Monday, October 31, 2022

C&EN: Lithium!

A fascinating feature in this week's Chemical and Engineering News on lithium production by Alex Scott: 
...Arguably, the company best placed to increase US lithium production is Albemarle, a US firm that is the world’s largest lithium producer. The company is substantially expanding production at its brine-based lithium site in Chile and at two huge rock mines in Australia.

In June, Albemarle inaugurated a lithium-​processing facility near Antofagasta, Chile, as part of a $500 million investment that will enable the firm to double production at the site, to more than 80,000 t per year of battery-grade lithium carbonate.

Albemarle also operates the only major lithium production site in the US, a brine evaporation complex in Silver Peak, Nevada. The company plans to spend up to $50 million to double production there by 2025, to about 7,500 t per year. It also plans to build a plant for converting lithium ore into lithium hydroxide in the southeastern US and to reopen a hard-rock mine in North Carolina.

“Pricing has very much gone up. That helps us with the long-term investments that we need to make,” says Glen Merfeld, Albemarle’s chief technology officer for lithium. “By 2030, we’re forecasting in our supply-versus-demand models a deficit of lithium.”

It's been fascinating to watch Albemarle orient itself around lithium over the years - will be interesting to see if other metals will arrive on the scene as the world electrifies... 

C&EN: GE securing its iodine supply

In this week's Chemical and Engineering News, this news on iodine (by Craig Bettenhausen): 
GE Healthcare has signed a long-term agreement to buy iodine from the Chilean mining company Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM). GE uses iodine to make contrast media for computerized tomography imaging. The deal comes as GE opens a $30 million production line for the media in Cork, Ireland, as part of a push to make 30 million more doses per year by 2025. GE says demand for the media should double over the next decade because of the higher incidence of chronic medical disorders.

If you asked me "where does iodine come from?" I would have genuinely said "I have no idea." This material appears to be come from natural iodate deposits called "caliche." 

Friday, October 28, 2022

Have a good weekend


A quiet week, happily, especially when I know next week will be busy. I hope that you have a great weekend, and we'll see you on Monday. 

Former Genentech scientist receives 6 month prison sentence for trade secret theft

Via FiercePharma, the end of the Genentech trade secrets saga: 
After pleading guilty to the crime, it's time to do the time.

A year after a former Genentech staffer and her husband pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets from the drugmaker, the two have received six-month prison sentences, plus fines of more than $10,000 each.  

In the years-long case, Xanthe Lam, a former principal scientist for Genentech, and her husband Allen Lam last summer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft of trade secrets, plus multiple counts of conspiracy to commit computer fraud and abuse, plus other charges, according to documents from the United States District Court in the Northern District of California.

The two must surrender to begin serving their sentence no later than April 10, 2023, the documents show. After release, the defendants will be on supervised release for three years.

In the high-profile case, government prosecutors said the couple stole confidential intellectual property related to Genetech’s top-sellers Rituxan, Herceptin, and Avastin, as well as cystic fibrosis inhalation Pulmozyme. The two then passed the secret info to Taiwanese firm JHL Biotech (now Eden Biologics), to aid in its development of copycats, the suit said.

6 months in federal prison! That should be sufficient to deter other would-be IP thieves, I would think?  

US GDP rose 2.6% (annualized) in the third quarter

Via the New York Times: 
The U.S. economy grew slowly over the summer, adding to fears of a looming recession — but also keeping alive the hope that one might be avoided.

Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, returned to growth in the third quarter after two consecutive quarterly contractions, according to government data released on Thursday. But consumer spending slowed as inflation ate away at households’ buying power, and the sharp rise in interest rates led to the steepest contraction in the housing sector since the first months of the pandemic...

...The third-quarter data — G.D.P. rose 0.6 percent, the Commerce Department said, a 2.6 percent annual rate of growth — suggested that the path to such a “soft landing” remained open but narrow. 

I broadly think this is good news, but does not much to change my opinion that the 2022-23 job market for entry-level chemists will be somewhat worse (how much worse, we do not know) than the 21-22 job market. I also think this is a broad indication that the 23-24 market will be somewhat worse than 2022, but again, the magnitude of that drop will not be known for quite some time. 

Best wishes to job seekers, and to all of us.  

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

European natural gas prices are easing

Via the New York Times: 
The war in Ukraine is raging, Russian natural gas exports to Europe are dwindling and the winter heating season is approaching. That would seem like a recipe for higher prices, yet the cost of the fuel, which is vital for heating homes and for powering electricity plants and industry, has been plummeting.

