things to do in san diego: 2012

31 Aralık 2012 Pazartesi

Things to Do in San Diego's Balboa Park

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There are many well-known San Diego attractions that you will want to consider when you are planning a visit to this popular Southern California city. Whether you are in the city for business or pleasure, or even if you're a local that needs to entertain out-of-town visitors, you definitely won't run out of things to see. One of the best places you could go -- especially if you like the outdoors -- is Balboa Park.
Although there are plenty of attractions to see, Balboa Park is unique in that it offers a lot of diversions to keep you and your guests busy. Among the various attractions you can see on the park, there are some must-see locations which you should visit to make your sightseeing excursion complete.
One of these "must-see" attractions is the Star Trek exhibition. It contains all the original costumes and props as well as the sets that were used in all series and films of Star Trek. If you are going to get an admission ticket, you would also be granted access to other exhibits on the Air and Space Museum.
If flowers are more to your taste, then the poinsettia display will rank as your number one among the San Diego attractions. The display can be found on the Botanical Building and features more than five hundred poinsettias that were arranged in harmony with the rest of the botanical wonders around which came from all over the world. You do not have to spend anything to see the display because it is for free.
If you are searching for IMAX film among the San Diego attractions, then you can have a single ticket so that you can be admitted to one of the new films on IMAX that are shown on a seamless dome screen which is very modern. If you know of the zoo in San Diego, you would probably visit it too; but if you are going to go there, it is advisable that you go early so that you can avoid the business of the day. One of the unique things to see in the zoo is the Panda Research Station and perhaps you could go there directly.
You may have a long list of other San Diego attractions that are worth seeing, just be sure to save at least a few days of your vacation for exploring Balboa Park and all the sites it has to offer. You won't be disappointed.

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Research shows that cinnamon reduces blood sugar levels in diabetics

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Blood glucose is affected by many things. It can go up when we eat too many carbs or have an infection or are under stress. It can drop too low if we do not eat enough carbs, or if we drink alcohol or if we are more active than normal. Researchers have found that simply adding cinnamon each day could help reduce blood sugar levels (BSL).

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Helium today.

A guide to daily newspapers in San Jose, CA

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San Jose is the third largest city in California. It is home to over seven million people. Its communities are covered by several traditional newspapers. There are two San Jose business oriented papers: the San Jose Post-Record and the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal. San Jose residents may also choose from three Spanish papers. They are: Alianza Metropolitan, El Observador, and La Oferta.

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Helium.

The Diabetic Week Ahead: 30 December - 5 January

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This week brings New Year’s Day and the start of the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Bring in the New Year with a run through Lancaster County Park. It is not too early to planning to participate in the Lancaster 2013 Walk to Cure Diabetes. New Year’s of course is the time to make resolutions. Resolve to improve your health and well being with Penn State’s Strong Women program.

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Examiner.com this morning.

US citizens encouraged to learn emergency management skills

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Do you know what to do to prepare for a natural disaster? TheFederal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA encourages US citizens to participatein the Independent Study Program (ISP). The ISP is open to not only nationalemergency response and recovery personnel but also to any

citizen interested in learninghow to be prepared.
Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared today on Examiner.com.

27 Aralık 2012 Perşembe

#SheriSangji preliminary hearing: Day 6

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Drs. Jyllian Kemsley and Michael Torrice of C&EN have posted their summary of Day 6 (the final day) of the preliminary hearing of Professor Patrick Harran on charges stemming from the death of Sheharbano (Sheri) Sangji in January 2009. It should be noted that a preliminary hearing is a determination of the quality of the prosecution's evidence in the case.

I don't plan on writing up a full review of the preliminary hearing until the first week of next year, when folks will have returned from winter breaks. But I will note a couple of really remarkable developments on Day 6. Cal/OSHA investigator Brian Baudendistel was questioned again by both the prosecution and the defense. The really illuminating questions, however, came from the defense's questioning of chemical safety expert Neal Langerman:

The defense attempted to get Dr. Langerman to admit that Ms. Sangji demonstrated her ability meet Dr. Langerman's personal training standards to work with pyrophorics because she performed an experiment with Grubbs II catalyst in dichloromethane in a glovebag, and that Professor Harran watched her work and declared her technique "perfect."
The defense suggested that Professor Harran's postdoctoral fellow was the key person who was supervising and training her, and that it was reasonable for Professor Harran to rely on the postdoc in her training.

