Covestro: Winter is Coming

Very similar to The Polymerist's comments, this concern about steam generation at Covestro's German plants: 

German materials giant Covestro warned Tuesday that the rationing of gas could see some of its sites shut down, as its CEO stressed the importance of reducing the company’s reliance on fossil fuels.

In a statement outlining the company’s performance in the second quarter of 2022, Covestro said it was undertaking “various measures” to lower, over the short term, its gas requirements in Germany, where the firm’s facilities represent roughly 25% of its worldwide production capacity.

These measures include using oil-based steam generators. “If gas supplies are rationed in the further course of the year, this could result in partial load operation or a complete shutdown of individual Covestro production facilities, depending on the level of the cutback,” the company said.

“Due to the close links between the chemical industry and downstream sectors, a further deterioration of the situation is likely to result in the collapse of entire supply and production chains,” it added.

I cannot imagine the level of disruption in the US if natural gas was suddenly cut off (or reduced!) in the United States. 

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 86 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 86 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position. 

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

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

On August 3, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 62 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching faculty positions. On August 4, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 28 research/teaching positions and 5 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

The Polymerist; Winter is Coming

The Polymerist is a continued must-read, with last week's comments on the natural gas crunch really key: 

I don’t usually write about natural gas and oil on Tuesdays, but things are developing quickly over in Europe and I’m concerned. If you don’t know there is a major natural gas pipeline called Nord Stream 1 that delivers natural gas to Germany, Europe’s largest economy and chemical producing powerhouse, and it’s been undergoing maintenance since July 11th. Maintenance is normal. A good preventative maintenance program keeps things running smoothly and it usually only last 10-12 days. Natural gas started flowing again on July 21st, but only at 40% of normal levels, which had started before the planned shutdown.

...No matter how you look at this problem this is not a good thing for the European chemical industry. The chemical industry is reliant of natural gas for two primary things:

• Feedstock: steam reforming of methane to make carbon monoxide, steam cracking ethane/propane to make ethylene/propylene)
• Steam generation: applying heat and performing #1

If you ever get a chance to hang out in a large scale chemical manufacturing operation the use of steam is everywhere. Steam is how heat gets moved around (heated oil is also used, but less common) and whenever you need steam it’s often generated at the site. If you want to run a distillation you need steam. If you want to steam crack some stuff, guess what, you need steam. If you want to run your reaction at 200 C or higher you need steam. Without steam the chemical industry for the most part stops running and without the raw materials to make stuff, which the chemical industry makes, then supply chains falter even more than they are now.

There's a lot of room for DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM in my thinking for chemical manufacturing in the fall, i.e. it feels like China's supply chain/zero COVID disruptions are never-ending and the Ukraine/Russia issues are making things extremely hard for Europe, which means that it's going to be hard for American chemical manufacturing supply chains. I'd like to think that both things won't happen, but I have a much stronger sense that the European situation is going to be brutal. Here's hoping I'm not right. 

Have a great weekend

Another relatively chill week. Hope you had a great week and hope you have a great weekend. We'll see you on Monday. 

 

Q2 GDP growth was negative

Via the New York Times: 

A key measure of economic output fell for the second straight quarter, raising fears that the United States could be entering a recession — or perhaps that one had already begun.

Gross domestic product, adjusted for inflation, fell 0.2 percent in the second quarter, the Commerce Department said Thursday. That drop followed a decline of 0.4 percent in the first quarter. The estimates for both periods will be revised in coming months as government statisticians get more complete data.

News of the back-to-back contractions heightened a debate in Washington over whether a recession had begun and, if so, whether President Biden was to blame. Economists largely say that conditions do not meet the formal definition of a recession but that the risks of one are rising.

For most people, though, a “recession” label matters less than the economic reality: Growth is slowing, businesses are pulling back and families are having a harder time keeping up with rapidly rising prices.

I am a pretty big stickler for the NBER definition of a recession, i.e. I don't think two quarters of negative growth automatically mean we're in a recession etc etc. But nevertheless, I think I was right - hiring in the fall of 2022 will be worse than that of fall 2021 in the economy as a whole. What does that mean for chemists and hiring? I do not know. We're not seeing (yet) major news of layoffs in either pharma or the chemical industry, so that's good. We shall see...

19 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 19 new positions for July 23. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

The secrets of baseball rubbing mud

Looks like a solid batch from the kilo lab
Credit: New York Times

Via the New York Times, this article about a prominent trade secret: 

LONGPORT, N.J. — A 45-gallon rubber barrel sits in a cluttered garage along the Jersey Shore, filled waist-high with what looks like the world’s least appetizing chocolate pudding. It is nothing more than icky, gooey, viscous, gelatinous mud.

Ah, but what mud. The mud that dreams are made of.

This particular mud, hauled in buckets by one man from a secret spot along a New Jersey riverbank, is singular in its ability to cut the slippery sheen of a new baseball and provide a firm grip for the pitcher hurling it at life-threatening speed toward another human standing just 60 feet and six inches away.

Tubs of the substance are found at every major league ballpark. It is rubbed into every one of the 144 to 180 balls used in every one of the 2,430 major league games played in a season, as well as those played in the postseason.

...But M.L.B. executives do not exactly get all misty-eyed over the whimsical tradition of what is called Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud, which they say is too often inconsistently applied. In their quest to make balls more consistent — and the game more equitable — they have tried to come up with a substitute, even assigning chemists and engineers to develop a ball with the desired feel.

The score so far:

Lena Blackburne: 1

Major League Baseball: 0

I can't imagine that this stuff is that difficult to reproduce, but I do indeed like that it is a weird, mysterious tradition. 

(I imagine that if baseball really wanted to, it could get sufficient quantities of scientists and engineers together to reproduce this mud, or at least standardize it. How large is this secret spot, anyway? Will erosion/climate change change the composition of the mud in another 50-100 years?) 

Warning Letter of the Week: try, try again edition

In a letter to the Chief Executive Officer of Bioiberica, SAU, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research notes these issues: 

1. Failure to establish written procedures to monitor the progress and control the performance of processing steps that may cause variability in the quality characteristics of your intermediates and API.

You failed to establish appropriate monitoring and controls for reworking batches of [redacted] USP, API. In 2020 and 2021, approximately 23 batches of [redacted] USP, API were reworked in your industrial [redacted] because of microbiological out-of-specification or non-conforming high [redacted], a class 3 residual solvent, content results. The use of the industrial [redacted] was not part of the established process validation for [redacted] USP, API. The investigator documented this [redacted] was used to rework multiple batches from [redacted] to as many as [redacted] times until acceptable results were obtained. No studies had been performed to establish the effectiveness of this rework step. Additionally, your industrial [redacted] was not equipped with real time [redacted] monitoring or a [redacted] summary to monitor the performance of the [redacted].

