Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 35 new positions for March 30. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.
Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers.
Via the New York Times, an article about Sonoran desert toads and their toxins:
...When the toad is threatened, it excretes toxins strong enough to kill full-grown dogs. A substance found in these toxins, 5-MeO-DMT, can be dried into crystals and smoked in a pipe, producing an intense experience generally lasting 15 to 30 minutes, in contrast to other psychedelic substances that can involve hours of hallucinating and vomiting.
Five-MeO-DMT remains effectively illegal in the United States, where it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance. But while many users opt to attend retreats in Mexico, where it is legal, ceremonies are also taking place in the United States, where law enforcement agencies are largely tolerating its growing popularity.
Celebrities from Chelsea Handler to Joe Rogan have smoked the substance, commonly called Five or Bufo (after the toad’s former scientific name, Bufo alvarius; it’s been renamed Incilius alvarius). As researchers start looking into the safety of 5-MeO-DMT, reports of adverse experiences are also occasionally emerging.
For instance, a photographer died in one episode in Spain in 2020 after smoking the poison. At some retreats, operators have paramedics on standby to help people who might have negative reactions.
If you read the article, there is some worry that these psychedelic practices (and their subsequent demand for toad toxin) could have negative impacts on the toad as they are harvested. Seems to me a place where synthetic chemistry could be useful in protecting the toad (in providing an easier to obtain and (cheaper?) source.
There is a weird employment angle (of course) to this. It seems to me that the number of chemists involved in psychedelic-type chemistry over the past ~10 years hasn't gone down and very likely has gone up. I imagine the number of high-wage jobs in these fields is relatively low, which is why I imagine that chemists that work with psychedelics are primarily interested in a personal sense, but you could easily imagine that "the medicinal (?) chemistry of psychedelics" will continue to increase as the federal government seems unlikely to impose further regulations via the DEA. Developing...
The German chemical industry is bracing for a recession due to surging energy prices resulting from the invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions against Russia. Natural gas prices have risen 70% since the start of the war to over $165 per MW h.Before the war, VCI, Germany’s main chemical industry association, had forecast that the German industry would grow by 1.5% in 2022. Any forecast now “would be highly speculative,” VCI general manager Wolfgang Große Entrup told journalists at a briefing.Russia and Ukraine account for almost 3%, or $7.5 billion, of German chemical and pharmaceutical exports, and these sales are affected by the war, the association said.VCI recently surveyed its members, which include BASF, Evonik Industries, and Lanxess, and found that 70% have “big problems.” Some 85% say they face increasing production and procurement costs that they are able to pass on to customers only partially or not at all; 54% say they are experiencing production and sales declines.
Doesn't seem like good news - will be important to see what the repercussions will be...
The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 581 research/teaching positions and 105 teaching positions.
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Former Chemical & Engineering News editor in chief Rudy Baum died of cancer in Portland, Oregon, on March 21 at age 68. Baum served the American Chemical Society as an employee and volunteer for more than 40 years. He was a fellow of ACS and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Baum is remembered for his talent for translating technical concepts for the public, his mentorship, and his willingness to tackle controversial topics....Baum’s editorials, many of which emphasized the threat posed by climate change, carried strong opinions and were a source of lively debate among readers that played out in C&EN’s letters to the editor. “I believe Rudy was ahead of his time,” Peter Dervan, the Bren Professor of Chemistry, Emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology, writes in an email. “I admired his integrity and courage to speak his mind on critical science issues facing humanity. He made clear his writings were his opinions only but in doing so he pushed his readers to think hard about science and society.” At the 2012 national meeting in Philadelphia, then-ACS President Bassam Z. Shakhashiri held a presidential event titled “Communicating Controversial Science: A Symposium Honoring Rudy M. Baum.”...Baum is survived by his wife, Jan; his son, Rudy Michael; his daughter, Grace; and his sister, Marianna. Donations may be made in his memory to the Friends of the Multnomah County Library or a charity of one’s choice.
