<p>At the company I work for, the BS / technician job will entail doing the lab work that an MS or PhD needs done. It can get repetitive. </p>
<p>In general, the BS chemist reports to a PhD., spends 80-90% of their time at the bench and writes simple lab reports. </p>
<p>The MS chemist works in a group with PhD’s and BS chemists, collaborates with the PhD (but usually designs their own experiments), goes to the bench to actually perform the experiment, and is responsible for analyzing data and writing more in-depth reports.</p>
<p>The PhD runs the project. Designs experiments to be carried out by others, rarely works at the bench themselves. Analyzes data, goes to meetings, networks, attends seminars, reads journals, writes patents. Supervises the BS and MS chemists in the group. Ultimately responsible for all experiments and documentation.</p>
<p>The chemical engineers I know have nothing to do with economics. It’s all about getting the process to work in the plant: safely, efficiently, and resulting in a product with the same properties as the “glassware” prototype.</p>