The benchmark European price of natural gas this week fell to a level that is more than 70 percent below its record high in August. One of the main reasons for the plunge in prices is that Europe, at least for now, has all the natural gas it needs.

That is because over the summer, Europe went on a global buying spree as Russia, its longtime main supplier, reduced its flow of natural gas.

Across the continent, governments and businesses have aggressively replenished how much gas they are holding in storage. At the urging of European Union officials and at a high cost, energy companies and governments have filled underground caverns and other facilities to more than 90 percent of capacity, compared with less than 80 percent year ago.

The article indicates that prices are still at a historical high, and that there might not be enough to last a winter. Here's hoping that things settle down a bit (although I don't think the Russia/Ukraine war is going to die off any time soon).  

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 461 research/teaching positions and 24 teaching positions

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 461 research/teaching positions and 24 teaching positions. 

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

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

On October 26, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 398 research/teaching positions and 26 teaching faculty positions. On October 27, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 146 research/teaching positions and 12 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Postdoctoral position: Center for Single-Entity Nanochemistry and Nanocrystal Design, IU Bloomington, Bloomington, IN

From the inbox: 

Center-Level Postdoctoral Position at Indiana University, Bloomington

One postdoctoral opening is currently available to conduct research in the NSF-funded Center for Single-Entity Nanochemistry and Nanocrystal Design sponsored by the Centers for Chemical Innovation Program. This individual will be co-advised by Profs. Sara Skrabalak (https://skrablab.sitehost.iu.edu/) and Xingchen Ye (https://ye.lab.indiana.edu/) and will be expected to dedicate 75% of their time on center-based research initiatives and training activities and 25% of their time initiating collaborations with other research groups at Indiana University that synergy with center research. Information about the Center can be found at: https://csennd.iu.edu/.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Job postings: Assistant or Associate Professors - Sustainable Chemical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON

From the inbox: 
The Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto invites applications for up to two full-time tenure stream positions in the area of sustainable chemical engineering. The appointments will be at the rank of Assistant Professor, with an expected start date of July 1, 2023. 
 
Applicants are expected to have a PhD degree in chemical, environmental or materials engineering or in applied chemistry or a related area at the time of appointment or soon after.  We seek candidates with expertise in sustainable chemical, energy, and materials at scale and whose research and teaching complement and enhance our existing departmental strengths. There are several areas of interest including but not limited to batteries, energy storage, and fuel cells; carbon capture, utilization, and storage; catalysis and photocatalysis; decarbonization of energy systems; decentralized manufacturing; fuels, chemicals and materials from sustainable feedstocks; industrial biomanufacturing of chemicals, energy, and materials; renewable hydrogen production; and waste valorization and resource recovery.
 
The successful candidate will be expected to initiate and continuously lead an outstanding, independent, innovative, externally funded research program of international calibre, and teach in the chemical engineering curriculum at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. We will prioritize candidates who demonstrate the ability to sustain and lead innovative research that will advance the global frontiers of knowledge in the field, rather than only their specialization area. Collaborative and inter-disciplinary research and collegial interaction will be important elements in success. Eligibility to register as a Professional Engineer in Ontario is an asset.
Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The Department of Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering at the University of Toronto invites applications for up to two full-time tenure stream appointments in the area of sustainable chemical engineering. The appointments will be at the rank of Associate Professor with an expected start date of July 1, 2023 or shortly thereafter.

Applicants must have a PhD degree in chemical, environmental or materials engineering or in applied chemistry or a related area, with a clearly demonstrated exceptional record of excellence in research, service, training, and teaching. We seek candidates with expertise in sustainable chemical, energy, and materials at scale and whose research and teaching complement and enhance our existing departmental strengths. There are several areas of interest including but not limited to batteries, energy storage, and fuel cells; carbon capture, utilization, and storage; catalysis and photocatalysis; decarbonization of energy systems; decentralized manufacturing; fuels, chemicals and materials from sustainable feedstocks; industrial biomanufacturing of chemicals, energy, and materials; renewable hydrogen production; and waste valorization and resource recovery.

Full ad here.

Monday, October 24, 2022

Vermont town water superintendent changed fluoridation levels since 2011

Via the New York Times, this news: 
The water superintendent for Richmond, Vt., resigned this week after admitting that he had been lowering the fluoride levels in the town’s water below state guidelines for more than a decade.

