Tuesday, October 31, 2017

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 399 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 399 positions.

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

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

On October 30, 2016, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 442 positions.

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

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 40 positions.

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 40 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, October 30, 2017

Ahhhh, price fixing

Also in this week's C&EN, the remarkable ways that companies manage to boost their profits (article by Marc Reisch)  
...Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC), which serves 475,000 Maryland customers just outside of Washington, D.C., filed suit on Oct. 19 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, charging that seven alum makers—including General Chemical, Chemtrade Chemicals, Geo Specialty Chemicals, and Kemira—rigged bids and allocated customers among themselves between 1997 and 2011. 
WSSC says the scheme raised prices it and other U.S. utilities paid for alum through 2016. At least 68 other civil suits based on alum price-rigging allegations have been filed in federal court to recoup costs, WSSC says. Others suing alum makers include the Illinois-American Water Co., which filed its suit in April. In June, the cities of Baltimore and Richmond, Va., which supply water to their residents, also filed suits. 
WSSC is asking the firms named in its suit for $5 million in compensatory damages and additional damage to be determined in a trial. 
The WSSC and other suits follow the U.S. Department of Justice revelation in late 2015 of the price-fixing scheme. At that time, DOJ announced that Frank A. Reichl, a General Chemical sales executive, had pleaded guilty for his role in the scheme. As part of a deal with the government, he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors investigating the conspiracy...
Whenever I think of price fixing cases, I can't help but think about that goofy ADM lysine case. Who knew that the plan to preserve profits extended to alum?  

This week's C&EN

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

14 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 14 new positions posted for October 29.

Friday, October 27, 2017

Comfortable shoes

A list of small, useful things (links):
Have a great weekend! 

Thursday, October 26, 2017

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 131 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 131 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.)

23 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 23 new positions posted for October 22 and October 24.

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 82 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 82 positions.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

How is your economy going?

From the American Chemistry Council (the trade association for the big chemical companies), this update on their outlook for 2018:
Credit: the American ChemistryCouncil
The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), notched an increase over September’s reading both on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis and an unadjusted basis. The CAB was up 0.2 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively. The increases reflected a bounce back from the effects of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Compared to a year earlier, the CAB is up 3.0 percent on a 3MMA basis, a slower pace than the previous nine months, but one that continues to suggest further gains in U.S. business activity into 2018.

The Chemical Activity Barometer has four primary components, each consisting of a variety of indicators: 1) production; 2) equity prices; 3) product prices; and 4) inventories and other indicators.
So looks like things are kinda going vaguely okay. It's not clear to me that US GDP will break out of its 2-3% range any time soon.

So here's my question for you? How is your economy going? Mine is going all right - we are (my family is) keeping our heads above water, and 2018 looks to be fine.

So, readers, are you getting hired? Decent pay? How about your friends? Are they finding positions? How is your organization (academic institution, company, etc) doing? Any layoffs in the present/future?

How is your economy going, readers? 

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

BLS projects 6% job growth for chemists for 2016-26; all job growth remains at 7%.

Date from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
I'm traveling at the moment, so I haven't had a chance to fully absorb these new numbers, but it looks like that BLS is revising its estimate of chemist job growth up from 3% in the 2014-24 decade to 6% in the 2016-26 decade. I think that's good news, but not really particularly exciting (~260 new jobs a year for a decade.) I guess that's better than a kick in the shins, but not much.

I think the worse news is that BLS doesn't really see any major job growth (in the double-digit range, say) during the next decade. 2 years later, and their best guess at job growth for the decade is 7%.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 374 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 374 positions.

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

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

On October 23, 2016, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 415 positions.

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

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 40 positions.

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 40 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.

RIP Gilbert Stork

Jonathan Owen (a professor at Columbia) tweets: 
Gilbert Stork (1921-10/21/2017) His last manuscript published in September, 2017 @JOC_OL: tinyurl.com/y8ph6l4u  tinyurl.com/yagycwtb
Condolences to his family, friends and coworkers.  

