Chemist/lawyer to psychedelic entrepreneur

Via a random Google search, this profile in the ABA Journal of Dr. Andrew Chadeayne, a lawyer and PhD chemist: 

From a desk in the back of his garage in Issaquah, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, Andrew Chadeayne is quietly, steadily spearheading the convergence of science, law and psychedelic drugs.

Chadeayne, who holds a doctorate in chemistry, is also a patent lawyer. His experience includes intellectual property work for pharmaceutical companies and a major freight forwarder. But it was his work for the revolutionary cannabis research company Ebbu that ignited his interest in developing and commercializing the mind-altering properties of much-maligned plants.

In 2018, Ebbu sold in a deal valued north of $330 million, and Chadeayne decided not to stay with the company. Instead, he founded a company called CaaMTech to explore another pharmacological edible: the magic mushroom.

Pretty interesting stuff - read the whole thing.

The 2022 Faculty Jobs List: 517 research/teaching positions and 61 teaching positions

The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 517 research/teaching positions and 61 teaching positions. 

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

On December 29, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 242 research/teaching position and 27 teaching positions. On January 7, 2019, the 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 508 research/teaching positions and 49 teaching positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the third open thread. Go to the second open thread. Here is the first open thread. The first open thread was closed on November 10, 2021.

Here is Sean Edington's status summary spreadsheet.

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread.

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 66 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 66 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson).

Want to talk? Go to this year's open thread. 

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 32 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 32 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady and @nmr_chemist. 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.

Romanian researchers want retractions of Elena Ceaușescu's papers

Via The Guardian, I learned that Elena Ceaușescu had chemistry monographs ghostwritten for her: 

Romanian researchers have called on academic publishers to remove Elena Ceaușescu’s name from almost two dozen scientific papers and books fraudulently published as her work, more than 30 years after the wife of the former communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was executed.

Elena Ceaușescu was celebrated by state propaganda under her husband’s regime as a world-famous chemistry researcher, despite having no credible qualifications. The researchers say some of her work is still being cited and accessed, even though she was barely literate in science and unable to recognise basic formulas taught to first-year chemistry students.

They also want Ceaușescu’s honorary titles, awards and PhD to be revoked, and for institutions that honoured her – including the UK’s Royal Society of Chemistry and the Polytechnic of Central London (now the University of Westminster) – to withdraw recognition and acknowledge that her scientific career was bogus. Her PhD was never retracted in Romania, even though it was widely known she did not write it...

...“Her international fame was supported by forcing Romanian chemists to write papers, some of which were published in international journals, as well as a book that was translated in English and published by Pergamon Press, a widely known British academic publisher,” Isloi says.

That book – based on Ceaușescu’s PhD – was published by Pergamon under the title Stereospecific Polymerization of Isoprene and carries a foreword by the Nobel prize-winning British chemist Dorothy Hodgkin, who wrote: “I am not equipped myself with enough technical knowledge of the field of this work to give a critical scientific evaluation of its contents.

“But even a necessarily brief reading makes one think that the field of research surveyed by the author is vast and recent.”

There's a polite non-endorsement if there ever was one. 

NYT obituary of Robert Grubbs

I didn't know about the late Professor Grubbs' origins in agricultural chemistry (via the New York Times): 

He majored in agricultural chemistry at the University of Florida, combining his interest in science, developed in junior high school, and his boyhood passion for farming.

One summer, while working in an animal nutrition laboratory analyzing steer feces, he was invited by a friend to work in an organic chemistry laboratory being run by a new university faculty member, Merle Battiste. Around that time, Dr. Grubbs became absorbed in a book called “Mechanisms and Structure in Organic Chemistry,” by E.S. Gould, which explained how chemical reactions work. His lab experience and the book, he said, persuaded him to devote himself to chemistry.

Gotta say, I imagine you would be looking for jobs other than analyzing feces...  

Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your family a healthy and very Merry Christmas. Back on Monday.

Have a great weekend

I've had a relaxed week, which is great. I plan to have a pretty chill weekend, too. I hope you had a great week, and that you have a wonderful, restful weekend. See you on Monday! 

CCNY Physics gets sent a box of cash from an alum

Via the New York Times, this fun bit of news: 

When he returned to teaching in-person this semester, Vinod Menon, a physics professor at City College of New York in Harlem, finally looked through a pile of office mail and found a cardboard box the size of a toaster.

