Is your child texting about organic chemistry?

Via Twitter user @laurbrown, this very funny tweet:

Is your child texting about organic chemistry? Quick guide: 

SMDH: Scrubbing my distillation head
GTG: Grease that glass
STFU: Shifted the frequency upfield
BAE: Breaking an emulsion
OMG: Oxidized my Grignard
ROTFLMAO: ragging on these freshmen learning molecular/atomic orbitals

I don't know what makes me laugh more, "scrubbing my distillation head" or "grease that glass." (Context here.)

I have been trying to come up with a process chemistry one, but work has been busy... 

Job posting: scientist, Nanofactory CBN, Sunnyvale, CA

From the inbox, a position at Nanofactory CBN (Sunnyvale, CA): 

Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Nanofactory CBN  works on various organic and organometallic target molecules for lithography applications. As a scientist, you will collaborate closely with our surface science and a computational chemistry colleagues on each iteration of the molecules we make to improve their functionality.  

Summary of essential job functions and responsibilities:

• Multistep synthesis of organic and organometallic compounds.
• Close collaboration with a interdisciplinary team to design new synthetic targets.

Required knowledge/skills:

• Laboratory skills: structural confirmation by NMR spectroscopy, interpretation of LC-MS data, recrystallization, preparative chromatographic separations, Schlenk and glovebox techniques, ability to execute air and water sensitive chemical reactions, ability to isolate volatile reaction products, and the ability to work on milligram to multigram scale reactions.
• Experience in Si or Sn chemistry is desirable, as well as experience with radical-based reactions.
• Proven record of expertise in other physical chemistry or materials chemistry techniques (surface science, photochemistry, etc ) is also highly desirable.
• Candidate must be able to work with a delocalized team of researchers with widely varying technical backgrounds. The ability to effectively communicate with other scientists and engineers who do not have a chemistry background is important.

Required educational qualifications:

• PhD degree in Chemistry with experience in the areas stated above.

Please contact Michael Drew at mdrew@nfcbn.com with your resume and any further inquiries.

Best wishes to those interested.  

The end of the Academic Employment Initiative

From Dr. Joerg Schlatterer, Manager, Graduate & Postdoctoral Scholars Office: 

For more than a decade, the American Chemical Society has successfully helped senior graduate students and postdoctoral scholars connect with university recruiters searching for qualified faculty candidates via the Academic Employment Initiative (AEI).  

The availability of different employment opportunities in academia, and feedback from AEI participants, prompted ACS to suspend the existing AEI program to test alternative professional development models that promised to be more effective and impactful.  

These models will be offered during ACS National Meetings in order to connect senior graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with research and teaching institutions that are looking for new employees in all areas of academic employment, including, but not limited to, postdoctoral researcher, staff scientist, faculty (tenure track, non-tenure track, adjunct, R1, PUI), and administrator levels.  

The American Chemical Society looks forward to continuing its support of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars career development of with the updated approach with the goal of achieving higher levels of success for job seekers.

The chatter in the open thread seems to indicate that people had mixed feelings about it - will be interesting to know if the replacement programs (like the "Postdoc to PUI Professor Workshop") fare better. 

This week's C&EN

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

• Cover: "Uncovering the hidden signs of organ transplant rejection" by Celia Henry Arnaud
• This Pfizer automated chemistry screening instrument is pretty darned impressive (article by Stu Borman) 
• Shaking up gold and palladium with Oxone? Huh. (article by Mark Peplow)
• I dunno why I don't think of Singapore as a center of startups, but there are apparently quite a few. (article by Marc S. Reisch)
• An impassioned argument for more reproducibility in organic chemistry in the letters to the editor. 

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 503 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 503 positions.

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

On January 24, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 546 positions.

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

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

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

Faculty opening: Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, IA

From the inbox, a faculty position at Kirkwood Community College (Cedar Rapids, IA):

Under minimal supervision, the instructor is responsible for effectively teaching coursework in chemistry (15 credit hours per semester) within the Mathematics and Science department.  Assignments will be primarily organic chemistry courses with the potential for occasional assignments in other areas of chemistry.  Must evaluate, record, and report student achievement and progress in assigned courses in accordance with department, division and college policies and procedures.  Responsibilities will also include advising of current and prospective students and providing assistance in development and implementation of departmental initiatives.  Must meet credentialing requirements set by the Iowa Department of Education.