Monday, October 23, 2017

Chemours employee caught stealing trade secrets

Also in this week's C&EN, another employee going rogue and getting caught: 
A federal grand jury has charged a former Chemours employee with stealing trade secrets related to sodium cyanide and trying to sell them to Chinese investors. 
The indictment charges that marketing professional Jerry Jindong Xu, who worked for Chemours and its former parent DuPont between 2004 and 2016, intended to use the stolen information to convince Chinese investors to export sodium cyanide and later build a competing plant in North America. 
Sodium cyanide is widely used to extract gold from ore. Demand for the potentially deadly chemical has been on the rise as consumption of the precious metal increases.
Earlier this year, Evonik Industries and Grupo Idesa opened a 40,000-metric-ton-per-year sodium cyanide facility in Mexico. Chemours announced plans for a $150 million plant in the Mexican state of Durango. 
The indictment charges Xu with conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets. If convicted, he faces 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine. “We are committed to prosecuting anyone—be they rogue actors or foreign nations—who tries to line their pockets” by stealing trade information, says David Weiss, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware. Xu’s lawyer tells C&EN he has no comment. 
According to the indictment, Xu told one Chinese correspondent that he launched the sodium cyanide project as “a long-term investment for himself and not to slave away at this only to benefit someone else.”
In the ol' Money Ideology Compromise Ego explanation for espionage, I've noted how often money is a primary explanation (although surely ego plays into it.) 

This week's C&EN

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

Friday, October 20, 2017

View From Your Hood: smoky skies edition

Credit: Anonymous
From an anonymous reader: "View from UC Berkeley Chemistry building with all the ash in the air from the Napa fires."

(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.)

Chinese Ph.D.s not coming to the US?

Also in this week's C&EN, a very interesting article from Jean-François Tremblay:
For the past 30 years or so, postdoctoral researchers from China have played an important role in chemistry research groups at universities in the U.S. Many research groups feature one or more graduates from Chinese universities who are in the U.S. to further their knowledge. But the supply of Chinese researchers is starting to dry up. 
Hao-liang Zhang, a soon-to-be graduate who has focused on glycosylation during his doctoral studies at Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry (SIOC), offers a perspective typical of graduating Ph.D.s regarding the pursuit of a postdoc in the U.S. 
“I would be older when I return to China, and probably less attractive to potential employers,” says Zhang, who hails from the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. On the other hand, he can work in China right away and live close to his home too. A pharmaceutical company based in Chengdu, Sichuan, approached him recently. “The talks went well, and they offered me an attractive salary.” Zhang will relocate to Chengdu soon after defending his thesis next month.
The relevant data from the article: 
No one tracks the number of Chinese nationals doing a chemistry postdoc in the U.S. The U.S. National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science & Engineering Statistics does, however, count how many Chinese students who obtain a chemistry Ph.D. in the U.S. plan to stay in the country for a postdoc. By 2015, that number had dropped by 30% from 2005.
If you click through to the article, you will see in the graph that the number of Chinese Ph.D. graduates in the US who stay have gone from above 150 to around 110 or so. (That number seems awfully low to me, but maybe I'm wrong.)

I thought the comment from the SIOC professor was interesting:
More importantly, many young Chinese Ph.D. chemists no longer see the point of a foreign postdoc, Yang says. Ten or 15 years ago, “postdocs would go to work in world-class labs far better equipped than the ones in China,” he says. “But now, if they search outside China, they cannot find many labs that are better equipped.”... 
...SIOC, meanwhile, has essentially rebuilt all its buildings and retooled its laboratories over the past decade. Students and faculty now work in new and extremely well-equipped facilities. 
“Of course, we are focused only on organic chemistry,” says Biao Yu, a deputy director at SIOC. “But from what I myself saw, and from the reports of our students who are now in the U.S., we are better equipped than most of the U.S. Ivy League universities,” he says. When he was a student at SIOC in the 1990s, the institute had only two nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers. Today, the institute has 30.
That's a lot of NMRs!