The box, heavy enough to warrant $90 in postage for priority U.S. mail, was addressed to “Chairman, Physics Department” — his title.

Maybe it was a token of thanks from a former student, Dr. Menon thought, as he inspected the package, which was postmarked Nov. 10, 2020. It had been sitting for more than nine months, first in the campus mailroom and then in the physics office.

For Dr. Menon, 49, who specializes in nano- and microphotonics, an exciting moment usually comes in a campus laboratory with some breakthrough in the exploration of the way light interacts with matter on a quantum level.

But the matter contained in the cardboard box gave him quite a charge. It was full of $50 and $100 bills bundled in paper bands, totaling $180,000.

An enclosed letter to Dr. Menon explained that the cash was a donation meant to help needy physics and math students at City College.

“It was a complete shock — I know a lot of academics and I’ve never heard of anything like this,” he said. “I didn’t know if the college accepted cash, so I didn’t know if they’d keep it.”

 Readers, they kept it. I hope that someday, I could be this generous. 

22 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Common Organic Chemistry is resolving some technical difficulties, but has ported over the list to Google Drive for now. There are 22 new positions for December 17.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

Global organic chemistry job market link

Via organic-chemistry.org, a link to the job market section. 

A Chemjobber Christmas tradition

A Chemjobber Christmas tradition, updated for 2021. Send a PDF to your family - try it, it works! 

December 23, 2021

Dear family member:

This holiday season, your relative is in his or her fifth/sixth/seventh/_______ year of graduate school in chemistry. This continues to be an unusual time due to the pandemic. I hope that you are all vaccinated with booster shots. This is a delicate time in your students’ lives -- please make interactions smooth for all by following these simple suggestions:

1. Please supply lots of fresh fruit and vegetables -- they are in short supply. 

2. Do not offer pizza, which is an all-too-common part of their diets. 

3. Sleep is a rare commodity in graduate school; please turn down sheets and fluff pillows. Be prepared to see them about 24 hours after they get home.
   
   

In attempting to communicate with your graduate student, please avoid asking the following questions: 

1. When are you going to finish? 

2. What can you do with your degree? 

3. Will you be the kind of doctor that helps people? 

4. Now that I’ve been vaccinated, why do I still need to wear a mask? 

5. How about a startup? I hear cryptocurrency is hot. 

6. There's a clinical chemistry department at my hospital -- can you get a job there? 

7. Do you know Charles Lieber? 

8. Why do you need a postdoc? Haven't you gone to enough school? 

9. MEGABIOGENE has opened a facility nearby -- can you get a job there?  

10. Have you thought about data science? 

11. I see [insert high school rival here] has finished medical school -- how much will they be
    making? 

12. Can you make ivermectin?  

13. Have you thought about teaching? I heard professors have a stable job. 

14. When are you going to finish? 

In following these simple suggestions, I trust that you, your graduate student and your family will have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Very sincerely,

Chemjobber

Charles Lieber found guilty on all counts

Via Chemical and Engineering News' Bethany Halford: 

After 2 hours and 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Lieber guilty on all counts. Lieber did not appear to show any emotion in reaction to the verdict. The judge did not set a date for sentencing.

Lieber is the first academic researcher prosecuted under the China Initiative to be found guilty by a jury. —Bethany Halford

From the Harvard Crimson's Brandon Kingdollar: 

BOSTON — Harvard professor Charles M. Lieber was found guilty of lying to government authorities about his ties to China in federal court on Tuesday, concluding a stunning downfall for one of the country’s top chemists.

A federal jury found Lieber guilty on all six felony charges, including two counts of making false statements and four related tax offenses. Federal prosecutors said Lieber, 62, chased money and Nobel hopes past the limits of the law by concealing his ties to China’s Thousand Talents Program in misleading statements to investigators and falsely-reported tax returns.

Jurors deliberated for just shy of three hours before coming to a verdict Tuesday. Lieber showed little reaction as the verdict was announced in court...

...Lieber, who is currently battling late-stage lymphoma, will be sentenced at a later hearing. Federal charges of false statements are subject to a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

I'm pretty surprised. While the statements he made to the FBI were clearly pretty incriminating, I had no idea how the jury would take them, especially with all the doubts that that Dr. Lieber's lawyer threw their way. I thought they would acquit, but I was wrong. 