No product too holy to be reworked, folks! (Guessing that they chose to use a different piece of equipment than what they laid out earlier.) 

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 66 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 66 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position. 

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

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

On July 27, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 40 research/teaching positions. On July 28, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 23 research/teaching positions and 3 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Job posting: Academic Coordinator - Undergraduate Instructional Support, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA

From the inbox: 

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California Santa Barbara invites applications for a 75% Academic Coordinator 1 position for Undergraduate Instructional support with the anticipated start date of September 18, 2022. The department is looking for a qualified individual with a particular emphasis in the area of working in an academic instructional laboratory.

Responsibilities of the position will be to implement laboratory course material directives and to accurately prepare experiments for all teaching labs. The Academic Coordinator serves in a key role for the successful operations of the instructional teaching laboratories in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry.

The university is especially interested in applicants who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service, as appropriate to the position.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

CTV: One dead, three injured at Polymer Source in Montreal

Via CTV: 

An explosion at a polymer research centre Friday in the Montreal suburb of Dorval left one dead and at least three injured. 

Paramedics received a 911 call at around 11:30 a.m. for a report of an explosion. They said a 40-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were sent to hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. A third worker who was injured refused to be sent to hospital. 

The explosion happened at the Polymer Source, a company that describes itself as a supplier of high-quality polymers and bio-polymers for academic and pharmaceutical and industrial research.

Three teams of paramedics responded to the scene. Firefighters were also on site. 

Reaction on Twitter indicates that this is a well-known source of research material. Condolences to the families and friends of those killed and injured. 

Water and air make hydrogen peroxide?

In this week's Chemical and Engineering News, this letter to the editor: 

Thermodynamics in hydrogen peroxide reaction

The question of whether water can form hydrogen peroxide should be answered by thermodynamics (see C&EN, June 13, 2022, page 3). If a reaction is possible (spontaneous), then the change in the Gibbs energy at constant temperature and pressure must be negative in sign. For the reaction of water with air (O2) to form hydrogen peroxide, the change in the Gibbs energy at standard temperature and pressure is positive (+116.78 kJ/mol for liquids or +136.25 kJ/mol for gases). Therefore, the production of hydrogen peroxide by reactions of water with oxygen is not possible for such laboratory conditions.

Thermodynamics never depends on any proposed reaction mechanisms, such as sprayed water droplets or the condensation of such water vapor on inert substrates.

Melvin H. Miles

St. George, Utah

Not quite sure what I think other than "gee, this seems really weird."  

Have a good weekend

I had a decent week, surprisingly so. Hope that you had a good week, and that you have a great weekend. See you on Monday! 

 

American Chemistry Council: Regional production down 0.1% in June.

Via the American Chemistry Council:  

WASHINGTON (July 21, 2022) — The U.S. Chemical Production Regional Index (U.S. CPRI) eased by 0.1% in June following gains of 0.5% in May and 1.0% in April, according to the American Chemistry Council (ACC). Chemical output was mixed across regions. The U.S. CPRI is measured as a three-month moving average (3MMA).

On a 3MMA basis, chemical production within segments was mixed in June. There were gains in the production of synthetic rubber, industrial gases, coatings, manufactured fibers, synthetic dyes and pigments, adhesives, other organic chemicals, crop protection chemicals, other specialty chemicals, and fertilizers. These gains were offset by lower production of plastic resins, organic chemicals, and consumer products. 

As nearly all manufactured goods are produced using chemistry in some form, manufacturing activity is an important indicator for chemical demand. Manufacturing output eased by 0.1% in June (3MMA). The 3MMA trend in manufacturing production was mixed, with gains in the output of motor vehicles, aerospace, iron and steel, oil and gas extraction, and rubber products.

Compared with June 2021, U.S. chemical production was ahead by 2.5%, a slower rate of growth than last month. Chemical production was higher than a year ago in all regions except the Gulf Coast, which was 0.5% lower. 

I would expect the high-volume chemical manufacturing industry to show signs of slowing; hopefully this doesn't spill over into employment as well. 

28 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 28 new positions for July 17. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

Colorado Court of Appeals: chemistry is not speech

Via the Denver Gazette: 

A Colorado Springs man who argued the state's law against manufacturing controlled substances is unconstitutional because it infringes on the protected "speech" of chemists ran into resistance last week from the Court of Appeals.

Because chemistry is not intended to convey a message, it is not legally speech, a three-judge appellate panel concluded.

"In sum, while 'Breaking Bad' is a constitutionally protected work of art, Walter White’s production of methamphetamine wasn’t," wrote Judge Jerry N. Jones in the July 14 opinion.

Kynan S. Arnold is serving a 48-year sentence after a jury convicted him in 2011 of multiple drug charges, including possessing chemicals or supplies to manufacture a controlled substance. Authorities who searched Arnold's apartment and storage unit found a methamphetamine laboratory and other items that indicated manufacturing activity.

The Court of Appeals upheld Arnold's convictions in 2014 and again in 2020. Arnold then attempted to challenge the constitutionality of the drug law under which he was convicted. He claimed the law swept up legal forms of speech through outlawing the possession of "one or more chemicals or supplies or equipment with intent to manufacture a controlled substance."

"It chills the First Amendment rights of anyone who might consider taking up chemistry as a hobby and those who may wish to purchase, possess and use glassware to experiment, create, invent, patent or replicate existing patents," Arnold, who represented himself from prison, wrote to the Court of Appeals.

The judge's opinion is pretty interesting, especially the conclusion (emphasis mine): 

We conclude that engaging in chemistry, as Arnold characterizes it, doesn’t convey an intent to present a particularized message and therefore isn’t speech. To hold otherwise would seem to permit literally anyone to assert a facial free speech challenge to any law criminalizing almost any conduct. Moreover, it’s clear that the statute only proscribes conduct related to otherwise illegal activities: the actor must have the “intent to manufacture a controlled substance.” §  18-18-405(1)(a). 

In sum, while “Breaking Bad” is a constitutionally protected work of art, Walter White’s production of methamphetamine wasn’t.  

I guess I never thought that doing chemistry was an act of speech, but now we have some legal precedent. (If you're making thiophenols, aren't you definitely presenting a particularized message?) 