I surmise that Dr. Langerman was not particularly interested in going along with the defense's reasoning on this issue. You should go over there and read the transcripts that Drs. Kemsley and Torrice have provided to see if you agree.
I find it surprising and perhaps objectionable that Grubbs II in dichloromethane has been described as "reactive" and "air sensitive". From the Chem 215 notes at Harvard authored by Myers and coworkers:

Ru-based catalysts show little sensitivity to air, moisture or minor impurities in solvents.

A variety of Google results tends to support the Myers position that Grubbs II is not particularly sensitive to air. Professor Doug Taber comes a little closer with his description that "Prolonged exposure to air and moisture deactivates the complex..." The couple of minutes that it would take to weigh out the complex and toss it into the flask doesn't count, I don't think.

What is ultimately more probative (and again, perhaps I am wrong) is that it would be difficult to immediately tell that air-sensitive technique with Grubbs II was either good or bad. Bad technique with tBuLi announces itself with a flame; bad technique with Grubbs catalyst might result in a mild color change and a poor yield.

Readers, am I nuts in thinking that this is a crazy comparison to make? The Sangji case is such a weird nexus between law and chemistry; God help us all if this makes it in front of a jury.

NYT asks, college or a job for rural Montana kids?

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Check out my rig! Credit: New York Times

From a Glen Ernst tweet, an interesting New York Times article on the effect the hydraulic fracturing boom is having on a small Montana town:

...At the end of a gravel highway in northeastern Montana, graduating seniors in Bainville are asking similar questions about their future. Should they get an education and pursue their interests? Or should they stick close to home and surf a wave of cash and jobs that will only grow as companies begin to build a new industrial rail terminal and worker camps, forever transforming this quiet farm town where residents say the population has doubled since the 2010 census found 300.

Dmetri Ross, 17, said he would join his father and uncle at an outpost of Nabors Industries in western North Dakota, working in a lab running tests on water samples and cement related to drilling. “I’d be happy to make a career out of it,” he said.

...Nobody needed to recruit Shay Findlay. One day after he graduated from Sidney High School, he drove into town and started looking for work. He found a job on the first try, doing repair work on drilling pumps.

He is 19 and on his second job now, earning about $40,000 a year and still sleeping in a bedroom in his parents’ basement decorated with his high school graduation picture and diploma. He bought a dirt bike and a flat-screen television, and took out a loan on a hulking black Chevy Silverado truck with personalized license plates — FDLSTIX — for his childhood nickname, Fiddlesticks...

[On his friends going to college, elsewhere:] “They’re going to have to come back and look for work,” he said. “And there’s nothing but oil fields over here.”

It's pretty funny and emblematic of the New York Times to be concerned about these kids; I think it's a bit rich for them to routinely bemoan the lack of jobs for non-college graduates and then throw up their hands in terror when kids in small rural towns decide not to go to college in favor of those jobs.

At the same time, there are folks who could indeed benefit from school -- the young man who wants to follow his family into a water testing laboratory would probably benefit from an A.A. in chemical technology (maybe, anyway); one wonders whether such a thing might be available to him in western North Dakota. Distance education might be the thing that works for him -- hopefully, he'll get it -- if he wants it.

Finally, there are folks who could benefit from these jobs -- the young man with the truck doesn't sound like he wants to go to school, and he's earning a decent wage and learning some decent skills. (He probably could use a lesson in personal finance, but UHK will teach him a lesson or two about borrowing money for a new truck, and that'll be that.)

Readers, what do you think?

Daily Pump Trap: 12/27/12 edition

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Good morning! Between December 20 and December 26, there were 120 new positions posted on the C&EN Jobs website. Of these, 18 (15%) are academically connected and 74 (62%) are from Kelly Scientific Resources.