The New York Times' article on the case had a sad note from the FBI interrogation: 

He tried to impress on the two special agents that a different motive, the desire for acclaim, had brought him to partner with Wuhan and train scientists there.

“I was younger and stupid,” he said. “I want to be recognized for what I’ve done. Everyone wants to be recognized.” He offered a comparison he had given his son, a high school wrestler. The Nobel Prize is “kind of like an Olympic gold medal — it’s very, very rare,” he said.

A prize he had won recently was more like a bronze medal, he said with a self-deprecating laugh. “That probably is the underlying reason I did this,” he said.

 There is something deeply tragic and knowing about that admission. 

The 2022 Faculty Jobs List: 517 research/teaching positions and 61 teaching positions

The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 517 research/teaching positions and 61 teaching positions. 

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

On December 22, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 238 research/teaching position and 23 teaching positions. On December 24, 2019, the 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 504 research/teaching positions and 44 teaching positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the third open thread. Go to the second open thread. Here is the first open thread. The first open thread was closed on November 10, 2021.

Here is Sean Edington's status summary spreadsheet.

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread.

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 66 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 66 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson).

Want to talk? Go to this year's open thread. 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 32 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 32 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady and @nmr_chemist. 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.

RIP Bob Grubbs

The passing of Bob Grubbs was announced on Sunday morning. From Caltech: 

Robert Grubbs, the Victor and Elizabeth Atkins Professor of Chemistry at Caltech, passed away on December 19, 2021. He was 79 years old.

Grubbs was a co-winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the development of the metathesis method in organic synthesis. Metathesis—which means "change places"—is a chemical reaction, aided by special catalysts, in which double bonds between carbon atoms are broken and remade in ways that cause specific chemical groups to change places. In this way, functional features of molecules can be selectively stripped out and replaced with groups that were previously part of another compound...

Condolences to his family, friends and coworkers. 

Have a good weekend

This has been another hard week for me, and I cannot tell you how much I look forward to both this weekend, and the end of the year. I hope that you have a good weekend (I plan to try) and we will see you on Monday. 

C&EN on Day 3 of the Lieber trial

Via Chemical and Engineering News' Bethany Halford: 

Renee Donlon, who did administrative work for Lieber from October 2012 through mid-2017, continued her testimony for the prosecution on Dec. 16. Yesterday, Donlon was introduced briefly and she described her work managing Lieber’s travel and calendar before court recessed for the day. Today, Donlon testified that she arranged several trips to Wuhan for Lieber and reviewed the itineraries for three trips in 2014. Donlon also said that on one occasion she attempted to use a Chinese bank card in Lieber’s name to pay for a change fee on a flight, but the charge did not go through.

Stephanie Guaba, one of Lieber’s defense attorneys, pointed out on cross examination that according to the travel itineraries Donlon prepared, Lieber was in Wuhan for less than 24 hours on two of the trips. On the third trip, he was in Wuhan for 37 hours. Guaba also asked Donlon if she had ever successfully made a purchase with Lieber’s Chinese bank card, and Donlon said she had not.

Next, the prosecution called US Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Kara Spice to testify. Spice was involved in Lieber’s arrest and subsequent questioning on Jan. 28, 2020. Assistant US Attorney Jason Casey asked Spice about email exchanges between Liqiang Mai, who worked in Lieber’s lab from 2008 to 2011. According to Mai’s website, he has been a professor at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) since 2004 and is now dean of WUT’s School of Materials Science and Engineering.

Casey had Spice read from many email exchanges between Lieber and Mai from 2011, 2012, and 2013 regarding Lieber’s role in establishing a nanotechnology lab at WUT. The prosecution also presented what it described as a contract for Lieber’s participation in the Thousand Talents Program. Lieber’s defense attorney Marc Mukasey called the document “an unsigned piece of paper.”

It seems pretty clear to me that the prosecution has a pretty cut-and-dried case that Lieber had an unreported financial relationship with WUT. It will be interesting to see how the defense attempts to disprove the prosecution's case. 

The Lieber trial begins: Day 2 coverage

From Chemical and Engineering News' Bethany Halford, today's coverage of the Charles Lieber trial: 

Prosecution and defense attorneys gave their opening statements on Dec. 15 to a jury of 12 people and 2 alternate jurors. The crowded courtroom included some of Lieber’s former lab members, one of whom wore a hooded sweatshirt printed with Lieber’s likeness.