In a five-page resignation letter dated Oct. 17, the superintendent, Kendall Chamberlin, said he had lowered the fluoride level to 0.3 parts per million. The state recommends a level of 0.7 parts per million to protect residents’ dental health.

Josh Arneson, the town manager, said in an email that he was first made aware of the fluoridation issue when the state’s health department reached out to him in June. The department informed him that the town’s water supply, which services 1,000 people, had not reached optimal fluoridation in more than three years. Mr. Arneson then followed up with the agency in September. Mr. Chamberlin — who was the water superintendent for over 30 years — later confessed in his resignation letter that the town’s water had not met the state’s recommended fluoride level since 2011, by his design.

So there is plenty of opprobrium to be heaped upon Mr. Chamberlin, but what I would like to understand is this - how was he not caught? What are the procedures for adding sodium fluoride or fluorosilicic acid to the town's system - surely someone would have noticed that the town was either both using and buying less fluoridation reagent. How was this not noticed? ("Gee, Ken, we've sure bought a lot less sodium fluoride since last year - why?")

The 2022 ACS Salary Survey: salaries up, but down against inflation

The 2022 ACS Salary Survey, by the numbers (5,411 ACS members responded): 
Academia: $84,150, up from $77,242 in 2021
Government: $116,196, up from $104,512 
Industry: $136,000, up from $104,512

Overall median: $105,000, up from $98,000
Unemployment among ACS members is at the lowest rate ever recorded: 
2022: 0.6%
2021: 1.8%
2020: 1.5%
Unemployment has been low for the last three surveys: 
Doctorate: 0.5% (2022), down from 1.4% for both 2021 and 2020
Master's: 0.7% (2022), down from 2.3% (2021) and 1.7% (2020)
Bachelor's: 1.0% (2022), down from 3.4% (2021) and 2.3% (2020)
With all the caveats around the ACS Salary Survey (the low response rate of 8%, and that ACS members are not representative of all chemists nationwide), this is good news. Here's hoping the 2023 numbers look just as good... 

Friday, October 21, 2022

Have a good weekend

I am relieved that this was a good week, and we're headed towards the weekend. I hope you had a good week, and I hope you have a good weekend. See you on Monday. 

The Dinwiddie High School methanol incident | The safety messages aren't getting through

Following up on the fire incident at Dinwiddie High School, I listened to the press conference that featured local fire officials as well as the superintendent of the school. Here's a summary from the Richmond Times-Dispatch: 
The teacher was attempting a demonstration involving methyl alcohol, or methanol, according to Hale. The demonstration involved placing the methanol in an open beaker with water and igniting it using a smoldering wooden splint.

The instructor had successfully conducted the experiment once before, but during the second attempt, as the methanol was poured into the beaker it ignited, said Hale, causing a phenomena known as flame jetting.

Flame jetting happens when flammable liquid in a narrow-necked container mixes with trapped air vapor and they reach an ignition source. This caused a large amount of the methanol in the bottle to ignite. Flames shot around 10 feet across the front of the classroom, reaching a whiteboard and setting some paper and other flammable material ablaze.

I find it continually depressing that this story in 2022 is once again like many of the other incidents with: 

  • fire
  • methanol being added to the flames
  • from a bulk methanol container with
  • students being too close
What I find even more depressing is that the superintendent said (13:00 in the video): 

We do follow what the Virginia Department of Education provides for us, I believe the last one came out in 2019, safety and the labs, they go through an annual training, there's a checklist that the teacher is supposed to follow" 

I think I've found the document - it's here. There's very little about demonstration safety. Here's the 2000 version, and it honestly doesn't seem very different - maybe I'm wrong. 

What I find most depressing about all of this is that this isn't the only incident that Virginia has had - in 2015, W.T. Woodson High School in Fairfax, VA had an incident that hurt 5 students and 1 teacher. Maybe I'm wrong, but it appears to me that learnings from the Woodson incident didn't make it into the Virginia DOE material at all. At the least media is noticing - that's a start. 

My very best wishes to the hurt students and teacher at Dinwiddie High School, and I hope that this is the very last time that students are hurt by methanol fires in American schools. 

Thursday, October 20, 2022

27 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 27 new positions for October 5. 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. 