M.S. in chemistry required. Link here. Best wishes to those interested.  

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 22 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 22 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.

Radio show: "How will AI affect drug discovery?" Talking with John Tellis. Saturday, January 27, noon Eastern

Looking forward to talking with John Tellis, medicinal chemist, on Saturday, January 27 at 12 PM Eastern.

We'll be talking a bit about AI and drug discovery, and whether or not robots will take our jerbs AI will supplant chemist employment.

What would you like us to cover? Some topics will be pre-chosen, some are up to you.

Cork rings

A list of small, useful things (links):

• The latest from "All Things Metathesis" 
• Philip Ball on what to look for in science in 2018
• I mean to write more about the Cronin 3D-printed flow reactors, but I'd like to associate myself with many of the critiques offered by an anonymous process chemist.
• In case you didn't notice, See Arr Oh put up the 2018 Bumper Cars list.
• Thanks to th'Gaussling, I learned a little about ionospheric bow waves.
• Friend of the blog Harry Elston on root cause analysis in safety
• A couple of chemistry papers being talked about at Retraction Watch.  
• "Alphabetical Extremes in Species Names", from Science Shenanigans
• Beautiful pictures of one of America's last pencil factories from the New York Times
• Been meaning to write about this Atlantic Monthly article about failures in job retraining in the US
• The latest from Stellen für Chemiker

Again, 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!

Job posting: Analytical QA Scientist I, Living Proof, Cambridge, MA

From the inbox, a posting with Living Proof (Cambridge, MA):

Analytical QA Scientist I 

Position Overview 

This role is a new position within the Analytical and Quality Assurance group at Living Proof, reporting to the Head of Analytical & QA. The qualified individual will develop new GC/MS and HPLC assays, perform method validations, investigate complex analytical problems, and support the overall quality activities of the group. The incumbent will provide leadership for multiple hands-on projects and facilitate cross functional team interactions among a diverse group of scientists within Living Proof’s Product Development, Discovery, and external Scientific Advisory teams.  

Key Responsibilities

• Develop new methods to analyze for current and new active ingredients in complex cosmetic formulations
• Modify and validate current methods to optimize for cost savings and time efficiencies
• Routinely operate and manage GC/MS, HPLC, GPC and other instrumentationd
• Troubleshoot methods and maintain equipment as needed
• Interpret MS and chromatographic data and generate technical reports
• Present and discuss results and progress to a cross functional team
• Assist with QA/QC activities as needed

Basic Qualifications

• PhD in Chemistry, Biochemistry, or closely related field. Or MS with relevant industry experience.
• 3-5 years of laboratory experience in Mass Spectrometry and Chromatography (required)

Please include a cover letter detailing your Mass Spectrometry and related instrumentation experience.

Link here. Best wishes for those who are interested. 

ACS survey on immigration

I have been remiss in not posting about a policy comment in the January 8 edition of Chemical and Engineering News by Susan Butts, Chair, ACS Working Group on Immigration & Work Visas. It's worth a read, if only to see how an ACS committee is grappling with the issue: 

...U.S. universities have attracted many foreign students because of the high quality of undergraduate and graduate education these institutions offer. Data from the 2016 National Science Foundation Survey of Earned Doctorates show that over the past two decades, approximately 40% of chemistry doctorates and 52% of chemical engineering doctorates from U.S. universities have been granted to foreign nationals. However, 2013 data from the NSF longitudinal study of these graduates from U.S. universities, the Survey of Doctorate Recipients, estimates that approximately 95% of chemists and chemical engineers who received Ph.D.s from U.S. universities and are employed in the U.S. are either U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. 

Within some science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, particularly those related to computer science and other fields in the information technology sector, people are concerned that many jobs in the U.S. are being filled by contracting firms that bring in foreign workers on temporary (typically H-1B) visas. On the basis of data available from the U.S. Department of Labor, it appears that relatively few jobs in the occupation categories of chemist, biochemist, and chemical engineer are being filled by H-1B visa workers.... 

