Why is sequestration bad?

Credit: Washington Post, altered by Chemjobber

So, as promised, the second part on the "fiscal cliff." Apart from the big tax increases that were planned because of the fiscal cliff, there are also large budget cuts planned. What's undesired for both parties in Congress is the targets of the cuts and the means by which they will be applied. From the Washington Post:

Legislators don’t have any discretion with the across-the-board cuts: They are intended to hit all affected programs equally, though the cuts to individual areas will range from 7.6 percent to 9.6 percent (and 2 percent to Medicare providers). The indiscriminate pain is meant to pressure legislators into making a budget deal to avoid the cuts.

Naturally, the science funding agencies will be hit because of this. From C&EN's article on the issue:

For example, the National Institutes of Health, part of the Department of Health & Human Services, faces a total of $11.3 billion in cuts over the first five years of sequestration. Elsewhere, the Environmental Protection Agency could lose $213 million and the Department of Energy could be out $4.6 billion. 

For example, the National Science Foundation’s average annual budget over the first five years is $5.6 billion, assuming congressional appropriators hold all discretionary accounts flat to mirror the overall cap set by the law. Each year of this period, it would lose an average of $421 million to deficit reduction, for a total five-year loss of $2.1 billion, according to AAAS. 

...Sequestration would make that situation worse, says Steven Fluharty, senior vice provost for research at the University of Pennsylvania. The university received $900 million in R&D awards in 2012, 80% of which came from the federal government. He estimates that sequestration could cost the university $50 million to $60 million per year in research funding and more than 1,100 jobs.

But what is immediately relevant to me is that graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and their programs will be affected. I know that there are many who think that this might be a blessing in disguise, but I don't think that's the case -- subjecting all federally-funded science to more-or-less arbitrary cuts (and basically subjecting academic science to funding decimation) does not seem to be wise.

I think the case could be made for altering federal funding of R&D away from its human-health-first-and-foremost/keep-Granny-alive priority to something that focused more on the basic and less on the translational, and more on the long-term than the short-term. But that's an argument for another time. Sequestration is big and random (as opposed to big and prioritized), and therefore undesired. The House of Representatives and the President should come to an agreement and sooner rather than later.*

*I know that's a lame conclusion, but I do not love politics on this blog. The rest of the internet is better for that.

Process Wednesday: byproduct versus sideproduct

From the sticklers at Scientific Update, a comment in Organic Process Research and Development on a grammatical issue in chemistry by Will Watson:

Following my colleague John Knight’s editorial about the misuse of various terms, particularly the distinction between crystallisation and precipitation, my beef is about the use of “side products” and “byproducts”. 

These two terms are bandied about indiscriminately and concern materials other than the desired products that result from the reactions. However, there are two distinct types of materials that are formed during a chemical reaction, and if the terms are used correctly, these can be classified as either byproducts or side products... 

Byproducts are materials that are produced as a direct result of the desired reaction, and so they will appear as part of the fully balanced chemical equation. Side products, on the other hand, are the result of side reactions. Let me explain a little further. If we carry out a decarboxylation reaction, we will expect a stoichiometric amount of CO2 to be produced; if we carry out a Suzuki coupling, we will similarly produce a stoichiometric amount of borate byproducts and HX, with HX usually being neutralised by the base present in the reaction mixture. 

Side products are impurities which appear during the reaction as a result of (1) side reactions that can be alternative reaction pathways or (2) further reaction/degradation of the desired product after it has formed. Once we isolate our product, it is likely to contain some impurities, and these can be either byproducts or side products.

...So please, let us use the terms byproduct and side product correctly. “What about impurities that are carried through from a previous step?” you ask? Does it matter if they are byproducts or side products from the previous step? Are there any suggestions? Should they be called preproducts, pre-impurities, or...?

I confess that I've never really thought very hard about this issue (the world for me being divided into "desired" and "undesired")... but it's an interesting question. I suppose that for his last question, I would have to go with "side products." 

4 remarkable assertions in the ACS Presidential Commission Report

I could talk about the 2012 ACS Presidential Commission Report on Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences a lot, but instead, I think I'll just quote a few statements of fact that were made:

On #chemjobs:

"Given what seems to be a permanently restructured employment market for PhDs, the Commission perceives a risk that the number of career opportunities in the chemical science professions may be insufficient to accommodate those qualified for and desiring entry." 

"In the last decade, 300,000 jobs have been lost in the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. This total is larger than the entire US pharmaceutical employment base. Large US research facilities have been closed and sizable systematic reductions in domestic research capabilities have been implemented or announced, apparently driven in significant part by consolidation in the industry. Some of the reduced functions have been outsourced to other technologically strong nations."

On too many chemists:

"A large undergraduate teaching need is not a sufficient justification for a large graduate program."

"In discussing the employment scene earlier in this chapter, the Commission was frank in its assessment that the current rate of PhD production is too large. While some portion of the excess reflects the current stage of the business cycle, there is evidence, in the growth of postdoctoral employment and in stagnant salaries over a long term, that the nation is producing a systematic excess of PhDs."

On teaching undergraduates:

"While graduate students are certainly exposed to teaching through teaching assistantships, their experiences generally are not drawn from carefully crafted programs designed to teach students how to teach."

On postdocs:

"Some statistics about postdoctoral associates are enlightening. In 2009, the most recent year for which the NSF has published detailed data, there were approximately 4200 postdocs in chemistry, 2350 in biochemistry, and 1100 in chemical engineering. The percentages of temporary visa holders in these groups were 64.7%, 60.7%, and 62.4%, respectively."

"A significant problem in the current employment pipeline for chemists is a bulge at the postdoctoral level. Particularly in more biological areas of chemistry, many current postdocs have previously been postdocs for one or even two appointments. For these individuals, the second, or later, postdoctoral appointment serves largely as a buffer zone in the ebb and flow of the job market; it is not a position that significantly improves one’s job chances." (emphasis mine)

Quite an indictment of the current state of affairs.

Are personal statements important?

4 positions in Lilly/Shanghai; temp job listed in Indianapolis

That moment when you realize that the number of jobs advertised for Lilly in China is more than the number of jobs advertised in Lilly in Indianapolis. 

Daily Pump Trap: 12/11/12 edition

Good morning! Between December 6 and December 10, there were 103 new positions posted on the C&EN Jobs website. Of these, 18 (17%) are academically connected and 65 (63%) were from Kelly Scientific Resources.

Rahway, NJ: Merck wishes to hire a Ph.D. chemist for its Basic Pharmaceutical Sciences group; "PhD degree with no more than three years of experience in industry within preformulation, analytical chemistry or formulation development." Ahhhh. I see.

King of Prussia, PA: Arkema wishes to hire a Ph.D. fluoropolymer research scientist; 5+ years as a polymer scientist desired.

No rappers in sight: Cristal Global (Glen Burnie, MD) is a manufacturer of titanium dioxide products; they're looking for a principal scientist in product development (B.S./M.S./Ph.D. with experience.)