Around the nation: Shimadzu has posted 7 positions around the country for their instrumentation divison.

Tullahoma, TN: An unnamed company is looking for a Ph.D. chemist for work on molecular imprinting and chemical sensing.

Commerce, CA: An unnamed company is looking for a cosmetic chemist for work on nails; B.S./M.S. (7 years, 5 years experience (respectively.) You gotta love this part of the ad: "As far as job description, this is what I have outlined. Please feel free to edit as appropriate."

A broader look: Monster, Careerbuilder, Indeed and USAjobs.gov show (respectively) 202, 614, 2435 and 13 positions for the search term "chemist." LinkedIn shows 120 positions for the search term "chemist", with 2 positions for the search term "organic chemist", 17 for "analytical chemist" and 10 for "research chemist."

Labor law practitioner on #SheriSangji: Not rare for employer to face charges

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From the C&EN story (written by Jyllian Kemsley and Michael Torrice) on the preliminary hearing of evidence against Professor Patrick Harran (emphasis mine):

...When the hearing ended, O’Brien said he would submit motions to dismiss or reduce the charges against Harran. But he requested to do so in writing, noting that the facts in the case are “voluminous” and that the case itself represents a new use of California labor law.

Upon accepting O’Brien’s request, Judge Lench ordered that motions and counterarguments be filed by Feb. 1, 2013, and she set the next court date for Feb. 15, 2013.

Kirk McAllister, an attorney who is not involved in the case but is knowledgeable about this area of California law, says that a request to present written arguments is not unusual for a lengthy preliminary hearing. Harran’s hearing began in November and then was postponed until Dec. 17 for scheduling reasons.

McAllister also says that felony labor code charges are not unusual for a workplace injury—even if they have not previously been filed against a university professor.

I think that's a helpful thing to know -- that employers do have felony labor code charges filed against them. That the employee was a lab technician and the employer is an organic chemistry professor is probably the most broadly newsworthy piece of this phase of the Sheri Sangji case.

Does your date have good credit or bad credit?

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The New York Times had an interesting article on people inquiring about credit scores on dates:

As she nibbled on strawberry shortcake, Jessica LaShawn, a flight attendant from Chicago, tried not to get ahead of herself and imagine this first date turning into another and another, and maybe, at some point, a glimmering diamond ring and happily ever after.

Her musings were suddenly interrupted when her date asked a decidedly unromantic question: “What’s your credit score?”

Amusingly, a chemist shows up later in the article (I've deleted his name):

[Name removed], a 33-year-old chemist in San Francisco, said he worried that the vast disparity between his girlfriend’s credit score and his own low one could create tension in their relationship. When the couple leased a car in October, Mr. [Removed] had to leave his name off the contract because his poor credit scuttled his chances for the bargain interest rate that his girlfriend qualified for.

Mr. [Removed] said he resented that his credit score, which he said was marred by a single contested cable bill, has limited his access to credit. “I always pay my bills so it’s pretty ridiculous that a billing error can ruin your score,” he said. His girlfriend declined to be interviewed.

I've always been under the impression that chemists probably tend to stay out of financial trouble and, in general, have good credit. My little anecdote about this was to see the very modest cars that my professors (no slouches in the earnings department, I suspect) drove. When I was at a large pharma company, I also noted the relatively modest vehicles in the parking lots. That said, graduate school can be a good time for people (including myself!) to get themselves into some small or large amount of debt, which can have repercussions down the road.

Naturally, though, asking a credit score on the first date is sort of stupid. While "what is your financial situation?" is incredibly important for any long-term relationship, at that moment, it's just sort of rude.

20 Aralık 2012 Perşembe

Study links diabetes to Alzheimer's

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It seems fitting that November is not only National DiabetesMonth but it is also National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. There is evidencethat a link between the two diseases does exist.

In a new study published in Aging Cell, researchersat the Salk Institute for Biological Studies show that diabetes enhances thedevelopment of aging features that may underlie early pathological events inAlzheimer's. The researchers at Salk Institute found increases in two hallmarksof Alzheimer's-accumulations of amyloid beta (Abeta) and tau protein-in thebrains of diabetic mice, especially in cells surrounding blood vessels,according to a press release from Salk Institue. Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Examiner.com today.