...The ACS working group polled the members of its constituent ACS governance committees at the recent ACS national meeting in Washington, D.C. When asked, “Do you think that immigration of chemists and related scientists and engineers is good for the U.S. chemistry enterprise?” a majority replied, “Yes.” This, however, was a very small sample, and the working group would like to hear from more of our 156,000-plus ACS members. The working group has created a brief survey about immigration and its impact on the chemistry enterprise to which any ACS member can respond. It includes a few specific questions and a field for comments. To find the survey, go to www.acs.org/policyinput and click on the link under Workforce Related Immigration Policy (CJ's note: or click here). Alternatively, members can share their thoughts or questions about workforce-related immigration via an email to policy@acs.org.

The difference between the number of international students who get doctorates in chemistry in the United States and the number of employed chemists in the Survey of Doctorate Recipients is interesting. (I note that the Survey of Doctorate Recipients is a sampling of everyone who has a research Ph.D. from an American university who is less than 76 years old, i.e. if there was a more recent inflection point, it would be a bit masked in the SDR numbers.) 

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 86 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 86 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.)

12 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 12 new positions posted for January 21.

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 88 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 88 positions.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Radio show: "Will Robots Steal Our #chemjobs?" Saturday, January 27, noon Eastern

This Saturday at noon, I will be discussing whether robots will steal our #chemjobs with John Tellis. Do you think AI will change drug discovery? What questions do you have for us?  

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 497 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 497 positions.

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

On January 24, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 546 positions.

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

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

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

Faculty position: NYU Abu Dhabi

From the inbox, two faculty positions:

An assistant professor position at NYU Abu Dhabi 

A tenured associate/full professor position at NYU Abu Dhabi

Full search committee chair e-mail here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 24 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 24 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.

Lots of chemical employment-related letters to the editor

Also in this week's C&EN: 

Readers shared their frustrations with job opportunities for chemists.
cenm.ag/greatrecession 

It’s not as if the picture for chemists looks any rosier today or that the crisis in recruitment suddenly occurred in 2008. In the U.K., go back 25 years and the old ICI [Imperial Chemical Industries] was still in existence, as well as corporate research at companies such as Albright & Wilson, before considering that this was before the consolidation in the pharmaceutical sector. By the time I finished my Ph.D. in 1999, many companies had closed down and pharmaceutical companies were not recruiting due to impending mergers. Indeed, my first job was in software development for an accountancy software company. There are too many chemists chasing too few jobs. In addition, chemistry does a poor job relative to other sciences in equipping graduates with transferable skills for careers outside the laboratory. 

Russell Griffiths 

I also got nailed in 2008. I have a B.S. [in] chemistry and at the time had 22 years’ experience. I was an associate director of process chemistry at a small company in New Jersey. When I got laid off from that position, it took me 18 months to find a contract position as a technical writer at a big pharma. That lasted one year. After another year of unemployment, plus hundreds of applications, I landed a position in academia as a staff chemist. That ended five years later as the grant I was being paid under expired. Now I am searching again. Over the past six months since I was laid off from academia, hundreds of applications nationwide and one overseas, nothing!!! It is more difficult now for a B.S.-level chemist even with 33 years’ experience to find a position. Going back for a Ph.D. is not an option. It is very frustrating!!! 

Steven Johnson

It would be really interesting to know how many people are still dealing with the aftermath of the Great Recession, and how many chemists have annual incomes that still have not recovered to the pre-crash peak.  

Job posting: Formulation Chemist, London UK

From the inbox (via Twitter), a position in London:

THE UNSEEN are searching for a kick-ass, highly motivated formulation chemist who wants to work in a rapidly growing and highly exciting start-up environment, working directly with the team on innovative and game-changing R&D projects. We are specifically looking for a formulation chemist with cosmetic / personal care experience, ideally in hair colouration. You will:

• Complete laboratory and desk research tasks related to formulation science, colour chemistry and materials science, under the direction and with support from the Head of Material Science and Creative Director.
• Design, develop and prepare cosmetic formulations from first principles through to final formulations, ensuring compliance with both regulatory and client requirements at all times under the direction and with support from the Head of Material Science and Creative Director.... 