Madison, WI: Silatronix is up in the battery scientist sweepstakes, desiring a B.S./M.S. in materials and 5-10 years experience with lithium-ion battery R&D.

Columbus, OH: Another in the periodic Chemical Abstracts Service postings for B.S./M.S. chemists; 49-58.8k listed. 

Ivory Filter Flask: 12/11/12 edition

Good morning! Between December 4 and December 10, there were 26 new positions posted on the C&EN Jobs website. The numbers:

Total number of ads: 26
- Postdocs: 2
- Tenure-track faculty:  19
- Temporary faculty: 1
- Lecturer positions:  2
- Staff positions:  2
- US/non-US: 24/2

Savannah, GA: Armstrong Atlantic State University is hiring 2 assistant professors and one instructor-level position. Preference for analytical chemists in the assistant professor positions. 

Anchorage, AK: The University of Alaska - Anchorage is hiring an assistant professor of chemistry.

Moraga, CA: St. Mary's College of California wishes to hire a part-time lecturer of nursing chemistry. Eh? 

Greensboro, NC: The UNC-Greensboro would like to hire an instrumentation support technician.

Hilo, HI: The University of Hawaii-Hilo, College of Pharmacy desires an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry. Ooooh.  

ACS presidential commission on graduate education: "rate of producing PhDs is... too high."

Credit: Anon121020121039a

From the ACS Presidential Commission Report on Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences (emphasis CJ's):

There is little doubt that the rate of producing new chemical sciences PhDs in the US is too high for the current employment market, but the current imbalance could not have been avoided without years of forethought. Because the average time-to-degree is about six years in our fields and because many PhDs temporarily occupy postdoctoral appointments, the time constant for adjustments in new employment candidates at the doctoral level must be something like 7-9 years. It is simply not possible for the system to adjust to changes in demand taking place on shorter timescales, and certainly not to those with the suddenness and degree of the 2008 contraction. 

The question of greatest relevance to the work of this Commission is whether the employment markets have undergone or will be proceeding through systematic changes that should lead PhD producers to alter the scale or the balance of their programs. By the word “balance,” we mean the mix among distinct areas or capabilities fostered in the program. Among departments of chemistry, balance would relate to the number of new PhDs produced in traditional subfields, or the numbers produced, for example, with synthetic, computational, or measurement skills.

Just in case anyone (including myself) did not believe in a PhD glut, senior chemistry professors believe it now.

My goodness, we are in a big, big hole.

2011 ACS officer salaries

The latest ACS Form 990. (2011)

Click to see bonuses and other incentives.

C&EN: Patent cliffs in pharma generate job losses

From this week's C&EN, Rick Mullin talks about some of the continuing job losses in pharma and the patent cliff:

The patent losses and sales declines have been accompanied by job cuts. AstraZeneca moved early in the year when it disclosed that 7,300 positions will be eliminated, including more than 2,000 in R&D. 

Notably, the company made big cuts in neuroscience research. But it also made a strategic change. AstraZeneca increasingly employs scientists who work primarily on data generated by academic and other research partners that perform experiments designed in collaboration with the drug company. The move highlights an increasing emphasis on research partnerships and on mathematical modeling and statistical analysis in the drug industry. 

Other firms cut staff in reorganizations in 2012. Merck Serono cut 500 jobs in April in the process of closing its headquarters in Switzerland and moving operations to its parent company in Germany. And in a move that heavily impacted New Jersey’s “pharmaceutical alley,” Roche announced it will close its operations in Nutley, N.J., which had served as the company’s U.S. headquarters for decades. About 1,000 jobs will be eliminated. 

Novartis said it will shed nearly 2,000 jobs in the U.S. in the face of losing patent exclusivity for Diovan, a blood pressure medicine that had sales of $6 billion in 2010. Meanwhile, Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines arm of Sanofi, launched a manufacturing-oriented restructuring program expected to eliminate as many as 2,000 jobs across France. Sanofi itself announced a revamp of its research operations in France that will eliminate 900 jobs by 2015.

 I wonder what 2013 will bring? Good things, I hope, but I am not feeling it.

The tax bite of the "fiscal cliff"

Credit: Wonkbook
(click through to see whole infographic)

So a reader challenged me to address the fiscal cliff and its effects on chemists. I've decided to address it in two portions. The "fiscal cliff" [or (as the Washington Post's Ezra Klein more descriptively (and accurately?) refers to it) "the austerity crisis"] is a package of tax cuts that are ending and federal spending cuts that might happen. Naturally, those in federally-funded universities, grant-related positions and the like will suffer effects from it; I will address it tomorrow. But everyone pays taxes, so everyone will be affected by this.

I am really not particularly interested in the elephant-versus-donkey part of assigning blame, but I do want to talk about the actual practical effects of what were to happen if all of the intended tax increases were to be imposed.

To the right is a portion of an infographic from the Tax Policy Center** and Washington Post that predicts that:

• For 2nd lowest-income quintile households (20k-39.7k), the average increase would be $1,231.
• For middle income quintile households (39.7k to 64.5k), the average increase would be $1,984.
• For the 2nd-highest income quintile (64.5k to 108k), the average increase would be $3,540. 

These are not insignificant increases -- I estimate that, for my household, I suspect it would be somewhere around $300 a month, which would definitely affect our consumption. I'll throw in the numbers for the non-1% households of the top quartile (e.g. a double Big Pharma household?): 

• For the top 80%-90% of households (bounded by 108k to 143.4k), the average tax increase would be $6,162. 
• For the top 90-95% of households (bounded by 143.4k to 204.3k), the average tax increase would be $7,830. 
• For the top 95-99% of households (bounded by 204.3k to 506.2k), the average tax increase would be $14,085

I think it's safe to assume that these tax increases (or, actually, returns to Clinton-era income tax rates, and Bush-era payroll tax rates) will be unlikely to happen for the bottom 98% of households, so in other words, most everyone. That said, it appears to me entirely possible that said tax increases will actually happen for a month or two, while the powers that be play chicken with one another. 

*Based on this white paper. 

Getting into finance from the bench?

From the inbox, a organic Ph.D. who's thinking about getting out of chemistry and into finance:

My other passion is my retirement.  I love playing with my 401k and IRAs and began to read more on the finer aspects of finance, particularly the trade and research within the financial world.  I have a few questions about the profession: 

1)  How hard is it to get a job with no business experience, or a weak business acumen?
2)  Do companies overlook this when PhD's are applying with a scientific degree assuming they can undergo a short course?
3)  When applying for this type of job do you tailor your resume in a less scientific manner?  What should your resume/CV contain?
4)  Lastly how do you even get noticed for a position as an analyst/trader/researcher with a scientific PhD vs an MBA? 

I'm just now reading more into the profession as an analyst and I'm sure I'll have more questions in the future.  I was hoping that your readers might also shed some light on the profession and what advantage a PhD would have in the industry, and are scientific PhD's something that companies are looking for? 

I know that chemists do indeed go into finance; you'll see them occasionally in the comments here and especially at In the Pipeline. Finance seems to be relatively low barrier-to-entry (i.e. it's who you know, not necessarily what your degree or what your resume looks like), but I suspect it's relatively difficult to stay in the field (or at least, there's fairly high turnover.) I am sure that chemists get hired as financial analysts; I assume there's some sort of degree/certification that's needed.