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

The 2022 ACS Salary Survey is out

A longer post will come out, but for now, a quick link and the summary by Andrea Widener: 
Across all employment sectors, US chemists fared well in the third year of the pandemic, according to the American Chemical Society’s latest salary survey. Median salaries were up across the board, the survey shows. The survey was sent to 125,048 people affiliated with ACS and was open May 3–31, 2022. The response rate was 8.24%.

Unemployment also hit a record low, a likely response to booming demand for chemistry workers in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. But when salaries were adjusted for inflation, they remained largely flat since 1985, with an extra dip in 2022 likely due to recent high inflation rates.

The response rate is rather alarming, but the numbers look pretty decent. More to come...  

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 435 research/teaching positions and 24 teaching positions

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 435 research/teaching positions and 24 teaching positions. 

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

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

On October 19, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 366 research/teaching positions and 24 teaching faculty positions. On October 20, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 136 research/teaching positions and 12 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Monday, October 17, 2022

Chemistry class fire incident in Virginia results in burns and injuries

Via a Google News alert, this ABC News story from last week: 

Four students and a teacher were injured after a fire broke out during a chemistry class at a Virginia high school, officials said.

A possible fire in a chemistry classroom was reported Wednesday shortly before 9:30 a.m. at Dinwiddie County High School in Dinwiddie, located about 40 miles south of Richmond, fire officials said.

Three students who suffered burn injuries in the fire were transported to a Richmond hospital, including one by air medical helicopter, Dinwiddie Fire & EMS said. A fourth student was treated at the scene for a minor burn injury, and a teacher was later transported to a local hospital, also due to a burn injury, the department confirmed.

The UK's Daily Mail is reporting that it was a "methanol rocket" experiment based on reports from students:  

A science teacher and a pupil have been airlifted to hospital after creating a ‘methanol rocket’ in a chemistry lesson which exploded.

Students at Dinwiddie High School, in Virginia, described smelling ‘burning’ and ‘chemical fumes’ after the blast was sparked in a chemistry lab on Wednesday morning.

...a science teacher and football coach, was conducting an experiment for students using methanol to make a water bottle fly across the room with a flame.

But students in the classroom have claimed that when the stunt didn’t work initially, he added more of the gas before bringing the bottle towards the flame which is understood to have caused an explosion.

I think I will wait to make judgments about what actually caused the incident, but I regret that I believe this pattern to match other methanol-related incidents in the past 15 years. Here's hoping that we find out more information soon. 

Also, a infrequent reminder that in 2014, the American Chemical Society's Committee on Chemical Safety published a Safety Alert titled "Stop Using The Rainbow Demonstration."

Friday, October 14, 2022

Have a great weekend


This was an unexpectedly fun week, with a little bit of travel and a little bit of stress - not too much. Hope you had a great week and a great weekend. See you on Monday. 

BASF implementing cost-cutting measures

Via Chemical and Engineering News' Alex Tullo: 
Deteriorating economic conditions in Europe, Germany in particular, will adversely impact BASF third-quarter results and are prompting the world’s largest chemical company to execute a nearly $500 million cost-cutting program...

...Due to the results and “the deteriorating framework conditions in the region,” BASF says it is implementing a nearly $500 million cost-reduction program over the next two years.

The program will focus on Europe, particularly Germany. More than half of the targeted savings will come from BASF’s flagship site in Ludwigshafen. The firm says that cuts will come from “non-production areas” including “operating, service and research & development divisions.”

Well that is both to be expected, and not great news.  

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

NASA successfully alters asteroid orbit

Via the New York Times

NASA took aim at an asteroid last month, and on Tuesday, the space agency announced that its planned 14,000-mile-per-hour collision with an object named Dimorphos made even more of a bull’s-eye shot than expected...

...The spacecraft not only connected with Dimorphos, it altered the space rock’s orbit, shortening its trip around a larger asteroid by 32 minutes.

That time shift was exactly what the DART mission aimed to accomplish. Scientists hoped the collision would push Dimorphos closer to Didymos and speed up its orbit, and they have been crunching data and taking more observations of the double-asteroid system to understand how effective this particular defense mechanism was. Scientists, according to Mr. Nelson, would have considered DART a huge success if it had only shortened Dimorphos’s orbit by 10 minutes. The reality — around three times that shift — delighted the team that managed the mission.

This seems like good news all around, although I presume that the trick will be spotting the relevant asteroid in time. It will be interesting to know if the United States Space Force will spend its future years standing on guard for asteroids approaching Earth...

How does hog farming relate to industrial hygiene?

In this week's Chemical and Engineering News, Jyllian Kemsley talks to C.J. Backlund, who is an environment, safety, and health (ES&H) coordinator at Sandia National Laboratories, and was promoted in October 2020 to a Distinguished staff member. This comment from her background working in swine-confinement facilities was interesting: 
Thinking about your experience with those swine operations from your graduate school days, is there anything you learned then that you apply now working in a national laboratory?

I hadn’t thought about that before. But, yes, the big lesson was that it’s imperative that we understand the operation that is going on. I’ll be blunt: farmers were dying in those confinement buildings from inhaling the gases and vapors coming from the waste. I definitely learned how important it is to be able to think critically and talk with the people you’re dealing with to understand what the hazards are. That’s the starting point.

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 410 research/teaching positions and 23 teaching positions

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 410 research/teaching positions and 23 teaching positions. 

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

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

On October 12, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 342 research/teaching positions and 24 teaching faculty positions. On October 13, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 125 research/teaching positions and 12 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Postdoctoral position: Electron and Photon Induced Processes Group, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY

From the inbox: 

Post doc in Synthetic Photochemistry at Brookhaven National Laboratory

The Chemistry Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory has an opening for a postdoctoral research associate in synthetic photochemistry in the Electron and Photon Induced Processes (EPIP) Group. The position is part of the BioInspired Light Escalated Chemistry (BioLEC) Energy Frontiers Research Center (EFRC) collaboration that is led by Princeton University https://biolec.princeton.edu/.

The successful candidate will be trained to perform pulse radiolysis experiments using the 9 MeV Laser Electron Accelerator Facility (LEAF) in the Chemistry Division. This unique experimental technique enables the rapid generation and study of highly energetic, reactive and short-lived chemical intermediates. The research includes understanding mechanisms in photocatalytic cycles, investigating chemistry that can be performed with super-reductants and super-oxidants and measuring redox and spectroscopic properties of short-lived intermediates. The work will be under supervision of Dr. Matthew Bird.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.

Monday, October 10, 2022

Unemployment down to 3.5% in September, payroll employments up 263,000

Via the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 
The unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent in September, returning to its July level.
The number of unemployed persons edged down to 5.8 million in September. (See table A-1.)

Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 263,000 in September. Monthly job growth has averaged 420,000 thus far in 2022, compared with 562,000 per month in 2021. In September, notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality and in health care. (See table B-1.)

Leisure and hospitality added 83,000 jobs in September, in line with the average monthly 
job gain over the first 8 months of the year. Within the industry, employment in food 
services and drinking places rose by 60,000 in September. Employment in leisure and 
hospitality is below its pre-pandemic February 2020 level by 1.1 million, or 6.7 percent.

Still no signs of an employment recession in the news. 

C&EN: "Click and bioorthogonal chemistry win 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry"

From an article in this week's Chemical and Engineering News by Mark Peplow: 
Three scientists have won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Carolyn R. Bertozzi of Stanford University, Morten Meldal of the University of Copenhagen, and K. Barry Sharpless of Scripps Research in California share the prize for their work on click chemistry and bioorthogonal reactions. Click chemistry involves reactions that unite two synthetic molecules quickly and irreversibly. Some of these reactions can be performed inside living cells without disrupting biochemical processes, making them bioorthogonal.

This approach is used to tag biomolecules with fluorescent probes that illuminate the inner workings of cellular biochemistry, for example, and it also offers a way to produce antibody-drug conjugates that have highly targeted therapeutic action in the body. Click chemistry is even being directly applied inside patients, in ongoing clinical trials of a powerful cancer therapy. “I truly believe that the potential applications of click chemistry are unlimited—from materials science to life-saving drugs, click chemistry is here to stay,” said John Moses, a click chemistry researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, in an email to C&EN.

Congratulations to the winners!  

C&EN: Russian gas supplies continue to impact European chemical manufacturing

Via this week's C&EN, more news from Europe (article by Alex Tullo): 
The war in Ukraine is dragging Europe, Germany in particular, further into an energy crisis as Russia withholds natural gas supplies. The situation has become so severe that chemical makers are beginning to permanently shut down plants.

Trinseo says it has begun discussions with the local works council about the potential closure of its styrene facility in Böhlen, Germany. The company says the plant, which has 300,000 metric tons per year of production capacity, has lost a total of $30 million over the past four quarters.