Essential knowledge, skills, qualifications and experience:

• A bachelor degree with a minimum 2:1 (hons) in material science, chemistry, biochemistry or a related subject and a MSc in materials science, cosmetic science or similar from a top-class university. 
• 3-4 years’ experience of formulation development in cosmetics, ideally for hair and beauty products... 

Full listing here. Best wishes to those interested. 

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles in this week's issue of C&EN:

• Cover: The year in new drugs (by Lisa M. Jarvis)
• I didn't realize how bad that Iranian oil tanker could be for the environment of the East China Sea (by Deirdre Lockwood) 
• This article on the false missile alert in Hawaii and how it affected chemists was pretty gripping. (by Tien Nguyen) 
• I did not enjoy getting an Amber Alert text on my phone yesterday, incidentally. Happy to help look, did not enjoy being startled by my phone making "This has been a test of the Emergency Broadcast System" noises. 
• Dicamba use continues, weed scientists prepare to debate drift (by Melody M. Bomgardner)
• Cheryl Hogue: "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking investors for 31 hazardous waste sites that EPA determined have the greatest potential for redevelopment." 
• huh
• Neat explainer by Tien Nguyen on sunless tanner.

View from Your Hood: a view of the hood

Credit: L.C. Campeau

Via Twitter, from friend of the blog L.C. Campeau: "My fumehood as I left it in October 2013..."

(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.)

Hospitals are going to try to start generic drug companies?

From the New York Times, some interesting news:

For years, hospital executives have expressed frustration when essential drugs like heart medicines have become scarce, or when prices have skyrocketed because investors manipulated the market. 

Now, some of the country’s largest hospital systems are taking an aggressive step to combat the problem: They plan to go into the drug business themselves, in a move that appears to be the first on this scale. 

“This is a shot across the bow of the bad guys,” said Dr. Marc Harrison, the chief executive of Intermountain Healthcare, the nonprofit Salt Lake City hospital group that is spearheading the effort. “We are not going to lay down. We are going to go ahead and try and fix it.” 

....Several major hospital systems, including Ascension, a Catholic system that is the nation’s largest nonprofit hospital group, plan to form a new nonprofit company, that will provide a number of generic drugs to the hospitals. The Department of Veterans Affairs is also expressing interest in participating....

Does anyone else think this is an absurd plan? It doesn't sound like they really want to be in the generic API business, so they will probably be buying generic APIs and making solid dosage formulations on their own. Will this save them any money? How will this company actually respond well to a shortage? If Whateverprim has a shortage of suppliers, won't the API go up in price? (I guess that the idea is that the spike in price will not be manipulated by speculators?)

As someone who works in chemical manufacturing, I found this final quote in the article to be quite amusing:

She added that the trick will be in selecting the right third-party manufacturer to ensure good quality.

Isn't it always? (Why will the third-party manufacturer decide that they want to cut these folks a break? (I guess the answer is 'guaranteed volume.' (Isn't it always?))

Readers, am I wrong here? Am I missing something? I must be. 

Do you want to be (semi) famous?

We are hoping to start a "CJ's mailbag" for my column at Chemical and Engineering News. Please feel free to write me (chemjobber@gmail.com) if you have a career-oriented dilemma that you'd like me to write about in the magazine. 

Submit your questions to me by e-mail: chemjobber@gmail.com or use this handy web form. Thanks!

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 118 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 118 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: 88 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 88 positions.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

Choose the right one!

(context here)

Great post by th'Gaussling

Mettler-Toledo couldn't possibly get a better recommendation for its reaction calorimeters than this post by th' Gaussling: 

There’s a good argument for a chemist to conduct RC experiments as well. A trained synthesis chemist is qualified to conduct chemical reactions within their organization. That includes sourcing raw materials, handling them, running the reaction, and safely cleaning up the equipment afterwards. But interpreting RC1 data has a large physical chemistry component. In my experience, run of the mill inorganic/organic synthesis people may have seen PChem as an obstacle rather than a focus in their college education. Their skill set is in instrumental analysis like NMR and chromatography, mechanisms, and reaction chemistry. I would recommend having a PhD chemist with a focus on thermo in a leadership role when calorimetry is a key part of a busy process safety environment. 