I think it will be interesting to see if the trends shift, and which levels of Chinese industry and academia will be influenced by staff who have spent their time in the United States (and other research-intensive nations) and those who have been solely domestically trained. Which generation will be more influential in driving the course of Chinese chemistry? 

This week's C&EN

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

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Proposed: The Midwestern Revival and Antibiotics Research Act

This Derek Lowe post says a lot of things that I feel about the Midwest and its flagship research universities, but it is this comment from "Flyover country" that I want to highlight:
Disclaimer – I went to University of Minnesota for chemistry graduate school. 
This trend will only accelerate in the future. In older days, say – the 1970’s, there was more parity in chemistry. Funding was easier to get and students from second & third tier graduate schools might not become professors at R1 universities, but they were likely to find a industry job somewhere – even without a postdoc. With the contraction of pharma in the United States, one essentially needs a PhD/postdoc from an top-tier, elite institution to find an industry job, let alone even consider a tenure track job. When funding at second and third tier universities dries up, the New York Yankees (Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Scripps) of the academic world can use their deep pockets to poach away the top tier professors. Top tier professors will want groups the size of Phil Baran or Barry Trost – they don’t want to be limited to 3-10 graduate students at a Midwestern university. 
Assume for a moment that academic funding was stable or even growing to support Midwestern schools. Disregard being a tenure-track professor at the University of Minnesota, Northwestern, or University of Kansas (if you’re an assistant TT professor there, you came from Harvard/Stanford/Scripps). Where are you going to work? Pfizer destroyed the pharma employment scene in the Midwest. Essentially all that remains is Eli Lilly in Indy & AbbVie in Chicago. Eli Lilly isn’t doing too well & while AbbVie isn’t tanking – it can’t absorb all of the chemistry grads in the Midwest. The top tier & even the second & third tier students will flee for the coasts because that is where the jobs are and the best schools. There are some places to work in the Midwest for chemists, but not nearly as many as the coasts. 
The Midwest (sadly) is a second tier place for chemists work and go to graduate school in chemistry. This just exacerbates & accelerates the trend.
This is mostly a cri-de-coeur about pharma (i.e. the fate of industrial medicinal/process chemistry in the Midwest), which I mostly agree with and have been emphasizing on this blog for a while.

(At the same time, I can point out a very small countervailing trend. Specifically, the state of Texas has seemed to manage to be able to pull away from top-tier older professors away from the coasts. That said, I don't think K.C. Nicolaou or John Wood represent a trend, and for some reason, it seems that Texas seems to have access to different funding structures than Ohio, Wisconsin or Illinois. I don't think it's really germane to FC's overall point.)

If I were to come up with a program to try to reverse this trend, here's what I would do:
  • I'd begin funding life science research (both biology and chemistry) towards antibiotics to the tune of $30 billion a year, for 20 years
    • Yes, yes, only some of it would be oriented towards graduate students, and it would be mostly portable training grants (i.e. giving the money to the student, not the PI) 
  • All of this money would be for institutions outside the coasts. 
  • The development of clinical compounds, etc. would be required to also be done in the Midwest, including all manufacturing. 
This doesn't have a snowball's chance of happening, but if I were the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, this is what I would be designing. 

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

How many applicants there are for entry-level TT positions?

I see there's some chatter on the Faculty Jobs List open thread about the number of applicants:
Seems like the list usually has about 500 openings
Schools seem to get 100-300 applications per opening
Postdocs seem to apply to 10-20 opening each
so estimate 10x more applicants than openings
the talent pool seems to have about 5000 people looking for a job
Here's my stab in the dark that I have been formulating in my head for a while:

Each year, about 2,500 people graduate with a Ph.D. in chemistry; in 2015, it was 2,675 according to the Survey of Earned Doctorates. Of those, 826 (30%) got a postdoc and 478 (18%) got jobs. (Of the 478 who got jobs, 70% went into industry and 22% went into academia.) The rest (936 people) were still looking for a position, either in industry or academia. I am going use 2015 as my model year - this is probably wrong.

