What happened to Sheri Sangji?

This post has been a long, long time in coming, but I wanted to wait a respectful amount of time.

Now that Ms. Sangji's passing has been noted in C&EN (2/16/09 issue, pg. 59), I feel that now is the appropriate time for this post. In addition, the LA Times published an article on Sunday that has quite a bit of detail on the matter. However, the article goes off the rails towards the end, but I don't really blame Ms. Christensen -- she(?) is a reporter and cannot be held completely responsible for missed details that a chemist would recognize.

I write this post not as a list of recriminations against the Harran lab or UCLA; however, I think this incident touches on a number of sensitive issues in chemistry. I feel that, even after the LA Times article, there are still a number of questions left unanswered:

1. How much, if at all, did 1) the holiday, 2) lack of safety training or 3) language or communications issues on the part of her coworkers contribute to her injuries?

2. Did her work fall under "critical research needs", as laid out by UCLA department policy?

3. If the LA Times is correct and the coroner's report reveals that she succumbed to "respiratory failure, infection and other complications", are we to include death as a potential consequence of mishandling t-butyllithium? Perhaps I am naive about burn injuries, but I find Ms. Sangji's death to be surprising. Is this a consequence of the unique details of this case or will there be a more general impact? Is this simply an issue with tBuLi or all alkyllithium reagents?

4. How much did her sweater contribute to her injuries? Is Dr. Langerman's characterization of her synthetic sweater as "solid gasoline" an accurate statement or reporter-bait hyperbole? How much did her nitrile gloves contribute to her injuries? What is the best PPE combination for tBuLi?

Again, I write this post not as idle gossip, but for three reasons:

1. I think it is in the interest of bench chemists and the overall chemistry community that we learn as much as possible from this tragedy.

2. Again, I am stunned at the unfortunate outcome -- I have reconsidered my personal assessment of the dangers of tBuLi.

3. I want to get some of my thoughts on the incident in writing, as the data trickles in.

Chemjobber C&EN index: 2/16/09

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:
Total number of ads: 1
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US: 1/0
Area: 25

Governmental positions (US and others):
Total number of ads: 0
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 0
- Ratio of US/non-US: 0/0
Area: 0

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 10
- Postdocs: 2+
- Tenure-track faculty: 7
- Temporary faculty: 1
- Lecturer positions: 1
- Staff positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US positions: 10/2
- Area (square cm): 659

Industrial positions, where are you?: Only one industrial position this past week with Lycera, for a senior-level medicinal chemist. Come on, come on, come on, pick back up!

Nice postdoctoral and temporary staff positions: P. Andrew Evans is looking for a postdoc! That's a nice position, especially for those US postdocs looking for overseas experience. BU's looking for a postdoc in their library center and Pitt has an "assistant or associate director" position in their "center for chemical methodologies and library development". Might be a nice place for people to get experience while riding out this storm...

Small college of the week: Saddleback College (student population 22,998, SA-LUTE!) in Mission Viejo, CA (basically the heart of Orange County) is looking for a tenure-track gen chem professor! If you like life in SoCal, this position might be for you!

Chemjobber is on vacation!

Chemjobber is on vacation in Atlanta, visiting his new nephew. Soon to come (on Saturday) -- latest issue (issues?) of C&EN, latest updates of the WCWI and the long due article on A-Rod and steroids in general... see you on Saturday!

Chemophobia Watch: Iodomethane and you

I was looking for a picture of a chemist for a post on the ridiculous A-Rod/baseball/blame it all on "the chemists" trope when I ran across this picture and this ridiculous text:

"Methyl iodide is widely used in chemical synthesis because of its extraordinary ability to react with electron-rich molecules. Specifically, it reacts readily with biomolecules like DNA, the genetic material in cells, in a process that alters the structure of DNA, causing mutations. Synthetic chemists treat this chemical with great respect, handling it only in a hood under an inert atmosphere and using specially sealed bottles and syringes for transfer to ensure that none of this highly toxic chemical escapes. The proposed release of massive amounts of this chemical into the environment is contrary to safe chemical management practices."