I pretty strongly disagreed with some of Rudy's columns, but I admit to reading all of the columns that were his opinions. I suspect that's the best compliment to a columnist. I was pleased to meet Rudy for lunch once, and it was a delightful meeting with lots of stories about the old days of publishing.
Best wishes to his friends and family.
Martin Pope, a physical chemist whose fundamental work on molecular semiconductors more than 60 years ago led to the development of organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, which are used in digital cameras, mobile phones, solar panels and televisions, died on Sunday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 103.His death was confirmed by his daughter Deborah Pope, who did not specify a cause......In 1938, as an undergraduate at the City College of New York studying physical chemistry, the 20-year-old Isidore Poppick published a research paper in the prestigious Journal of the American Chemical Society.After serving as a first lieutenant in the Army Air Forces in World War II, he sought employment. Aware of an undercurrent of antisemitism, Dr. Pope applied in 1946 for a position at the American Cyanamid Company using two names: Isidore Poppick, with the published paper listed on his résumé, and Martin Pope, with no such record.“Martin Pope received an application, and Isidore Poppick received a notice that no positions were available,” Dr. Pope said. “I decided to use Martin Pope as my new name.” One of Dr. Pope’s brothers also changed his name to Pope when he encountered similar prejudice while looking for work.In 1946, Dr. Pope took a position as a research scientist at Balco Research Laboratories, a small industrial research laboratory in Newark. Also that year, he married Lillie Bellin, a high-school teacher; they remained married until her death in 2015.
Makes you wonder who was screening applications for American Cyanamid in 1946....
Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 19 new positions for March 22. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.
Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers.
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UCLA seeks applications for an Assistant Adjunct Professor on a without salary basis. Applicants must understand there will be no compensation for this position.Responsibilities will include: teaching according to the instructional needs of the department. Qualified candidates will have a Ph.D. in chemistry, biochemistry, or equivalent discipline and have significant experience and strong record in teaching chemistry or biochemistry at the college level.
(The original ad has been deleted, but it's still up at Inside Higher Ed.) If you followed over social media, there was the seemingly explanatory tweet from the dean of the UCLA Division of Physical Sciences, Miguel García-Garibay:
Dear Friends, Unfortunate wording in a recent add widely circulated in social media resulted in some concern among many members of our community. I apologize for that. I am sharing a statement that summarizes the facts.
UCLA is committed to providing fair compensation to faculty across the institution. We recognize the language in this particular advertisement could have benefitted from additional context and we are committed to doing better in the future. In the spirit of providing additional context arrangements such as these are common in academia and, in cases where formal classroom teaching is a component, compensation for these services is provided commensurate to experience and with an eye to equity within the unit. Some positions may be without salary when individuals are compensated by other sources and a formal affiliation with UCL [sic] is necessary, which may be needed to apply for or maintain a grant or conduct research.
Finally, there is this statement from a UCLA spokesperson in Michael Hiltzik's column in the Los Angeles Times:
A UCLA spokesman says the original posting “contained errors” and a new one, “correctly written,” will be posted. The spokesman, Bill Kisliuk, assured me that at UCLA, “We always offer compensation for classroom teaching.”
Kisliuk also rejected online speculation that the job posting was aimed at some specific person — some even conjectured that it might have been tailored for a scientist fleeing Ukraine but bringing along his or her compensation from another source: “Our positions are open to all applicants.”
So what is going on here? For the record, I initially believed, and still do, that this was some kind of pro forma job posting for either someone deciding to take a visiting position at UCLA Chemistry with outside funding from a different source. That is officially rejected by Mr. Kisliuk. It seems that either Dean García-Garibay's inferences ('compensated by other sources', etc) do not match the situation, or Mr. Kisliuk's assertion that the search is open to all applicants is not true. (To add fat to the fire, UC Berkeley biology professor Michael Eisen states that "at UCs such appointments are explicitly exempt from search requirements.")
It seems to me there are a couple of possibilities here:
The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 576 research/teaching positions and 104 teaching positions.