But I'm basically talking ex recto. Readers, what do you think?

Daily Pump Trap: 12/6/12 edition

Good morning! Between December 4 and December 5, 64 new positions were posted on C&EN Jobs. Of these, 9 (14%) were academically connected and 45 (70%) were from Kelly Scientific Resources.

Baltimore, MD (I believe): Oh, Allichem, at least you're honest. 50-60k for a M.S./Ph.D. organic chemist? Where can I sign up?

Los Alamos, NM: Los Alamos National Laboratories is looking for a postdoc in chemistry:

The candidate should have experience with fabrication of solar cells (DSSC or OPV) or other optoelectronic devices, such as LEDs. The ideal candidate should also have strong background in chemical synthesis (experience with organic oxidative condensations and/or dendrimer synthesis is particularly useful), have hands-on experience with HPLC purification methods and be familiar with standard characterization methods, such as NMR, MS, FTIR and UVVIS absorption. 

Sounds interesting.

Seattle, WA: Seattle Genetics is looking for an associate director of chemistry; Ph.D. and 10 years of oncology-directed research is required.

Chapel Hill, NC: Rheomics is looking for a microfabrication technician; B.S. chemistry desired, 2+ years experience, and "laboratory chops." Fair enough.

Golden, CO: The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is looking for a postdoc in computational chemistry for work on "modeling electronic properties of and transport through organic polymeric materials with quantum and classical mechanics."

Philadelphia, PA: Got experience in German and a B.S. in chemistry? Kelly has a gig for you.

An evening funny

Back tomorrow with more.

Stolen from synthesisman's post on the chemistry Reddit. I admit I heard this a couple of times in graduate school. 

Process Wednesday: Stopping at the right time

From a recent Org. Process Res. Dev. ASAP [1], a really great point about scaling up and reactions that are sensitive to side reactions. The authors had just developed a successful cyclization with 90% yield and 96% purity to produce 1.5 kilograms of material. And then...:

In order to test the robustness of this process, the reaction was extended for an additional 20 h. While the cyclization was complete within 2 h, the level of 18 increased almost linearly with reaction time, reaching 50% after 22 h at the expense of product 11, indicating that 18 was mainly generated from 11 (Figure 1a) [CJ's note: Left-hand graph above.] Thus, it became critical that the reaction be stopped at the right time point to minimize degradation, a challenge at plant scale. As the de-ethylation is likely acid catalyzed, base additives were considered to slow this process. The addition of 2,6-lutidine (2 equiv) was found to significantly retard the rate of the formation of 18 without a negative impact on the cyclization rate (Figure 1b) [center graph]  

Subsequently, an improved cyclization procedure was developed, using 1 equiv of p-toluenesulfonic acid (p-TSA) buffered with 3 equiv of pyridine as the catalyst and a Dean−Stark trap to remove water generated during the reaction. The cyclization of 10 was complete within 3 h, and 11 precipitated out from the reaction mixture as the p-TSA salt.  

More importantly, once the reaction was complete, no further decomposition of 11 to 18 was detected (Figure 2) [graph to right]; the levels of 11 and 18 remained essentially constant at 94% and 4%, respectively, even after heating the mixture to reflux for an additional 21 h. After cooling to room temperature, 11-TSA was isolated in 97% yield and 95.8% purity (containing 2.6% of 18). Material of this quality can be directly used in the next step. Interestingly, pyridine and p-TSA were found to be the ideal combination. Reactions catalyzed by p-TSA alone or with 2,6-lutidine in place of pyridine were observed to be slower and generated higher levels (4.8−8.8%) of 18.

I can't agree more about the difficulty of stopping a reaction at the right time. I think it's just very difficult to get that sort of thing to take place in a busy chemical manufacturing plant; it's much better to build that robustness in from the start.

1. Shu, L.; Gu, C.; Dong, Y.; Brinkman, R. "Efficient Large-Scale Synthesis of a 2,4,5-Triarylimidazoline MDM2 Antagonist." Org. Process Res. Dev. ASAP. DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1021/op300294g

Law school entrance exam takers dropping

Credit: The New York Times

From the New York Times' Economix blog, evidence of lowered interest in law degrees from Catherine Rampell:

The number of people taking the Law School Admission Test, known as the LSAT, offered in October fell sharply, down 16.4 percent from the year before, reaching its lowest level since 1999. October is usually the most popular time to take the test, too.  

No wonder, then, that law schools are cutting the size of their entering classes. Perhaps this means it’ll still be easier to get into the top schools, though, depending on how much the most elite schools decide to shrink their class sizes. 

There was a huge surge in law school applications during the recession and its immediate aftermath as people displaced by the poor economy sought the “safety” of a legal career. But now potential students seem to have wised up to the huge debt burden and poor job placement prospects.

I wonder if there's been similar evidence of smaller Ph.D. programs. I haven't heard any rumors of such, but there are other drivers of large entering grad student classes (demand for TAs, etc.)

Readers, what say you?

From the inbox: Novartis associate medchem position

From an astute reader, a position w/NIBR in Cambridge:

This position requires a B.S. or M.S. degree in Chemistry with at least 3 years experience in the synthesis and characterization of organic compounds. Experience with common spectroscopy (NMR, IR, UV, MS) and analytical techniques required. Experience with chromatography purification systems required. Good written and oral communication skills are required for effective drug discovery team participation. For faster consideration, please include your research summary as part of your resume.

Best of luck!  

Ask CJ: an immigration question

I recently received an e-mail from AS, who got a Ph.D. in chemistry in the US* and did a postdoc here as well, but through happenstance, is back in their home country in Eastern Europe. They're looking for ways to find industry jobs in the US or other countries. They have the following questions:

• Is there and difference in the difficulty level of finding employment for foreigners between US and Canada? 
• Alternatively, I can try to find another postdoc (which is something I am also working on). However, due to certain visa policies I can not return on the same academic visa I had previously. Do you happen to know if new or returning postdocs are admitted back in US on a temporary work visa? 

I confess to not being an science immigration expert, but I am sure there are some amongst my readers. It is my broad understanding that Canadian immigration is more biased towards skills-based (or $$-based) policies than those of the US, but I confess I don't really understand the issues.

Please comment, if you have expertise.

*At a very good department, not that it matters. 

Daily Pump Trap: 12/4/12 edition

Good morning! Between November 29 and December 3, there were 80 new positions posted on C&EN Jobs. Of these, 17 (21%) are academically connected and 51 (64%) are from Kelly Scientific Resources.

Philadelphia, PA: Heyyyyyy! How many chemists get to work for Delta Airlines? So a while back, Delta Airlines bought an oil refinery. And now, they're looking for a rotating-shift QC chemist:

This is a highly compensated entry level position requiring the individual to work on a rotating 12-hour shift that includes weekends and holidays. The Shift Chemist analyzes organic and inorganic compounds to determine chemical and physical properties utilizing such techniques as classic wet bench chemistry, chromatography, spectroscopy, spectrophotometry, and various physical property analytical techniques. This information is used in process control and for the certification of finished products.