Yes, iodomethane is commonly used and yes, it can methylate your DNA -- that's bad. But no, sadly, chemists don't really treat this compound with very much respect. Most of the time, MeI is kept in a big-ass bottle in the fridge (stored over copper beads, of course) and syringed out casually. Look, even your stupid picture shows your chemist (who clamps her tiny Sure-Seal bottle like a complete ninny) not in an inert atmosphere and with the hood sash raised to the point where it ain't workin' none. I'll bet some of this intensely deadly chemical is escaping out into the atmosphere! Oh noes! God, it makes me crazy when people resort to chemical scare tactics.

Even better, a quick check of the Aldrich* catalog shows that the only Sure-Seal MeI that Aldrich sells is a 2.0M solution of MeI in MTBE. That isn't used to keep the MeI in -- it's to make sure that the MTBE doesn't evaporate! Oh! Pesticide Action Network -- you've been pwned!

Look, MeI needs to be treated with respect and most chemists could use a refresher in its MSDS. But really, this sort of stuff is stupid. Methyl iodide needs to be evaluated as a pesticide on its own merits, not on chemophobia scare tactics.

UPDATED: Added MSDS above. 

Road trip!

Chemjobber is moving, but this blog isn't going anywhere! Chemjobber will be leaving the sunny confines of San Diego to drive to somewhere in the Midwest, where he will take his first job out of grad school and post-doc.

Lull in the posting, unless I get the latest C&E News tomorrow on my last day of work at my post-doc. Hopefully, I'll be pulling into my new home on Saturday night... Wish me luck!

Postdoc letters, shameless commerce division

Are you a international postdoctoral fellow looking to come to the U.S.? Do you need help writing your postdoc letter to potential professors/employers? Does your English need help?

Let Chemjobber help you! For a $5 fee (minimum and maximum), I will edit your postdoc letter to your specifications. For another $5, I will edit your CV. We'll work out the payment details later -- probably through Paypal. My e-mail address is chemjobber -at- gmaildotcom.

I have written 4 successful postdoc letters (2 offers, 2 replies of strong interest.)

This is not a joke, nor is it a sign of desperateness. This is merely a funny business venture.

Working Chemist ACS Web Index: 2/8-2/14/09

This is the fifth post of Chemjobber's Working Chemist ACS Web Index. It is a measurement of how many jobs posted on the ACS Careers website are aimed at the bench-level chemist. Definitions/caveats at the end of the post.

Going through the 58 (!) positions listed from February 8th through February 14, there are 21+* new positions posted that are available to the working chemist. There are 5+ connected to the pharmaceutical industry and 16 outside of pharma.

*(w/1 multiple position ad)

Non-pharma positions are once again strong in the latest Chemjobber WCWI. A big hat tip to Savannah River National Laboratory, who seems to be trying to hire at all levels for organic, analytical and material science positions. If you're interested in solving the nuclear waste program (and we need a solution!), these jobs might be for you. The pharma numbers are pretty low, with not much hiring going on -- Novartis is an exception with a multiple position ad for BS/MS chemists.

Seems like ads for the job fair at the Salt Lake City ACS are picking up. I suggest that you drive out there and bring a cooler full of icy cold adult beverages -- they're hard to come by in the Beehive State.

Definitions/caveats: This index is primarily for chemists (at all educational levels) who have been working for less than 10 years and are still 'at the bench.' It counts only jobs that are lab-oriented and primarily non-managerial; obvious senior-level titles such as "Group Leader", "Research Fellow" or "Director" will not be counted. Academic jobs (professor positions at any level, any Ph.D.-level lecturer position, postdocs) are also not counted. Academic technician or staff positions are counted on a case-by-case basis. Engineering positions are not counted, unless they are open to chemistry degree holders as well. Jobs outside the US are not counted.

Stimulus for science?