“The cost position of the Böhlen facility is challenged due to the current energy cost environment in Europe as well as the facility’s smaller scale, and it’s difficult to envision significant earnings improvement at the site in the near to medium term,” Trinseo CEO Frank Bozich says in a statement.

In November 2021, Trinseo announced that it was exploring options to sell its polystyrene and styrene business, a divestiture that would have included the Böhlen plant. Citing uncertainty due in part to the war in Ukraine, the firm shelved sale plans in August.

Similarly, Olin has announced that it intends to shut down methylene chloride and chloroform production in Stade, Germany, by the third quarter of 2023. The company reduced its corporate earnings outlook in September because of deteriorating demand in Europe and North America. And the Japanese firm Arakawa Chemical Industries recently announced that it would close a hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin plant in Germany in 2023.

 Makes you wonder if chemical commodity inflation will be impacted by supply as well as demand...

Friday, October 7, 2022

Have a good weekend

I had a decent week this week, and I'm looking forward to my weekend. I hope that you had a great week, and we'll see you on Monday. 

NYT: broader labor market might be cooling off?

Via the New York Times, this news: 
...But there are signs that the red-hot labor market may be coming off its boiling point.

Major employers such as Walmart and Amazon have announced slowdowns in hiring; others, such as FedEx, have frozen hiring altogether.

Americans in July quit their jobs at the lowest rate in more than a year, a sign that the period of rapid job switching, sometimes called the Great Resignation, may be nearing its end. Wage growth, which soared as companies competed for workers, has also slowed, particularly in industries like dining and travel where the job market was particularly hot last year.

More broadly, many companies around the country say they are finding it less arduous to attract and retain employees — partly because many are paring their hiring plans, and partly because the pool of available workers has grown as more people come off the economy’s sidelines.

I'm not sure I've seen any major signs of a slowdown in the hiring of scientists by industry (or in academia, for that matter) but it's quite possible that it is coming. I broadly predict (in a very boring fashion) that fall 2023 hiring will be less "hot" than fall 2022, but that's hardly a bold prediction. 

Best wishes to those looking now, those looking then and to all of us. 

Thursday, October 6, 2022

62 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 62 new positions for October 5. 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. 

Job posting: Ambercycle, scientist, Los Angeles, CA

 From the inbox, this position: 

About Us

...We're developing and scaling a breakthrough technology to manufacture yarns and fabrics from old clothes, without a sacrifice in quality, rather than from petroleum or new agriculture resources. Our apparel products avoid the use of new raw materials and go into the highest quality applications, exceeding the expectations of end customers with a fraction of the environmental footprint. Using our technology, we are fundamentally changing the fashion industry and building the infinite textile ecosystem. For more information, visit www.ambercycle.com

The Job

 We are looking for a highly motivated Senior Scientist who will develop and help scale our technology for making brand new yarns from old clothing. You will help bring Ambercycle’s innovative technology out of the lab and into commercial operation. You will be responsible for experimental process design and implementation and will work closely with the R&D team and the Research and Engineering leadership.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.

Wednesday, October 5, 2022

The NYU/Maitland Jones debacle

Undoubtedly, you've heard about this story, but if you haven't, here's a rather depressing story from the New York Times about the NYU administration's firing of Maitland Jones Jr. from teaching one of their large organic chemistry lectures: 

In the field of organic chemistry, Maitland Jones Jr. has a storied reputation. He taught the subject for decades, first at Princeton and then at New York University, and wrote an influential textbook. He received awards for his teaching, as well as recognition as one of N.Y.U.’s coolest professors.

But last spring, as the campus emerged from pandemic restrictions, 82 of his 350 students signed a petition against him.

Students said the high-stakes course — notorious for ending many a dream of medical school — was too hard, blaming Dr. Jones for their poor test scores.

The professor defended his standards. But just before the start of the fall semester, university deans terminated Dr. Jones’s contract.

Derek does a great job of covering the issues from a philosophical side, and so I urge you to read his post. I have two items to add. One of them is a factual question that I would like answered, and the other is yet another philosophical cud-chewer. 

Most of the discussion of this article (God help us) has been on Twitter, and there have been a lot of opinions and not many new facts to add. It's clear that the students had legitimate questions about the style and format of grading; I'm not a chemistry professor, and so I don't have an informed opinion there. But there have been at least two instances of former students claiming that Professor Jones would specifically announce and make fun of the low score (or the low scorer) of the exam. 