0-5 years experience needed in a refinery/chemical plant area. Fascinating.

Kingsport, TN: BAE Systems is looking for a Ph.D. organic/organometallic chemist (or a B.S. chemist with 10+ years experience) with 5 years of energetic materials experience.

Plainview, NY: Certified Laboratories is looking for a M.S. analytical chemist to be an instrumentation manager with 10+ years experience in food safety. 

Birmingham, AL: Southern Research Institute is looking for a senior medicinal chemist with the experience/ability to garner grant funds.

Rockford, IL: A confidential rubber/tire company is looking for a QC manager; 45-55k desired.

Manchester, UK: Nanoco Technologies is doing thin film solar-oriented research; they're looking for, among others, synthetic and materials chemists. 

Ivory Filter Flask: 12/4/12 edition

Good morning! Between November 27 and December 3, there were 28 academically connected positions posted on C&EN Jobs. The numbers:

Total number of ads: 28
- Postdocs: 4
- Tenure-track faculty:  20
- Temporary faculty: 0
- Lecturer positions:  1
- Staff positions:  3
- US/non-US: 20/8

Pasadena, CA: The California Institute of Technology's Department of Applied Physics and Material Science is looking for an assistant professor.

St. Joseph, MO:  Missouri Western State University desires an assistant professor of biochemistry.

Gainesville, FL: The University of Florida's College of Engineering is looking for a new EH&S director; B.S./M.S. with 4-6 years relevant experience; 90-110k offered.

Orem, UT: And on the other end, Utah Valley University is looking for a chemical lab manager and a chemical hygiene & safety coordinator for 35k to 44k. Huh.

Newark, DE: The University of Delaware is looking for a organic laboratory manager; M.S./Ph.D. desired.

A morning project management laugh

Feel like this morning's posts have been bummers, so here's something amusing:

Dr. Freddy had an Ask Me Anything post recently. Here's part of his response to my question -- you'll have to go over there to read my NSFW* question, and the punch line:

There was this project which involved a super-active compound, according to the primary and cell assays, and met stab data were decent... So far however, they had only been able to isolate 6 of the enantiomers, so my assignment came to be to find the missing 2. Prio 1 and whatever they like to call it. 

I drew the compound on paper and started staring at it. That is my modus operandi. I stare problems down, if necessary for days. (I think it was Einstein who said something like: it’s not that I’m smarter than most people, I just tend to stay with problems longer.) After almost a full working day — my brain is pretty slow in 3D space — it suddenly struck me. A C2-symmetry element! There could only be 4 enantiomers!

 Seriously, the story gets better. Go over there and read it.

*I used a technical term for a project that is not going well. The Navy calls it a Charlie Fox, I believe. 

C&EN: Canadian government helping out Montreal R&D

It's hard not to see these two C&EN articles as somewhat
emblematic of the changes In These Times.* 

From this week's C&EN, an article by Lisa Jarvis talking about the Canadian government's effort to help out the struggling Montreal R&D scene:

As drug companies move their R&D operations out of Quebec in rapid succession, Canadian authorities are trying to sustain the region’s life sciences community. In the latest effort, the government, along with AstraZeneca and Pfizer, is committing $100 million over five years to establish the NeoMed Institute, a nonprofit research center in Montreal. 

NeoMed aspires to bridge the gap between basic research and early clinical studies for drug candidates by offering universities and biotech start-ups funding and services. The hope is to eventually restore some of the hundreds of R&D jobs the region has lost in the past two years. AstraZeneca and Pfizer, along with any other big pharma partners that join NeoMed, will have an option to license molecules developed there. 

AstraZeneca is kicking in its former neuroscience research facility, which was focused on developing small molecules, along with $5 million and intellectual property for three potential pain drugs. The firm values its input at $35 million...

...The research center will provide minimal relief for the victims of pharma-related R&D job losses in the Montreal region. In addition to AstraZeneca, Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson, and Boehringer Ingelheim all have shuttered R&D sites or significantly cut the number of scientists they employ in Quebec.

Someone (myself?) should track where all these chemists that used to work in the Montreal region have ended up; this is really unfortunate, and does not bode well for pharma R&D in Canada.

Best wishes to all of us.

*Not intending offense to Nigerians or Indians, just noting the choices that multinational pharma R&D is making. 

While we're at it...

Any materials scientists out there? I have a question regarding a specific department of materials science. If you want to opine on this department (located in the northeast region of the US), please feel free to e-mail me at chemjobber -at- gmail/dot/com. 

C&EN: Opportunities in materials science

From this week's C&EN, a look at career opportunities in materials science by Shawna Williams:

The numbers bear this out: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects that the materials science field will grow by just over 10%—around 900 jobs—between 2010 and 2020, compared with 4% growth in chemistry jobs. But delving deeper into the BLS numbers, it’s clear there’s a significant shift under way in the field, with consulting, research and development, and academic positions on the rise, while most jobs in manufacturing are expected to decline. 

Despite these changes, and the weak economy, heads of materials science departments around the country report that their graduates have, by and large, continued to find employment in recent years....  

[snip] Today, some of the hottest areas are gallium nitride and its role in solid-state lighting; oxide semiconductors, which hold promise for electronics; hybrid structures of organic and inorganic components, which are ultralightweight or have unusual mechanical, thermal, or energetic properties; additive manufacturing, in which products are made in layers by a printerlike machine; and energy-related materials such as organic photovoltaics and thermoelectrics, according to UCSB’s Pollock. 

Dow Corning is looking to fill positions in specialties such as ceramics, solid-state chemistry, and metallurgy, according to Michele Stafford, a recruiter with the firm. In addition, she says, “we have a large need for materials scientists who have a focus on doing device development. Not only would they synthesize the materials, but they would look at how those materials fit into electronic devices.”  

The competition among companies for scientists with the right backgrounds—whether they’re old hands or newly minted Ph.D.s—is quite stiff, says Dow Corning’s recruiting manager for North America, Jason Saavedra. In response, many firms partner with universities and offer internships to cultivate relationships with students doing research in desired areas, he says.

Not to be particularly repetitive on this point, but I find it amusing and irritating that department heads cannot simply tell Ms. Williams what the employment rate of their graduates is.

(I wonder who Dow Corning is working with?)

Age discrimination in pharma discussion

An important discussion on age discrimination in pharma is going on below, if you should choose to join in. 

Thank you note etiquette

Because I can't send each and every one of 
you a thank you note, I've appended one above. 

I've also typed it out for comparison. 

I am a big believer in writing 'thank you' notes (by e-mail or in person.) I also think that it's important for job candidates to send thank you notes after on-site interviews. After a long discussion recently elsewhere online*, it seemed like the general consensus was:

• Send an e-mail note as soon as possible after the interview. 
• Write a physical thank you note (on nice stationery?) as well, to be sent after you return home. 
• Send to all relevant people (at least your immediate 'host' and head honcho). 
• Add personal details, or reinforce a point that you'd like to make again. 