December is ...

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December is ...
Constipation Awareness Month
Identity Theft Prevention and Awareness Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
National Tie Month
National Write a Business Plan
Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Seasonal Depression Awareness Month
Spiritual Literacy Month
Universal Human Rights Month

Awareness Weeks
2 - 8 -- National Handwashing Awareness Week

Special Days
1 - World AIDS Day
2 - International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
3 - International Day of Persons with Disabilities
4-6 -- 1st American Diabetes Association Middle East Congress
5 - International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development
7 - Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day
7 - International Civil Aviation Day
9 - International Day against Corruption
11 - International Mountain Day
18 - International Migrants Day
20 - International Human Solidarity Day
25 - Christmas

How to Prepare for Mass Destruction

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Law enforcement regularly train for mass devastations. School officials have plans. Hospitals have plans. Everyone theoretically knows what to do in an event like a tornado or a fire. How many though are really prepared to deal with the mass devastation like Friday’s school shooting in Connecticut that left 20 children dead? While the Pennsylvania State Police did an extraordinary job at the Nickel Mines Amish School Shooting in 2006, how many were truly prepared?

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared this morning on Examiner.com.

The Week Ahead: Lancaster Runs week of 16 December

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The Lancaster Road Runners Club (LRRC) holds regularly scheduled runs on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Every Sunday LRRC members meet at Long’s Park for a run from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. Tuesday’s run is the Winter Run in Long’s Park at 6:30 p.m. Thursday runs vary in location.

Running is a great way to control diabetes. The following runs are scheduled for the Lancaster area:

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Examiner.com this morning.

The documented story of the Fatima apparitions

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The Mother of God appeared six times in 1917 to three children in Fatima. It was between May and October of 1917 that Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco were visited by Mary near their Portuguese village of Fatima while they were tending sheep. In a nutshell, the children were told to pray the Rosary, to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary and, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, miracles would be witnessed throughout the world.
Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Helium.

16 Aralık 2012 Pazar

Unemployment rate down to 7.7%, U6 rate down to 14.4%

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Credit: Calculated Risk blog

BLS reported last Friday that the unemployment rate was down to 7.7%, with the broader U6 unemployment rate down to 14.4%. Great news, it seems.

The chemical manufacturing subsector lost around 9,000 jobs (about 1% of overall employment) from October to November , but these numbers are noisy enough that it's not a trend.

These are also the numbers with Hurricane Sandy in them, fwiw.

I don't think medchem will reshore to the US. Do you?

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Credit: Boston Consulting Group

I've been watching the boomlet in articles this past year about the "reshoring" of manufacturing back from Asia to the United States with some interest. The latest in this trend is Charles Fishman's article in The Atlantic Monthly about General Electric bringing back some appliance manufacturing to its facility in Kentucky. There has been a bit of hubbub about Apple's commitment to spend $100 million to built an assembly line in the US. (The Financial Times notes that it is not much, compared to the billions that it's spent on its facilities at Foxconn City.) Also, Felix Salmon points out that a lot of the jobs coming back are paying $10-15/hr, as opposed to the $20+/hr that most folks imagine.

I think this is business and the media chasing "hot trends", as opposed to looking at the long-term picture. [I've made a ten-year dinner bet with an old high school classmate about the share of US manufacturing as a percentage of US GDP. He says it's going to be higher in 2022 than in 2012; I say it's going to be lower.]

So a couple of new-ish things to comment on:

There is a lot of talk about the an American manufacturing renaissance due to hydraulic fracturing, all the natural gas/oil that is going to be produced and the cheap energy that's going to result. I think that's really real and why serious federal regulation of either 1) hydraulic fracturing or 2) carbon emissions will not happen during President Obama's 2nd term. There are just too many oxen to gore.
Also, Ben Bernanke has just announced that the Fed will keep rates low for the foreseeable future until unemployment falls below 6.5% to inflation goes above 2.5%. This is a pretty bold step* and shows their commitment to lowering unemployment as much as possible. So it won't be hard for companies to borrow money for the foreseeable future.

So here's my question: we all saw pharmaceutical manufacturing go overseas in the last 20 years, shortly followed by a lot of basic medicinal chemistry R&D. I suspect that some specialty chemical manufacturing will indeed see increases over the next ten years; to right is a graph from a Boston Consulting Group report that shows that chemicals might be on the cusp of returning to the US.** Is there any evidence that medicinal chemistry R&D is "reshoring"?

I don't see it at all, but I'd be interested in hearing a contrarian opinion. Readers?

UPDATE: The ever-awesome Rich Apodaca has some thoughts on how it could happen.

*and a big screw-you to net savers. That part is frustrating, if understandable.
** That's probably driven by hydraulic fracturing more than anything else.

There just aren't enough hours in the day

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This New York Times story about Russian author Nikolai V. Zlobin's book about America for Russians is both funny and poignant:

But of course much in everyday American life sounds bizarre to Russians, as Mr. Zlobin documents meticulously in his 400-page book, “America — What a Life!”

It seems strange, 20 years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, that ordinary Russians would still be hungry for details about how ordinary Americans eat and pay mortgages. But to Mr. Zlobin’s surprise, his book — published this year and marketed as a guide to Russians considering a move abroad — is already in its fifth print run, and his publisher has commissioned a second volume.

With the neutrality of a field anthropologist dispatched to suburbia, Mr. Zlobin scrutinizes the American practice of interrogating complete strangers about the details of their pregnancies; their weird habit of leaving their curtains open at night, when a Russian would immediately seal himself off from the prying eyes of his neighbors. Why Americans do not lie, for the most part. Why they cannot drink hard liquor. Why they love laws but disdain their leaders.

I think attempting to explain any large country that's rather heterogeneous is a fool's errand. The United States is such a mess of ridiculous and weird subcultures -- imagine trying to explain the chemblogosphere to someone who is not a reader or a blogger! I can't imagine attempting to explain Amish culture or suburban American teenagerhood to someone who hadn't lived either of those experiences.

This article is a great reminder to me of all the difficulties that graduate students and scientists from other countries must have when navigating the United States and its strange customs. That they experience difficulty is expected; that most seem to transition to "doing fine" and manage to do good science is pretty amazing.

Pfizer just won what?!!?

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I'm just going to leave this one here for your perusal (emphasis mine):

In 1849, two cousins founded Charles Pfizer & Company in a modest red brick building in Brooklyn, N.Y. Little did they know, the company would grow up to be one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, with the nation’s happiest employees.

The multinational pharmaceutical giant ranked No. 1 on CareerBliss’ third annual Happiest Companies in America list, which honors the 50 companies that are most dedicated to cultivating happy work environments.

Um, uh, no comment.

Fed, Aldrich stimulate economy by using paper currency as absorbent material

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In a surprise move, Aldrich has announced that it is helping the Federal Reserve use its excess of US dollars by stuffing them into their containers in place of vermiculite. "As a part of the latest nominal GDP targeting program that Chairman Bernanke has announced, the Fed has given us several thousand pallets of dollar bills to be used instead of that weird gray absorbent rabbit pellet looking stuff. Hey, grad students, postdocs and other bench scientists are the most likely to actually put cash into the economy by spending it."

A spokesman for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors released a statement saying, "We thank Sigma-Aldrich for their help in releasing hard currency to the general public. It is unfortunate that Sikorsky would not sell us helicopters for our project on a larger scale, but we believe that our friends in Milwaukee will have a similar effect. We have also instructed that we will not allow Federal Reserve Notes to be used as packing material in Aldrich brand tetrakis(triphenylphosphine)palladium, since we want our money to be spent and not hang around in the warehouses."