Assistant US Attorney J. R. Drabick outlined the government’s case, saying that it was about false statements, false tax returns, and a hidden bank account. Drabick said that Lieber participated in a Chinese recruiting program known as the Thousand Talents Program (TTP). Participating in the program is not a crime, but the government alleges that Lieber falsely stated that he was not involved with the TTP when he spoke with investigators for the US Department of Defense. Making false statements to government investigators is illegal.

In addition, “Evidence will show the defendant was paid tens of thousands of dollars for his work,” at Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) up to $50,000 per month, half in cash and half in a Chinese bank account set up for him, Drabick said. Lieber allegedly did not report that income on his tax returns in 2013 and 2014, nor did he report the foreign bank account, as required by law. Drabick said that Lieber wanted WUT to nominate him for a Nobel Prize in return for his work with the school.

 Beth is livetweeting the trial, and also offering daily updates. 

Global organic chemistry job market link

Via organic-chemistry.org, a link to the job market section. 

Astronomy has high-stakes equipment setups

Via the New York Times: 

What do astronomers eat for breakfast on the day that their $10 billion telescope launches into space? Their fingernails.

“You work for years and it all goes up in a puff of smoke,” said Marcia Rieke of the University of Arizona.

Dr. Rieke admits her fingers will be crossed on the morning of Dec. 24 when she tunes in for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. For 20 years, she has been working to design and build an ultrasensitive infrared camera that will live aboard the spacecraft. The Webb is the vaunted bigger and more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers expect that it will pierce a dark curtain of ignorance and supposition about the early days of the universe, and allow them to snoop on nearby exoplanets...

...And there is plenty to be anxious about. The Ariane 5 rocket that is carrying the spacecraft has seldom failed to deliver its payloads to orbit. But even if it survives the launch, the telescope will have a long way to go.

Over the following month it will have to execute a series of maneuvers with 344 “single points of failure” in order to unfurl its big golden mirror and deploy five thin layers of a giant plastic sunscreen that will keep the telescope and its instruments in the cold and dark. Engineers and astronomers call this interval six months of high anxiety because there is no prospect of any human or robotic intervention or rescue should something go wrong.

There's something great about experimental lab chemistry where screwing something up and recovering isn't that big of a deal, and sending someone to fix an error would not either be impossible or requiring the expenditure of a hundred million dollars...

344 single points of failure??!? That seems like a lot...

How to over-prepare for a presentation

If you like reading someone with voice, Matt Levine with Bloomberg is pretty entertaining, even when he is banging on about securities fraud or SPACs. This is a funny recent piece about weird interview practices at PIMCO (a bond investment firm which apparently would yell at people in interviews*). The below reminds me of grad school a bit: 

But “mock client presentations”? When I was in a client-facing financial-services job I don’t think I ever did a mock client presentation, and in hindsight I hate myself for that. Of course I should have been doing mock client presentations to prepare for real client presentations! Of course those mock client presentations should have been so ludicrously rigorous that they left me in tears! Then you go to the real client presentation and you handle all of their questions with ease, because you were so over-prepared for the terrifying mock presentation, and also you are warm and charming and personable and excited to be there because it’s so much nicer to be with clients than with your colleagues. “I really felt a connection with them,” you say after the client meeting; “they didn’t make me cry once.”

I think this is actually a pretty decent way to prepare for interviews, i.e. go in front of a trusted group of friends two weeks before an interview presentation, and have them chew on you lovingly for two or three hours. Then you have a drink, take their advice and adapt your presentation, and do it again before your interview until you're smooth. 

Clearly in the finance sector, folks like to yell and curse and be mean; I don't think that's necessary. It's no fun to subject yourself to rigorous questioning, but it's good practice to have friends who can be critical of your presentation and give you good feedback. No tears needed, but definitely checking one's ego at the door is good. 

Postdoctoral position: Post Doc - Catalysis Science/Physical Biosciences, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, Richland, WA

From the inbox, a postdoctoral position at Pacific Northwest National Laboratories: 

Contribute to PNNL’s goals as part of the Lab’s Physical Sciences Division (PSD). As a postdoctoral researcher in the Catalysis Science group, you will join a hardworking, multi-investigator team to explore the mechanistic details of artificial enzymes for energy applications. You will be mentored by Simone Raugei, Marcel Baer and Bojana Ginovska, as you carry out computational research in enzymatic catalysis for energy relevant reactions. The program focuses on studies of enzymatic reactions for the conversion of substrates relevant for energy applications.