There was some pushback about whether or not a physical thank you note was necessary or relevant, as opposed to e-mail. I argued that a handwritten note is typically more impactful in that it is a physical object (and a tool that is not usually used, i.e. handwriting, and thank you notes.) I am not sure that the detractors felt that physical thank you notes were worth the effort and expense. 

Perhaps things have changed, and thank you e-mails are now de rigueur. Readers, what say you? 

*Being oblique to protect the innocent

Book review: "The Elements: An Illustrated History of the Periodic Table"

Image credit: Amazon

I was recently sent a review copy of "The Elements: An Illustrated History of the Periodic Table" by UK author Tom Jackson. It's certainly a beautiful book to look at, filled with interesting facts about the history of chemistry (and science in general.) The structure is unique; it is structured as a list of 100 mileposts in history, it starts with "Stone Age Chemistry" as item #1 and ends with "The Higgs Boson" as item #100.* The book teaches a variety of chemically-related concepts (e.g. temperature, disproving vitalism, chirality (!), x-ray crystallography) in very accessible but accurate language.

Since I assume that I am not the target audience of this book, I passed along my review copy to a couple of adolescents (ages 9 to 12) that I know. Two of them were somewhat intimidated by the book, I think ("I would probably read it... if I had to") while one of them paged through it for a few minutes and said, "Pretty neat!" I thought so, too.

I would recommend Tom Jackson's "The Elements: An Illustrated History of the Periodic Table" for adolescents, especially those who are getting into chemistry for the first time. Those young people who already have a love of history will really enjoy this book.

Other than the physical copy of the book, Chemjobber has received no compensation for this review.

*The enterprising purchaser/reader will have to find the latest developments with the Higgs Boson elsewhere, as item #100's blurb begins "In 2011, scientists became hopeful that they could would get an answer to one of the big questions in science: does the Higgs Boson exist?" Short answer: yes, we think so. 

Age discrimination in Silicon Valley

I don't really know very much about age discrimination, but I assume that it does happen. (My short experience observing large pharma layoffs tells me it might, in its weird legal fashion.) The San Jose Mercury News has an interesting article about it, with plenty of quotes about investors and executives ideas that young software developers are more knowledgeable about modern software protocols and have more time on their hands:

Some technology recruiters say unequivocally they see bias at work. Marta Fuentealba, a principal at start-up specialist Talent Farm, says she's encountered it many times. 

She recalls a meeting at a software company a few years ago, when the human-resources executive told her he would like to find somebody "around age 26 or so" to fill a job. An age requirement along those lines would violate both state and federal laws on discrimination, California labor lawyers say. 

"You mean, somebody less jaded?" Fuentealba recalls asking, hoping to jolt the executive back into legal territory. "And he said, 'No, I mean somebody young, probably no older than 26.'" Back at the office, she sent the executive resumes from a variety of candidates. 

..."I am just an incredibly enthusiastic fan of very talented 20-somethings starting companies," Sequoia Capital's Mike Moritz, 58 years old and a top VC, once said at a conference, echoing similar comments he has made over the years. "They have great passion. They don't have distractions like families and children and other things that get in the way of business." He was 49 at the time.

Yikes. Remind me not to try to become a Silicon Valley entrepreneur anytime soon; seems like being a husband and a father could be a liability.

I've never really worked with older chemists as peers for an extended amount of time; I've mostly had them as bosses. I don't really think there's a significant creativity difference between younger and older chemists.*

This bit in the article about certain cosmetic changes during job hunting I found particularly distasteful:

Silicon Valley veterans try to adapt as best they can. Adams of Socialdial ticks off a list of faux pas that he believes peg older jobseekers as outsiders. "You can't have an AOL email," he says. "That's horrible. A Gmail address is okay. What's really cool is an email with your name on it," as part of the domain. 

In person, older job applicants should carry a backpack, not a briefcase, he says. Avoid Blackberries and Dell laptops in favor of Android phones and Apple products. And above all, steer clear of wristwatches, which most younger people have replaced with the clocks on their phones. "The worst would be a gold Rolex," he says. "Tacky, and old."

I wonder if similar (and stupid) age-related cosmetic issues are at work in the chemistry world -- I tend to think not, but I dunno. It seems that we have a culture that values wisdom and experience (relative to Silicon Valley, anyway). But I haven't been in the big world of the pharma/chemical industry very long. Readers, please feel free to correct me.

*I have, on occasion, found older chemists who have failed to keep up with the chemical literature in any serious fashion. (Around the time of Suzuki's Nobel prize, I was amused to talk to one manager who found palladium-catalyzed chemistry to be a cute academic oddity, as opposed to a technology that should be seriously considered.) I don't think that's really age-related, so much as it is about failing to exercise an important prerogative of a Ph.D. chemist's life: to keep current with important, job-relevant literature. I assume that these mental discipline issues are found in both the young and the old.

How many 1st year grad students will get their Ph.D. in chemistry?

A little evening tidbit: Dan Drezner is a professor of international political economy and a longtime foreign policy blogger. He's been involved in an interesting debate about whether or not a Ph.D. is required for going into policy in the Washington, D.C. area. He is pushing back strongly against any encouragement of a doctorate as a terminal degree. Here is a tibdit from his latest long post about it that I found stunning:

Furthermore, not finishing a Ph.D. is not exactly uncommon.  Click on this slide show about Ph.D. attrition rates from the Council of Graduate Schools, and note the following three facts: 

1)  Only 46% of all entrants finish their Ph.D. after seven years in a program.
2)  For social science Ph.D.s, that figure is even lower -- 41%
3)  If you extend it out to ten years, the lowest completion rate among the social sciences is political science -- only 44% complete a doctorate after a decade.  In other words, entering a Ph.D. program and then not finishing is the modal outcome. 

From that report (written in 2008, collected from data before then) the 10-year completion rate was 62% for a doctoral degree in chemistry. (I wonder what that number is now? To SESTAT!)

Job posting: B.S. analytical chemist, Cincinnati, OH

From the inbox:

This hands-on Analytical Technician position will be responsible for performing sample preparation and analytical testing in support of research scientists.
- Hands-on operations of advanced analytical equipment
- Role may include support of testing demand in any lab and may include Microscopy, IR, DSC, chromatography/separations and similar and even lab work in other site labs....

B.S. chemistry desired. 40-60k for Cincinnati? Sounds okay -- readers, what say you?

Daily Pump Trap: 11/29/12 edition

Good morning! Between November 27 and November 28, there were 30 new positions posted on ACS Careers. Of those, 13 (43%) were academically connected and 13 (43%) are from Kelly Scientific Careers.

Yuurrrggghhh: Tiring to wade through all of these academic and Kelly postings.

Denver, CO: Leprino Food is searching for a carbohydrate chemist to be a food scientist; B.S./M.S./Ph.D. desired, with rising levels of experience. (0-2 years for Ph.D.) They're a cheese company (among other items.)

