For many K-12 students in the 1990s and 2000s, when their science teacher rolled a television cart into the classroom, it was time to watch Bill Nye the Science Guy. The scientific entertainer and educator became known for his innate ability to break down complex concepts for kids in a fun way. One might argue that Nye sold generations of students on the idea of embracing and continuing their scientific education.

Dalton Echard (M.S.’16) certainly thinks so, namedropping Nye while explaining his own role as a sales manager for polymer compounding with Nanoscience Instruments. Echard uses his technical expertise developed in part in the Department of Physics’ graduate program to inform clients of product advantages and close sales. It’s a role that might seem atypical for a physics student but requires the same level of scientific understanding as those in the lab.

What drew you to VCU to pursue graduate studies in the Department of Physics?

I knew I wanted to do some kind of graduate program. I was at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., for undergrad physics. Joe Ferguson (B.S.’08, M.S.’10, Ph.D.’13), who had just recently graduated from VCU with his Ph.D., was a visiting professor in the UMW physics department. He had mentioned there were a couple of key programs that I might be interested in based on what my interests were. VCU was also a good fit geographically and a pretty easy move. 

What were the kind of things that you were interested in studying that VCU offered? 

I was more interested in material applications, and in the nanoscience program there was more, let’s say, applied physics going on. Dr. Ferguson recommended I reach out to Massimo Bertino, Ph.D., who I ultimately ended up working with, who was doing work on aero gels at the time in particular, as well as any energy efficiency applications. Aero gels really are a big hit when it comes to thermal insulation and thus energy efficiency. 

Physics is very applied. It's very interdisciplinary with the nano side of things, and I wanted to do something that's a bit more pragmatic. In undergrad it was very much by-the-book physics and while that's what physics is, I wanted something that was a bit more of a hybrid with engineering. Material science was a really good place for me.

Was there a faculty member then that made a particular impact on your education and or career journey, and how so?

There are two. First would definitely be Dr. Bertino. I worked with him for two years and he pushed me really hard. I learned a lot, very, very quickly whether I was ready for it or not.

I probably paraphrased this in my head so many times, but he basically said, “Learn instrumentation because you're either going to be using it or you're going to be selling it.” So from there, that really gave me the kind of like, “Oh, I gotta get my hands on in the lab because that's a vast majority of jobs.”

The other one, I would say would be Dexian Ye, Ph.D. He had a small course – like a two credit class – but it was all about instrumentation. It was just such a practical look at real roles in physics and engineering that made everything very easy to understand and opened my mind from physics being from a book to physics being hands-on.

Tell me about your current role at Nanoscience Instruments. What does your day to day look like? 

I am a sales manager for polymer compounding (customizable and enhanced plastic materials), and day to day, I'm talking with various academics, scientists, people in industry, and government agencies about their work in production of new polymers, doing research on that, doing polymer formulation work, and ultimately showing the economic or efficiency benefit of this type of technology for customers to benefit their work and end goals.

I also help grow that side of the business in general, like leading marketing efforts, and I attend academic events to better understand where this space is and where it's going.

How does someone get into your role? Are they uniquely equipped with both sales skills and extensive technical knowledge? Do they come in with a technical background and learn sales, or vice versa?

That's a great question, and I wish that was something more people asked because it's almost a bit of a chicken and egg situation. When I originally started in the workforce, I was an applications engineer for Fluid Mechanics Group. Basically the goal there was to understand technically as high of a level as possible, and a lot of sales reps would use those individuals as a support to better understand technical applications, whatever it may be.

What I found is most sales engineers were applications individuals that were very good on the personal side of working with customers. They were desiring to grow in their careers. They saw the economic benefit of moving into a sales role. So they tend to be more commonly scientifically-backed individuals who learned the sales process alongside that. 

Different businesses have different models. Nanoscience Instruments I would say, almost look more for the unicorn, where they have a good size sales force, but, the vast majority of them had worked in the industry before, so they already had both skill sets. It's a hard person to find, and I state the greatest scientific salesman of all time was probably Bill Nye because he made something complex and simple. 

It's a role that's not considered by most, and it's also something that there's a stigma. You hear sales and you think car salesman, but it's technical consulting. You become an expert in the space of some type of scientific field and you then become a knowledge base for many other groups to pull from. Ultimately, the goal is to sell something, but you're also an expert in the field. You're not someone who's purely doing a transaction. 

How did the curriculum in the Department of Physics prepare you for your current work?

The coursework itself, to be honest, felt more of a formality. It was described as benchmarks to get through this so you could focus more on the research, which was quote, unquote, “the real work,” and that's the thing that I would say truly prepared me for next steps.

I did mention Dr. Yee's instrumentation class, which was very practical, and discreetly prepared me for things that I'd be seeing in the future. But in general, it was hands-on work — understanding better methodology for collecting data, going through the actual process of doing this and then making something out of it — that prepared me. 

The nano courses, the research, those became direct cause and effect, “I learned this and now I do this.” How I've described my graduate studies to many is that it is functionally a 2-5 year internship, where at the end you have proof that you did it versus, “Here's a line on my résumé.” 

What is your why?

I've always been curious. I don't like to not know how things work. Getting into a scientific academic direction for me was very natural because it answered questions. I think a lot of people think science is scary and hard because it's not as obvious in many cases even though the whole point of science is to make things obvious. I found that higher-level education was right for me because it opened the doors to things that were a little more complex, a little more challenging to see up front. 

Ultimately, moving into the kind of roles that I'm in now, I have a sampler platter of science, where I see all these different styles of work, and I’m able to understand and identify all interdisciplinary actions in our work.

As an example, I work very heavily in the polymer world now. There are many, many different types of plastics, and they don't just show up on a shelf somewhere. They got to happen. They got to be produced. They have to be researched. They have to be understood that they're going to work the way they do. That's really satisfying for me.