View From My Hood: Berkeley sunset edition

Credit: @christine_m_le

Via Twitter user @christine_m_le: "Can’t get enough of these epic sunsets at @UCB_Chemistry."

(got a View from Your Hood submission? Send it in (with a caption and preference for name/anonymity, please) at chemjobber@gmail.com; will run every other Friday.)

Where do you go, in the middle of your career?

Over at Wandering Scientist, Cloud is thinking and musing about her career:

...It isn't that my career is going badly... it is more that I feel like I've lost the plot of my career. For years, the goals I was aiming for were obvious. But right now, they aren't. I am unsure what I really want to aim for. That's OK: I have a good job at a good company, working with people I like. I don't necessarily see much scope for advancement at this particular company, but that may not actually be a problem. As one of my peer mentors pointed out today, there are other things I could do to get growth. 

The question I have to answer is: growth toward what? That is less obvious to me right now. Strangely, I think I am OK with that, too. I don't have an urgent need to change anything. I might take a little time to think about what my long term goals should be, pick some of the more low key growth ideas my peer group came up with, coast along for a bit without any urgency on them, and see which things sprout...

At this moment in my career, I don't feel the same way, in that I think I know what I am growing towards, and I know that there is a real, definite (and rather scary) set of diverging paths coming in the next three to five years. If we are successful, it will be good for us (and, I hope, good for my career.) But it could go poorly, and it wouldn't be good for us, or for me. 

What do people in the middle of their careers do? Fake-it-til-you-make-it? Strategize constantly? Pick a goal and work towards it? Or do they just keep persisting? 

(Oh, yeah, and how often do you have an existential crisis between 35 and 50? Once a year? Once a month?) 

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 168 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself)  has 168 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

The Computational Drug Discovery Chemistry Jobs List: 15 positions

The Computational Drug Discovery Chemistry Jobs List has 15 positions. This list is curated by Joel Walker. 

15 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 15 new positions posted for June 4.

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 161 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 161 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

What's the outlook for IP law?

From the inbox, a good question and observation. First, what is the long-term outlook for intellectual property law for chemists (in terms of patent agent positions and IP lawyers?)

On that note, it appears that there isn't much data. You will be amused to know that the Bureau of Labor Statistics sees lawyers growing at 8% for 2016-2026. (Chemists, readers of this blog will know, are expected to grow at a rate of 6% for the same time period.) Here's a BLS paper that doesn't really have much data about the field, but might be worth a perusal anyway. 

Here's our anonymous writer's observation: Check out the number of people who have been taking the patent agent exam: 

2017: 2346

2016: 2424

2015: 2495

2014: 2799

2013: 2766

2012: 3365

2011: 2716

2010: 3120

2009: 3357

2008: 3634

2007: 3192

2006: 2923

2005: 2673

Looks like we are in a local minima? (Sure can see a lot of activity during the Great Recession!) Hard to know what this means 10 years from now. 

Anyone have a good suggestion of sites for contract synthesis work?

An anonymous person writes in, asking if there are any collaboration sites for freelance synthetic work. Does Science Exchange or any of these other sites have places for chemists to hang out their shingles? 

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List Start (3 positions) and Open Thread

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 3 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List finished with 552 positions.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? This will serve as the open thread.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (final number): 552 positions

The final count for the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 552 positions.

The 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List finished with 590 positions.

Does anyone want to guess as to whether or not the 2019 Faculty Jobs List will have more or fewer positions than 2018? I am taking the under, even as I feel that we were far more diligent in tracking down positions in 2018 than in 2017.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Try the open thread.

See Arr Oh's Chemistry Bumper Cars list for 2018 is here.

Want to talk about starting your new group? That open discussion is here.

Otherwise, all discussions are on the Chemistry Faculty Jobs List webforum.

Postdoctoral position: synthetic organic chemistry, UNC Chapel Hill

From the inbox, a postdoc at UNC:

Synthetic organic chemist position focused on the design and  construction of novel molecules for selective dopamine modulation. Each scaffold under investigation appears to interact at allosteric sites not the dopamine binding site, a novel approach to dopamine regulation.  This project is a collaboration with the Sibley Lab (NIH/NINDS), who are responsible for all assays and screening. Thus, this position is dedicated to the development of new synthetic methods and routes to the target scaffolds and their application to construct further analogues.  Research is conducted within the highly collaborative environment of the UNC Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery. http://frankowskilab.web.unc.edu/

Best wishes to those interested. Full ad here. 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 25 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 25 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

There's a cuvette shortage?