Minimum Qualifications

Candidates must have received a PhD within the past five years (60 months) or within the next 8 months from an accredited college or university.

Preferred Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Chemistry/Biology/Biochemistry/Physical Chemistry or related field strongly preferred
• Strong verbal and written communications skills
• Experience in quantum chemical and/or classical MD methodologies
• Experience with some of the common computational chemistry programs (NWChem, Gaussian, CP2K, GROMACS, Amber, NAMD or others)
• Knowledge of basic concepts in studying protein systems
• Knowledge of thermodynamic concepts

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The 2022 Faculty Jobs List: 509 research/teaching positions and 55 teaching positions

The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 509 research/teaching positions and 55 teaching positions. 

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

On December 15, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 228 research/teaching position and 22 teaching positions. On December 17, 2019, the 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 500 research/teaching positions and 39 teaching positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the third open thread. Go to the second open thread. Here is the first open thread. The first open thread was closed on November 10, 2021.

Here is Sean Edington's status summary spreadsheet.

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread.

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 66 positions

 The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 66 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson).

Want to talk? Go to this year's open thread. 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 32 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 32 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady and @nmr_chemist. 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.

A bad modern innovation

Undoubtedly, by now you've heard this story (via the New York Times): 

Better.com’s mercurial chief executive, Vishal Garg, faced swift backlash for his decision to fire more than 900 employees on a Zoom call last week. The mortgage lender’s board announced in a memo sent to staff on Friday that Mr. Garg was “taking time off” after the “very regrettable events.”

“I come to you with not great news,” Mr. Garg had said to about 9 percent of his staff, in a recording since shared widely online. “If you’re on this call you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off. Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”

Something that bothers me about this (and likely why the CEO has been put on leave) is that someone within this organization thought that a mass firing via Zoom was an acceptable idea. Bluntly speaking, that's pretty shocking; someone with some amount of humanity or should have recognized it as A Bad Idea. 

The other thing that I am really bothered by is that Mr. Garg was clearly extemporizing what he was saying to these employees. Not that a prepared speech would have made it better, but not taking the 3 minutes to plan out remarks speaks to his judgment as well. 

Times are good in private sector chemistry employment right now, and at some point, the Fed will take away the punch bowl, and the layoffs will start. There is no good way to perform a layoff, but the remote mass layoff is a bad one, and I hope that it will not enter the chemical/pharmaceutical industry. 

Best wishes to the laid-off employees of Better, and best wishes to all of us. 

Pfizer and ex-employee reach settlement agreement in documents case

Via FiercePharma, the ongoing sage of a former Pfizer employee who grabbed a bunch of documents on the way out the door: 

A now-former Pfizer employee is playing nice after the drugmaker sued her in November alleging the 15-year veteran uploaded more than 12,000 sensitive files—including documents on the company's wildly successful COVID-19 vaccine—to personal devices and a Google Drive account. 

The defendant, Chun Xiao Li, agreed to let Pfizer's lawyers search her personal emails, Google drive accounts and all other personal computing devices or accounts that could contain confidential information or trade secrets by Dec. 6, court documents filed Monday show. 

Pfizer aims to complete its search by Dec. 29, at which point it will return Li's devices and accounts. By that same day, Li must send Pfizer a sworn declaration that she's cooperated with the investigation to the best of her ability and that she no longer possesses any proprietary information or trade secrets. Li also must swear that she's offered up all accounts and devices that could have been used to store or transfer the company's information, as well as the identities of the people, if any, who might have received that info.  

By January 5, the parties will let the court know whether any additional action needs to be taken, the filing says.

Pfizer's lawsuit, filed in San Diego federal court late last month, focuses on the company's BioNTech-partnered COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, as well as two monoclonal antibodies for cancer. The suit accuses Li of misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract and more. 

One of the interesting things to think about is What Pfizer Actually Can Get from Ms. Li. I don't imagine that she has very much money that Pfizer could reasonably receive from her, and I imagine that her future employer has plenty of plausible deniability in the case that they actually did ask her (I can't imagine that they did) to provide Pfizer documents. 