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In mid-February, ChemBark resigned American Chemical Society membership as a protest, announced via Twitter. The issues are real, but personally, I’ve never understood quitting as a protest when the fix requires work. ACS is a large, complex organization, and the subscription fees, executive compensation, and governance are certainly issues worth considering with respect to our society’s mission. Mostly, I was drawn to ChemBark’s comment “lack of transparency in operations and governance” in the tweet.Reflecting on the routine editorials appearing in this magazine promoting diversity in chemistry, I think that comment highlights how we, as a scientific society, are far from those aims. In the nearly century and a half of ACS’s existence, the systemic racism, sexism, and structures that have marginalized various identities in society at large have become baked into the structure of ACS, and no pathway program will change that. We have complex rules that consolidate authority.A good example of this complexity is the different structures for how officers are elected in the various technical divisions, something I’ve observed from membership in several. Another good example is award committees. I recently served on a committee where I was the youngest member of an all-White, all-male group. Honestly, I am also a little unclear on how I came to serve. It may have been from entering my name in the Yellow Book, a process of which I was unaware until I chaired my local section.In short, we have needless complexity and structure that protects privilege. It is built into our documents, bylaws, and rules. To be serious about supporting diversity, we need to be more transparent, and a tremendous part of that is in our governance, how it works, and how it is accessible to members. I am ready to roll up my sleeves and help, but ACS-wide structural revision needs to be led from the top.Rory WatermanBurlington, Vermont
In this week's C&EN (article by Alex Tullo):
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made Russia a pariah for multinational companies, including chemical makers, who are under mounting pressure to disengage from the country.
In an address on March 15, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy called out the world’s largest chemical company, BASF, and the drug companies Bayer and Sanofi as among the “large corporations that still sponsor Russia’s military machine and have not left the Russian market, although they should have done so immediately.”
BASF has 12 chemical production sites in Russia, where it employs about 700 people. It is also a majority partner in Wintershall Dea, an oil and gas company that has extensive operations in the country.
BASF says it hasn’t conducted new business in Russia and Belarus since March 3. “An exception,” it says in an emailed statement, “are products supporting food production, as the war holds the risk to trigger a global food crisis.” BASF says it is also following applicable laws and regulations. “We take responsibility for the safety of our chemical production sites in Russia and continue with their maintenance.”
Dow, the largest US chemical maker, told C&EN in an email that it has suspended all purchases of feedstocks and energy from Russia. Dow says it has also “significantly reduced its operations and product offerings in the country” and halted investment. It adds, however, that it is still supplying “limited essential goods in Russia, including food packaging, hygiene, cleaning and sanitation products and household goods.”
I don't tend to think of Russia as a major home for chemical manufacturers, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been a good opportunity to enumerate those multinationals that do have business interests in Russia. Looks like there's at least one non-trivially sized coatings facility there, curious to see how this will impact BASF operations overall.
Moderna picks Kenya for African mRNA facilityModerna says it will build a messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics plant in Kenya at a cost of up to $500 million. The facility will make mRNA active ingredients and could be expanded to produce finished therapies such as Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. The firm’s announcement advances a promise it made in October 2021 to build an mRNA facility somewhere in Africa. Last month, BioNTech, which with Pfizer produces another mRNA COVID-19 vaccine, said it would establish modular production systems in Africa.
Watching the growth of manufacturing of all different kinds in Africa is really cool; here's hoping for more.
This has been a pretty kooky week, but I am looking forward to a somewhat restful weekend. Hope that everyone has a good weekend, and we'll see you on Monday.