Safety data can be collected and archived all day long. The crucial and often tricky part is how to develop best practices from the data. I would offer that this is inherently a cross-disciplinary problem. Calorimetric data from reaction chemistry can be collected readily, especially with the diverse and excellent instrumentation available today. Adiabatic temperature rise, ΔTad, can be determined by a chemist, but it’s the engineers who understand how the equipment may respond to a given heat release. A smooth and efficient technology transfer from lab to plant happens when good communication skills are used. Yes, SOP’s must be in place for consistency and safety. But the positive effect of individuals who have good social skills and are prone to volunteering information cannot be underestimated.

Good stuff, with lots of relevant details around purchasing and setting one up.  

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 489 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 489 positions.

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

On January 15, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 540 positions.

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

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

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

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 24 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 24 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.

Unemployment rate and weekly wage by education level

Credit: Bureau of Labor Statistics

It's an apples-to-oranges comparison, but it's worth noting that the 2016 ACS member unemployment rate was 2.6%. Median weekly pay was $1881, so that compares well, which is nice to hear.  

This week's C&EN

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

• Cover: "Scarce science under the Trump administration"
• Interesting that Scott Pruitt is looking at a "war on lead." (article by Michael Torrice) 
• Pretty cool article about new droplet technology by Grzybowski (article by Bethany Halford)
• There's benzonitrile in space?!?! (article by Sam Lemonick)
• "Start-ups invited to a cleantech showoff" (article by Marc S. Reisch) 
• "AMRI names Michael Mulhern CEO" (article by Rick Mullin)
• Mr. Mulhern has a degree in economics, I see. 
• ACS issues a policy statement on IP. (article by Linda Wang) 
• Some d00d yapping about procrastination
• I don't usually link to Newscripts (does it need the extra clicks?), but this week's article by Bethany Halford has pictures of unusually high-quality molecule tattoos. 

Pick rollers

A list of small, useful things (links):

• The latest from "All Things Metathesis" 
• Ash asks an interesting question: Is our emphasis on lab safety keeping us from doing important science?
• Th' Gaussling wishes "A Pox on the House of Microsoft"
• Kat Day's 2017 roundup
• Over at Science Shenanigans, a write-up of the Great Nonclassical Carbocation Debate. 
• Ethan Perlstein's writeup of Perlara's 2017 finances
• The latest from Stellen für Chemiker

Again, 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!

What do you want to talk about this year?

Over at the academic science blog xykademiqz, they are doing "Blog Delurking Week." I think that's a great idea, so I am copying that.

If you are a reader but not a commenter, please take a little time and tell us a little about yourself. Also, this would be a good place to request posts or changes to the site. Happy 2018! 

Any news on the pay front?

Credit: Newsmax

A little birdie has mentioned to me that they are seeing news of happy trends in pay raises recently - has anyone else seen an out-of-trend bump in pay?

Here's hoping it's true! 

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 115 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 115 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.)

20 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 11 new positions posted for January 7 and 9 new positions for January 5.

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 82 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 82 positions.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Chemistry-themed Valentine's Day cards

Credit: Nick Uhlig

I still think these chemistry-themed Valentine's Day cards from Nick Uhlig are impossibly clever, with a fresh batch for 2018. 

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 486 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 486 positions.

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

On January 8, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 538 positions.

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

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

Job posting: business analyst, KiWi Power Ltd., London, UK

Via Twitter, a position with Kiwi Power, a power technology company in London:

Job specification: Business analyst, KiWi Power Ltd. 

What: The role consists of a number of functions, as listed below.

• Technical writing. The role will include the preparation of grant proposals. Preparation of grants requires an amount of technical reporting, ranging from market assessment and business models in demand response to specific technical solutions – such as platform-level documentation, use cases, IT infrastructure system descriptions etc. In many cases, reference materials are already available in house, and need to be collated to match the appropriate reporting formats and scope.
• Automation. Many day-to-day operational tasks have evolved to be carried out on a manual basis. Most of these tasks are readily amenable to automation through augmentation of the rapidly-customisable CRM. The candidate will be expected to familiarise themselves with the design of the CRM, and to suggest, design and implement improvements to the data structure in order to allow this automation.
• Reporting. The company regularly publishes reports of performance, earnings and operational data. The candidate will be responsible for gathering data necessary to create new reports or migrate old reports from the legacy system where applicable. Report data will be gathered from a data warehouse to which the candidate will be expected to add new fields and objects where necessary.