12 Aralık 2012 Çarşamba

Ivory Filter Flask: 12/11/12 edition

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

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

Savannah, GA: Armstrong Atlantic State University is hiring 2 assistant professors and one instructor-level position. Preference for analytical chemists in the assistant professor positions.
Anchorage, AK: The University of Alaska - Anchorage is hiring an assistant professor of chemistry.
Moraga, CA: St. Mary's College of California wishes to hire a part-time lecturer of nursing chemistry. Eh?
Greensboro, NC: The UNC-Greensboro would like to hire an instrumentation support technician.
Hilo, HI: The University of Hawaii-Hilo, College of Pharmacy desires an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry. Ooooh.

Daily Pump Trap: 12/11/12 edition

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 remarkable assertions in the ACS Presidential Commission Report

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

On #chemjobs:

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

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

On too many chemists:

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

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

On teaching undergraduates:

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

On postdocs:

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

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

Quite an indictment of the current state of affairs.

Process Wednesday: byproduct versus sideproduct

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why is sequestration bad?

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Credit: Washington Post, altered by Chemjobber

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

11 Aralık 2012 Salı

Holiday Veterinary Visits

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The tree is brightly lit. The tinsel glistens against the colorful flashing lights. The presents are wrapped and set under the tree. The stockings are out awaiting Santa’s visit. Everyone has a stocking, even the family pets. Including the family pets in Christmas is something we all automatically do but is it always good for them?

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Knoji this morning.

Shriners Hospitals for Children Among Participants in Upcoming Tournament of Roses Parade

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New Year’s Day is a day for pork and sauerkraut and parades! The East Coast has the Mummers. The West Coast has the Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. The theme this year will be “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!™” The Grand Marshall of the Parade will be Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace. The Rose Queen will be 17 year old Vanessa Natalie Manjarrez. Shriners Hospitals for Children® will be one of the many participants.

Click HERE for the full article as it appeared on Knoji.

University of Chicago’s Graeme Bell receives international diabetes prize

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GraemeIan Bell, PhD has been awarded the Manpei Suzuki International Prize for 2012for his pioneering work in understanding the role of genetics in the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes.Bell is the Louis Block Distinguished ServiceProfessor of Medicine and Human Genetics and an investigator in the Kovler DiabetesCenter at the University of Chicago.

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared this morning on Examiner.com.

Photo: University of Chicago

Depression hits hard during holiday season, especially for diabetics

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Diabetics are at a greater risk for depression, acknowledges the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Depression can stem from the daily stress of diabetes management or it could stem from the feeling of being alone or even feeling different.
Depression affects nearly 60 million Americans annually – or one-fourth of the total population. It is the leading cause of employee absenteeism and lack of productivity – more so than diabetes, asthma and arthritis according to the Integrated Benefits Institute. The same report estimated that mental illness and substance abuse annually cost employers $80 billion to $100 billion in indirect costs alone.

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Examner.com this morning.

Hurricane Sandy has people rethinking flood preparations

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Hurricane Sandy has many people rethinking flood prevention. Many did not heed the forecasters’ warnings. However, even those who did, including those who evacuated, did not anticipate the full extent of the damage Sandy would caused. Over 140 people were killed due to the October 2012 super storm. Since then, flood prevention has become a front-and-center issue with government organizations, businesses, and homeowners across the country.

Click HERE to read the full article as it appeared on Examiner.com this morning.

8 Aralık 2012 Cumartesi

Ivory Filter Flask: 12/4/12 edition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daily Pump Trap: 12/4/12 edition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ask CJ: an immigration question

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

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

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

Please comment, if you have expertise.

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

From the inbox: Novartis associate medchem position

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

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

Best of luck!

Things to Do in San Diego's Balboa Park

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7 Aralık 2012 Cuma

Law school entrance exam takers dropping

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Credit: The New York Times

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

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

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

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

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

Readers, what say you?

Process Wednesday: Stopping at the right time

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

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

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

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

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

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

Daily Pump Trap: 12/6/12 edition

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

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

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

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

Sounds interesting.

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

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

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

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

Getting into finance from the bench?

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

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

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

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

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

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

The tax bite of the "fiscal cliff"

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Credit: Wonkbook
(click through to see whole infographic)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

30 Kasım 2012 Cuma

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

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

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

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

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

Age discrimination in Silicon Valley

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Things to Do in San Diego's Balboa Park

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