AstraZeneca is throwing open its doors to ideas from scientists near the start of their careers. Through its global R&D Postdoctoral Challenge, the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker will equip researchers to pursue novel approaches to treating diseases.Like other large drug developers, AstraZeneca runs a postdoc program. The challenge opens up a new way for AstraZeneca to engage with postdoc researchers and students in the final year of their M.D. or Ph.D. by enabling them to receive funding to study their own ideas. David Goldstein, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center and one of the members of the judging panel, set out his thoughts on the challenge during a media briefing call.“It really couldn't be a more exciting time to actually allow the postdocs to define their projects. I think we really are at a transition point where we're moving from using animal models to get guidance about targets and their relevance to diseases, to actually using human biology itself to get guidance about targets. But figuring out how to use human biology to get guidance about targets is tough. There's going to be a lot of big data challenges and other kinds of challenges, and we clearly need new, fresh, exciting ideas. This initiative, I think, is perfectly designed to help identify those ideas,” Goldstein said.AstraZeneca is accepting applications until May 26, after which it will whittle the submissions down to a shortlist of applicants who will pitch their ideas to the judging panel in October. The aim is to select the finalists later in the year. AstraZeneca will decide how many positions to fund—numbers from five to 20 were discussed on the call—once it sees how many good ideas it receives.
I presume the vast majority of pharma company postdocs are biologists, not chemists, but as a former large pharma postdoc, I can tell you that we do exist. Like all postdoctoral programs that are not strictly academic postdocs, my thought process is the same: to determine what new training you will be provided, whether or not your work product will be publishable, and what the fate of former postdocs are (i.e. is this a long job interview, or not?) It speaks well of AstraZeneca's current financial outlook at they might be willing to take ~20 folks - I imagine that number is close to the all-time peak, although that's a pure guess. Best wishes to those interested.
The founders of the biosimilar developer who pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from Genentech will be imprisoned for a year and one day.Racho Jordanov and Rose Lin were the CEO and COO of JHL Biotech, respectively, when they hired former or current Genentech employees and got confidential information from them to speed up the development of biosimilars to Genentech’s blockbuster cancer drugs. That worked well for them: According to the plea agreements, the scheme helped JHL appeal to investors, ultimately defrauding them of $101 million.Both have been sentenced to a prison term of 12 months and one day, to be followed by 36 months of supervised release — including nine months in home confinement for Jordanov.Their sentencing caps a saga that dates back to 2011. From before JHL was officially founded in 2012 until 2019, Jordanov brought multiple ex-Genentech staffers to his Taiwanese startup, court documents show.
It would be interesting to know how often folks who do this get time in the federal pen. I presume that this is the Department of Justice trying to make a point, but we'll see what kind of commentary results from this sentencing.
Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 42 new positions for March 10. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.
Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers.
From Meek et al, J. Org Chem, 1959, p. 1397:
To check further the speed of hydrolysis, tyrosine was synthesized by chloromethylating anisole, condensing it with methyl formamidomalonate and then heating with hydrobromic acid. In this preparation an ether cleavage was involved as well as hydrolysis and decarboxylation, but again the silver nitrate test was negative at the end of 60 minutes. Formamido compounds dissolve in hot hydrobromic acid in a few minutes as the formyl group comes off readily to form an amine salt. This rapid solution facilitates hydrolysis of the ester groups above that which would be found for acetamido or benzamidomalonates. As the average atmospheric pressure at the University of Colorado is about 630 mm. of mercury, solutions come to a boil at lower temperatures. As a result the length of time needed for hydrolysis may be less elsewhere.
A HAZMAT situation was declared at a metal manufacturing facility in Burlington Friday after a quick thinking chemist noticed a tumbler containing aluminum powder was rising to concerning temperatures and had the building evacuated, the fire department said.
Firefighters responded to Desktop Metal, 63 Third Ave. at about 10:15 a.m. on the report of a possible HAZMAT situation, Burlington fire said in a statement. The firefighters learned of the chemist’s concerns and declared a Tier 1 HAZMAT situation.
They also requested assistance from the state Department of Fire Services HAZMAT team. Those crews are still at the scene and are working to safely remove and dispose of the aluminum powder, the statement said.
The State Police Bomb Squad was also called to the scene as a precaution, the statement said.
The chemist knew that the powder could become an explosion hazard if the temperature rose too high. He pumped Nitrogen into the tumbler containing the powder to stop the temperature from rising higher, the statement said.