Also in this week's C&EN, an apparent shortage of cuvettes (article by Marc Reisch): 

High-end cuvettes—straight-sided clear containers used to hold analytical samples in spectrophotometers—are in short supply from the German manufacturer Hellma Analytics. So far, though, only a few people have noticed. 

Evan Friedmann, vice president of Hellma’s U.S. distribution arm, says his firm is suffering from limited output of certain cuvettes designed for research. He chalks the problem up to delayed delivery of a new computer-controlled machine tool and strong demand for spectrophotometer accessories. “Hellma is currently seeing the highest order booking in our 96-year history,” he says. 

Cuvettes are typically used in pairs and need to be optically matched, says instrumentation consultant Ellen Miseo. Scientists use cuvettes to place solutions into ultraviolet-visible or fluorescence spectrophotometers to measure concentrations. They range in price from under $100 to over $500 each. 

Hellma has been struggling with the cuvette shortage since the end of 2017. In March, the company sent a letter to customers and distributors acknowledging a delay in the delivery of a new machine tool to its facility in Müllheim. It also noted a shortage of workers at the time “due to the nationwide flu epidemic.”

Interesting that the article notes that the shortage really hasn't hit in the US.  

This week's C&EN

A few articles from this week's issue of Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: Lisa Jarvis on immuno-oncology and checkpoint inhibitors
• Bethany Halford, on a historical collection of pigments
• A San Jose State chemical engineering professor is developing a snake antivenom from opossum proteins. (article by Melissa Pandika)
• The Chemical Safety Board issues its report on the Arkema fires
• time to flood-proof your plants! 
• An amusing explainer on the ACS Board of Directors, by the current chair of the board, Dr. John Adams.

ArkPharm proprietors arrested for fentanyl distribution

Via Matthew Katcher, this story by Rick Kambic of the Pioneer Press (at the Chicago Tribune website)

Two suburban residents appeared in federal court Thursday morning on charges related to the sale of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors over the internet using unlicensed businesses. 

Wei Xu, 52, who goes by the alias “Scarlett Hsu,” lives in Vernon Hills and operated a business known as 1717 CheMall Corp. from a warehouse at 222 Terrace Drive, Mundelein, according to a news release from the U.S. attorney’s office. 

A multi-jurisdictional task force led by the Drug Enforcement Administration raided 1717 CheMall Corp. late Wednesday. Employees of neighboring businesses posted photos of the activity on social media, but the U.S. attorney’s office was unable to disclose what was recovered from the warehouse. 

Xu was charged with one count of knowingly distributing a controlled substance. Prosecutors said she used the company’s website to sell “fentanyl and other controlled substances” from the site’s “estore.” 

Federal prosecutors say Liangfu “Larry” Huang, 53, of Northbrook, ran a business known as Ark Pharm Inc., which operated from a warehouse at 1840 Industrial Drive, Libertyville, until recently moving to 3860 N. Ventura Drive, Arlington Heights, according to the federal complaint. 

Also via Matthew, check out the website.

Looks like you can't buy fentanyl "for laboratory purposes only" and escape the long arm of the law. [Nods] Good to know. 

40 mL vials

A list of small, useful things (links):

• The latest from Stellen für Chemiker
• The latest from All Things Metathesis
• Retraction Watch has the latest from Organic Letters
• Cool post from a Navy veteran on going to graduate school in the sciences
• Lowe's won't sell methylene chloride anymore
• Funny story from Retraction Watch on a Kim Kardashian-authored article
• Great post on quinine at chempics  

An open invitation to all interested in writing a blog, a hobby that will bring you millions thousands hundreds tens of dollars joy and happiness. Send me a link to your post, and I'd be happy to put it up.

Have a good weekend!

The Computational Drug Discovery Chemistry Jobs List: 15 positions

The Computational Drug Discovery Chemistry Jobs List has 15 positions. This list is curated by Joel Walker. 

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 159 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself)  has 159 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 159 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 159 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread.