Got a career dilemma?

I'm always game for writing answer requests for advice in my column at Chemical and Engineering News. Please feel free to write me (chemjobber@gmail.com) if you have a career-oriented dilemma that you'd like me to write about in the magazine. Also, you can submit your questions with this handy web form. Thanks!

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 339 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 339 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

Job posting: Sr Research Associate I, Process Development, Gilead, Foster City, CA

From the inbox, a position with Gilead in Foster City, CA:

With the commitment and drive you bring to the Pharmaceutical Development & Manufacturing (PDM) workplace, you will be part of a team that is changing the world and helping millions of people live healthier, more fulfilling lives. You will see the tangible results of your contributions, where every individual matters, and everyone has a chance to enhance their skills through on-going development. Our scientific focus has resulted in marketed products that are benefiting hundreds of thousands of people, a pipeline of late-stage drug candidates, and unmatched patient access programs to ensure medications are available to those who could otherwise not afford them. By joining PDM at Gilead, you will further our mission to address unmet medical needs and improve life by advancing the care of patients with life-threatening diseases. 

This individual will assist, primarily from lab based activities, process chemistry activities for pharmaceutical APIs. These activities will include scale-down model development and qualification, process optimization, robustness studies, formal process characterization and risk assessments, and process validation.  In addition, this individual will support process technology transfer activities, due diligence, and facility fit assessment for internal and external manufacturing facilities.  The person will play an integral role as a process chemistry representative for global CMC project teams.   

Specific Responsibilities & Skills for the Position:

• Responsible for developing chemical processes for the manufacturing of drug substances.
• Familiar with Pilot Plant operations and able to write master batch records and safety summaries with limited supervision.
• Plans and executes assigned experiments, with increasing independence, which supports Process Development activities and project goals.
• Executes reactions and makes key observations during reaction, work-up and isolation.
• Pays particular attention to avoiding reactions and processes that do not scale well, such as distilling to dryness and flash chromatography.
• Gains a better understanding of how impurities are formed, tracked and purged throughout the subsequent processing.
• Recommends alternatives, researches new methods and techniques and proactively seek out senior personnel to discuss potential solutions to problems
• Collaborates with supervisory personnel to develop strategy and tactics.
• Always works with safety in mind.
• Demonstrates and applies an advanced level of understanding project goals and methods.
• Uses good verbal communication skills and interpersonal skills to provide insight into the processes used to achieve experimental results.
• Demonstrates skills in data analysis (ex: UPLC, HPLC, NMR, mass spec) and ability to evaluate quality of data.
• Works with collaborative communication and problem solving spirit.

Typical Education and Experience:

• 2+ years of experience and BS in chemistry or 0-2 years of experience and MS degree in organic chemistry.

Best wishes to those interested. 

7 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 7 new positions for April 23.

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 19 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 19 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 297 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 297 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Sad news for Achaeogen

Also in this week's issue of C&EN (by Michael McCoy):

Despite winning US Food and Drug Administration approval for a new antibiotic last year, Achaogen has filed for bankruptcy. The South San Francisco–based biotech firm launched the antibiotic, Zemdri (plazomicin), in July for adults with complicated urinary tract infections. However, by the end of the year the drug had brought in only $800,000 in sales. Achaogen hopes to sell off its assets, including Zemdri, by June 13.

There's a little factlet for those of us who bemoan the state of the antibiotics pipeline. 

This week's C&EN

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

• Cover: "How perfumers walk the fine line between natural and synthetic" (by Melody M. Bomgardner)
• Pretty interesting article about fecal microbiomes and therapies (by Ryan Cross)
• Analytical chemists and opoids in sewer systems (by Alexandra A. Taylor)
• An interview with the Iraqi chemist who was rescued from the Islamic State by his university (by Alla Katsnelson)
• Machines writing textbooks? (by Dalmeet Singh Chawla)

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 578 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 578 positions.

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

On April 24, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 542 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  Here is a link to the March through April (?) open thread.

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

C&EN Industry Essay Contest

From the inbox:

Are you in your first or second year of an industry job? Share what lessons you have learned, as well as what advice you have for others, in a roughly 250-word essay. Winning essay writers will be paid, and the essays will be featured in the May 29 issue of C&EN focusing on the industry experience. Please include your name, title, company, and email address, and submit by May 1: cenprojects@acs.org

Best wishes to those interested!  

Badge holders

A list of small, useful things (links):

• The latest from Stellen für Chemiker
• The latest from All Things Metathesis
• #altchemjobs for Phil Baran
• Recognition for women chemists, by Kat Day
• Th'Gaussling on Boeing
• Philip Ball, on Notre Dame
• Milkshake's back!

An open invitation to all interested in writing a blog, a hobby that will bring millions thousands hundreds tens of dollars joy and happiness. Send me a link to your post, and I'd be happy to put it up.

Have a good weekend!

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 339 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 339 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

27 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 15 new positions for April 17 and 12 new positions for April 15. 

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 19 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 19 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 297 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 297 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Houston area DA charges Arkema plant logistics executive with assault

I bet this is pretty unusual:

A Texas grand jury on April 10 indicted chemicals manufacturer Arkema North America and one of its executives on assault charges, alleging they underplayed the dangers of a fire that injured two emergency workers called to the site during a fire. 

The U.S. arm of the French chemicals firm and its vice president of logistics, Michael Keough, were charged with “reckless assault” of two sheriff’s deputies by misrepresenting hazards of chemicals released during a fire after Hurricane Harvey, prosecutors said. 

“The reckless assault was the misrepresentation by a highly placed corporate official” of the dangers of organic peroxides that burned after the plant flooded, said Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. A conviction carries a penalty of two years to 10 years, she said. 

Here's the press release from the Harris County DA. It's an interesting theory: i.e. by not giving the sheriff's deputies all the information they needed about the Arkema peroxides, when the deputies were exposed to the chemicals, it was Arkema who was at fault. I guess I'd like to know - what is the threshold for declaring felony assault as a result of a chemical release? A plume? A spill? How big?

While you can really extrapolate all sorts of interesting legal theories and precedents from this incident, I speculate that it is best understood as an indication of 1) the political ambitions of the DA, 2) the overall irritation of the Houston-area population at the disproportionately high number of chemical plants in the area.

(I am really curious to know - does the relevant VP of logistics live in Texas? because if not, he might want to move to France for a while... (I'm sure France has an extradition treaty with the US.) 

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 578 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 578 positions.

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

On April 17, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 538 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  Here is a link to the March through April (?) open thread.

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Well, this is a scary article

Via Technology Review, a pretty frightening story for people who work in chemical plants: 

As an experienced cyber first responder, Julian Gutmanis had been called plenty of times before to help companies deal with the fallout from cyberattacks. But when the Australian security consultant was summoned to a petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2017, what he found made his blood run cold. 

The hackers had deployed malicious software, or malware, that let them take over the plant’s safety instrumented systems. These physical controllers and their associated software are the last line of defense against life-threatening disasters. They are supposed to kick in if they detect dangerous conditions, returning processes to safe levels or shutting them down altogether by triggering things like shutoff valves and pressure-release mechanisms. 

The malware made it possible to take over these systems remotely. Had the intruders disabled or tampered with them, and then used other software to make equipment at the plant malfunction, the consequences could have been catastrophic. Fortunately, a flaw in the code gave the hackers away before they could do any harm. It triggered a response from a safety system in June 2017, which brought the plant to a halt. Then in August, several more systems were tripped, causing another shutdown...

I presume that we all knew these days were coming, once we heard about Stuxnet. It's still surprising to me that people figure out ways to connect their physical plant to the internet when there doesn't seem to be necessary, although sufficiently determined people can figure out how to jump air gaps. (At some point, does cybersecurity become a EH&S issue at large enough plants?)

Here's hoping that some kind of global treaty convinces people to take a step back from these situations... 

Job posting: Division Director, Division of Chemistry, National Science Foundation, Alexandria, VA

From the inbox, a position at the National Science Foundation:

The Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) announces a nationwide search to fill the position of Division Director, Division of Chemistry (CHE). Appointment to this Senior Executive Service position may be on a career basis, or on a one- to three-year limited-term basis, with a salary range of $165,842 to $175,400. Alternatively, the incumbent may be assigned under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) provisions. Information about the Division’s activities may be found at https://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=CHE. 

The successful candidate will possess an established record of significant achievement in research administration as well as leadership responsibility in academe, industry or government. In addition to having a strong record of research and education accomplishments within his or her technical communities, the Division Director must be experienced and competent in technical, financial, and administrative management. He/she must work well with people, be an effective communicator, and act as a mentor to continuously develop the diversity of talents and skills of his or her colleagues at all levels. 

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

View From Your Hood: fancy duck edition

Credit: friend of the blog

From a friend of the blog, a picture from Miami.

(got a View from Your Hood submission? Send it in (with a caption and preference for name/anonymity, please) at chemjobber@gmail.com; will run every other Friday.)

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 339 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 339 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

25 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 25 new positions for April 8.

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 19 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 19 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 297 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 297 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

"Mechanistic studies support the formation of CH3+ as a key intermediate."

Credit: Oddity Central

Click here for Dan Singleton, critiquing a recent Science paper within an inch of its life for proposing a methyl cation as a part of its mechanistic pathway.

I have to admit, I'm pretty sure I read the C&EN summary of the paper, and I did not notice the methyl cation. If you like physical organic chemistry, you'll enjoy Professor Singleton's thread.

This week's C&EN

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

• Cover: how your gut controls your brain (by Laura Howes) 
• Pretty sure it happens when I eat cookies
• Turning waste into hydrogen (by XiaoZhi Lim)
• Focus on anodes in battery chemistry (by Alex Scott)
• Interesting article on detecting perfluorinated compounds in North Carolina residents (by Cheryl Hogue)
• Flow batteries with vanadium mushroom compounds? (by Katherine Bourzac)
• ACS Heroes of Chemistry (by Linda Wang)

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 578 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 578 positions.

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

On April 10, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 535 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  Here is a link to the March through April (?) open thread.

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Duke graduate student speaks out, 10 years later

I haven't really followed the problems that Duke University science has had, but this Medium post by a former Duke graduate student about the situation surrounding Duke Biochemistry professor Homme Hellinga is pretty remarkable: 

...At this point, in the early summer of 2008, a subset of Duke Biochemistry graduate students considered taking matters into its own hands. If our department’s faculty didn’t collectively have the guts to demand an investigation of Hellinga, then we would. We considered drafting a petition, addressed to the leadership of Duke and its medical school, which invoked the university’s rules for requesting research misconduct investigations. Execution of the plan briefly stalled due to fears of retribution.... 

...The petition was signed by eighteen of the approximately sixty graduate students in the program. While ~1/3 may not seem impressive, those who know the dangers of confronting tenured faculty and deans will realize that this was an extraordinary response. The signers risked their studies and their livelihoods...

Here's a rather old article that contains some of the context around the post.

Since I have no way of judging the accuracy of the post, I think it's best to leave the whole situation aside, and address the rather extraordinary and hypothetical event where graduate students would sign a petition for address of grievances surrounding the treatment of a specific set of graduate students. I'm not sure that I was ever in such a dire situation in grad school, and now, I think my response would have not to have fought City Hall, but to have left.

It's a remarkable document - read the whole thing.  

Lawsuit: Professor forces graduate student to work at their private company

Via Twitter, this Lansing State Journal story is bonkers: 

GRAND RAPIDS — A Michigan State University engineering professor exploited his students and forced them to work long hours for little to no pay at his personal company, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.   MSU officials have known about the issue since at least 2011, but did not take action to monitor the students working for Professor Parviz Soroushian, a lawsuit filed March 22 in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan alleges. 

Because of the pending litigation, MSU officials declined to comment on the issues raised in the suit, MSU deputy spokesperson Heather Young said. 

Soroushian told the State Journal on Friday he denies all the allegations made against him in the lawsuit. He has been on paid administrative leave since July 2018, when Michigan State began an investigation into his conduct with students at his lab, Lansing-based Metna Co. Soroushian is is a 35-year veteran in MSU's College of Engineering and holds degrees in both civil and structural engineering. In addition to serving as a tenured professor, he is an academic adviser. 

So when Salina Ramli began her doctoral program in January 2016, she believed she had no choice but to work at Metna when he told her to, according to the lawsuit. 

Ramli, who was at MSU on a Malaysian government-funded scholarship, worked at Metna every day she didn't have class, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at times staying as late as 7 p.m. for meetings.  

But her second semester, Soroushian said she wasn't allowed to take off the days she had class, according to the lawsuit. Her scholarship only covered tuition and a modest stipend, so she had to earn money elsewhere.  

Ramli, the mother of two children, said in the lawsuit she started working at a bakery from 3 a.m. to 8 a.m. so she could keep up with bills...

Public Service Announcement to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows: if your professor asks you to work at their private company, you should probably get terms spelled out, and you should probably ask if the department knows about it.

(Reality: departments are set up so that it is a very unusual graduate student or postdoc who will speak up for themselves and ask that question...)

Postdoctoral position: Leitch Lab, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC

Via Twitter, this postdoctoral position:

The Leitch Lab at the University of Victoria is seeking an experienced synthetic organic chemist for a collaborative project in chemical reaction rate prediction. This project spans the fields of organic chemistry, computational chemistry, computer science, and machine learning theory, with joint PIs in the Departments of Chemistry and Computer Science at UVic. This appointment will be within the Department of Chemistry. 

The ideal candidate will have a PhD in synthetic chemistry, with a demonstrated track record of research excellence and expertise in the following areas:

• Targeted multi-step organic synthesis of structurally varied small molecules
• Quantitative chemical analysis, including hands-on experience with HPLC, MS, and NMR spectroscopy
• Reaction kinetics and mechanistic elucidation

In addition, familiarity with multivariate experimental design, microscale high-throughput experimentation, computational chemistry, and/or computer programming is desirable, though not required.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Warning Letter of the Week: live moth edition

A missive from the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to the owner of B. Jain Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd.:

1.    Your firm failed to maintain the buildings used in the manufacture, processing, packing, or holding of a drug product in a clean and sanitary condition and to keep them free of infestation by rodents, birds, insects, and other vermin (21 CFR 211.56(a)). 

In the raw material storage room our investigator observed numerous flying insects. FDA observed your staff dispensing [redacted] raw material for use in production, batch #[redacted], in this room and a live moth was observed floating in this raw material. You use [redacted] to manufacture your homeopathic drug products. When the investigator pointed out the presence of this moth in your [redacted] raw material, you continued to manufacture homeopathic drug products using the raw material contaminated with the insect.

In addition, various raw materials, some packaged in burlap sacks, were observed scattered across your quarantine room, and the ceiling in this room was stained with what appeared to be mold. Leaking containers of one raw material were observed in close proximity to other raw materials in your warehouse and what appeared to be unidentified [redacted] were observed adhering to the air vents in the production areas which are used to manufacture multiple homeopathic drug products.

It's really hard to keep the vermin out of the product, it really is.

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 577 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 577 positions.

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

On March 20, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 534 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  Here is a link to the March through April (?) open thread.

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

Job posting: Division Director, Division of Chemistry, National Science Foundation, Alexandria, VA

From the inbox, a position at the National Science Foundation:

The Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) announces a nationwide search to fill the position of Division Director, Division of Chemistry (CHE). Appointment to this Senior Executive Service position may be on a career basis, or on a one- to three-year limited-term basis, with a salary range of $165,842 to $175,400. Alternatively, the incumbent may be assigned under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) provisions. Information about the Division’s activities may be found at https://www.nsf.gov/div/index.jsp?div=CHE. 

The successful candidate will possess an established record of significant achievement in research administration as well as leadership responsibility in academe, industry or government. In addition to having a strong record of research and education accomplishments within his or her technical communities, the Division Director must be experienced and competent in technical, financial, and administrative management. He/she must work well with people, be an effective communicator, and act as a mentor to continuously develop the diversity of talents and skills of his or her colleagues at all levels. 

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Job postings: laboratory assistant positions, BioCellection, Menlo Park, CA

From the inbox, a laboratory assistant posting:

Job Summary 

We are seeking an experienced Laboratory Assistant to help us efficiently run our laboratory. This is a full-time position in Menlo Park, CA. We accept local applicants with the status for US employment. 

Typical Activities in the Job

• Carry-out chemical reactions and processes (ie. reflux, pressure reactors, filtration, distillation, extractions, titration)
• Sample preparation for analytics including GCMS/LCMS/IR and run methods following an SOP
• Prepare reaction feedstocks

BS/MS in chemistry preferred. Full ad here.

There's also a contract laboratory assistant position available. Best wishes to those interested. 

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Shortage of Chemists Scored by Committee

Draft and ROTC Eating Into Personnel Vital to Industry
March 7, 1942

A survey of 118 colleges, universities, and technical, schools conducted by the Defense Committee of the American Chemical Society shows an "appalling shortage" of trained individuals in chemistry and chemical engineering. Lack of technically trained men for industry is jeopardizing future production, according to the Committee, of which Professor Roger Adams, head of the department of chemistry at the University of Illinois, is chairman.

"By far the greatest proportionate demand is for those to be graduated at the doctorate level, most of whom have accepted positions pending receipt of their degrees," the Committee finds. "The colleges report almost without exception that chemical or chemical engineering alumni are all employed and that current demands cannot be supplied."

Shortage Emphasized Here

In response to the Committee's questionnaire, Harvard University declares that the shortage of trained chemists, especially at the doctor's level, is the most serious in its experience. The University of California states that "the Army and Navy have removed from the supply of men a large percentage of the more able students."

Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports that 42 per cent of the Seniors in its chemical engineering department will become reserve officers. The department of chemistry at M.I.T. is receiving more requests for chemists of all three grades as compared with the last three years, according to the report, and the graduates of June, 1942, with the Ph.D. or M.S. degree are placed at present to the extent of 82 per cent of the total.

(actual article, believe it or not)

View From Your Hood: Manhattan edition

Lexington Avenue, New York City

A cloudy day in New York City.

(got a View from Your Hood submission? Send it in (with a caption and preference for name/anonymity, please) at chemjobber@gmail.com; will run every other Friday.)

Whither rejection letters?

An old school rejection
Credit: The Pulp Magazines Project

What has been your experience with rejection letters or notices? It is the broad consensus of readers
of this blog (I believe) that people prefer to be told, than not to be told, that they did not get hired for a position. If I had to summarize people's ideal rejection process, it would be:

• as fast as possible
• personal, not generic
• not too familiar, not too cold
• it would offer reasons as to why they were not selected (unlikely, I know) 
• ways to improve (same)

Readers, your thoughts? 

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 326 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 326 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

33 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 11 new positions for March 27, 16 for March 25 and 6 for March 23. 

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 16 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 16 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 293 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 293 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Hmmmmmmmm slowing economy signs?

From the inbox, the ACC's Chemical Activity Barometer:

WASHINGTON (March 26, 2019) – The Chemical Activity Barometer (CAB), a leading economic indicator created by the American Chemistry Council (ACC), rose 0.1 percent in March on a three-month moving average (3MMA) basis, the first gain in five months. On a year-over-year (Y/Y) basis, the barometer is down 0.3 percent (3MMA). 

The unadjusted measure of the CAB rose 0.3 percent in March following six months of shrinking activity. It declined 0.1 percent in February and had a flat reading in January. The diffusion index rebounded to 65 percent in March, up from 57 percent in February. A year earlier, it was 71 percent. The diffusion index marks the number of positive contributors relative to the total number of indicators monitored. 

“The CAB continues to indicate gains in U.S. commercial and industrial activity through mid-2019, but at a markedly slower rate of growth, as measured by year-earlier comparisons,” said Kevin Swift, chief economist at ACC.

Hmmm - what are you seeing, readers? I kinda think I agree, but I'd love to know what you're seeing.  

Warning Letter of the Week: pesky mold edition

From a love note to the president of Mariposa Labs from the Division of Pharmaceutical Quality Operations IV:

2. Your firm failed to follow written procedures describing the handling of all written and oral complaints regarding a drug product (21 CFR 211.198). 

You did not adequately document multiple complaints of mold, chemical smell, and stinging for the [redacted] creams, a drug with labeled indications including use on “newborns” and on broken skin. For example, you received a complaint for mold contamination in [redacted] Cream (lot #5589). You recalled lot #5589 from your customer, and your investigation found 36 containers in that lot contaminated with mold. 

Your microbiological test results confirmed the mold to be [redacted]. Your investigation suspected [redacted] as a potential root cause. However, you lacked sufficient evidence to support this conclusion. You did not extend your investigation to determine if additional lots of [redacted] Cream or any of your other topical products may have been contaminated.

Yikes, mold just pops up everywhere...

This week's C&EN

A few of the articles by Chemical and Engineering News:

• Cover: approaches to confronting PFAS (by Kerri Jansen)
• EPA finalizing methylene chloride rules (by Britt Erickson)
• Bad news on the chemical industry front? (by Alex Tullo)
• Great Paula Hammond profile (by Bethany Halford)
• Podcast with social media phenom and professor Jen Heemstra (by Matt Davenport and Andrea Widener)
• Interesting proposal on peer review from Richard Zare
• Serious ACS inside baseball (by V. Dean Adams) 

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 575 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 575 positions.

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

On March 20, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 531 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  Here is a link to the March through April (?) open thread.

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

Job posting: non-tenure track instructor position, University of Minnesota Rochester, Rochester, MN

From the inbox, this instructor position:

The University of Minnesota Rochester (www.r.umn.edu) invites applications for a non-tenure track instructor position in chemistry for its undergraduate degree program, the Bachelor of Science in Health Sciences (BSHS). The position is primarily teaching-focused with the expectation of contributing to departmental and institutional service (90% teaching, 10% service). 

We are seeking a qualified instructor who has significant interest in supporting student learning in a high-contact model inside and outside of the classroom and will work closely with other faculty to coordinate and teach the range of chemistry courses with integrated laboratories needed by students in the BSHS program. We are seeking an instructor prepared to teach undergraduate organic chemistry with a preference for ability to also teach undergraduate biochemistry. 

How To Apply
Active review of applications will begin April 10, 2019, and will continue until the position is filled, with the expectation of an August 2019 start date. 

Full posting here. Best wishes to those interested.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

Petrochemical fire blocking the Houston Ship Channel

Via Reuters, this update on an ongoing situation: 

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Fallout from a petrochemical fire outside Houston continued for a sixth day on Saturday, with emergency workers struggling to remove volatile fuels from exposed tanks and ship traffic disrupted on the nation’s busiest oil port. 

A fire that burned for three days broke out last Sunday at Mitsui & Co’s Intercontinental Terminals Co site in Deer Park, Texas. It damaged or destroyed 11 giant tanks each holding up to 3 million gallons of fuels used to make gasoline and plastics. 

On Friday, flames again erupted for an hour and halted efforts to remove volatile fuels that leaked when a containment wall breached. There were no injuries reported on Friday.

According to this Houston Chronicle report from Sunday, the fire is out, but the Ship Channel is still closed. It will be interesting to see if this incident has any repercussions - I suppose I don't know what the baseline is for incidents with petrochemical fires in the Houston Ship Channel. 

26 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 18 new positions for March 19 and 8 for March 17.

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 290 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 290 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

What was your company's patent award?

Via Twitter, a great question:

Hey @Chemjobber have you ever done an unofficial survey of what chemists get from their companies (if anything) for granted patents? Would be interesting to know how that varies by company

This was one of the typical responses:

Two of the three companies I was co-inventor I got nothing, the third gave us crisp dollar bills. 

I am also curious about which companies put associate/non-PhD level chemists as co-inventors - inventorship seems to vary by company. 

I particularly liked this response:

We got a silver dollar when patent was assigned. It was part of the IP contract that the company "bought" the rights for $1. There was also a plaque for the research hall and one for each inventor. All presented during quarterly award meetings. Peer recognition is a huge prize.

Readers, what's your favorite patent badge of honor?  

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 16 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 16 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 575 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 575 positions.

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

On March 13, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 528 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  Here is a link to the March through April (?) open thread.

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 31 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 31 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

The weirdest article you will read today

From a friend of the blog, this odd Daily Beast piece with a chemist who worked for ISIS: 

“ISIS was looking for scientists,” said Ahmed, a 36-year-old follower of the so-called Islamic State who holds a Ph.D. in medicinal chemistry and drug design. And Ahmed was looking for a chance to put his scientific knowledge to use.... 

...While Ahmed started his work for ISIS by spreading this research and interacting on web forums on behalf of the group in 2015 and 2016, he fully intended to join the lab in Mosul upon his graduation and was confident of his ability to create the desired chemical and biological weapons. At the time, he believed ISIS was already an established state and would continue to expand. 

“I would upload and [my research] would get read by the high command of the Caliphate,” he told us. “They were interested in my posts and asked how we can acquire these chemicals. I also summarized books from a Russian website. There are loads of [scientific] journals I could access on the web and it’s not classified.  I told them everything was in my summary, but also told them, you must have a real lab.” 

...He hoped to branch out from poisons and plagues to explore new technologies for delivering them. “I learned in the engineering world they [ISIS] were interested in anti-aircraft missiles and drones. They complain about coalition jet fighters destroying their troops on the ground. The admin on the website, there was a guy on the website who provided links from a British university to make drones from organic synthesis to make the whole body of the drone. It was some kind of solution, liquid phase synthesis, polymer science. We have already developed anti-aircraft missiles. We were going to use them.”

This is just a weird one, and I'm not convinced (or at least I'd like other corroboration) that ISIS got as involved in chemical weapons research as this fellow (who seems not so reliable) says....

View From Your Hood: blurry Midwest edition

A recent photo while on the road. (Sorry, it's not very good. Send in your pics! They'll be better than mine.)

(got a View from Your Hood submission? Send it in (with a caption and preference for name/anonymity, please) at chemjobber@gmail.com; will run every other Friday.) 

"We offer competitive salary based on qualifications."

Via friends on Twitter, this perplexing ad:

Organic Synthetic Chemist with PhD Degree
Sun Innovations Inc - Fremont, CA 94539  

$50,000 - $60,000 a year 

A Silicon Valley high-tech company has an opening for a Material Chemist with the following qualifications:

1. Advanced (e.g. Ph.D.) degree on Organic Chemistry or Material Chemistry, with good synthesis training and skills
2. Some R&D or product development experience on synthesizing organic and organometallic molecules or materials;
3. Familiar with the various organic synthesis methods and processes, experts in using and keeping/running chemistry lab and tools.
4. Knowledge of fluorescent materials and dyes, familiar with relationship of molecular structure and optic properties of molecules
5. Good communication skill, both verbal and writing;
6. Energetic, highly motivated and independent in conducting R&D
7. 2-3 relevant references

We are developing advanced optical materials and devices for the display technologies of the future. We offer a very pleasant and excited small working environment along with the opportunity to be exposed to cutting edge science and technologies. We also offer the potential of significant career growth as a leader in a high tech company, as well as great entrepreneur experience in developing and commercializing advanced technologies in Silicon Valley. 

We offers excellent benefits, including medical insurance, paid holidays and vacations, retirement saving with company matching. We offer competitive salary based on qualifications. 

Job Type: Full-time
Salary: $50,000.00 to $60,000.00 /year

That's... not very much money for the Bay Area.  

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs List: 313 positions

The Medicinal Chemist Jobs list (curated by Joel Walker and myself) has 313 positions.

Want to help out? Here's a Google Form to enter positions, but if you want to do the traditional "leave a link in the comments", that works, too.

Want to chat about medchem positions? Try the open thread.

Positions I'm not including: positions outside the United States, computational positions (this will likely change), academic positions (likely never.)

41 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, there's 15 new positions for March 12, 11 new positions for March 9, 19 new positions for March 5 and 6 for February 28. 

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List: 14 positions

The Analytical Chemistry Jobs List has 14 positions; this is curated by the ACS Division of Analytical Chemistry. Want to help out? Fill out this form. 

The Process Chemistry Jobs List: 285 positions

The Process Chemistry Jobs List has 285 positions.

Want to help? Here's a form to fill out.

Want to chat process jobs? Try the open thread. 

Warning Letter of the Week: 'and that one, that one, and that one' edition

In a mash note to Mr. Albert Bourla, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Worldwide Pfizer, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research made the following observations about a Hospira India plant: 

3.    Your firm failed to have, for each batch of drug product, appropriate laboratory determination of satisfactory conformance to final specifications for the drug product, including the identity and strength of each active ingredient, prior to release (21 CFR 211.165(a)). 

From February 16 to March 20, 2018, you tested [redacted] batches of [redacted] API for [redacted]. All results were reported as passing. However, during the FDA inspection on March 28, 2018, we requested retesting the same batches under our observation. All retest results were OOS.

A batch of [redacted] finished product, initially tested on May 25, 2017, was also retested on March 28, 2018, and found to be OOS...
...In a Field Alert Report (FAR) of July 20, 2018, regarding OOS [redacted] results, you indicated that “analysts performing the [redacted] test did not perform the analysis in accordance with procedures and did not record the data accurately in the past.” Also, “there may be instances where testing results for the Karl Fisher test, gas chromatography, infrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet spectroscopy were not recorded accurately.”

 But the visual testing - that was probably performed to SOP. 

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 574 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 574 positions.

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

On March 13, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 528 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  Here is a link to the March through April (?) open thread.

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 18 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 18 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

It's hard to break up an asteroid, apparently

Via the New York Times, we're back to the drawing board:

Hollywood may reckon that the best way to destroy an errant space rock is with nuclear weapons. This is rarely the preferred option of experts, but using some sort of spacecraft system to smash an asteroid into small, harmless pieces is seen as a real-world possibility. A new study, looking at a gigantic space rock-on-space rock clash, hints at how utterly ineffective this type of asteroid assassination attempt may be. 

Using computer models, scientists simulated a 4,000-foot asteroid smashing into a 15.5-mile asteroid at 11,200 miles per hour. Immediately after colliding, the large asteroid cracked considerably, with debris flowing outward like a cascade of Ping-Pong balls. Despite some deep fractures, the heart of the asteroid was not comprehensively damaged. 

As time went on, the gravitational pull of the asteroid’s resilient core was able to pull back ejected shards. It seems that asteroids don’t just absorb mind-boggling amounts of damage, but, as previous work has hinted, they also are able to rebuild themselves.

Maybe if we assembled a team of deep core drillers and sent them up in a couple of armored space shuttles and drilled into the asteroid, it would be fine?  

Question: is there data (or anecdata) around visiting assistant professors?

Via longtime reader and commenter VTJ, this good question:

...the question came up about what percentage of chemistry faculty hold a visiting position before getting their first tenure-track position. One fellow chemist stated confidently that it rarely happens but anecdotal evidence would suggest otherwise, at least for the SLAC/PUI environment.

I still remember this post from quite some time ago where the commentariat was, overall, not interested in VAPs. A respected friend thinks of these temporary positions as providing some data points as to "how will this persion be, as a teacher of undergraduates and a colleague in a department?" and was relatively warm to them. Another respected friend finds these positions have half-lives, i.e. two or three VAPs is about as many has any one candidate should take on.

So, some questions:

1. Is there any data around the percentage of assistant professors who have done stints as VAPs?
2. Is there any data around the percentage of visiting assistant professors who receive tenure-track assistan professor positions?  

Finally, a call for anecdata around this issue. Readers, have at. 

EXPLOSIVE SECRETS REVEALED

Credit: Vance Williams

In response to one of my tweets, a funny issue of "Chemistry Life" by Vance Williams. Don't miss the issue of "Chem"  and this amazing cover of "Carvogue." 

This week's C&EN

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

• Cover: "Science in the US is built on immigrants. Will they keep coming?" (by Andrea Widener)
• Chemours' fluoroether processing is drawing a lot of attention (by Cheryl Hogue)
• "CRISPR base editors cause unexpected mutations" (by Ryan Cross)
• GE sold their bioprocessing to Danaher (by Marc Reisch)
• Alternative periodic tables? 
• man, that first letter

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 573 positions

The 2019 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 573 positions.

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

On March 6, 2018, the 2018 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 523 positions.

Interested in how this is tracking overall? Check out these sweet graphics done by Andrew Spaeth.

Want to chat?  This post will serve as the open thread for March through April (?)

Here is a link to the January through March 2019 open thread. Here's a link to the November 2018-January 2019 open thread. Here's the October/November thread. Here's the pre-September thread, here's the September/October thread.

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

2018-19 Chemistry Bumper Cars is at Marshall Brennan's site.

Job posting: non-tenure-track assistant professor, Saint Louis University

From the inbox, a non-tenure-track assistant professor position at Saint Louis University: 

Saint Louis University, a Catholic Jesuit institution dedicated to student learning, research,health care, and service seeks applicants for a non-tenure track Assistant Professor of Chemistry that is to start in the Fall of 2019. This is a primarily teaching position and a Ph.D. is required. While applicants from all areas of chemistry will be considered, the candidate is expected to teach undergraduate courses in organic chemistry (some in a large lecture setting). It is also possible to teach in the summer of 2019 if the applicant is interested. 

Applicants should first apply on-line at https://jobs.slu.edu and include in the application the following documents: a cover letter, CV, transcripts, statement of teaching interest/experience and 3 reference letters (appended to one document) and send the same to the attention of Prof. Scott Martin at chemsearch@slu.edu. Review of applications begins immediately and will continue until the position is filled. 

Saint Louis University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. All qualified candidates will receive consideration for the position applied for without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military/veteran status, gender identity, or other non-merit factors. We welcome and encourage applications from minorities, women, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities (including disabled veterans). If accommodations are needed for completing the application and/or with the interviewing process, please contact Human Resources at 314-977-5847.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.  

The Academic Staff Jobs List: 18 positions

The Academic Staff Jobs list has 18 positions.

This list is curated by Sarah Cady. It targets:

• Full-time STAFF positions in a Chem/Biochem/ChemE lab/facility at an academic institution/natl lab
• Lab Coordinator positions for research groups or undergraduate labs 
• and for an institution in Canada or the United States

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

Want to chat about staff scientist positions? Try the open thread.

View From Your Hood: rainbow after edition

Credit: Nicole Godfrey

From Nicole Godfrey at the University of California Irvine: "A rainbow after some uncharacteristically wet weather in California."

(got a View from Your Hood submission? Send it in (with a caption and preference for name/anonymity, please) at chemjobber@gmail.com; will run every other Friday.)