Assumption 1: of those remaining as Ph.D./not-postdocs, 60% apply for industrial positions, 40% apply to academic positions.
Assumption 2: of postdocs remaining, 50% apply for academic positions.
Assumption 3: each year, 20% of remaining postdocs for each year are hired for academic positions
Assumption 4: postdocs drop out of the running after 4 years.
Assumption 5: we're not counting international Ph.D.s who have come to the US to do postdocs yet

So it quickly becomes a question of "how many postdocs are remaining on the market after X number of years?" And so through quick math, my guesstimate is 2430 applicants at any one time (number of graduate students applying + 2016 postdocs + 2015 postdocs + 2014 postdocs + 2013 postdocs.) After you add in more grad students and all the international postdocs, etc., I bet you wander into the 3000-3500 range, but that's just a guess.

Readers, what do you think? 

This was a headscratcher



A couple of weeks ago, STAT covered Michael Laufer, a mathematics lecturer, who was claiming that he could make Sovaldi from a homebrew method with the reactor pictured above. (You may enjoy friend of the blog Josh Bloom's post on Dr. Laufer's claims.)

Through random clickings, I found this video of Dr. Laufer talking about democratizing pharmaceutical compound synthesis. It's an... interesting talk, but when you're talking about making API and considering TLC as sufficient proof of purity.... maybe you have some more thinking to do.

(I have a bunch of jumbled thoughts about people like him (and also Dr. Vinay Prasad's comments in the STAT article.) But if I were King of Pharma (and it's a good thing I am not), it seems to me that I would be making sure that the whole world knew that there are myriad different ways to get hold of the prescription drugs you need (patient assistance plans, etc..), and that I would be setting the price of drugs somewhere the threshold where politicians broadly begin using you as a political football, and interested amateurs like Dr. Laufer begin to get involved. But hey - maybe the problem is that, no matter how low the prices are set, we're always gonna be someone's target. Hard to say. Readers?)

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 354 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 354 positions.

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

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

On October 17, 2016, the 2017 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 401 positions.

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

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 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.

15 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 15 new positions posted for Sunday, October 15.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Interesting writing opportunity

From the Division of Organic Chemistry newsletter:
Organic Chemistry Writers Wanted
C&EN BrandLab produces sponsored content on the behalf of advertisers in Chemical & Engineering News. The custom content studio is seeking freelance writers with credentials in organic chemistry who can tell compelling, engaging stories with a sharp eye for technical accuracy. If you'd like to write for C&EN BrandLab, please get in touch with C&EN BrandLab’s executive editor, Raj Mukhopadhyay, at r_mukhopadhyay [at] acs [dot] org.
Best wishes to those interested. 

Friday, October 13, 2017

Radio show: Mary Boyd, Berry College provost



Looking forward to talking with Dr. Mary Boyd, provost of Berry College, on Saturday, October 14 at 9 AM Eastern:

Questions for the audience:
  • Got a resume that you'd like us to review live on the air? We will actually do this (discreetly/anonymously, of course)
  • Got a cover letter that you'd like us to review live on the air? (discreetly/anonymously, of course)
  • How is the academic market these days?
  • Tips for a smooth phone/Skype interview
  • Tips for a good interview
What would you like us to cover? Some topics will be pre-chosen, some are up to you.

Job posting: LC/MS research scientist, Aegis, Nashville, TN

From the inbox, a position with Aegis Laboratories:
The Research Scientist is responsible for developing new methods and improving existing processes for the Aegis Laboratories.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
  • Develop improved analytical methods for a variety of instrumentation including the following:
    • Triple TOF
    • GC-MS/MS
    • LC-MS/MS
    • Other new technologies as required
  • Continued development of:
    • Small molecule method development 
    • Analytical Methods with Clinical Applications 
  • Discuss research results with technical staff..
Successful Candidates Must Possess:
  • A Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical, Analytical Chemistry, Medicinal Chemistry, or Toxicology Sciences required
  • A minimum of two (2) years of relevant experience in analytical method development utilizing GC/MS, LC/MS/MS instrumentation required
  • Experience in forensic analysis desired
Full listing here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Squeeze bottles of toluene

A list of small, useful things (links):
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.