I also imagine that Pfizer also filed this lawsuit to point out to all of its employees that taking maps off the boat isn't something that you did unless you wanted to spend time in federal court. 

Have a great weekend

December has been a pretty rough month for me, to be honest, but I'm trudging through. I hope things have been better for you, and that you have a good weekend (and I hope to have one as well.) We'll see you on Monday. 

The Great Resignation has hit industrial chemistry: quits and recruiters

From the inbox, these observations (redacted for privacy, lightly edited for readability) from KV: 

I work at a [redacted - large] site of a well known global CDMO.   We are losing people left and right.  I know turnover at CDMO,  water is wet.  However, I wonder if it is different this time.   Historically, people have quit to take new jobs for promotion,  more money,  being poached by competitors, etc.

Now, people are quitting without having new jobs lined up. It was shocking to me. And while mostly it is the under-30 crowd, some mid-career staff have done the same.

I keep hearing this "Great Resignation" talk and wonder if it is real, and how all these people have the money to just quit with no back up plan.

Also, I will report an uptick in recruiters contacting me.

(Incidentally), what is with all these recruiters contacting me for jobs that I am not even a match with.

If I had a dollar for every scut QC job I get offered even though I'm [a synthetic chemist] and most of them are offering salaries I wouldn't have accepted 20 years ago.

You want me to move to southern California for an entry level QC job that pays 40k, when my resume says I have 25 years of experience? You are just wasting everyone's time.

Has recruiting become so lucrative that everyone is starting a recruiting company?  I remember getting contacted by recruiters that had degrees in chemistry and engineering that knew the difference between analytical and organic. Now it's all people with [non-science] degrees.

Overall, I agree with KV - it feels like there is a lot of turnover. I feel like I'm seeing it on LinkedIn and in my work inbox. My general theory has always been that private sector chemistry is pro-cyclical, and we are not immune from bad shocks. We may also not be immune from trends that are seemingly an aspect of rising tides within our industry. 

It would be interesting to know if there are higher job quits in the pharmaceutical/chemical industry than other sectors, or on average, but I'm pretty sure that's not something that can be gleaned out of JOLTS data. 

Finally, I'm too am quite tired of recruiters who are contacting me for jobs that I am a very poor fit for. There was a moment this summer when, all of a sudden, the quality of the recruiters I was speaking with shot up significantly, and they were actually offering me positions that fit well. Sadly, that's not the case anymore - my most recent communication with a recruiter, regrettably, ended with "you are wasting my time, and yours." 

I do suspect that recruiting is one of these industries where the entry-level requirements are quite low, and therefore the turnover rate is incredibly high. I imagine that recruiting firms (like anyone else) will take someone who can fog a mirror these days - more's the pity. 

Readers, what say you? 

Future Insight Prize

From the inbox: 

At the occasion of our 350th anniversary, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany launched the Future Insight™ prize to stimulate innovative solutions to solve some of humanities greatest problems and to realize the dreams for a better tomorrow in the areas of health, nutrition and energy. The Future Insight™ prize will put the vision for ambitious dream products of global importance for humankind into the world and will trigger curiosity and creativity worldwide on how to make this vision a reality. We intend to give out up to EUR 1,000,000 annually for 35 years to incentivize people whose work has enabled significant progress towards making this vision a reality via discovering new ground-breaking science or via development of enabling technologies.

We have hosted this event since 2018 and it has developed into a world-renowned event around the future of science and technology. In fact, for Curious2022 we are presenting over 70 speakers, among them up to 13 Nobel Laureates in a hybrid-style event taking place both online and in Darmstadt, Germany July 12th-14th, 2022.

The Future Insight Prize is being awarded this year to pioneers in the topic of CO2 Conversion. We would like the scientific community itself to play a role in nominating potential winners of the prize and are trying to increase awareness of it to facilitate both this nomination process as well as knowledge of the event and its proceedings.  

More information on the Future Insight Prize can be found here.

More information on the Curious2022 conference can be found here: www.curiousfutureinsight.com

Best wishes to those interested. 

35 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Common Organic Chemistry is resolving some technical difficulties, but has ported over the list to Google Drive for now. There are 35 new positions for December 7.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

Global organic chemistry job market link

Via organic-chemistry.org, a link to the job market section. 