Reuters: German chemical industry running out of natural gas

Well, this isn't great news: 

BERLIN, July 19 (Reuters) - Germany's chemical industry has already done everything it can to conserve gas use, said chemical association VCI on Tuesday, which warned that the only steps left for the industry would be to scale back or abandon production altogether.

"For our companies, we are currently once again doing everything we can to exploit every last potential gas saving," said VCI's chief executive, Wolfgang Grosse Entrup.

"But there's not much more we can save, as efficiency has already been the driving force in the past few years," he added.

According to VCI, which represents about 1,900 companies, Germany's chemical and pharmaceutical industries are the country's largest gas consumer, with 15% of total consumption.

Industry leader BASF is considered Germany's largest industrial gas consumer.

VCI issued the warning and called for "a societal show of strength to conserve gas" to get through the winter unscathed as the gas supply from Russia grows increasingly uncertain.

I would really like our supply chain nightmares to end, but it doesn't really feel like it...  

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 45 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 45 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position. 

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

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

On July 20, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 33 research/teaching positions. On July 21, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 18 research/teaching positions and 3 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Job posting: Lecturer in Chemistry and Biochemistry, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA

From the inbox: 

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California, Santa Barbara, invites applications for a pool of qualified temporary lecturers to teach courses in general Chemistry 2022-2023 during the academic year, including 2022 summer session.

Main duties will include teaching courses in general chemistry and biochemistry, with the possibility of occasional upper-division teaching opportunities.

The Department is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service.

The use of a lecturer pool does not guarantee that an open position exists at the time you are applying. See the review date specified in UC Recruit to learn whether the department is currently reviewing applications for an upcoming opening. If there is no future review date specified, your application may not be considered at this time.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

How do you make scientists more productive?

Tyler Cowen of Marginal Revolution asks an interesting question: 

For instance, the management of science is a radically underappreciated issue. How many managers of scientific labs receive any management training at all, even in the basics? On a scale of 1 to 10, how well are most labs or non-profit scientific ventures run? I’ve asked a number of people in the hard and biological sciences this question, and more often a laugh is the response, rather than a citation of a very specific number. I’ve never heard anyone say they are run just great.

On the other side of the market, the rest of us are failing too. In our social discourse, we have not elevated better scientific management as a social priority. This could be done in our universities, non-profits, research labs, government agencies, and of course in the private sector too. It’s not a sexy policy issue, but science is one of the most significant means for improving society. In the language of finance, you could say that science is a major source of social alpha.

You should probably read the whole post, which is here. 

I broadly think that Professor Cowen is onto something, in the sense that "since we give out all this public funding for science, shouldn't we try to improve the amount that we get over time?" That's a reasonable question, even if I think the answers are completely unknowable. 

Here's the thing - I don't think anyone knows how to get more "productivity" out of scientists at all. I know plenty of ways to get scientists to get less innovative and less productivity. Stress them out, make them subject to randomly changing short-term goals, make them write lots of reports, and you'll soon have a poorly performng scientific organization. 

More productivity? I have no idea. Give them lots of freedom (i.e. don't tell them how to do things, just what the goal is (but not too narrow!) and just enough resources (i.e. I'm not completely convinced that lavishly funded teams work better.) That's all I got. (Maybe "make them interact with people from other fields routinely.") 

Readers, your thoughts? 

C&EN: Showa Denko, SK considering speciality gas manufacturing in the US

In this week's Chemical and Engineering News, this article by Craig Bettenhausen: 

Showa Denko and SK are exploring plans to produce specialty gases for the US semiconductor industry. Showa Denko is a top global producer of chip-etching gases, and SK has a similarly strong position in cleaning and deposition gases. The firms, which already work together in South Korea on the etching gas CH3F, are active in the US market through imports. But import logistics have been strained, and the firms say a lot of new semiconductor production is planned for North America in the coming years.

It's really interesting to see the shifts in semiconductor manufacturing... 

Have a good weekend

A week of some inconvenience, but real work accomplished as well. I hope that you had a good week, and that you have a great weekend and the sun is shining where you are. See you on Monday. 

Tell your work friend you appreciate them today

Via the New York Times, this lovely and fun article: 

Mollie West Duffy and Liz Fosslien, the authors of “Big Feelings: How to Be Okay When Things Are Not Okay,” have created a typology of workplace friends. There’s the confidant, who can be entrusted with any secret; there’s the inspiration, also known as a platonic work crush; there’s the frenemy, who can stir up competitive feelings but also push for your success. (The authors’ own relationship, born of a mutual friend, was deepened when they realized how much they enjoyed writing and illustrating together.)

What holds true across all these types is the growth that a work friend can support. High school and college friends see each other through parties, family feuds, crushes and coming-of-age. But work friends see each other through the world of ideas. And they can be easier to find early in a career.

“The ties you make in your 20s tend to withstand the life changes that happen in your 30s,” Ms. West Duffy said.

It would be interesting to know if the friends that a chemist makes in late undergrad and graduate school are of more lasting stuff than those formed later in life. I definitely have and have had work friends, and they are pretty wonderful relationships. If you have one, send them a note of appreciation today.  

39 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 39 new positions for July 12. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

Interesting profile of Kate the Chemist

Via the New York Times: 

The dream is Vegas.

“Don’t make fun of me,” said Kate Biberdorf, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, “but it would be a live show in Vegas where it’s a science show.”

That is not a typical aspiration of someone who teaches chemistry to undergraduates. For Dr. Biberdorf — better known as Kate the Chemist — that dream is part of her goal to capture the fun of scientific exploration and to entice children, especially girls, to consider science as their life’s calling.

“When I’m happiest is when I’m onstage sharing what I love,” she said.

She’s thinking of a big spectacle, like the long-running magic shows of David Copperfield at MGM Grand or Penn & Teller at Rio Las Vegas. “If we can convince people to go to science shows when on vacation,” she added, not entirely convinced herself.

That's a pretty cool idea. I've no idea of the economics behind shows in Vegas, i.e. I believe that you have to have quite a following (from Sinatra forward) in order to get a big booking, but gee, she is quite popular. 

(this is my general complaint about science communication as an employment field - it's basically an adjunct of the entertainment industry (an important one), but that means that it's subject to labor tournament economics, where there are 5 people who make a really good living (Bill Nye, etc), 3-10% people who make a middle-income living (your authors and folks who show up on the Tonight Show, etc), and then 90% of entrants who struggle/have science communication as a side gig. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the way I feel.) 

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 36 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 36 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position. 

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

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

On July 13, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 26 research/teaching positions. On July 14, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 12 research/teaching positions and 3 teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

How many US-born PhD physical scientists have parents with graduate degrees?

Via Marginal Revolution, this economics working paper: 

Our analysis of the SED data shows that economics is even more unrepresentative by socioeconomic background than the average PhD field. Among US-born PhD recipients over 2010–18, 65 percent of economics PhD recipients had at least one parent with a graduate degree, compared with 50 percent across all PhD fields (and 29 percent for the population of US-born BA recipients over the same period). At the other end of the spectrum, only 14 percent of US-born economics PhD recipients in 2010–18 were first-generation college graduates, compared with 26 percent across all PhD fields (and 44 percent among all US-born BA recipients). This makes economics the least socioeconomically diverse of any major field for US-born PhD recipients. 

I think it's interesting to see that PhD physical scientists* born in the US (and not born in the US!) are in the middle of the pack for parents with a graduate degree. Not sure what I would have believed before I saw the data, but it's not a surprise to see It would be really interesting to understand how many PhD chemists had PhD chemists as parents... 

*most likely includes chemistry (the largest category), geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences, physics and astronomy

Have a great weekend

A more chill short week than I was expecting. Hope that you have a great, relaxed weekend. See you on Monday. 

(P.S. RIP James Caan.) 

From years past: "Where are the Jobs?"

From random clicking on the ACS website, this cri de coeur from November 1972 (Environmental Science & Technology, 1972 6 (12), 958-959)

Where are the Jobs?

Dear Sir:

The articles, “New skills for out-of-work engineers” and “Jobs in the environmental field,” (es&t, April and August, 1972, respectively) have been of particular interest to our organization, the Association of Technical Professionals. The atp, consisting of employed, underemployed, and unemployed technical professionals, was formed in 1971 in the Boston area in response to the critical and continuing unemployment problem among our colleagues. 

Our scope includes both immediate assistance to the unemployed and a critical study of long-range national policies and priorities that affect the productive utilization of technically trained manpower.

Professor Daniel Okun (Letter to the editor, ES&T, June 1972) has expressed a point of view that has hindered many well-qualified former aerospace technical professionals in obtaining employment—that they (a) are less competent than the employed, and (b) cannot possibly cope with new applications of their skills unless properly  certified by an accredited academic institution. This narrow, self-serving viewpoint was eloquently rebutted by Lawrence Slote (ES&T, August 1972). 

It is our observation that universities have been the principal beneficiaries of federally funded retraining programs, which have cost millions to train a few, only a fraction of whom have found jobs at the completion of their courses. Thus far, the opportunity for retraining has been offered to about 1 or 2% of the unemployed technical professionals. 

Professor Okun’s protestations about the quality of retraining are probably irrelevant. The plain fact of the matter is that the jobs simply are not there. We have heard inflated projections of demands for technical professionals in environmental sciences and other fields for the past several years, but they have failed to materialize in any significant way. 

We will not be able to absorb productively our technical manpower resources until there is a change in national priorities to create a market for their services. As an overworked but appropriate analogy, we “put a man on the moon” by virtue of a firm national commitment in both will and dollars. There was then a market for technical talent. No one inquired whether a PhD chemist had been retrained in space sciences. The technical professionals working on those programs created space sciences.

No such national commitment to environmental quality in an expanding economy is in prospect. In fact, the real EPA budget for fiscal 1973 has been reduced from that in 1972. Until we are willing to devote the same resources to the quality of life as we have to space and defense, all the retraining programs for nonexistent jobs will be merely window dressing for political rhetoric.

S. P. Jones

Association of Technical Professionals

Cambridge, Mass. 02142

It's good to know that these kinds of concerns have been with us for a long time, and that the projections of economists and other seers-into-the-future often fail to materialize. 

24 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 24 new positions for July 3. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

Calculated Risk is NOT on recession watch

Denizens of this blog from many years ago will know that I hold Bill McBride of Calculated Risk in high regard. Many folks have their favorite economist that "called" the Great Recession, but I really like McBride's data-driven approach (and yes, he and his former co-blogger, Tanta called the Great Recession). Here's his latest comment on a potential recession (emphasis his): 

Employment is currently off about 0.5% from the pre-recession peak (dashed line).  This is a significant improvement from off 14.4% in April 2020.

Employment is still 822 thousand below pre-pandemic levels.

And the second graph is for real personal income excluding transfer payments through May 2022.

Real personal income less transfer payments was at an all-time peak in May 2022.

These graphs are useful in trying to identify peaks and troughs in economic activity - and neither are suggesting a recession.

Note: See: Predicting the Next Recession.  I'm not currently on recession watch.

I've definitely called 10 of the last two recessions, and so this makes me dial back a touch. I still think "the chemical and pharmaceutical companies will continue hiring in fall 2022, but less than fall 2021."  

C&EN: German chemical sector will continue to have natural gas shortages

In this week's C&EN, this news (article by Alex Scott, emphasis mine):

The German government is calling on shippers to voluntarily increase their supply of natural gas to the country and on users to reduce their consumption of it after Russia’s tightening of supply to Europe. Russia has threatened to cut all gas exports to “unfriendly” countries. If that occurs, the chemical sector in Germany—and elsewhere in Europe—“would face serious difficulties,” as it is one of the most energy-intensive and gas-reliant industries, the credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service states in a new report. 

Under emergency protocols in Germany and other countries, including the UK, households and critical infrastructure would be allocated gas ahead of the chemical industry. BASF consumes about 4% of Germany’s natural gas. The chemical maker warned in March that it would have to shut down facilities if gas supplies failed to meet at least half its needs. BASF now expects already-high gas prices to rise further. “In a scenario of reduced gas availability, European chemicals producers could face at least two winters with tight gas supplies,” Moody’s states.

Seems bad! Don't know if there's anything that will resolve this soon...  

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 26 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 26 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position. 

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

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

On July 6, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 22 research/teaching positions. On July 7, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 9 research/teaching positions and two teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Independence Day

Monday is the observation of the July 4 Independence Day holiday in the United States - we'll see you Tuesday morning.

Have a good weekend

Well, this was quite a week! I had a lot of fun, and I worked pretty hard, and managed to travel the length of the country. I hope that you had as good of a week as I, and I hope that you have a wonderful Independence Day weekend. We'll see you on Tuesday. 

A minor tech rant

I have a Lenovo T480s, and I like it a lot. It has been with me across the country and around the world, and it has treated me well over the years. Recently, it has displayed some problematic charging issues (especially after a Windows 11 "upgrade") and it's also had some difficulties starting. It will hang on the "Lenovo" boot screen. 