Who: Graduate-level degree in Science / Engineering / Computing or similar with a desire to learn more about technology in general; power markets, systems and demand response in particular. Previous exposure to EC-funded projects would be a plus but not mandatory....

A comment from the poster: "On the up side, it’s in the middle of London and is a good fit for a physical scientist looking for an exit strategy. On the down side, I’m pretty sure it’d be reporting to me."

Full listing here. Inquiries to apease@kiwipowered.com - best wishes to those interested. 

PUI professor job hopping

From the 2017-2018 open thread, an interesting exchange. From Anonymous (January 6, 2018 at 2:44 PM):

Any current assistant professors out there applying for PUI positions? I'm wondering how much mobility really exists in those positions. Does teaching a couple years (as an asst. prof, not an adjunct) help you move to a better school?

And the informed response from another Anonymous (January 7, 2018 at 8:38 AM):

I teach at a PUI and moved from another PUI when I was an assistant professor. There is definitely mobility in these cases. If you wish to "move up" the PUI school ladder, some of it will depend on what you have accomplished at your current position. Most likely, the schools that you are applying to will want to see that you have established yourself as an effective teacher and scholar and that you are contributing to the shared governance of your current institution in a positive manner. 

I would suspect that if you have at least one letter from someone in your department speaking positively about your teaching and research (with students) and a letter from outside your department discussing how well you work in committees that you will be good. Many search committees like faculty applications from other assistant professors because they have teaching experience and have mentored undergraduates in the research lab as well.

This would be another question that I wish that we had a better data around: how many professors move each year between schools? Which schools are more prone to movement (PUI or PhD-granting?) Do assistant professors move before or after tenure? More questions to be solved by the future staffers of the Chemjobber Institute of Advanced Scientific Workforce Studies... 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 23 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 23 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.

NIH: Study section confidentiality breached?

Via Twitter, an interesting post from December 22 at one of the NIH's blogs about problems with a recent review of grant applications:

...NIH has recently determined that there has been a breach in the integrity of the panel review process of a batch of applications. 

NIH takes the integrity of peer review seriously, and we appreciate that the vast majority of individuals also take the integrity of peer review seriously. Accordingly, after much thought and deliberation, we decided we had no choice but to cancel the panel’s review. The consequences are serious: dozens of applications will need to undergo a re-review. 

When the integrity of peer review has been breached, it affects everyone. We regret that the dozens of affected applicants who did nothing wrong will face substantial delays in getting their applications reviewed and processed. We appreciate that the panel reviewers spent a great deal of time and effort reviewing dozens of applications, traveling, and participating in meetings. NIH must assure a fair process for everyone and will not stand by when the integrity of our peer review process is compromised....

Some of the comments in the post are pretty remarkable. It's not a surprise that this happened - maybe it's a surprise that it took so long? 

View From Your Hood: snowbound adjuncts edition

From a reader: "In ode to all the other adjuncts out there, one advantage of working in academia is the snow days! View from my "hood" last fall when we had about 20 inches of snowfall in CNY, classes were canceled and I worked on lecture slides from home."

(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.)

Do you tell law enforcement that you work in chemistry?

Via Twitter, an interesting anecdote from a chemistry professor about an incoming postdoc crossing the border into the United States from Canada: 

Received a call from my soon to be Canadian postdoc today from Toronto as he tried to fly to ATL. He was denied entry bc his offer letter packet “was not thick enough”. Seriously???

This started a pretty interesting conversation regarding chemists at the border, including this amusing suggestion from a professor in Spain:

Never ever tell you’re going to a Chemistry conference. Always scientific conference.

I've never dealt with this, mostly because I don't cross international borders very often. I imagine in these days of fears about terrorism, saying "I'm a molecular scientist" seems a little less likely to get the notice of a Customs and Border Protection officer than "I'm a chemist." Anyone else have stories of crossing borders and what that's like as a chemist? 