Urea prices are going up

That's a big bag of urea. 
Credit: NYT

Via the New York Times, a story about rising urea prices: 

This is a story about one of those unsung forces that quietly keep the world running. It is a story about the clockwork interconnectedness of modern civilization, about how disturbances in one part of the planet can kick up storms in another.

This is a story, naturally, about urea.

Prices for the humble chemical — yes, the stuff in urine — are soaring to levels not seen in over a decade. In this time of everything shortages and inflation worries, that alone might not sound too surprising. But urea links up several disparate-looking strands of global economic disruption, showing how easily extreme weather and shipping turmoil can cause supply shortfalls to radiate.

People and industries of all kinds are feeling the shocks. In India, a lack of urea has made farmers fear for their livelihoods. In South Korea, it meant truck drivers couldn’t start their engines...

...China and Russia, two of the biggest producers, have restricted exports to ensure supplies for their own farmers. In China’s case, an energy crunch led some areas to ration electricity, which forced fertilizer factories to slash production.

Hurricane Ida drove several large chemical plants to suspend operations when it tore through the U.S. Gulf Coast in August. Western sanctions on Belarus have hit that nation’s production of potash, the key ingredient in another fertilizer. Port delays and high freight fees — plant food is bulky stuff — have added to costs.

This seems like something directly tied to high energy prices, as well as high shipping prices. It will ultimately end up with higher food prices, which is not great. Will be interesting to see what the Fed does in response... 

The 2022 Faculty Jobs List: 499 research/teaching positions and 50 teaching positions

The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 499 research/teaching positions and 50 teaching positions. 

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

On December 8, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 219 research/teaching position and 21 teaching positions. On December 10, 2019, the 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 493 research/teaching positions and 36 teaching positions.

To see trending, go to Andrew Spaeth's visualization of previous years' list.

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? This will be the third open thread. Go to the second open thread. Here is the first open thread. The first open thread was closed on November 10, 2021.

Here is Sean Edington's status summary spreadsheet.

Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread.

Job posting: assistant professor, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH

From the inbox: 

The Department of Chemistry at Case Western Reserve University invites applications  for a tenure track Assistant Professor in Chemistry. Successful candidates will have  research programs concentrated in applications of chemical synthesis towards  important problems in chemical biology or energy and materials chemistry. The  successful candidate also will be expected to develop an internationally visible research  program supported by external funding, teach undergraduate and graduate levels  courses, and be committed to diversity and inclusion. The normal teaching load for  faculty with active research programs is one course per semester plus ancillary duties. 

This position is related to recent departmental and university strategic initiatives, and  the ideal candidate will be expected to establish collaborations with either or both of the  major strategic areas of research within the department: (a) Energy and Materials and  (b) Chemical Biology. Furthermore, intellectual adjacencies across campus and at  nearby Cleveland research institutions afford outstanding opportunities to build  collaborative research programs. 

A Ph.D., research publications, and postdoctoral (or comparable industrial) experience  are required. To be considered, a letter of application, CV, summary of research plans  (up to five-pages; if special equipment or needs are required please describe), diversity  statement, summary of teaching experience, and three confidential letters of reference should be submitted online at http://apply.interfolio.com/97875 by February 5, 2022. The diversity statement should address a) How your research, teaching, and/or  service have contributed to diversity, equity, and inclusion within their scholarly field(s)  and how these efforts have promoted structural justice inside and outside institutions of  higher learning. 

Best wishes to those interested.

Job Posting: assistant professor, organic chemistry, North Park University, Chicago, IL

From the inbox: 

The Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at North Park University invites applicants for a tenure-track position in Organic Chemistry beginning in August 2022. The qualified candidate will have a Ph.D. in Chemistry and a commitment to excellence in undergraduate teaching. Post-doctoral research experience is preferred. Teaching responsibilities include Organic Chemistry lecture and lab along with electives in the candidate’s expertise. Candidates will be expected to develop a program of research that incorporates undergraduate students. Preference will be given to applicants who can teach undergraduate Medicinal Chemistry and/or Biochemistry.

Interested candidates should review the posting here: https://www.northpark.edu/about-north-park-university/human-resources/prospective-employees/

Best wishes to those interested.  

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List: 66 positions

The Chemical Engineering Faculty Jobs List has 66 positions. It is curated by Lilian Josephson (@lljosephson).

Want to talk? Go to this year's open thread. 