That instability is going to drive me to purchase a new laptop, and probably another Lenovo. It's the price of doing business, and one that I will begrudgingly pay. 

What I don't understand is how difficult it has been to find fixes to some of the problems I have experienced, and how I seem to be reliant/I am resorting to searching Reddit threads to see if someone else has run into this problem. Even the various user forums sometimes are no match for the bajillion copycat websites attempting to Get My Clicks when I type "Lenovo t480s charging problems Windows 11" into Google. 

(For that record, Google is not what it used to be, and I feel like I need to start using quote marks more and more to avoid stupid ridiculous helpful AI-driven suggestions for my search terms. I quail to think about the difficulty of migrating my email and blogs away from Google/Alphabet in my dotage...) 

Well, that's enough ranting. I wish I knew what to do other than fork over another $1600....

Swiss newspaper: Novartis to layoff 8000 globally, 1400 cuts to come in Switzerland

Via FiercePharma: 

For months, Novartis has hinted at layoffs coming for some of its global staff. Now, the news has come down from HQ.

Novartis is laying off around 8,000 of its 108,000 staff worldwide in a bid to save $1 billion, the Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger was the first to report. A spokesperson for the company confirmed the move on Tuesday.

The news comes as Novartis works to merge its oncology and pharmaceuticals departments into a singular innovative medicines unit. The move "will allow us to reduce duplications of business structures in every country," the company's spokesperson said.

The changes will make Novartis "leaner and simpler," so the company "intends to eliminate roles across the organization," he added.

Further, Novartis is combining its technical operations and customer and technology solutions units into a singular "operations" unit. The drugmaker is making progress on all of these changes and has appointed most of its leadership teams.

In Switzerland, Novartis is cutting up to 1,400 positions, the company's spokesperson said.

Hard to know if this is purely about Novartis, or the beginning of a larger trend. If I had to pick one, I would say it's more of a one-off than not, but who knows? 

2022 Chemjobber Industrial Organic Starting Salary Survey results

I received 49 responses to the Survey of Industrial Organic Chemists and winnowed them down to three categories: 

Major pharma (13 respondents)

• Geography: CA (4), PA (3), New Jersey (2)
• Median respondent got 3 offers
• Most indicated that on-campus interview or connections were most useful
• Median number of applications: 10 applications (low of 2, high of 30)
• Median salary: $117,500 (low of $105,000, high of $138,000)

CMO/chemical industry (13 respondents)

• Geography: NJ, DE (2), TN, NE, CO (2), PA, NJ, MN, CT, TX, NY, OH
• Median respondent got 1 offer
• Web application was most useful for them 
• Median number of applications: 20 applications (low of 4, high of 100)
• Median salary: $95,000 (low of $52,000, high of $135,000)

Biotech new employees (17 respondents)

• Geography: CA (5), MA (7) 
• Median respondent got 1 offer
• Web application was most useful for them 
• Median number of applications: 23.5 applications (low of 1, high of 60)
• Median salary: $121,000 (low of $95,000, high of $175,000)

Pretty interesting, but I wouldn't draw any major trends. More data to come from this, and more analysis. 

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 14 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 14 research/teaching positions and 1 teaching position. 

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

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

On June 29, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 16 research/teaching positions. On June 30, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 8 research/teaching positions and two teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Job posting: NMR/XRD technologist, Department of Chemistry, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON

From the inbox: 

The technologist is responsible for the daily supervision and operational requirements in the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) laboratories. These facilities consist of a JEOL ECZ-400 MHz spectrometer and a Bruker AVANCE 300 MHz spectrometer, as well as a powder and a single crystal X-ray diffraction spectrometer.

The technologist is responsible for teaching faculty, staff and students in the operation of the NMR and XRD spectrometers and the safety precautions that must be adhered to in these laboratories. Proper sample handling and preparation techniques are also taught to ensure the maximize performance from the spectrometers.

The technologist offers both technical advice and guidance to students and research groups to help them choose the best experiments to use for their particular compound.

Full ad here. Deadline is July 4, 2022. Best wishes to all interested.  

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

ACC survey of economic forecasters: mixed, but generally positive for 2023

Via the American Chemistry Council's Weekly Chemistry and Economic Trends report, this survey of economic forecasters: 

• The outlook for 2022 continued to weaken with ongoing inflationary pressures, disruptions related to the  war in Ukraine, and aggressive tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.
• Expectations into 2023 were also lower for many indicators compared to a month ago.
• U.S. GDP is expected to grow by 2.6% in 2022 as the highest inflation in decades erodes spending and higher interest rates raise borrowing costs. In 2023, forecasters continue to expect the U.S. economy to grow by 1.8%, a pace below its long-term trend.
• Consumer spending is expected to increase by 3.1% in 2022 before slowing further to a 1.7% gain in 2023.
• Business fixed investment will be a larger contributor to GDP growth in 2022 with an expected 5.4% gain. In 2023, growth in business investment is expected to slow to a 3.1% Y/Y pace.
• Industrial production is expected to rise 5.1% in 2022 (as manufacturing continues its momentum and oil & gas activity expands) and 1.9% in 2023.
• With continued supply chain challenges for vehicle manufacturers, expectations for light vehicle sales were lowered again to 14.8 million in 2022 and rising to 16.1 million in 2023. 
• Expectations for housing starts were the same compared to last month at 1.65 million in 2022 but lowered to 1.55 million in 2023. 
• The unemployment rate is expected to average 3.6% in 2022 and 3.8% in 2023.
• Inflation continues to accelerate through mid-year. Expectations for gains in consumer prices continued to grow compared to our mid-year outlook with forecasters looking for inflation of 7.6% in 2022, before easing to a 3.6% pace in 2023, as constraints ease. 
• Compared to last month, expectations for interest rates (10-year Treasury) continued to move higher for 2022, as the Fed implements aggressive tightening. 
• Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Covid lockdowns in China, forecasters have downgraded their expectations for the global economy. Global GDP is expected to rise by 3.2% in 2022 and 2023. Global industrial production, hampered by ongoing supply chain challenges in addition to the disruptions from Chinese lockdowns and the war in Ukraine, will rise 3.9% in 2022 and 3.6% in 2023.
• In addition to ongoing supply chain challenges, slower growth in global GDP and industrial production will be reflected in softer projections for global trade. Following a 10.4% rebound in 2021, global trade volumes are expected to rise by 3.6% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2023, both lower than previously expected. 

According to this, there is no prediction for a "technical" recession for 2022 or 2023 (i.e. two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth), this is broadly good news. Either way, I would continue to expect a slowing of hiring (i.e. less torrid than 2021), but still generally a good environment for job seekers. This will be important to watch, especially as the Fed continues to respond to inflation with additional (?) rate increases... 

Slowing in biotech investment

From economics blog Marginal Revolution, a statistic from the Financial Times: 

Just nine biotech companies have listed in the US this year, raising a total of $1bn, according to LifeSci Capital, a boutique investment bank. Almost 60 companies did so in the same period last year, tapping investors for $7.4bn.

 This corroborates what we've been seeing in the biotech media, including this recent article from FierceBiotech: 

The massive $15.9 billion haul for biopharma technology deals in 2021 was always going to be tough to beat, but dealmaking in 2022 is off at a snail's pace, with M&A, IPOs and fundraising all plummeting, according to a new report.

Funding for the world’s biopharma technology companies totaled $2.8 billion in the first quarter of the year, down 10%, according to CB Insights’ State of Biopharma Tech Q1’22 Report. This was the fourth consecutive quarter with a decline in deals, with just 66 signed for the months of January through March.

We already know that M&A has been slow—just ask anyone who came out of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in January disappointed with the slew of licensing deals. But the CB Insights report has the details: There was a 60% drop in M&A exits in the first quarter, with just six recorded, compared to 15 in the fourth quarter of 2021.

I imagine this will not really affect hiring per se, but it may slow down some of the wage growth that we're seeing for the Boston or San Francisco area for entry-level scientists... 

Have a great weekend

This was a quieter week than I expected, but that's nice. Next week will be quite busy and stressful (especially before a July 4 weekend!) but that's okay. Have a good weekend, and we'll see you on Monday. 

A Survey of Industrial Organic Chemists

Did you find an entry-level position in industrial organic chemistry in the US in 2020-2022? If so, please take this short survey to help future job seekers. 

Please let others know about this survey! I would really appreciate it if you could send it to relevant friends. 

Thanks, Chemjobber

A Survey of Industrial Organic Chemists

Did you find a position in industrial organic chemistry in the US in 2020-2022? If so, please take this short survey to help future job seekers. 

Please let others know about this survey! Thanks, Chemjobber

Nine basic hiring practices from Edward Nevraumont

Via Marginal Revolution, a list of hiring practices from Edward Nevraumont, an advisor at a private equity firm: 

Most of the time you can win candidates by getting the basics right:

1. Reach out to people, don’t wait for them to come to you.
2. Build relationships before you need them.
3. Develop followership (so people that work with you once will want to work with you again).
4. Get candidates excited for the job before you start screening them.
5. Make your workplace a good place to work for smart and talented people (which is NOT the same as making it a “good place to work” generally, or anything from the HR/PR lists.)
6. Be the type of manager that top talent will want to work for.
7. Ensure that you have someone selling the candidate once you know you want to make an offer and start the selling process before the offer is made.
8. Be polite.
9. Be fast.

If you take care of these type of basic things, you will out-compete almost every rival — without the need for experimental interview techniques that push people “off script.”

I broadly think this is correct, but I really think it is numbers 1 and 2 that are really important for small organization. In other words, if you're running a faculty search for Harvard, you could post the ad on a 3X5 card in a random bathroom in Cambridge and get all the candidates you need. For the rest of us, I really believe that recruiting (especially targeting specific people) is important and probably a much better route than simply posting an ad, and wading from a sea of CVs. 

I also think that numbers 8 and 9 are difficult, but important. Making the process fast is appreciated by everyone, especially if you can get back to everyone, even just to reject their application. 

Job posting: Ambercycle, senior scientist, Los Angeles, CA

From the inbox, this position: 

About Us

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

The Job

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

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested. 

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 10 research/teaching positions

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 10 research/teaching positions. 

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

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

On June 22, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 14 research/teaching positions. On June 23, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 7 research/teaching positions and two teaching faculty positions. 

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

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

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

A Survey of Industrial Organic Chemists

Did you find a position in industrial organic chemistry in the US in 2020-2022? If so, please take this short survey to help future job seekers. 

Please let others know about this survey! Thanks, Chemjobber

C&EN: "What I learned from my lab accident"

In this week's Chemical and Engineering News, this article from Francesca Lorandi:

In February of this year, I was injured in an accident in a chemistry laboratory. I had set up an experiment that involved the separate use of hydrogen and oxygen gases fed into a glove box from compressed cylinders located in the lab. Though this was a well-established experimental procedure in my research group, something caused an explosion. The specific cause of the accident is still under investigation.

When the explosion occurred, the experiment had been paused for a few hours, and I was standing by the glove box. I spent 7 days in the hospital undergoing surgery for wounds on my face and neck and getting splints and implants for dental trauma. A neck fracture meant I had to wear a brace for 2 months. There are also invisible consequences that I’m still discovering day by day. I’m not confronting them on my own: I ask for help or talk to my partner, family, mentors, friends, and colleagues.

The accident triggered extensive discussions at my institution about safety measures in all the departments that conduct potentially hazardous experiments. Department heads and safety services are implementing changes. Importantly, these changes are aimed at germinating a culture of safety rather than just implementing stricter regulations and promising compliance.

It's quite remarkable to have a pretty open incident report this early on. I'm glad that Dr. Lorandi wrote this article, and I hope that it begins a trend. 

Have a great weekend

This was a pretty good week, really. Could have used not going to urgent care for stitches, but other than that, it was a good week. I hope that you have a great, fun weekend, and we'll see you on Monday.

 

28 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 28 new positions for June 12. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

Science: Professors report difficulty in recruiting postdoctoral fellows

Via Twitter, this article: 

When Jennifer Mason posted an ad for a postdoc position in early March, she was eager to have someone on board by April or May to tackle recently funded projects. Instead, it took 2 months to receive a single application. Since then, only two more have come in. “Money is just sitting there that isn’t being used … and there’s these projects that aren’t moving anywhere as a result,” says Mason, an assistant professor in genetics at Clemson University.

She isn’t alone. On social media, many U.S. academics have been pointing to widespread challenges in recruiting postdocs. An investigation by Science Careers bears this out: More than 100 U.S.-based researchers were contacted because they advertised for postdoc positions this year on scientific society job boards, and of the 37 who responded with information about their hiring experiences, three-quarters reported challenges recruiting. “This year is hard for me to wrestle with: … we received absolutely zero response from our posting,” one wrote. “The number of applications is 10 times less than 2018-2019,” another wrote.

I'm somewhat sympathetic to professors (especially early-career professors) who rely on postdocs for their work. At the same time, what we are hearing right now (i.e. professors offering lower wages not being able to compete with industry) is the ideal situation. I hope this is the new normal. 

We'll get a chance to find out if it is. I have not been shy in predicting a relative slowdown in hiring this year, and I imagine that within a year, professors will once again have no problem in selling inferior goods filling their postdoctoral positions. We shall see. 

(I suspect this situation has to do with Trump-era tightening of immigration, i.e. it has been more difficult to get international students and Ph.D. graduates to get visas. I haven't articles contrasting the Biden Administration's positions on this - anyone have relevant knowledge to share?) 

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List: 8 research/teaching positions

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 8 research/teaching positions. 

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

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

On June 15, 2021, the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 9 research/teaching positions. On June 16, 2020, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 6 research/teaching positions. 

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

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

Job posting: director of instructional and research support, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, St. Mary's College of Maryland

From the inbox: 

St. Mary’s College of Maryland at Historic St. Mary’s City is accepting résumés for the position of Director of Instructional and Research Support for Chemistry and Biochemistry. The director acts as the department laboratory manager in support of instructional and research activities, and teaches the equivalent of six laboratory sections per academic year.

Non-sectarian since its founding, St. Mary's College of Maryland, a public Carnegie Baccalaureate, Arts and Sciences institution located in Historic St. Mary's City, 70 miles southeast of Washington, D.C., has been designated as Maryland's public honors college.  Undergraduate and residential in nature, with a diverse coeducational student body numbering approximately 1600, St. Mary's emphasizes excellence in teaching.  The institution was awarded a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in 1997.  The quality of life is enhanced by the recreational opportunities of the Chesapeake region and close proximity to the amenities of Washington D.C., Baltimore and Richmond.

Qualifications: Master’s degree in biochemistry, chemistry, or related scientific field, or bachelor’s degree with documented equivalent experience.

Full ad here. Best wishes to those interested.  

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

Bloomberg: CSB chair Lemos quits

Via Bloomberg: 

The head of a federal safety agency that investigates major industrial accidents has submitted her resignation, according to a letter seen by Bloomberg.

Katherine Lemos’s departure would leave the five-person US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board with two members, though the White House said this week it would nominate Catherine J.K. Sandoval, a professor at California’s Santa Clara University, to the board.

The turmoil at the Chemical Safety Board is, by now, not really news, but the fact that it keeps happening, across three presidential administrations tends to indicate there's something strange going on there...  

Post-pandemic, the US private sector is almost all the way back

Via Axios, this economic news: 

Stunning stat: The private sector has recovered 99% of all jobs lost, but public sector has regained just 58% — one illustration of the gaping hole that persists in certain areas of the economy.

Other industries have recovered and then some: the transportation and warehousing sector — think package couriers or truckers — has never made up a bigger share of the workforce, reflecting, for one, the historic appetite for goods.

The manufacturing sector is currently 17,000 positions short of its pre-pandemic peak (so close to 99%?), and that's where chemists mostly are. 

Have a great weekend

This week wasn't quite as rough as I might have been worrying, but here we are at the end of it. Hope that you had a good week, and that you have a great weekend (maybe with some sunshine in the outdoors?) See you on Monday. 

 

C&EN on Karen Wetterhahn

In the pages of Chemical and Engineering News, this remarkable profile of Karen Wetterhahn in her life and her legacy in her death from dimethylmercury poisoning: 

...On Aug. 14, 1996, Wetterhahn was working in a fume hood in her research group’s lab. By that point in her career, she didn’t get to spend much time at the bench, but this was a task she didn’t want anyone else doing...

This article by Sam Lemonick is really worth a read - good thoughts about both chemical safety and her far-reaching legacy within. 

64 new positions at Organic Chemistry Jobs

 Over at Common Organic Chemistry, curated by Brian Struss, there are 64 new positions for June 5. The jobs can be viewed on the website or spreadsheet.

Don't forget to check out the Common Organic Chemistry company map, a very helpful resource for organic chemists looking for potential employers. 

OPRD: A Call for Papers to Openly Discuss Chemical Incidents

From the inbox: 

...We believe that ACS Chemical Health & Safety is well positioned to “fill the gaps” to help the scientific community learn from the experiences of others by sharing our experiences in a Virtual Special Issue (VSI) that highlights chemical incidents. In VSIs, manuscripts are initially published in a regular issue shortly after they are accepted for publication. Once all VSI papers have been accepted, they are collected onto a single webpage, giving additional exposure to each author’s work. Our goal in collating this VSI is to promote an open and informative environment where incidents and near misses can be shared by researchers, without blame or shame for those involved, to educate and prevent others from experiencing similar consequences. 

...We can start by normalizing the discussion of safety incidents where we openly discuss chemical incidents, missing safety information, ineffective risk assessments, and even our own mistakes. To that end, we seek submissions related to incidents and near misses involving the following:

• unexpected hazards from chemicals, processes, and equipment
• organizational reviews of repeated incidents
• chronic and acute exposure to chemicals
• proactive and reactive responses to natural disasters
• mental health outcomes related to incidents, near misses, or general safety culture
• other experiences and challenges in transitioning from a blame culture to a just culture

Seems like a good thing to do. Full call here. Best wishes to those interested. 

Is a difficult name a problem in your job search?

Via Marginal Revolution, this interesting paper: 

This paper tests for the existence of labor market discrimination based on a previously unstudied characteristic: name fluency. Using data on over 1,500 economics job market candidates from roughly 100 PhD programs during the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 job market cycles, we find that having a name that takes longer to pronounce is associated with 1) a significantly lower likelihood of being placed into an academic job or obtaining a tenure track position; and 2) an initial placement at an institution with lower research productivity, as measured by the research rankings in the Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) database. We obtain similar results using two alternative ways of measuring pronunciation difficulty, a computer generated algorithm based on commonality of letter and phoneme combinations and a subjective measure based on individual ratings, and they hold after the inclusion of many control variables including fixed effects for PhD institution and home country.

Would be interesting to see what is "difficult to pronounce" (i.e. do Xi, Krishnamurthy or Krzyzewski count?) I could imagine all three being either easy or difficult, depending on the pronouncer. Also, I strongly suspect that this would reproduce in chemistry and for industry...

The 2023 Faculty Jobs List: 4 research/teaching positions

The 2023 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 4 research/teaching positions. 