The most doom-y quote you're gonna read today

Via the New York Times' David Leonhardt: 
By 2019, G.D.P. per working-age adult is likely to be only 11 percent higher than when the crisis began (barring an unexpected growth surge or a recession). That’s a miserable growth rate over an extended period. Yes, the economy has done fairly well for last year or two, but not nearly well enough to make up for the long slump, especially because growth was also mediocre in the early 2000s. No wonder so many Americans are angry and frustrated.
I have no answers, only more questions.  

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 127 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 127 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: 73 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 73 positions.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

How did the Kobe Steel faking happen?

Doubtless you've heard about this, but in case you haven't, via the New York Times (article by Jonathan Soble and Neal E. Boudette) 
TOKYO — Big manufacturers of cars, aircraft and bullet trains have long relied on Kobe Steel to provide raw materials for their products, making the steel maker a crucial, if largely invisible, pillar of the Japanese economy. 
Now, Kobe Steel has acknowledged falsifying data about the quality of aluminum and copper it sold, setting off a scandal that is reverberating through the global supply chain and casting a new shadow over the country’s reputation for precision manufacturing... 
...Kobe Steel said on Sunday that employees at four of its factories had altered inspection certificates on aluminum and copper products from September 2016 to August this year. The changes, it said, made it look as if the products met manufacturing specifications required by customers — including for vital qualities like tensile strength, a measure of material’s ability to withstand a load without breaking when being stretched — when they did not. 
On Wednesday, the company said it was investigating possible data falsification involving another product, powdered steel, which is used mostly to make gears. The company said the powdered steel it was examining had been sold to one customer it did not name...
So here's what I want to know - how the heck was this not caught by the customers? Is metallurgy different than chemistry? Did customers only rely on Kobe Steel's testing? (Do they not have their own QC labs?) Man, that's remarkable if so.

(Of course, how often did you QC stuff from Aldrich in grad school? Rarely, if ever, for me.) 

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Talking with Mary Boyd, Berry College provost

Looking forward to talking with Dr. Mary Boyd, provost of Berry College, on Saturday, October 14 at 9 AM Eastern:

Questions for the audience:
  • Got a resume that you'd like us to review live on the air? We will actually do this (discreetly/anonymously, of course)
  • Got a cover letter that you'd like us to review live on the air? (discreetly/anonymously, of course)
  • How is the market these days? 
What would you like us to cover? Some topics will be pre-chosen, some are up to you. 

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 331 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 331 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter 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: 28 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 28 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, October 9, 2017

8 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 8 new positions posted for Sunday, October 8.  

The extraction of rare earths

I really enjoyed this letter to the editor about the initial discovery of rare earths at the Ames Laboratory: 
The recent article about rare earths (C&EN, Aug. 28, page 30) reminded me of my work at Ames during the early 1950s. From 1951 to 1953, I worked for Frank Spedding, who was director of both Iowa State University’s Institute for Atomic Research and the Ames Laboratory of the Atomic Energy Commission (now the U.S. Department of Energy). His earlier work in support of the Manhattan Project is well-known. In addition, his interest in the chemistry of rare earths led to the development of ion-exchange procedures that made it possible for us to produce some of the first multigram quantities of high-purity rare-earth oxides by a relatively simple process. 
Our first work was with 1-inch-diameter, 48-inch-long [2.54-cm-diameter, 121.92-cm-long] glass columns filled with Dowex-50 resin. The distribution of the resin in the columns and the elution rates required careful control to maintain horizontal boundaries between the rare earths as they moved down the column. 
Initially, the eluant was collected at a drops-per-minute rate into 10-mL flasks, and one of us was in attendance 24 hours a day to change flasks and to make sure no problems occurred. When it was established that high-purity material was being obtained by the procedure, some was converted into metal by Harley Wilhelm in the lab’s metallurgy facility. By 1953 the columns had grown to 8 inches [20.32 cm] in diameter and 10 feet [3.05 meters] in length, and proportionally more rare earths were being produced. 
Even then we had no sense of the elements’ future importance, and it is interesting to read of their many applications today. 
(The picture of colored rare earth oxides in the article could also have included erbium, which is pink, as I recall.) 
Jack L. Evans
Sun Lakes, Ariz.
It's kinda funny and weird to me that fraction collectors were not available, even in the early 1950s. Nevertheless, pretty cool.  