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 32 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 32 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady and @nmr_chemist. 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.

DEA pictures offer glimpse of industrial butane hash oil lab

Credit: DEA/Fox 5

Via San Diego TV station Fox 5, this news: 

EL CAJON, Calif. (CNS) – Federal agents this week raided and shuttered a large illicit marijuana-processing operation in an industrial area near Gillespie Field, seizing hundreds of pounds of cannabis and barrels of potentially explosive chemicals, authorities reported Friday.

The illegal drug lab in the 1400 block of Fayette Street in El Cajon was being used to process hash oil, a cannabis concentrate, via processes involving the highly flammable solvents butane and hexane, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

During the raid, DEA personnel impounded nearly 400 pounds of unprocessed marijuana, 150 pounds of chemically contaminated cannabis plant waste, 139 pounds of hash oil, sophisticated laboratory equipment and chemicals, including 55-gallon drums of hexane, the federal agency reported.

The agents also arrested a man at the scene on suspicion of illegally manufacturing a controlled substance. His name was not released.

I've never seen one of these butane hash oil labs before, but it looks reasonably professionalized. Of course, bluntly speaking, I don't know what one of these labs looks like, but it's not too different than a kilo-scale lab, and uses basically the same equipment. I'd love to understand if this lab was set up by a former pharma-type or not...

(55 gallon drums of hexane?!?! The local chemical distributors had to have known something was going on...)

Have a good weekend

I can't wait for the end of this week, to be frank. But that's all right. I hope you had a better week than I, and I hope that you have a great weekend. See you on Monday. 

Science Magazine on the Charles Lieber case:

Science has a pretty comprehensive review of the state of affairs before the upcoming Charles Lieber trial, including a helpful notation of the next upcoming 6 trials for the DOJ's China Initiative. Here is some legal analysis of the letter from the reporter, Jeff Mervis: 

For Lieber to be found guilty of lying to DOD and NIH, the prosecution must prove he knew his statements were false and that the information was germane to his grants from those agencies. In Anming Hu’s case, U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan found Hu hadn’t intentionally misled NASA. Varlan also said noted university officials had assured Hu that NASA rules on working with China didn’t apply to his research project and found that NASA had gotten the research it paid for, rejecting the government’s argument that Hu had defrauded the agency.

The tax and banking charges against Lieber—which were added several months after his arrest—and are less open to interpretation. “You either check the box or you don’t” on the relevant paperwork, said one lawyer familiar with the case who requested anonymity. The lawyer speculates that the government added the charges to induce Lieber to negotiate a plea deal (which can happen at any time). “You don’t always criminalize [those banking violations],” the attorney says, “but it increases the pressure on a defendant to plead guilty to something.”

It seems to me to be a bit risky for Dr. Lieber to be taking this risk, especially when there are clear contradictions between his statements to law enforcement and his actual actions. (Of course, this is why people shouldn't talk to federal agents without an attorney.) It will be interesting to understand if a federal jury would be more or less sympathetic to him or to Dr. Hu. 

Making the nickel better

Neat interview with NIST metallurgist Carelyn E. Campbell (article by Prachi Patel)

Why do we need new alloys for coins?

The project discussion started in 2013. The US Mint asked if we could design new coinage alloys to reduce the cost of making coins. The nickel at the time cost 9 cents to make. It’s made of 75% copper and 25% nickel by mass, and they wanted to reduce the amount of nickel in the alloy. The new alloy still has nickel, but less of it, and would cost only 5.9 cents to make a 5-cent coin. The primary goal was to reduce cost but to keep all the properties of the current coin.

What properties are important for coinage alloys?

One of the most important properties is the electrical resistivity. That’s the signature vending machines use to identify the type of coin, so a dime needs a different signature than a quarter or a nickel. Others are corrosion resistance and wear resistance. We also had processing constraints. The Mint doesn’t want to have to change the processing mechanisms for the new alloy, such as the annealing temperature range.

Was there anything unexpected that rerouted the alloy development?

Yes, color. Initially we weren’t thinking that the color would be a major part of our design, but it became one of the primary constraints of the alloy composition. The Mint wanted to keep color identical to the currently used coin alloy. We were trying to substitute manganese for the nickel. And the more manganese you add, the more yellow the coin becomes.

 An interesting problem! Great story, read the whole thing.