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

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

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? This will serve as the first open thread. 

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

The 2022 Faculty Jobs List: 592 research/teaching positions and 110 teaching positions

The 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (curated by Andrew Spaeth and myself) has 592 research/teaching positions and 110 teaching positions. 

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

On June 7, 2021, the 2021 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 339 research/teaching position and 67 teaching positions. On June 2, 2020, the 2020 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List had 557 research/teaching positions and 80 teaching positions.

This will be the last post for the 2022 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List. 

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

Want to talk anonymously? Have an update on the status of a job search? Go to the fourth open thread. Here's the third open thread. Go to the second open thread. Here is the first open thread. The first open thread was closed on November 10, 2021.

Here is Sean Edington's status summary spreadsheet.

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

Chemistry Bumper Cars

Check out the latest moves here! 

To submit information, click here or e-mail chembumpercars@gmail.com

The geographical distribution of chemistry jobs from 1991, 2011 and 2021

An ad from 1991 
Credit: Chemical and Engineering News

I am pleased to find myself back in the pages of Chemical and Engineering News, this time looking at pages of old back issues and analyzing the geographical distribution of the various jobs. I think you'll be somewhat surprised at what I found, so read the whole thing. 

ACC: Weekly Chemistry and Economic Trends

Via the American Chemistry Council, their weekly report of economic trends: 

Employment

Nonfarm payrolls grew by 390,000 in May, the smallest monthly gain since April 2021. Notable job gains were in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services and transportation and warehousing. Employment in retail trade declined. Employment remains below pre-Covid levels by 822,000. Manufacturing payrolls grew by 18,000, the 13th month of consecutive monthly gains. Average hourly wages for non-supervisory and production workers grew by 6.5% Y/Y to $27.33, the slowest annual pace since December. The labor force grew and most new entrants moved into the ranks of the employed. The participation rate ticked up to 60.1%, tying March for the highest rate since the pandemic began. The unemployment rate remained steady for a third month at 3.6%. 

Chemical industry employment 

Chemical industry employment (including pharmaceuticals) rose by 3,700 (0.4%) in May as gains in production workers offset a decline in supervisory and non-production workers. Compared to a year ago, chemical industry employment was up by 27,400 (3.2% Y/Y). Average hourly wages in chemical manufacturing rose 1.4% Y/Y to $27.12. The average workweek expanded by ½ hour to 41.2 hours. Combined with employment gains, the labor input into the chemical industry was up 2.2% which was consistent with the ISM Manufacturing PMI report that suggested the chemical industry experienced moderate-to-strong growth in May. 

Chemical shipments

Within the details of the ISM Manufacturing PMI report, chemical products was listed as one of the industries reporting moderate-to-strong growth in May. Chemical industry respondents reported growth in new orders, higher  inventories, increased employment growth, new export orders, and imports and paying higher prices for raw materials in May. They reported no change in order backlogs, that customer inventories were “too low” and slower supplier deliveries reflecting continued obstacles across the supply chain, with labor and through the transportation and distribution network. One plastics and rubber products respondent provided a comment: “Price increases haven’t let up. I thought 2022 was going to be better, but it hasn’t been. Shortages (among other issues) are disrupting the supply chain.” 

Mostly good news, it seems. 

Have a great weekend

Well, I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked, but a couple of the big things we wanted to do got done. I hope you have a great weekend, and see you on Monday. 

Can the Fed engineer a soft landing?

Via the New York Times, thoughts about the current state of the economy: 

When it comes to the economy, more is usually better.

Bigger job gains, faster wage growth and more consumer spending are all, in normal times, signs of a healthy economy. Growth might not be sufficient to ensure widespread prosperity, but it is necessary — making any loss of momentum a worrying sign that the economy could be losing steam or, worse, headed into a recession.

But these are not normal times. With nearly twice as many open jobs as available workers and companies struggling to meet record demand, many economists and policymakers argue that what the economy needs right now is not more, but less — less hiring, less wage growth and above all less inflation, which is running at its fastest pace in four decades...

And some thoughts within from progressive economist Mike Konczal: 

...The Fed’s efforts to cool off the economy are already bearing fruit, Mr. Konczal said. Mortgage rates have risen sharply, and there are signs that the housing market is slowing as a result. The stock market has lost almost 15 percent of its value since the beginning of the year. That loss of wealth is likely to lead at least some consumers to pull back on their spending, which will lead to a pullback in hiring. Job openings fell in April, though they remained high, and wage growth has eased.

“There’s a lot of evidence to suggest the economy has already slowed down,” Mr. Konczal said. He said he was optimistic that the United States was on a path toward “normalizing to a regular good economy” instead of the boomlike one it has experienced over the past year.

My broad prediction continues to be that the job market for entry-level chemists in fall of 2022 will be less good than the fall of 2021, but how much less is the question that is truly difficult to answer. I suspect that it will be "somewhat less good" (0-10% fewer job openings?), but not "significantly less good" (10-25+%), but I genuinely have no good way to measure this, other than the Faculty Jobs List (?). Perhaps Organic Chemistry Jobs is the place to monitor. 

Anyway, this is something that I am continuing to watch, so if you would like to enter a prediction with falsifiability in the comments, I would welcome that. 

The Column's Product of the Day: orthopedic casts

Via the always excellent The Column, orthopedic casts: 

“The material casts are made of is a knitted fiber soaked with a polyisocyanate prepolymer. The fiber is typically fiberglass (long strands of glass surrounded by a polymer) or a polyester like PET. The polyisocyanate prepolymer is a usually a polyether polyol (like this polypropylene glycol from Covestro) with MDI end caps. When this stuff hits water it cures (forms crosslinks) and become the rigid polyurethane that protects your (or someone else's) healing bones.“

Enjoy! 

ACS CEO Thomas Connelly to retire at the end of 2022

Via C&EN (article by Bibiana Campos Seijo):

American Chemical Society chief executive officer Thomas Connelly will retire at the end of 2022 after more than 7 years of service as its CEO. ACS publishes C&EN.

“Tom has provided strong leadership for ACS throughout his tenure, especially over the past two years as we experienced a once in a lifetime challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” says Paul W. Jagodzinski, chair of the ACS Board of Directors, in a press release. “We look forward to Tom’s continued leadership through the rest of 2022 and wish him all the best as he enters the next chapter of his life in 2023.”

...The ACS Board of Directors will start the search for a new CEO immediately. The Board intends to identify a successor before the end of the year to ensure continuity.