ultra-efficient lighting and net-zero energy homes.

At these intersections, possibility becomes progress, and science fiction becomes science fact.

Of course, there is more to the future than the self-driving cars and super-healthy pizza I mentioned. Meeting humanity’s most pressing challenges will require science-based approaches and the engagement of the world’s brightest minds.

A more efficient reverse-osmosis process will mean those who cannot access clean water can produce it. Advanced 3D printing will give us custom prosthetics and artificial organs. One day, you might even use your smartphone to immediately diagnose and treat an illness at home.

It is within the power and the potential of chemistry to make these things possible.

Experience suggests that what dazzles us today could be seen, tomorrow, as we now regard “plastics” – a bit of an anachronism, something to be taken for granted. Because the pace of scientific advancement is only accelerating.

Working at the intersections, we can move toward a cleaner, safer, healthier, and more productive world. We can unlock the possibilities that first inspired my passion in this central science.

Whether or not chemistry is your field, in this age of connection there are nearly infinite ways to discover new ideas. If you look hard enough – especially at the intersections, the adjacencies, the places that at first glance could not be further removed from your current work – you will learn things that will make you rethink the way you engage your community, grow your business, or even grow yourself.

And when you do, you will be part of the continuing heritage of discovery that belongs to all of us. Each of us has a role to play in creating progress out of today’s possibilities. What is yours?

Photo: courtesy of DOW / istockphoto