Friday, March 30, 2018

View From Your Hood: #ozchem ivy edition

Credit: @slkristufek
Via Twitter user slkristufek: "View from my hood:  It’s a beautiful, summery, January day here at the University of Melbourne!"

(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.) 

Worth a read

I'm sure everyone has read it already, but if you haven't read Derek's comments about depression and anxiety in graduate school (complete with his own story of late night failed experimental runs), you should. The last two paragraphs are worth quoting in full: 
...I think it’s important for graduate students to realize that everyone has these doubts and bad stretches. Everyone has these moments when they wonder what they’ve done to their lives, but having these thoughts is not a sign that the exact failure you’re fearing has arrived. That doesn’t mean that thinking about your purpose in grad school is a bad thing, but it probably is a bad thing to try to do it at periods of peak emotional stress. If you feel that it really is getting too much, definitely talk to someone. Universities have people around for just that purpose – more so than in my day, fortunately – and if you find yourself wondering if you should reach out like that, then odds are that you should. Do it. I wish some of the people I worked with had, or had been able to. 
Any meaningful graduate degree is going to be a test of your abilities and your resilience. Recognize this, and avoid the two extremes. On one end are the macho types whose response is “Eat stress for breakfast! That’s what I did in my day! If you don’t have the fire in your belly you don’t belong here!”. And on the other end are the voices, some perhaps external and some internal, telling you that you’re a failure already, an imposter, and that you’re never going to measure up anyway. These are two different sets of lies, and everyone has to steer their course between them.
This is the sort of thing that we should be reminding 3rd years and 4th years in graduate school on a regular basis. Derek's been there, I've been there, probably your PI has been there too. It's okay to ask for help. 

Thursday, March 29, 2018

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 153 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 153 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 March 28.

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 129 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 129 positions.

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

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Ask CJ: how to get industry internships?

From the inbox, a good question: 
Hi Chemjobber, 
I am a [redacted] year graduate student working towards a PhD in [redacted chemistry field]. [redacted] I was pondering the idea of doing summer internships during grad school to get experience and hopefully make connections. My PI is fully supportive. Do you have any feedback/recommendations/or any general input? 
Thanks,
PD
My response:
Dear PD:  
Thanks for your message - it's a good question. Before you begin, make sure to have a resume and a cover letter and an introductory e-mail/phone message. 
  • Network your way into a summer internship through your PI/your institutions' connections.
  • Find summer internships through online postings, either through general websites (such as C&EN Jobs) or through the companies themselves. 
Both are difficult, but #1 may prove to be somewhat more fruitful. Cheers, CJ
Readers, did you do an industrial internship during graduate school? How did you apply? Let's hear it.  

This week's C&EN

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

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 534 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 534 positions.

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

On March 30, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 582 positions.

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

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 positions: University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD

From the inbox, two postdoctoral positions at the University of South Dakota:
Position 1 (Miro Group): Dynamic properties and chemical reactivity in confined spaces with application to surfactant-based  separations and catalysis inside molecular and 3D nanoporous systems.  
Position 2 (Vlaisavljevich Group): Study of molecules and materials with complex electronic structure for applications in heavy element chemistry,  information storage/electronic devices, catalysis, and environmental sensors.
Links and full descriptions here. Best wishes to those interested. 

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.

Friday, March 23, 2018

Business cards

A list of small, useful things (links):
I hope you don't get the blahs this weekend - have a great weekend! 

Fantastic myth-busting on the "skills gap"

Great article from the National Association of Colleges and Employers' director of research, public policy, and legislative issues, Edwin Koc (emphasis mine):
The figure of 6 million job openings comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report. BLS issues the survey results on a monthly basis, with the latest published report—the January 2018 issue—providing data as of November 2017. The latest job opening figure shows 5.9 million job openings in the United States, which is little changed from the previous 24 months. However, it is important to note that these job openings are not the result of new jobs coming online; further, the implication that these jobs go unfilled is highly misleading. The openings result from a variety of factors, most of which can be characterized as frictions in the labor market. 
The job openings are the result of:
  • 3.2 million workers quitting their current jobs;
  • 1.7 million workers losing their jobs as a result of a layoff or firing;
  • 0.3 million workers retiring, going on disability, or transferring to a different location within the same firm.
That means 5.2 million job openings are the result of separations. This leaves approximately 700,000 unaccounted for, but presumably relatively new job openings. 
The 5.2 million job openings that result from separations are actually an indication of a healthy economy. As the above indicates, the majority of these openings are voluntary. They occur because an employee perceives a better opportunity in another firm or another location. The number of separations tends to increase as the economy improves and declines when the economy goes into recession. As Figure 1 shows, the number of job openings dropped significantly during 2008 and 2009—the period of the great recession. Since 2009, the number of openings has been climbing steadily, reaching around the 6 million mark in an economy where the stock market is at record highs and unemployment is at near-record lows. 
Nevertheless, if all these openings—whether they result from separations or from the creation of new positions—went unfilled, then that would present a serious problem for the economy. However, the same BLS job opening report also provides the count of new hires made each month: For November 2017, BLS reports that employers hired 5.5 million workers. This leaves approximately 400,000 job openings that went unfilled during November, which represents 0.2 percent of the U.S. labor market. It is important to note that the November 2017 figures are very consistent with the monthly data since January 2016. In fact, hires have exceeded separations, and the openings they create, for every month since 2010. A mass of jobs in the United States are not going unfilled; a relatively small fraction of job openings are taking relatively longer than the desired time to fill.
I need a couple of days to absorb this, but it is remarkable to have such a popular stat punctured a little bit. 

Thursday, March 22, 2018

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 146 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 146 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.)

ACS New Orleans Career Fair: 26 jobs, 422 job seekers

These numbers reported to the ACS Council this morning (data thanks to friend of the blog Chris Cramer):
Number of Job Seekers: 422*
Employers: 15
Number of Jobs: 26
Recruiter Booths: 15 
Résumé Reviews: 316
Mock Interviews: 139
*There was a change to the way that job seekers were counted, so job seeker/jobs ratios can't be compared anymore.

The job seeker to job ratio is 16.2 to 1, which is the worst for quite a while. Note that, in comparing to previous years, it may be difficult. Still, a tough year for employers. (I sense this may be geography-related more than anything else, but I don't know who the employers were at this Career Fair.) 

32 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 8 new positions posted for March 19 and 24 new positions posted for March 21. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 124 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 124 positions.

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

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

What 3000 metric tons of cobalt might look like

Credit: Photographer Jasper Juinen, for Bloomberg
I've worked in scale-up for quite a while now, but it's always still a kick to see what bulk containers of compounds (or elements) look like. Courtesy of Bloomberg Businessweek, a picture of a cobalt trader and part of his stockpile of 3000 metric tons of cobalt.

Readers, what's the largest, weirdest container of compound you've ever seen? I'll start: I've seen a bulk container of bromine and lived to tell the tale. 

It might not just be you

Also in this week's C&EN, an interesting set of statistics: 
41%: Percentage of graduate students with symptoms of moderate to severe anxiety, compared with 6% of general population 
39%: Percentage of graduate students with symptoms of moderate to severe depression, compared with 6% of general population
From the Nature Biotechnology article "Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education."  

This week's C&EN

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

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 531 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 531 positions.

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

On March 12, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 581 positions.

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

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

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

A counter-intuitive result: median time to degree has been getting shorter?

I think you could have won $50 of me on this one. (from the Survey of Earned Doctorates).

(I wonder if people have been spending more time in postdocs? I don't think we have that data.) 

Monday, March 19, 2018

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.

Friday, March 16, 2018

View From Your Hood: Irish snows edition

Credit: Kevin Gahan
From blog reader Kevin Gahan: "A rare view of University College Dublin covered in snow at the end of February. Taken from the top floor of the CSCB building outside the Guiry lab."

(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.) 

Interesting comparison between an automotive technician and a Ph.D. organic chemist

From friend of the blog James Ashenhurst, a very interesting letter to the editor from the Wall Street Journal about the trades:
We have one son who graduated from MIT with a Ph.D. in organic chemistry after a total of nine years of college. We have another son who graduated from WyoTech with degrees in Automotive Technology and Management after a two-year program right after high school. After five years at their respective jobs, which both thoroughly employ their respective educations, guess which one makes more money? Trade school wins. 
Bronwyn Clear
Proud parents, I bet.

(I suspect the income lines will cross at the 10 year or 20 year mark, but there's no guarantee, I suspect. Also, it depends on whether the MIT son became an academic.)  

Illinois needs to replace 5,000 engineers a year in the next 5 years?

Via the weekly dose of pain that is a Google Alert for the term "skills gap", this article from the Illinois News Network (emphasis mine):  
llinois manufacturers need about 27,000 workers a year, for the next five years, just to keep up with retirements. The only problem is, there aren't 30,000 workers with the skills to fill the jobs.  
"Manufacturers need 22,000 production workers and 5,000 engineers every year, for the next five years between now and 2027 just to cover retirements of the baby boomers," Jim Nelson of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association said. "So there are jobs available." 
Nelson said there's a need for truck drivers, welders, craftsmen, manufacturers, supervisors, and a whole lot of other workers.... 
...But not enough of the workers who are available in Illinois have the skills that employers need. The biggest reason for that, Nelson said, is that Illinois high schools are still focused on sending kids to college. 
Maybe Mr. Nelson is using a very broad definition of an engineer, but 5,000 a year? Really?

There are a couple of ways to look at this: first, does that number make sense from a generation perspective? The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the state of Illinois employs 90,510 people in the architecture and engineering occupations (which includes engineering technicians.) Does it make sense that they have to replace a quarter of this workforce in the next 5 years? (or the next ten?) I think that number seems at least a little bit inflated, or perhaps the Illinois manufacturing workforce is older than I understand. Could go one way or another, it seems.

Secondly, let's think about whether or not that is even possible to replace this number of engineers. The University of Illinois (a very fine engineering school) has 9145 undergraduates, which suggests that it graduates ~2300 engineers a year. Not enough for Mr. Nelson. There are, of course, other very fine engineering schools in the Land of Lincoln, but let's just reach over into the Crossroads of America and steal some Purdue engineering graduates. The undergraduate enrollment of the Purdue College of Engineering is 12,477 undergraduates, or ~3100 graduates a year.

So if every single engineering graduate of both Illinois and Purdue decide to turn down the temptations of Silicon Valley or the depredations of the coasts to stay in the Midwest, maaayyybbe Illinois manufacturing will be okay.

(looks like wages for engineers in Illinois will be going up? I hope?) 

Got a career dilemma?

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. Also, you can submit your questions with this handy web form. Thanks!

Thursday, March 15, 2018

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 142 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 142 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.)

19 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 19 new positions posted for March 11. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 118 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 118 positions.

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

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

The Novichok compounds

Though American laboratories stopped producing nerve agents around 1970, after the production of so-called third-generation nerve agents like sarin and VX, Soviet scientists continued their work for two decades, producing a “fourth generation.” 
The Novichok nerve agents came in solid form, like a powder or thick paste, and would not register on the chemical detector paper that NATO troops used. 
A chemist who worked in the laboratory developing Novichok accidentally inhaled fumes while filling a syringe, and collapsed. Though he was injected with an antidote and eventually awoke, he suffered from depression and epilepsy and died five years later, leaving Vil Mirzayanov, a scientist who helped develop the agent, deeply disillusioned. 
“Antidotes exist, but what does antidote mean?” Mr. Mirzayanov, who had leaked the project to the press and later immigrated to the United States, told Sky News on Tuesday. “You’re saving a person who has been exposed to this gas — but temporarily, not to die this time. But he will be an invalid for the rest of his life.”
..."eventually." Yikes!  

That's the Midwest that I know

Evonik Industries declared victory for its exclusive synthesis division late last year when it announced the renewal of a long-term supply contract with Eli Lilly & Co. The German firm bought Lilly’s TippecanoeLaboratories in Lafayette, Ind., in 2010 and had been supplying the drug company with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).... 
...The repurposing of the Tippecanoe site was largely accomplished under the direction of general manager Clive Whiteside. Whiteside, who started his career at ICI, describes the cultural conversion as a protracted effort. But he emphasizes that one element of culture has remained constant at Tippecanoe—a midwestern work ethic. 
“One of the things that helped us be successful—that we inherited from our previous owner—is a high-quality workforce with know-how and commitment,” Whiteside says. “America’s Midwest breeds hardworking people who are good at working together. And that is a huge advantage for a service company.”
Here's hoping that more people turn out to recognize that fact... 