Orange, TX: Invista is searching for an experimental technician (associates/B.S., with 2+ years experience); they have advertised this position at least 5 times this year, which is indicative of either growth or high turnover. Probably the latter. (Glassdoor, for what it's worth, says 50-55k. I am skeptical, but hopeful.)

"Harrisonburg, VA or Menlo Park, CA": SRI International is looking for a director for medicinal or biological chemistry, which they put at associate or full professor level. They want 8-10 years experience, with a requirement of previously getting funding. Huh.

St. Louis, MO: Ameren (a power utility, I believe) is looking for a B.S./M.S. analytical chemist to be a laboratory supervisor. 4+ years experience desired.

Gray absorbent pads

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

• Stories of scientists in East Germany, from Sarah Everts. 
• Welcome, "Not the Lab", to the chemblogosphere! This post on utility in federally-funded research has stuck with me. 
• Jess writes about carbon capture technology; I think there's real work here for organic chemists. 
• Which celebrity would you like to be in your lab photo shoot? 
• 10 nitrogens in a row!
• I loved this post on a flame by Th'Gaussling.
• C&EN's Christmas gift guide, including elemental Uncle Goose blocks. (Very sturdy, high quality.)
• Chemical-free food (yikes!)
• A great article on polonium-210 by Deborah Blum
• Milkshake's post on ultrafiltration in polymer chemistry was excellent. 
• Looking forward to answers from Dr. Freddy's AMA.
• John thinks about reshoring, and whether it will happen. I am skeptical, but hopeful. 
• This Dennis Curran commentary in Nature Chemistry (subscription needed) was very pointed, I thought, and only sort of jokey . It came with a fun picture from the journal's hard working staff. 
• Via Liberal Arts Chemistry, this story of a young woman who just wanted her B.Sc. in chemistry is really lovely. 

Did I miss anything? Readers, let me know in the comments. 

A passage that has stuck with me for a while now

This Paul Krugman blogpost on economic insecurity rings really true to me:

Every time you read someone extolling the dynamism of the modern economy, the virtues of risk-taking, declaring that everyone has to expect to have multiple jobs in his or her life and that you can never stop learning, etc,, etc., bear in mind that this is a portrait of an economy with no stability, no guarantees that hard work will provide a consistent living, and a constant possibility of being thrown aside simply because you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

There are a lot of political responses to this paragraph (Krugman argues for stronger state benefits in his post), but that's not what I am focused on. I do this that it is a remarkably apt counterpoint to Professor Whitesides' call for chemical entrepreneurship, or Madeleine Jacobs' comments about "thriving in the global workforce."

I think that this sentence says something true about industrial chemistry as an enterprise, and what the future might hold. Best wishes to all of us. 

Process Wednesday: hey, why not turn up the dryer by 10°C?

Credit: Cann et al. ORPD

I love the little details that you get to see in process papers. From an OPRD ASAP [1]:

A final issue was the decomposition of 11 during drying. The penultimate 11 degraded by urea bond cleavage to form 2−3% of amino acid 14 and piperidinyl quinolinone 4 during drying at 50 °C. Laboratory experimentation revealed that any potential residual levels of HCl, LiOH, dimethylamine or LiCl were not the root cause of this degradation. This led us to speculate that the degradation may be facilitated by the carboxylic acid moiety of 11. This possibility is supported by 1H NMR studies, which showed that the indazole N−H resonance at 13.04 ppm in 11 was a rather broad peak of two protons between 12.4 and 13.4 ppm. This implies the potential existence of 11 as a zwitterion (Scheme 16), and the carboxylate anion may serve as the nucleophile to attack the urea carbonyl group to break the urea bond. 

Decreasing the oven temperature to 40 °C limited decomposition to less than 0.1% over 63 h of drying while Dynochem modeling revealed that the rate of drying was controlled by moisture transport from inside the wet cake. To minimize drying time we utilized an agitated filter-dryer in a two stage protocol. The wet cake was first deliquored for at least 12 h at ambient temperature with minimum agitation, thus avoiding the formation of gummy balls. This was followed by warming to 40 °C with intermittent agitation. The telescoped process was then utilized to produce 1.7 kg of penultimate 11 in 80% yield and a purity of 95.6% and 99.3% ee.

From the supporting information, it appears that the cake washes were water, then MTBE, and then they put it in an agitation dryer (I wonder what one of those babies cost?) and vacuum dried at 20°C without agitation for 16 hours. Only after then, did they turn up the heat to just 35°C.

As someone who occasionally sets dryer specs (and gets into arguments about them), it's interesting to see (and perhaps unsurprising) that increasing the drying temperature by 10°C would raise the level of an impurity by 2%. Something else to worry about!

1. Cann, R.O.*; Chen, H.C.; Gao, Q.; Hanson, R.L.; Hsieh, D.; Li, J.; Lin, D.; Parsons, R.L.; Pendri, Y.; Nielsen, R.B.; Nugent, W.A.; Parker, W.L.; Quinlan, S.; Reising, N.P.; Remy, B.; Sausker, J.; Wang, X.;   "Selection of an Enantioselective Process for the Preparation of a CGRP Receptor Inhibitor." Org. Process Res. Dev., Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/op3003097

UNC physics professor falls victim to romance scam

This has probably been covered in a number of places already, but the relevant Argentinian court has ruled in this case, so it's worth covering in full:

The 68-year-old UNC-Chapel Hill physics professor arrested in Argentina early this year after being caught with more than 4 pounds of cocaine hidden in a suitcase has been convicted by an Argentine court. 

Paul Frampton, the Oxford-educated Louis D. Rubin Jr. Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy, told investigators he was duped into unknowingly carrying the drugs after being lured first to Bolivia with a promise of meeting a famous bikini model. 

He was sentenced to four years and eight months of confinement Monday afternoon after three days of hearings. He expects to serve his sentence under house arrest at a friend’s apartment in Buenos Aires.

It sounds like the prosecution has him dead to rights, with the drugs in hand. However, it's pretty clear that he thought that he was communicating with the bikini model in question.* (N.B. Google searches will be guaranteed to be Not Safe For Work.) From my perspective, it's kind of sad. I suspect (although I could be completely wrong) that someone younger/more-Internet-savvy or someone with somewhat stronger family/community ties would not have fallen for this classic confidence trick.

Naturally, his salary and tenure are at risk, which is generating its own little controversy.

What I find worthwhile for discussion is that Professor Frampton appears to be serving his role as a professor while in legal trouble in Argentina:

Frampton contends that he has been doing his job while incarcerated, including writing research papers and advising students by telephone and email.

I would be interested to hear from readers about professors who have been similarly out-of-pocket (overseas? on sabbatical? in space?), and whether or not they have continued to carry out their duties as professors.

*As I said on Twitter, if Christina Hendricks** e-mailed me and asked me to smuggle some drugs for her, I might consider it. (And then, being reminded of the faithful love of my wife and the smiles of my children, I would decide against it.) But first, I would ask myself -- why is Christina Hendricks e-mailing me? 

**perhaps wise not to Google her at work, either. 

Missed the "Doctoral Glut" ACS webinar? Watch it here

I don't often suggest that you spend 60 minutes watching a video, but if you're interested in hearing what economists think about the existence of a doctoral glut in the sciences, you could do worse than Professor Richard Freeman and Professor Paula Stephan, both experts in the labor economics of science. Check it out. 

Daily Pump Trap: 11/27/12 edition

Good morning! Between November 20 and November 26, there were 103 new positions posted on C&EN Jobs. Of these, 32 (31%) were academically connected and 62 (60%) were from Kelly Scientific Resources.

Berkeley, CA: Lawrence Berkeley National Labs is looking for a postdoctoral fellow for a project titled "Simulating the generation, evolution and fate of electronic excitations in molecular and nanoscale materials with first principles methods." Huh.

Taylorsville, MI: This manufacturing optimization position is weirdly posted to C&EN Jobs, especially when it desires "plywood process knowledge". But it's interesting nonetheless.

Bridgewater, NJ: Henkel is looking for a senior development chemist for polyurethane work; I think they would take the right M.S.-level recent graduate in polymer chemistry.

Malvern, PA: Teva is looking for a B.S./M.S. chemical engineer with 5+ years experience with reaction engineering and process hazard analysis.

Ahh, you guys: Shamrock Technologies (yes, them) is looking for a salesperson; there's some wonderful language, including "This careeer (sic) should be an exciting and rewarding experience for someone who can handle adversity by overcoming it. Research and Sales have this in common." and "Requirements: Ability to retain and apply knowlege. (sic) /Drive to accomplish. / Willingness to take rejection (temporarily). / Background in chemistry. / Like people."

Ivory Filter Flask: 11/27/12 edition

Good morning! Between November 20 and November 26, there were 32 academically connected positions posted on C&EN Jobs. The numbers:

Total number of ads: 32
- Postdocs: 3
- Tenure-track faculty:  26
- Temporary faculty: 0
- Lecturer positions:  1
- Staff positions:  2
- US/non-US: 28/4

Johnstown, PA: The University of Pittsburgh - Johnstown is looking for an assistant professor of physical chemistry.

CJ learns something: Last Tuesday, I posted a quizzical comment about electrical engineering (semiconductor design, really) and its connection to chemistry. A passionate anonymous commenter wrote in to correct me, for which I am eternally grateful. So thanks, anon.

Manhattan, KS: Kansas State is looking for a M.S./Ph.D. chemist to run its undergraduate teaching laboratories.

Asheville, NC: Warren Wilson College is looking for an assistant professor of biochemistry.

Champaign, IL: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is (once again) searching for chemical safety and chemical waste professionals. I feel like this is a once-a-year occurrence, for which I am a little confused. The turnover must be high-ish.

Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Research Corporation is looking for a postdoctoral fellow in carbon capture technology.

In case you missed it: Day 4 of the #SheriSangji hearings, Baudendistel cross-examined partially

In case you missed it, Jyllian Kemsley and Michael Torrice of C&EN have posted their summary of Day 4 of the preliminary hearing of Professor Patrick Harran on charges stemming from the death of Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji in January 2009.

Included in the summary is Mr. Baudendistel's comments on the interactions that the postdoc assigned to Ms. Sangji had with her, regarding safety. Friends/readers, would your mentorship relationships survive such scrutiny, with regards to chemical safety?

If you want to get into the inside baseball of the legal maneuvering, there's a little bit after the jump:

I don't understand what this guy is saying

From this week's C&EN, Rick Mullin interviews Ian Shott, the head of AMRI's European operations on his business improvement philosophies:

“Yes, I think of myself as a process engineer,” Shott said, reminiscing about his efforts to combine process development R&D with contract manufacturing at Rhodia ChiRex. Shott also challenged his peers to rewrite the organic chemistry playbook by exploring the use of special catalysts, continuous reactors, and “greener” processes. These days, however, his interest in process design reaches further upstream to basic laboratory chemistry. 

“I think the whole road map from discovery to mature manufacture needs to be rethought,” Shott said. “I am quite interested in things like network analysis.” Applied in other fields of R&D, notably electronics and computers, network analysis is an engineering discipline used to predict interactions between components of a system or network. In drug discovery, for example, researchers are beginning to use chemoproteomic data to develop mathematical models for analyzing protein networks. It is a matter, he argued, of interjecting principles of engineering in an environment that is dominated by traditional chemistry. 

“People have been talking about systems biology, which tries to model and predict every chemical reaction, whereas network analysis isn’t going to that level of detail,” Shott said. “It is focused more on the outcome, rather than simulating the interaction, and so it is intrinsically simpler and intrinsically cheaper, using data that are available.” 

Shott sees the increased emphasis on data analysis as a revolution in drug research that will bring the chemical engineer into the process earlier. In drug discovery and development, “you have your classic paradigm in which first you have the discovery chemist, then you have the organic synthesis chemists, and then, very late in the day, you get chemical engineers involved,” Schott said. “But chemical engineers can actually be involved at any one of these stages. They’ve got the mathematics, they’ve got the statistics, and they’ve got the chemistry. If they are biochemical engineers they have biology as well. This is really a hot topic for me.”

I confess (not a surprise) to some level of territoriality, but this set of statements really confuses me. I am not sure what Mr. Shott means, other than that smart engineers can help chemists do math (which, I admit, is not a strong suit of chemists.) Is that the difference? That chemistry projects need more mathematics to guide their decisions? I dunno.

The oil and gas bidness is doing okay

From this week's C&EN, a report on the fortunes of French chemical company SNF and their polyacrylamide business from Jean-Francois Tremblay:

Demand in the water treatment business is determined by population growth and water standards, not the economy, Remy points out. And population and water standards are both rising in developing countries, to the benefit of SNF’s international business. Industrial water treatment is more reactive to booms and downturns—but only to a point. “Demand would decrease if sites were to close, but it’s not a phenomenon that is happening in a very noticeable way at the moment,” Remy says. “If industrial sites exist, they need to process their water.” 

Beyond water treatment, polyacrylamide plays an important role in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), an oil extraction technique that boosts well productivity. EOR, which is mostly practiced in the U.S., is economically viable as long as oil trades at more than $15 per barrel, Remy says. Given that oil currently sells for close to $100 per bbl, he expects oil drilling to remain a strong market for SNF. 

Daniel Choi, a research associate at the consulting firm Lux Research, agrees. “As global oil consumption rises to over 90 million bbl per day, the world’s key oil fields are declining and producers are looking to squeeze every last drop,” he says. “We expect EOR to play a crucial role in SNF’s strategy.” 

Similarly, polyacrylamide is used in ­hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a relatively new method of hydrocarbon extraction also practiced mostly in the U.S. The growth of EOR and fracking in the U.S. has boosted SNF’s North American sales to nearly half the company’s global turnover.

I wonder if oil will ever fall back to below $50 a barrel? (Remember back when gas was below $2/gallon?) 

Day 4 of the #SheriSangi preliminary hearing

Jyllian Kemsley and Michael Torrice have written up their notes from Day 4 of the preliminary hearings, which included Brian Baudendistel's partial cross-examination by Professor Harran's defense attorney, Thomas O'Brien:

O’Brien: Are you aware that the standards of care for safety in academic laboratories differ from the standard of care in industrial laboratories?
Baudendistel: I don’t agree with that.
O’Brien: You’re not aware of that, sir?
Baudendistel: I think there is a difference in universities’ compliance with applicable regulations, so in that sense, yes. Is there an accepted difference? I don’t agree with that.
O’Brien: Do you agree that there’s a difference in how safety is conducted in academic universities versus safety conducted in industrial universities?
Baudendistel: Industrial universities…
O’Brien: I’m sorry, industrial laboratories.
Baudendistel: I think that there is less compliance with applicable regulations in the university setting as there is in industry.
O’Brien: Would you agree that there is a difference also in how employees are trained in terms of academic university lab workers versus industrial laboratories?
Baudendistel: Yes.
O’Brien: Would you agree that in industry employees are trained at a much higher standard?
Baudendistel: Yes.

If you read the whole thing, you can get to Mr. O'Brien's attempt to get Ms. Sangji's undergraduate education (classes, etc.) as training towards laboratory safety. (I think.) I think December 17 and December 18 are going to be very interesting days...

More in the morning.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you're in the US, Happy Thanksgiving. And if you're elsewhere, Happy Wednesday/Thursday! (TM Leigh Boerner)

I am tremendously thankful for:

- The health and wellbeing of my family
- A great town to live in
- Continued employment
- A blog/Twitter community that I can learn from
- Commenters that are knowledgeable and aren't afraid to challenge
- Readers that keep coming back for more

Thanks for a great year. I am terribly thankful for each and everyone one of you, and I hope that you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving. (Safe travels, everyone.)

Day 3 of preliminary hearings: Neal Langerman testifies

From the AP's report on Day 3 of the preliminary hearing for the charges against Professor Patrick Harran stemming from the death of Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji in January 2009, chemical safety expert Dr. Neal Langerman testifies:

Under questioning by Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Marguerite Rizzo, Langerman said Sangji should not have been handling the chemical tert-Butyllithium without specific training and study of instructions provided by its manufacturer. He said the chemical is highly flammable if it comes in contact with oxygen. 

Asked about Sangji's background, Langerman said, "She absolutely did not have sufficient skill, knowledge or training to be handling tert-Butyllithium." 

He said the 23-year-old, who had a bachelor's degree in chemistry, never worked with the chemical until she came to UCLA. Equipment in the lab was inadequate and technicians were not provided with protective clothing, he said.

In addition, Sangji made errors in procedure, Langerman said, adding that the accident was predictable and preventable. 

"When you ask an untrained person to deal with a high-risk task, something bad is going to happen," he said.

It's interesting to note that Dr. Langerman has said from the beginning that a blast shield would be recommended in working with tert-butyllithium. This is a recommendation that almost certainly is not being followed in US academic chemistry laboratories. (One wonders about the cost/benefit of this recommendation -- is the extra protection worth the awkwardness?)

...And attending the hearing, our favorite PR fl Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs, sent to cover UCLA's protect UCLA's image:

Outside court, Kevin Reed, an attorney for UCLA who is observing the case, said: "The fundamental thing is this was a terrible tragedy. Dr. Langerman's testimony has not done anything to convert what was a tragedy into a crime."

(Mr. Reed failed to note that Dr. Langerman demolished his argument that Sheri Sangji was "an experienced and skilled chemist.") Lawyers -- you gotta love 'em.

UPDATE: The C&EN team has weighed in with its more detailed report on Day 3, based on Dr. Langerman's testimony. New facts/facets of the case:\

• The Harran defense team objected to not questioning Dr. Langerman's experience in investigating past laboratory accidents; the judge ruled that the defense will be able to cross-examine him on this issue. (See C&EN's Michael Torrice in the comments on this issue.)
• Dr. Langerman testified that Ms. Sangji performed titrations of the tBuLi before the fatal reaction. 
• Dr. Langerman noted that the plunger problem likely happened after Ms. Sangji had successfully transferred the first portion of tBuLi. 

This is as good as a time as any to link again to Aldrich technical bulletin AL-134, which instructs the student on safe transfer of pyrophoric reagents. 

Also, Dr. Langerman will return for cross-examination on December 18, 2012. 

Process Wednesday: back next week

Process Wednesday has started the Thanksgiving holiday early. In exchange, have a only slightly altered image from LinkedIn:

Day 2 of the #SheriSangji preliminary hearing

Here's a link to the AP report of day 2 of the preliminary hearing for the charges against Professor Harran stemming from the death of Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji in January 2009. Cal/OSHA investigator Brian Baudendistel was on the stand; no cross-examination (I believe) by the defense yet.

His testimony will conclude today, which is Day 3 of the hearing.

UPDATE: The C&EN team's report is here.

McKinsey report on manufacturing

The red boxes mark places where chemists typically work. Credit: McKinsey

From the Washington Post summary of a McKinsey report on manufacturing, an uncomfortable statement:

Manufacturing contributed 20 percent of the growth in global economic output in the decade ending in 2010, the McKinsey researchers estimate, and 37 percent of global productivity growth from 1995 to 2005. Yet the sector actually subtracted 24 percent from employment in advanced nations. 

“Manufacturing makes outsized contributions to GDP. It makes outsized contributions to overall productivity growth. It drives prosperity,” said James Manyika, one of the authors of the report. “But purely on employment, it has been declining over time.” 

That said, it's sort of good news for chemists:

In other words, the manufacturing worker of the future is more likely to have a graduate degree and wear a suit or a labcoat to work than to have only a high school education and carry a lunch pail.

I hope that's true.

Daily Pump Trap: 11/20/12 edition

Good morning! Between November 15 and November 19, there were 94 new positions posted on the C&EN Jobs website. Of these, 15 (16%) are academically connected and 63 (67%) are from Kelly Scientific Resources. 

New York, New York: D.E. Shaw has been making some interesting moves in biomedically-related science. Here they are, looking for drug discoverers:

Extraordinarily gifted scientists with expertise in computer-aided drug design or protein structural modeling are sought to join a New York–based interdisciplinary research group that is pursuing an ambitious, long-term strategy aimed at fundamentally transforming the process of drug discovery. 

Candidates should have world-class credentials in drug discovery. Relevant areas of experience might include medicinal chemistry, structure- and fragment-based drug design, molecular modeling, chemo- and bio-informatics, and/or target analysis and selection. Specific knowledge in one or more of these areas is less critical than exceptional intellectual ability and a demonstrated track record of impact in drug development. 

I wonder what they're up to?

Kingsport, TN: Eastman is looking for an "information scientist"; looking like they're looking for someone with a B.S. in chemistry or chemical engineering and a Master's in Library Science. Interesting. 

Columbus, OH: CAS is looking for M.S./Ph.D. chemists with knowledge of organometallic or coordination chemistry.

Manchester, MI: Amcor Rigid Plastics is looking for a group leader for its analytical laboratory; B.S. in chemistry plus industrial experience in QC desired.