Desktop Metal appears to be a metal 3D printing firm, so I am guessing this is quite a large amount of aluminum, although it's not mentioned in the article. Quick thinking regarding the nitrogen...
Indonesia, the world’s top nickel producer, will raise production capacity of the metal after prices soared past $100,000 a ton, while the coal market is unlikely to get similar relief.The country is set to add 393,000 tons to 400,000 tons of nickel in metal output capacity this year, bringing the total to as much as 1.4 million tons, according to Coordinating Minister for Investment and Maritime Affairs Luhut Panjaitan. Next year, Indonesia will add another 500,000 tons of annual production capacity, he added...
March 14 (Reuters) - Chinese tycoon Xiang Guangda has to find a way to bail his Tsingshan Holding Group out of a crisis after its bet on nickel prices backfired, fuelling more volatility in a metal essential for the electric vehicles industry.One of the world's top nickel producers faces massive losses on its short positions after prices soared over $100,000 per tonne last week and forced the London Metal Exchange to halt nickel trading.Tsingshan has to either pay off the outstanding short positions, which could be as high as $8 billion, or prove it has sufficient deliverable nickel to repay in kind.Beijing could step in to rescue Tsingshan, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. China could swap some of its high grade nickel reserves for low grade nickel pig iron (NPI) that Tsingshan produces to help it meet LME quality standards. China is estimated to hold around 100,000 tonnes of nickel in state stocks, two analysts said.\
Who knew the Chinese government held nickel in storage? This little detail was interesting:
The LME allows delivery of nickel cathodes, including plate, and briquettes.
"There isn't much spot nickel product in the market, it's not even likely that Tsingshan could get 100,000 tonnes," said a Guangdong-based analyst who declined to be named.
Briquettes, who knew?
Dr. Sven-Eric Jordt, an associate professor at Duke University who has studied synthetic nicotine, said it posed many unknowns.About 99 percent of tobacco-derived nicotine is a psychoactive molecule called S-nicotine, he said. But a mirror-image molecule, known as R-nicotine, makes up 50 percent of most types of synthetic nicotine. He said the R-nicotine molecule appears to be less addictive, but very little research has been done on it in animals or humans.“It could alter nerve transmission in the brain in different ways from classic nicotine,” Dr. Jordt said, “but we don’t understand that at this time.”
According to the article, this material is being made in China. Who is making racemic nicotine, and how?
Via the New York Times, this interesting employment news:
The recent narrative is that there is a tight labor market that gives workers leverage. But a new report from the Biden administration argues that the deck is still stacked against workers, reducing their ability to move from one employer to another and hurting their pay.
The report, released Monday by the Treasury Department, contends that employers often face little competition for their workers, allowing them to pay substantially less than they would otherwise...
...“Companies are well aware of this,” she said in an interview, so they rally around a simple solution: “If we just stop competing, it will be better for everybody.”
The Treasury report lays out the many ways in which employers do this. There are noncompete agreements that bar workers from moving to a competitor, and nondisclosure agreements that keep them from sharing information about wages and working conditions — critical information for workers to understand their options. Some companies make no-poaching deals.
I am always curious to know if there are "no poaching" deals that happen in pharma and the chemical industries. I'm sure it happens in the ways that these things always do, at the bar at some trade show, with a wink and a nod. Doubt anyone ever brought a court case...
Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 22 new positions for March 6. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.
Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers.
The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 573 research/teaching positions and 102 teaching positions.
Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread.
Welcome to the 2022 Chemistry Jobs Scramble.