NPR had a nice story yesterday about NIH's hope for funding from the stimulus bill. Sounds like they'd like to lower the "funding line" percentile (sorry, I forget the actual term); they have NIH's acting director who claims that these proposals are "shovel-ready" in this quote here:

"Raynard Kington, the NIH's acting director, says those labs are also well-positioned to absorb a jolt of financial stimulus quickly. "We have literally 14,000 applications that have been peer reviewed, that have been found to be scientifically meritorious and that have been approved for funding — but that we don't have funds to support," he says."

While I'm sympathetic to the plight of the scientists, I'm going to guess that these are projects that are less scientifically meritorious than the ones that had been already funded. I don't know the state of NIH funding right now, but I don't think it's all that great. So, no argument from me.

A couple caveats: how much stimulus will this produce? Who will be, for lack of a better term, stimulated? Is VWR hurting? Are there out-of-work people in the academy? I suppose we could get postdocs to re-up for a fourth time... Lastly, let's not forget that there will be "leakage": foreign graduate students and postdocs send money home. While I don't really have a problem with that (my own father did it as a grad student in the 70's), that's money that doesn't get spent here.

Far be it from me to suggest that the NIH doesn't deserve more -- my lab got NIH money, as do most others. Matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that NIH has funded my high school internship (2 summers), my undergraduate research and my doctoral group. So I like NIH a lot.

However, I believe that NSF and the truly physical sciences have been underfunded over the past ten to fifteen years, as it's much, much easier to get Mom and Pop Congress to cough up more funds to kill cancer (i.e. keep the Baby Boomer generation alive) than it is to convince people that materials science and electrical engineering is the real future. Obama had it right when he funded NSF more (from a percentage POV) than NIH. Here's hoping that he keeps that right.

• Credit for the incredibly hilarious and sad picture: rickz

3 beautiful things.

Most, if not all, of the posts on this blog are data-driven and, due to the current job market, bad news. So, it's worth taking a moment and thinking on 3 beautiful things:

1. Seeing that ever-so-large product peak in your LC/MS at exactly the right retention time.

2. Torrey Pines Road, between the Reserve and Del Mar. IMHO, the most beautiful spot in San Diego.

3. Knowing that good science is being done in your community and somewhere near you at some time in the future, someone is going to change the world for the better.

h/t: Mad Chemist Chick.

Chemjobber C&EN index: 2/9/09

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:
Total number of ads: 3
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 24+
- Ratio of US/non-US: 0/19+
Area: 285

Governmental positions (US and others):
Total number of ads: 2
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 3
- Ratio of US/non-US: 2/0
Area: 393

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 9
- Postdocs: 1
- Tenure-track faculty: 6
- Temporary faculty: 1
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 1
- Ratio of US/non-US: 8/1 (Technische Universtat Brauschweig)
- Area (square cm): 371

So this is interesting and a little bit frightening in that if you were a M.S.-level chemist who was looking for a job, well, the best you could do this week was to apply to a "consultant" position in Shanghai. You know, I wonder if pharma companies could apply for part of the stimulus plan...

BMS to America -- suck it: So there were three industrial ads this week. China, 2; India, 1; US, zero. BMS put out an ad (ACS reg. req.) looking for department heads in India ("OFFER WILL BE ON LOCAL TERMS", just in case you were hoping to be paid in dollars...). While this is actually probably an interesting earwig for Indian ex-pats in the US rather than a suggestion for domestic chemists to get a passport, it's not so hopeful for finding a position in the US.

Wuxi to Ph.D. grads -- come home!: WuXi's been pretty consistent about putting ads in C&EN looking for directors. This is the first ad (ACS reg. req .) where they've looked for "Sr. Scientist of Medicinal Chemistry", where they're looking for more than 10 chemists. If I were a recent US Ph.D. grad of Chinese origin, I'd be thinking about it. Interestingly, if you have 2-3 years of a postdoc, you can get a title bump to "Principle [sic] Chemist."

Government on a comeback: I predict that more than a few new grads will be taking the King's shilling (or Obama's dime) and working for the government. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is looking for an entry-level NMR or EPR person. (ACS reg. req .) Sounds tempting, but as I recall, Richland, WA isn't exactly the Bay Area, ya know?

