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For university faculty to gain tenure, we’re evaluated on three components: scholarly research, teaching, and service. The weighting given to each component obviously varies based on the university and the topic.

My recent post on open chemistry software stressed the research aspect, in part because chemistry leans heavily on the research component when evaluating faculty at [...]

One of the challenges as a new professor is that you’re starting everything from scratch. Right now, I have no graduate students at all. (In this department, graduate students do not typically join a group until January.)

So I’m recruiting.

Yes, it’s official. Starting in September 2007, I will be an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh.

The last few months have been extremely busy with travel and interviews. No, I didn’t fall off the map or decide to give up this website. In fact, the website is due for [...]

From a Reuters article, the grad students most likely to cheat are…

Yes, that’s right. Business students, at 56% according to a recent survey. But around a half of all science and engineering graduate students also admitted to cheating in the survey.

I think the most compelling point is this quote:

The typical comment is that what’s important [...]

MIT and a stellar, world-wide collection of scientists (including 7 Nobel Prize winners) in molecular/chemical sciences have founded a group called Molecular Frontiers.

Molecular Frontiers will create synergism between different fields of molecular science and inspire young people allover the world to participate in scientific discovery.

The program involves a cross-disciplinary forum, a website for children, and [...]

I guess I missed this one in my recent post, but it echos similar sentiments.

In an “Editorial Observer” column in the New York Times, titled “Why American College Students Hate Science” Brent Staples talks about UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County).

A study of the university’s science program published in the March 31 issue of the [...]