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The Department of Justice (DOJ) will drop its controversial China Initiative and adopt a broader strategy to address economic espionage. Many in the Asian American community met the move with cautious optimism.The DOJ has been criticized for using the initiative to charge many academic researchers not for stealing secrets but for failing to report connections to China.Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said in a speech Feb. 23 that after reviewing the program, he had “concluded that this initiative is not the right approach.” Instead, he said, the department will examine the espionage efforts of a number of nations, including Russia, Iran, and North Korea.Asian American advocacy groups were happy about the shift but worry that Chinese scientists could still be targeted. “Having thousands of professors and scientists sign on to a petition asking to end the China Initiative made a difference,” John C. Yang, executive director of Advancing Justice–AAJC, said in a webinar on the change. “We’re going to ask for all of your help, again, in making sure that DOJ lives up to its promises.”In his speech, Olsen recognized that the initiative “fueled a narrative of intolerance and bias” that had a chilling effect on researchers, especially those of Chinese descent, and damaged the scientific community. He also vowed that the DOJ would take a more active role in reviewing cases against academics to ensure that people are not improperly charged.
Biogen’s largest-ever corporate restructuring began Wednesday, as employees around the world got word they would be laid off by the struggling biotech company, STAT has learned.A Biogen spokesperson confirmed the layoffs but would not provide an exact number of affected employees. People close to Biogen have said the company will cut about 1,000 jobs — more than 10% of its workforce — through layoffs, voluntary resignations, and the elimination of open positions. Biogen has said it hopes to save about $500 million a year in the process.The cuts “will help the company remain flexible so additional investments can be made in our pipeline and other strategic initiatives,” Biogen said in a statement. “We appreciate the contributions of our departing colleagues, who will be eligible for severance and support services as they transition out of the company.”According to people familiar with the process, the layoffs primarily target the salespeople and operations related to selling Aduhelm, Biogen’s commercially disappointing treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, and Spinraza, a successful medicine for spinal muscular atrophy for which demand has largely plateaued.
I don't think it's particularly surprising that Biogen has had financial difficulties regarding Aduhelm, and that they're reacting by laying people off in order to save money. But the broader pharma industry has been hiring like mad, and I would say the upswing has been since ~2015 or so. I think this particular layoff is "isolated", as they say, but as someone who has called 12 of the last 1 recessions, I'd can't help but wonder...
This was a good week. Lots of ups-and-downs, but I got through it somehow. Hope that you have a restful weekend, and we'll see you on Monday.
Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, told senators on Thursday that policymakers were prepared to rein in inflation as they tried to fulfill their price stability goal — even if that came at an economic cost.“We’re going to use our tools, and we’re going to get this done,” Mr. Powell told the Senate Banking Committee.Mr. Powell has signaled that the Fed is poised to raise interest rates by a quarter percentage point at its meeting that ends March 16, and follow up with additional rate increases over the next several months. Fed officials are also planning to come up with a strategy for shrinking their vast holdings of government-backed debt, which will increase longer-term interest rates.The suite of policy changes will be an effort to weigh on demand, tamping down price increases that are running at their fastest pace in 40 years. The Fed aims for 2 percent price gains on average over time, but inflation came in at 6.1 percent in the year through January.
It is surprising to me how rates have remained so low for so long without inflation, and yet here we are, in a time of increasing rates. I imagine this will make things just a little bit harder for people looking to buy homes or start a business. I can't imagine this will do good things for the chemistry job market, but we shall see. Best wishes to home buyers, startup founders, job seekers, and to all of us.
Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 21 new positions for March 2. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.
Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers.
Snapdragon Chemistry is currently seeking exceptional candidates for its Polymer Scientist position in its Waltham, MA site. A successful candidate will be joining a group of innovative and entrepreneurial scientists, with broad deliverables including the design and production of high value polymeric and macromolecular materials, development of synthetic routes amenable to continuous flow processing, the development of reactor systems incorporating cutting-edge analytical and automation technologies, and delivering high quality, complex chemical matter to our clients. The ideal candidate will have a Ph.D. in polymer chemistry or material science and engineering with experience in development and characterization of synthetic polymers or macromolecules.
Full ad here, all company positions can be found here. Best wishes to those interested.
Former Employee, more than 3 yearsToxic culture, terrible managementFeb. 18, 2022 - Research Scientist in Edmonton, ABProsDecent compensation from a Canadian perspective. Better than most.You will learn a lot because you have to do everything yourself.Despite the management, most of the staff are excellent people and you'll love working with them.ConsGilead is a company that pays lip service to its core values and claimed culture, yet does little (if anything) to uphold them, especially at the Edmonton site.The Edmonton site, its process development department in particular, is dominated by a cut-throat culture, penny wise/pound foolish habits, scarcity mindset, fear-based (micro)management, and familiarity bias. Despite the name on the building, this is not real Gilead. It’s also not real pharma. The Edmonton site is treated like a second-class facility, and it's a wasteland of toxic culture, abusive and outdated management practices, and broken spirits. Some can tolerate it, but for many people of quality the only reason they work here is because there is nothing comparable in Edmonton, Alberta, or frankly most of Canada to which they can jump.Also: you will quite literally be trapped at work on a regular basis due to freight trains blocking the ONLY EXIT from the newer campus buildings.At the Edmonton site:1) You will be swamped with pointless busy work that will distract from your goal of performing good science. The Edmonton site management refuse to hire people to handle lower-level tasks like stock room, consumables ordering, and other things, instead requiring people with advanced degrees to waste their time stocking shelves and moving plastic bottles around. This is a classic case of hiding costs by not measuring them.
...Automakers could see shortages of other key materials. Ukraine and Russia are both substantial sources for palladium and platinum, used in catalytic converters, as well as aluminum, steel and chrome.Semiconductor manufacturers are warily eyeing global stocks of neon, xenon and palladium, necessary to manufacture their products. Makers of potato chips and cosmetics could face shortages of sunflower oil, the bulk of which is produced in Russia and Ukraine...
A brief Google search led me to this comment from the Korea Herald:
Semiconductors are also expected to suffer collateral damage from the Ukraine crisis. Ukraine is a major producer of rare gases essential for chips such as neon, argon, krypton and xenon. In particular, Ukraine produces almost 70 percent of the world’s neon gas.
As Korea imports 23 percent of neon, 30.7 percent of krypton and 17.8 percent of xenon from Ukraine, the crisis can potentially push up their prices and cause complications in their supply chains.
Why does Ukraine produce so much neon? A fascinating reason from the past, apparently:
Neon was regarded as a strategic resource in the former Soviet Union, because it was believed to be required for the intended production of laser weapons for missile and satellite defence purposes in the 1980s. Accordingly, all major air separation units in the Soviet Union were equipped with neon, but also krypton and xenon, enrichment facilities or, in some cases, purification plants (cf. Sections 5.4 and 5.5). The domestic Soviet supply of neon was extremely large but demand low."
- "Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, global crude neon production was approximately 500–600 million l/a (= 500,000–600,000 m3/a). It was dominated by far by large-scale air separation units associated with metallurgical combines in Russia and Ukraine. Simultaneously, demand was estimated at around 300 million l/a (cf. Section 4.2). In the years between 1990 and 2012, therefore, most crude neon was not purified, but released into the atmosphere, because there was no customer base."
(If you don't want to trust a translated German source from Y Combinator, there's also this Japanese article from 2016 that says much the same thing.)
Can't imagine that this is good for the global economy in the short run, although it will be interesting to see if yet another insult to a near-single source encourages more suppliers to enter the noble gas markets in the long run...
The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 570 research/teaching positions and 101 teaching positions.
Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.Don't forget to click on "load more" below the comment box for the full thread.
Copying last year's Chemistry Job Scramble, Andrew Spaeth and I will be putting together a job market scramble to open on the week of March 7 for registration of employers and job seekers. This is an attempt to create a "thick" market for both job candidates and potential employers, especially those who did not get a faculty position this year. The basic contours:
Questions? Ask them in the comments, or email us at chemjobber@gmail.com.
Check out the latest moves here!
To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com
The Academic Staff Jobs list has 32 positions.
This list is curated by Sarah Cady and @nmr_chemist. It targets:
Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions.
Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.