Small college of the week: Mississippi College of Clinton, MS (student population 5233, SA-LUTE!) is looking (ACS reg. req .) for a chair of the Department of Chemistry. I don't know the foggiest thing about this place, but Wikipedia sez it is the second-oldest Baptist educational institution in the world. I wonder if they have dances there? (I can say this, growing up conservative Baptist.)

Chemophobia Watch: NYT and Pediatrics

The New York Times reported recently on a Pediatrics article (Winickoff et al. 123 (1): e74. (2009)) that talked about public awareness levels of "thirdhand smoke" (short version: people don't know about it, but it's bad.) "Thirdhand smoke" is the residue that lingers after the smoker has left the room. While I generally agree with the concept that "there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke", it still makes my scientist brain tingle. No safe level? Not even at the femtomolar level? Really?

What infuriates me is the rank chemophobia that is present in both the NYT article and the original journal article:

According to the National Toxicology Program, these 250 poisonous gases, chemicals, and metals include hydrogen cyanide (used in chemical weapons), carbon monoxide (found in car exhaust), butane (used in lighter fluid), ammonia (used in household cleaners), toluene (found in paint thinners), arsenic (used in pesticides), lead (formerly found in paint), chromium (used to make steel), cadmium (used to make batteries), and polonium-210 (highly radioactive carcinogen).

Look, yes, in a high enough dose, these compounds are really bad for you. But we've known for years that the "real killers" (as opposed to those fake killers) in cigarette smoke are the polyaromatic hydrocarbons and the nitrosoarenes. All these other compounds are bad for you, yes, but it's like focusing on a cop's pocket knife while he's got a .45 cal pointed at your chest.

It points to a really bad habit on the part of reporters: hear chemical name, put into Google, find MSDS, freak out, publish results. Don't forget the #1 rule of toxicology: dose makes the poison, even when the MSDS sounds nasty.

Working Chemist ACS Web Index: 2/1-2/7/09

This is the fourth post of Chemjobber's Working Chemist ACS Web Index. It is a measurement of how many jobs posted on the ACS Careers website are aimed at the bench-level chemist. Definitions/caveats at the end of the post.

Going through the 32 positions listed from February 1st through February 7, there are 12 new positions posted that are available to the working chemist. There are 3 connected to the pharmaceutical industry and 9 outside of pharma.

Interestingly, there were a heck of a lot more outside of pharma than inside. I suppose that's not that big of a surprise. Two or three positions were in the agrochemical business -- I hope some chemists can transition from pharma into crop protection. It's a good business, I hear.

Definitions/caveats: This index is primarily for chemists (at all educational levels) who have been working for less than 10 years and are still 'at the bench.' It counts only jobs that are lab-oriented and primarily non-managerial; obvious senior-level titles such as "Group Leader", "Research Fellow" or "Director" will not be counted. Academic jobs (professor positions at any level, any Ph.D.-level lecturer position, postdocs) are also not counted. Academic technician or staff positions are counted on a case-by-case basis. Engineering positions are not counted, unless they are open to chemistry degree holders as well. Jobs outside the US are not counted.

Chemjobber C&EN index: 2/2/09

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:
Total number of ads: 1
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 1
- Area (square cm): 157

Governmental positions (US and others):
Total number of ads: 0
- Permanent positions: 0
- Postdocs: 0
- Area (square cm): 0

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 10
- Postdocs: 6
- Tenure-track faculty: 7
- Temporary faculty: 1
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 1
- Area (square cm): 411

Well, February's not starting out great. Props to Boehringer Ingelheim for posting the lone industrial ad of the week for a senior MS-level process scientist position. (ACS reg. req.) A nice big one, too -- the C&EN ad revenue department thanks you.

Chair, chair, who wants a chair?: I see a lot of these ads for department chairs and I never know what to think of them. This week, it's North Carolina Central University (Chemistry, ACS reg. req.) and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's (ChemE). I strongly doubt any professors of note or experience read this blog yet, but if you are and you're looking for a change, these positions might be for you!

Department of the coming apocalypse: Imation (hey, aren't they the flash drive people?) are selling their manufacturing equipment in the back pages of C&E News. Just in case anyone wanted to buy a 30 million dollar solvent recovery plant, you could bid on it, you know. Someone has to stimulate the economy.

Small school of the week: Centenary College of Louisiana (student population 908, SA-LUTE!) is looking for a temporary professor (ACS reg. req.) to teach organic chemistry lecture and lab. I understand that Shreveport has a lovely collection of local casinos.

Chemjobber C&EN index: 1/26/09

Industrial (non-academic, non-governmental) positions:
Total number of ads: 3
- Postdocs: 0
- Permanent positions: 6 (4 in China (come home, sea turtles!), 1 multiple ad from Millenium)
- Area (square cm): 321

Governmental positions (US and others):
Total number of ads: 1
- Permanent positions: 2 (US Forest Service)
- Postdocs:
- Area (square cm): 36

Academic positions:
Total number of ads: 10
- Postdocs: 5 (one pool-filler ad from Princeton)
- Tenure-track faculty: 12
- Temporary faculty: 0
- Lecturer positions: 0
- Staff positions: 1
- Area (square cm): 284

Another slow week for the Chemjobber C&EN index as there are 4 pages of ads, 3 of which have space-filling pseudo-ads from C&EN itself. Industrial, governmental and academic recruitment all seem to be at a lower level.

Birdfish Catdog to good home: An ad from Boston University for 3 teaching postdocs was placed under the headline "Teaching/Research Postdoctoral Faculty Fellows". Really? Imagine fitting that title on a business card. Why not go for broke and fit a "staff" or a "student" in there, too? What in the sam hell is a "Postdoctoral Faculty Fellow"?

Signs that things are tough all over: In the "Positions Open", there is a bizarrely misplaced ad for beamtime for protein crystallography at Argonne National Laboratory. Yes, we know that you have open instrument time and you could make some money at it. But this is a really odd place to put this ad -- it's almost (almost!) the scientific version of spam. Glad to know taxpayer dollars are going to this. Maybe I'll put up a Google ad that we have an empty building that would be great for raves!

Small school of the week: There's actually a nice number to choose from, but our winner is Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH (student population 2000, SA-LUTE!), which is looking for a tenure-track organic professor. (ACS registration required.) Manchvegas (as Chemjobber friend BP called it) sounds like a fun town and it's hard to think of a nicer place to be a college professor than New Hampshire (except maybe Oregon.)

Broken pipeline or, No Matter Who You Are, You're Screwed

I don't think that I'm ruffling feathers too badly when I suggest that those postdocs or students who are seriously contemplating academia are the ones who have the better looking CVs (more papers, more fellowships, etc.) There's obviously an overlap in "qualified for industry" and "qualified for academia" and a variety of circumstances (what if you're awesome and you'd rather not suffer 6 years to try to get tenure?) that decided which career path you decide to take.*
So what to make of Jyllian Kemsley's interesting article about the troubles that postdocs are having finding assistant professor positions? The person I feel most sorry for is "Sarah" who is on her 2nd postdoc and now considering a career in industry. Not only has she devoted a lot of time (a 2nd postdoc! chemists aren't biologists!) to finding a faculty position, now she's thinking about industry. While I don't feel sorry for the person who will be bumped when Sarah enters the industrial job market (all's fair and all of that), it does illustrate the difficulty that the job market is having digesting both experienced chemists that have been laid off, very experienced postdocs and the newer postdocs and graduate students that are still coming fresh off the grad school factory floor.
Prediction: over the next two years, it will become very difficult for graduate students to directly transition into industry. That, or we're going to see a big group of folks leave chemistry. Or, both.
hat tip: Everyday Scientist.
*Yeah, I don't think that the distribution is that even between academic types and industrial types in quality or quantity. I'm guessing it's more like 3-to-1 for industry, population-wise. I stole the graph from here.