This week's C&EN

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

Last week's C&EN

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

Friday, October 6, 2017

Radio show: Saturday, October 7, noon Eastern with Lisa Balbes



Looking forward to talking with Dr. Lisa Balbes (of Balbes Consultants LLC, and author of the excellent "Nontraditional Careers for Chemists: New Formulas for Chemistry Careers") on Saturday, October 7 at noon Eastern.

Questions for the audience:
  • Got a resume that you'd like us to review live on the air? We will actually do this (discreetly, of course)
  • Got a cover letter that you'd like us to review (anonymously) live on the air?
  • How is the market these days?
  • What would you like us to cover? Some topics will be pre-chosen (e.g. How Do You Define A Chemist?), some are up to you.
Leave suggestions in the comments, or e-mail me: chemjobber@gmail.com

Show notes: 

View From Your Hood: Texas clouds edition

Credit: A long time lurker
A submission from a long time lurker of the view from the University of Texas Health Science Center.

(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.)

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Radio show: Saturday, October 7, noon Eastern with Lisa Balbes

Looking forward to talking with Dr. Lisa Balbes (of Balbes Consultants LLC, and author of the excellent "Nontraditional Careers for Chemists: New Formulas for Chemistry Careers") on Saturday, October 7 at noon Eastern.

Questions for the audience:
  • Got a resume that you'd like us to review live on the air? We will actually do this (discreetly, of course)
  • Got a cover letter that you'd like us to review (anonymously) live on the air? 
  • How is the market these days? 
  • What would you like us to cover? Some topics will be pre-chosen (e.g. How Do You Define A Chemist?), some are up to you. 
Leave suggestions in the comments, or e-mail me: chemjobber@gmail.com

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 124 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list has 124 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 (this will likely change), computational positions (this will likely change as well), academic positions (likely never.)

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 68 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 68 positions.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Hilarious interview with new Nobel Laureate Jeffrey C. Hall



I bet anything this is the first Nobel Laureate to have been interviewed while wearing a "Brawndo" hat.

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 317 positions

The 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 317 positions.

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

Want to talk anonymously? Try the open thread.

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

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 27 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 27 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, October 2, 2017

ACS Presidential Candidate Bonnie Charpentier on #chemjobs issues

I recently sent an e-mail to Dr. Bonnie Charpentier, who is currently running for the ACS President-Elect position to see if she was interested in answering last year's questions for ACS presidential candidates.

She responded today. Her unedited response is below:

1. Which ACS program do you think best helps the job-seeking ACS member? How would you improve it?
The most complete resource for ACS members is Career Navigator, which provides a menu of different programs and tools for job-seekers and others interested in exploring career options and professional development. Options under career navigator include offerings such as resume writing, career consulting, professional education courses and links to information about salaries and survey results. One way it could be improved by making sure that members know about it.
I think some of our strongest programs involve member-to-member connections and communication. More and more jobs are in small companies, and according to information in the press, including an article in the New York Times, a large percentage of jobs are obtained through referrals. Most of those jobs are not advertised at venues such as national meetings nor in C&EN. We could make it easier for members to share information about opportunities broadly with each other online through ACS.