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 103 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 103 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: 79 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 79 positions.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

"Forever Chemicals"

Via random clickings on Twitter, a really depressing op-ed in the Washington Post from an assistant professor of exposure assessment science at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health:

...They are now in nearly all of our bodies, are found in the air and water around the globe, and they never go away. They are "Forever Chemicals." 

These are stain-repellent chemicals that we use in products throughout our homes, offices, schools, hospitals, cars and airplanes. They are characterized by a fluorine-carbon backbone. And the F-C bond, the Forever-Chemical bond, is quite amazing, representing one of the strongest bonds in all of organic chemistry. 

When several F-C bonds are strung together, some really useful industry properties appear, including allowing air to pass through while blocking things such as grease, oil and dirt.  

...But this property comes with a pernicious dark side. The F-C bond is so strong that these chemicals never fully degrade. Ever. Like, for millennia ever. 

[snip] 

And it may get worse. In every chemical with a carbon-hydrogen bond (the fundamental unit of organic chemistry), you can theoretically replace the "H" with an "F," creating a Forever Chemical. Thus, the number of Forever Chemicals that can be made is close to infinite. Scientists could study these indefinitely and not make any progress. It's job security that I don't want....

A more irritating mauling of chemistry and chemicals you will not read today. (The fundamental unit of organic chemistry is the C-H bond? whiskey tango over?)*

*I think the thing that gets me about articles like this is how much chemophobic articles like this belittle the good that chemistry and chemicals do and how much they use uncertainty and doubt to get people to fear the chemical-to-be-feared of the moment. 

(Should we as an industry be more careful with the compounds that we manufacture and sell as articles of commerce? Absolutely. Is the PFOA/PFOS story one that we as an industry need to come to terms with? Undoubtedly. Does this article help with that? No.) 

FNANO "Teaching through Nanoscience" track: April 16-19, 2018 in Snowbird,UT

From the inbox, an invitation to present papers on the "Teaching through Nanoscience" track at FNANO 2018 in Snowbird, UT in mid-April.

Best wishes to those interested. 

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 481 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 481 positions.

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

On December 27, 2016, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 531 positions.

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

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

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 29 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 29 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.

Old-skool chemists

Also in this week's C&EN, some anecdotes from chemistry's past in the letters to the editors: 

Dr. Breslow literally changed my life. I worked in his laboratory in 1964–65 as a “prep boy,” running syntheses for the graduate students and postdocs. I probably made more methylcyclopropenone than [any] other person on the planet, before or since. Even though I was the lowest of the low, Dr. Breslow included me in all the activities of his group. His group meetings were amazing. I learned more in them than I learned in most classes. Dr. Breslow also arranged for me to take classes at Columbia University. I had had three years at another college, but the classes at Columbia were on an entirely different level. One of the classes I took was biochemistry, taught by Dr. Breslow, in which I earned an A+. The entire experience transformed me from a C student to an A student. I later went on to earn my Ph.D. in chemistry, which I probably would not have done were it not for my time with Dr. Breslow. I can’t express enough my gratitude to and affection for this wonderful, caring human being. 

Franklin P. Mason 

I took advanced organic synthesis with Gilbert in 1965. What impressed me the most is that he’d come into class sans notes, pick up a piece of chalk, put his hand to his forehead, and say “OK,” and proceed to give a perfectly presented one-hour lecture. Of course there were mechanisms for every reaction, etc., but the smoothness of it all always stuck with me. RIP Gilbert. 

Philip Warner

Good stuff - "prep boy" is an interesting one. 

This week's C&EN

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

• Cover story: the incoming ACS president, Peter Dorhout
• Worth a read, especially for those interested in the intersection of academia and employment 
• Pretty cool story about making building materials on Mars (article by Neil Savage)
• What does the chemical enterprise look like from Inner Mongolia? Find out from Jean-François Tremblay.
• Summary of the ACS Pharma Leaders Conference by Susan Ainsworth
• Roald Hoffmann on Shelley's Frankenstein.
• Cool story about Regina Easley, NIST electroanalytical chemist.