/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ en-us derekb.lowe@gmail.com 2013-01-24T11:39:19-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2013/01/24/too_many_scientists_a_pyramid_scheme.php Chemistry World has really touched a lot of nerves with this editorial by economics professor Paula Stephan. It starts off with a look back to the beginnings of the NIH and NSF, Vannevar Bush's "Endless Frontier": . . .a goal... 76162@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Academia (vs. Industry) 2013-01-24T11:39:19-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2013/01/08/more_on_grad_school_pressures.php The next entry in the discussion on grad school and mental heath is up here, at Not the Lab. It's a very realistic look at what the pressures are; I think that most organic chemists will nod in recognition. And... 76121@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2013-01-08T11:00:51-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2013/01/07/grad_school_in_chemistry_the_mental_health_aspects.php ChemJobber is starting a series of posts today on grad school and its effects on the mental health of grad students. I have to say, the story he relates sounds very similar to some of my own experiences during my... 76116@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2013-01-07T08:26:19-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/11/09/the_supply_of_phds.php Check out this graph from a recent ACS Webinar, as reprinted by Chemjobber. It shows PhDs awarded in the US over a forty-year period. And while chemistry degrees have been running a bit high for a few years, which surely... 75990@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Business and Markets 2012-11-09T11:40:02-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/10/26/accident_report_or_one_damn_thing_after_another.php I have this from a lab-accidents-I-have-known discussion over on Reddit. It is, of course, unverified, but it's depressingly plausible. As a chemist, this one is guaranteed to make you bury your head in your hands - it's the second law... 75966@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2012-10-26T10:22:09-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/10/24/chem_coach_carnival_a_few_questions.php Over at Just Like Cooking, See Arr Oh has been organizing a "Chem Coach Carnival". He's asking chemists (blogging and otherwise) some questions about their work, especially for the benefit of people who don't do it (or not yet), and... 75958@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ General Scientific News 2012-10-24T08:33:24-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/09/05/more_on_getting_a_science_phd.php An article in Slate on science PhDs and scientific employment has been creating a stir among people who think about such issues. (This topic has come up around here a few times, naturally). It's titled "Is a Science PhD a... 75846@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2012-09-05T06:15:37-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/06/14/organic_synthesis_a_dead_end_for_graduate_students.php Via ChemJobber, here's a quote from the National Research Council's Committee on Challenges in Chemistry Graduate Education. Their report has just come out, and I agree that this should be a key point for people to ponder: Whitesides believes that... 75700@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2012-06-14T06:45:05-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/05/09/phds_on_food_stamps.php A number of people have sent me this article about the number of people with Master's and PhD degrees who are receiving food stamps. And while it's undeniable that the numbers have grown, I'd ask for everyone to keep their... 75623@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ General Scientific News 2012-05-09T06:19:18-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/03/30/grad_school_opportunity_costs_not_to_worry.php Some of you may have seen this graduate student's comment in the Chronicle of Higher Education on his neuroscience PhD. He's worried about the job market, but takes the attitude that he can, in the end, do all sorts of... 75551@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2012-03-30T06:23:30-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2012/01/13/dealing_with_dishonesty.php So, we've been talking here since yesterday about what looks like large-scale fraud, but there's small-scale stuff that goes on inside various labs (often in academia, which is where people like this are supposed to wash out). Many readers will... 75377@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2012-01-13T11:22:15-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/12/28/the_ucla_lab_fatality_criminal_charges_filed.php Most readers here will remember the fatal lab accident at UCLA in 2009 involving t-butyllithium, which took the life of graduate student Sheri Sangji. Well, there's a new sequel to that: the professor involved, Patrick Harran, has been charged along... 75348@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Safety Warnings 2011-12-28T12:02:17-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/08/18/the_nih_wonders_about_the_future_of_biomedical_workers.php A reader passes along this request for comment by the NIH. The "Advisory Committee to the NIH Director Working Group on the Future Biomedical Research Workforce" is asking for thoughts on issues such as the length of time it takes... 75141@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2011-08-18T08:10:59-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/07/19/sezen_sames_what_does_it_say_about_grad_school.php If you haven't seen it, Chembark has Part III of the series on the Sezen/Sames research scandal. And it's another good one, focusing this time on Prof. Sames and his responsibilities in the whole affair. Everyone who's interested should go... 75089@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Graduate School 2011-07-19T10:58:25-05:00 http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2011/04/13/the_foxs_lament.php That hedgehog/fox distinction reminds me of my own graduate school experience. I'm a natural fox myself; I've always had a lot of interests (scientifically and otherwise). So a constant diet of my PhD project got to be a strain after... 74949@/home/corante/public_html/pipeline/ Who Discovers and Why 2011-04-13T10:54:43-05:00