2. Is it ACS policy to get more students to study in STEM fields, specifically chemistry? If so, how do we reconcile the fact that wages for chemists are stagnant? Does this argue against the idea of a STEM shortage and the need for more STEM students?
ACS has a policy titled “Strengthen Science Education and the Scientific Workforce” which, among other things, calls for strengthening support for science education facilities and teacher education and training, supports nurturing students of all backgrounds in pursuit of studies and careers in STEM, and urges Congress to reduce the complexity of 401(k) plans available to small business owners. The policy can be found at https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/policy/publicpolicies/education.html
I personally am a strong advocate for strengthening STEM education everywhere for all students to make them more informed as consumers and as the electorate. The advantages of a scientifically literate public are numerous and important.
I believe we should provide information to students about potential career paths and provide as accurate information as we can about job prospects in different fields of STEM. Education in STEM can be useful in many different types of jobs and professions. The caveat is that where the jobs are (both geographically and technically) changes over time. I believe students should pursue what interests them and what they love, with as clear an understanding of relevant job prospects as possible.
The wages for chemists and other STEM professionals are affected by many complex economic factors, and scientific and technical skills are needed in many areas. What we can do for our members is identify areas where those skills are needed, provide training to help us all stay current technically and develop additional important non-technical skills to improve job prospects.

3. In the past decade, what was the one action of any ACS President that has had the greatest influence - good or bad - on members' employment and careers? Other than working groups and reports, what tangible steps would you take to increase the number of chemistry jobs in the US, and is this something you think is really achievable?
To be successful, any program to influence members’ careers must be sustainable and supported by the actions of more than one individual. All recent ACS presidents have sought to address employment issues for chemists; including, as noted in the question, multiple task forces and reports, some of which provided useful insights. In my industry career I have had to deal with lay-offs and site closures, and I know firsthand that employment statistics showing things are better for chemists than in some other fields don’t mean much to an individual who can’t find a job.

On the negative side, it seems unlikely that large corporations in traditional areas will change the pattern of down-sizing and layoffs we have become accustomed to seeing. On the positive side, advances in many new areas of technology require the skills of chemists. Chemists are creating jobs for chemists in start-ups and small businesses. We can advocate strongly for policies that incentivize job creation in chemistry and other fields that are vital to our overall economy and well-being, and that is something I would pursue with vigor. ACS has recently been bringing together CTO’s from big companies for discussions; we can do more to work with small companies and start-ups, and to encourage collaboration between academia and industry.

4. One of the chief roles of the ACS is to advocate for chemists in the US Congress. Which of the following options would you prioritize, and why? (increased grant funding, more training in entrepreneurship for students, shifting funding from academia to more SBIRs or retraining postdocs?)

Having spent time on Capitol Hill advocating for chemists and funding for science and education, and in my current job, walking the Hill with patients and patient advocates regarding rare diseases, one thing I’ve learned is that it is more effective to advocate for actions that have understandable human consequences than for esoteric concepts. (Another thing I’ve learned is that it can be more effective to talk with senators and representatives in their home districts than on the Hill, but that is another topic).

My priority would be to advocate for funding for science and technology with clear and concrete examples of the importance of that funding to the discovery and development of such things as medicines, energy sources, clean water, new technologies and the importance to our lives and economic well-being. In this time of bitter partisanship, focusing on areas of concrete importance to constituents is one way toward bi-partisan support. I don’t see this as a question of shifting funding from academia to more SBIRs; both are important, and both can be supported by solid and reliable funding, as can grants and educational programs.

5. It has been 8 years since the official end of the Great Recession. What should ACS be doing to prepare our members for the next recession? 
The most obvious answer is to help our members maintain marketable technical and soft skills through continuing education, leadership, and entrepreneurial training. These are important at any time, but clearly more critical in economic downturns. Our programs must be kept strong, relevant and effective for our members. The ability for members to network and support each other with employment information is also important.
A less obvious answer is that to do these things ACS must be sustainable. In my opinion, we could have done a better job with some decision-making during the last recession. After that experience, plans were put in place to establish clear priorities and financial contingencies and it is very important that ACS keep those plans current in the event of another recession to enable the financial sustainability of the Society and services for members.

Thanks to Dr. Charpentier for her responses.