This week's C&EN

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

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 528 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 528 positions.

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

On March 12, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 580 positions.

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

Want to talk about 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.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 134 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 134 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.)

22 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 13 new positions posted for March 1 and 9 new positions for March 5. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 109 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 109 positions.

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

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Worth a read

Via the DCHAS listserv, a really great post by th'Gaussling: 
One of my work duties is to give safety training on the principles of electrostatic safety; ESD training we call it. The group of people who go through my training are new employees. These folks come from all walks of life with education ranging from high school/GED to BS chemists & engineers to PhD chemists. In order to be compliant with OSHA and with what we understand to be best practices, we give personnel who will be working with chemicals extensive training in all of the customary environmental, health and safety areas. 
I have instructed perhaps 80 to 100 people in the last 6 years. At the beginning of each session I query the group for their backgrounds and ask if it includes any electricity or electronics study or hobbies. With the exception of two electricians in the group, this survey has turned up a resounding zero positive responses. 
Admittedly, there could be some selection bias here. It could be that people with electrical knowledge do not end up in the chemical industry. This agrees with my informal observations. But I’m not referring to experts in the electrical field. I refer to people who recall having ever heard of Ohm’s law. One might have guessed that the science requirements for high school graduation may have included rudimentary electrical concepts. One might have further suspected that hobby electronics could have occupied the earlier years of a few attendees. Evidently not. And it does not appear that parents have been very influential in this matter either...
I messed around a lot with electronics when I was a pre-teen, had a lot of fun with electronics kits. (Incidentally, Snap Circuits are a pretty cool educational tool for kids.)  

Warning Letter of the Week: PC desktop recycle bin edition

A friendly note to the general manager of Zhejiang Ludao Technology Co., Ltd. from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research: 
1.    Your firm failed to ensure that laboratory records included complete data derived from all tests necessary to assure compliance with established specifications and standards (21 CFR 211.194(a)).
Your firm lacks basic laboratory controls to prevent changes to paper and electronic records for your over-the-counter (OTC) drug products. You were not able to provide analytical test data for three batches of [redacted] spray and one batch of [redacted]. We found that you created certificates of analysis (COA) for these four batches before they were manufactured and tested.

When questioned, your firm acknowledged falsifying the analytical test results on the COA you used to support release and distribution of [redacted] spray and [redacted] drug products to the United States.

In addition, we found three electronic data files in the electronic recycle bin of the stand-alone HPLC system you used to test finished drug product [redacted] spray. Because this instrument lacks back-up and audit trail capabilities, we could not determine how frequently test data obtained prior to “official” batch testing was discarded. You were unable to explain why these electronic files were deleted.
Always empty the recycle bin!  

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 523 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 523 positions.

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

On March 2, 2017, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 566 positions.

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

Want to talk about 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.

Monday, March 5, 2018

This week's C&EN

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

Friday, March 2, 2018

View From Your Hood: Australian edition

Credit: Andrew Wright
Via reader Andrew Wright:

"View from my hood, in the oldest lab in the oldest building at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. A wizened gum tree covers the original first year chemistry labs (right) and some tents (left) in shade."

(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.)

"If you're not raising wages, then it just sounds like whining"

From Business Insider, a nice quote from the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari from last year:
..."If you're not raising wages, then it just sounds like whining," he told a group of business people at a Rotary Club meeting in Sioux Falls, S.D., according to the Washington Examiner. 
..."Are any of you planning to raise wages in the next year or two? Or are you just complaining about you can't find workers?" Kashkari asked the group. "If you look at North Dakota in the oil boom — if you raise wages, people respond and you can find workers." 
Thumbs up, Mr. Kashkari.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 121 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 121 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.)

10 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 10 new positions posted for February 24.

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 105 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 105 positions.

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

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread.