Monthly Meeting from Graduate Student to Post-Doc Memoirs Of
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DED UN 18 O 98 F http://www.nesacs.org N Y O T R E I T H C E N O A E S S S L T A E A C R C I N S M S E E H C C TI N O CA May 2009 Vol. LXXXVII, No. 9 N • AMERI Monthly Meeting Memoirs of Professor Education Night Meeting at Northeastern U. Saul G. Cohen Dr. John M. Wozney, Wyeth Research, to speak A review by Myron S. Simon From Graduate Green Chemistry in the Student to Post-doc Heart of Massachusetts By Mindy Levine By Stefan G. Koenig My Journey from Graduate Student to Post-doc By Mindy Levine In March of 2007, I began my journey inquiry, or to schedule lab visits or fessor you have contacted, it is easy to of attempting to find a post-doctoral interviews. Additionally, the sooner assume that the professor was not position. At the start, I received this you obtain a position, the sooner you interested in your application and discouraging advice from a colleague: can start applying for fellowships (see decided not to bother emailing you a “If you think this is tough, don’t worry, point 5). In my case, I started looking rejection. This is most likely false. finding an academic job is even more for a position 14 months before I antic- What likely happened is that the pro- difficult.” ipated finishing my Ph.D. fessor received three applications the Nonetheless, by August of 2007, I 2. Choose a mentor with slightly same day he received yours, put them had secured a post-doc position in the different expertise. Funding agencies as all in a pile to review later, then forgot research group of Professor Timothy well as future employers want to see about it. Or the professor was waiting Swager at MIT. In July of 2008, mere that you used your time as a post-doc to hear from a funding agency about weeks before I was scheduled to start to develop new expertise, learn new grant renewal, put your application in a my post-doc, I obtained an NIH post- techniques, and gain new knowledge. pile to review after he heard from the doctoral fellowship. I write this article When you apply for external funding, agency, and forgot about it. Or he was to give some advice to others who often the funding agencies will ask you going to read your application, then a might be embarking on a similar jour- to justify why you chose the mentor student came to his office, so he put it ney, in the hope that they will also be that you did, and what you hope to aside, and forgot about it. successful. learn from your post-doc experience. If If you do not receive a reply from 1. Start early. One of the best you choose a post-doc mentor in pre- the professor after a few weeks, send pieces of advice that I received on cisely the same field that your graduate an email. Remind him that you still obtaining a post-doc position is that it research was in, then it is going to be exist and are still interested in the posi- is never too early to begin your search. hard to justify that decision. tion. The sooner you begin, the more time 3. Follow up. Professors are noto- 4. Get guaranteed funding from you have to follow up with professors riously bad at replying to emails. If the professor. The professor will likely who do not respond to your initial you do not receive a reply from a pro- continued on page 12 2 The Nucleus May 2009 The Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, Inc. Contents Office: Marilou Cashman, 23 Cottage St., Natick, MA 01360. 