If true, this is pretty appalling. If Professor Jones was saying "someone got a 5% and boy are they a dummy!", that seems quite cruel. If Professor Jones was saying "John Smith got a 5%, and boy are they a dummy", that is clearly a FERPA violation and a fireable offense. The claims are unclear as to if it was either the strong or weak version. Either one is bad, in my opinion. I'd really like this question run all the way down to the letter, but that will probably never happen. 

For the philosophical question, it is fascinating to me how large organic chemistry seems to loom as a barrier for pre-meds. First, they seem to view the class as unnecessary gate-keeping and there are a shocking amount of people who claim that organic chemistry has nothing to do with medicine. I will basically not entertain responses on the second point, i.e. I think organic chemistry is extremely relevant, and those who say otherwise are basically entertaining a future with physicians who are scientifically illiterate. But here's my real question: if I accept the premise that organic chemistry is the gate for gate-keeping, where do the anti-organic folks propose to move the gate? Biochemistry? The first year of med school? Physics? 

(As a practical matter, the seemingly unique American practice of having a 4-year undergraduate degree that is lightly or heavily sprinkled with science and then another 4 years of medical school seems a bit indulgent, but I rather like the idea that physicians get a good solid liberal education.) 

So there's my question, readers - what's the best way to educate physicians other than the current way? Is there a scientific field (I dunno, biology? engineering?) that is better suited?

Tuesday, October 4, 2022

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 370 research/teaching positions and 21 teaching positions

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 370 research/teaching positions and 21 teaching positions. 

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

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

On October 5, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 318 research/teaching positions and 20 teaching faculty positions. On October 6, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 114 research/teaching positions and 10 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Postdoctoral position: Mackiewicz Lab, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

From the inbox: 
The Mackiewicz Lab (http://sites.science.oregonstate.edu/~mackiewm/) is looking for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher scholar to join our team in the Chemistry Department at Oregon State University (https://chemistry.oregonstate.edu/). We are developing solutions to overcome challenges in nanomaterials development for use as drug delivery, optical imaging, and cell-labeling in several biomedical applications with collaborative partners at multiple institutions in Oregon. 
We are working on nanomaterials developed to solve solutions in macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cancer. Our research includes synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, mammalian cell culture, nanoparticle-biological interactions, and nanotoxicology. Candidates who have experience in nanomaterials synthesis, cell culture techniques as well as those who want to pursue areas of research of their interests by writing grant applications or fellowships opportunities are encouraged to apply.
Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Monday, October 3, 2022

Liquid nitrogen demonstration goes horribly wrong at the University of Girona

Still from Twitter video
credit: @locarium
This summary via Euro Weekly News: 
A total of two adults and three children were hospitalised suffering from injuries after an explosion that occurred at Girona’s Casa de Cultura yesterday, Friday, September 30. According to a spokesperson from the Josep Trueta Hospital, they are all out of danger and could even be discharged later today, Saturday, October 1.

Eighteen people were injured when a drum of liquid nitrogen exploded during a scientific outreach event, which mixed magic and science, designed to bring science closer to children, as reported by elperiodico.com.

You can watch the various videos of the incident here, here and here on Twitter. It sounds like the demonstrator was a reasonably prominent science communicator in the Catalonia region who was fairly experienced. 

It's pretty clear this demonstration is a version of the classic liquid nitrogen/ping pong ball demo, but it is weird to me that they added a second drum with a drum lid clamp on it. The demo put one of the drums in the air, which is definitely not good. I'll withhold judgment, but it's pretty clear the crowd was much too close. Here's hoping that we get some more conclusions soon. 

Best wishes to those injured. 

C&EN: European resin plant closes due to high natural gas prices

In this week's Chemical and Engineering News, this article by Craig Bettenhausen:
European gas prices shut down Arakawa resin plant

The specialty resin maker Arakawa Chemical Industries has decided to permanently close a plant in Germany where it makes Arkon, a hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin used in adhesives and as a plastics additive. Arakawa says it expects strong demand for the resin, especially in personal care products, but high prices for natural gas and hydrogen, as well as ongoing supply chain disruptions, made the German plant unsustainable. When the plant shuts down at the end of March 2023, the Japanese firm will supply the resin from its facilities in Japan.

It feels like (and maybe I am wrong) that the European commodity/specialty chemicals is going to take a beating because of the Russian/Ukrainian war, and there is no real end in sight...