1-800-872-2054 My Journey from Graduate Student to Post-doc 2 (Voice or FAX) or 508-653-6329. ______________ e-mail: mcash0953(at)aol.com By Mindy Levine Any Section business may be conducted via the business office above. Memoirs of Professor Saul G. Cohen 4 NESACS Homepage: _______________________ http://www.NESACS.org By Myron S. Simon David Cunningham, Webmaster Monthly Meeting 5 ACS Hotline, Washington, D.C.: _______________________________________ 1-800-227-5558 Education Night at Northeastern University Officers 2009 Northeastern Student Affiliate Hosts ACS President-Elect 6 Chair: ______ Dr. E. Joseph Billo Report 7 13 Shattuck Street Natick, MA 01760 _______________________________________________ 508-653-3074, joseph.billo(at)verizon.net 7th Annual Undergraduate Environmental Research Symposium Chair-Elect: Announcements 7-9 John McKew ______________________________________ Wyeth Research NERM 2009 in Hartford, CT; 5th Annual NESACS Golf Tournament; 200 Cambridge Park Drive Excel Visual Basic Macros for Scientists: A Hands-on Short Course, May 21-22 Cambridge, MA 02140 Immediate Past Chair: Two NESACS Students Receive Awards in Germany 7 Marietta Schwartz ____________ Chemistry Department, UMass-Boston A Report by Morton Z. Hoffman Boston, MA 02125 National Science Bowl 10 617-287-6146; marietta.schwartz(at)umb.edu _________________________________ Secretary: A Report by Lisa Christadore Michael Singer Sigma-Aldrich Green Chemistry in the Heart of Massachusetts 11 3 Strathmore Rd., Natick, MA 01360 _____________ 508-651-8151X291; msinger(at)sial.com By Stefan G. Koenig Treasurer: NESACS Election 2009 Candidate Statements 14 James Piper ______________ 19 Mill Rd., Harvard, MA 01451 Summerthing 2009 28 978-456-3155, piper28(at)attglobal.net ___________________________________ Auditor: Cover: Anthony Rosner The winning team, from Lexington High School, and their coaches at Archivist: the 2009 Massachusetts Regional Science Bowl sponsored by Boston University Myron S. Simon 20 Somerset Rd. and the Department of Energy. (L-R): Coach Nick Gould, Jaeyoon Lee (Junior), Newton, MA 02465; 617-332-5273 Noah Arbesfeld (Co-Captain/Senior), Joshua Leung (Co-Captain/Senior), Romysimon(at)mindspring.com Christopher Teng (Senior), Kyumin Lee (Senior), Coach Ryan Grams. (Photo Trustees: Courtesy of a team parent). Joseph A. Lima, Esther A. H. Hopkins, Deadlines: Michael E. Strem Summer 2009 Issue: June 16, 2009 Councilors Alternate Councilors Term Ends 12/31/2009 September 2009 Issue: July 14, 2009 Catherine Costello Julia H.Miwa Patricia Mabrouk Alfred Viola Michaeline F. Chen Jerry P. Jasinski Dorothy J. Phillips Eva B. Chenail Amy Tapper Marietta Schwartz The Nucleus is published monthly, except June and August, by the Northeastern Section of the American Term Ends 12/31/2010 Chemical Society, Inc. Forms close for advertising on the 1st of the month of the preceding issue. Text Thomas R. Gilbert Timothy B. Frigo must be received by the editor six weeks before the date of issue. Pamela Nagafuji Mark Froimowitz Robert Lichter David Cunningham Editor: Michael P. Filosa, Ph.D., ZINK Imaging, Inc., 16 Crosby Drive, Building 4G, Michael Singer Mukund Chorghade Bedford, MA 01730 Email: Michael.filosa(at)zink.com; Tel: 508-843-9070 Term Ends 12/31/2011 Associate Editors: Myron S. Simon, 20 Somerset Rd., W. Newton, MA 02465, Tel: 617-332-5273, Doris I. Lewis C. Jaworek-Lopes Sheila E Rodman, Konarka Technologies, Inc., 116 John St. Suite 12, Lowell, Mary Burgess Patrick M. Gordon MA 01852 Email: srodman(at)konarka.com tel 978-569-1414 Morton Z. Hoffman Lawrence Scott Assistant Editors: Stefan G. Koenig, Mindy Levine Michael P. Filosa Donald Rickter Kathi Brown Liming Shao Board of Publications: David Cunningham (Chair), Mary Mahaney, Vivian K. Walworth Business Manager: Karen Piper, 19 Mill Rd., Harvard, MA 01451, Tel: 978-456-8622 All Chairs of standing Advertising Manager: Vincent J. Gale, P.O. Box 1150, Marshfield, MA 02050, Committees, the editor Email: [email protected]; Tel: 781-837-0424 of THE NUCLEUS, and Contributing Editors: Morton Hoffman, Feature Editor; Dennis Sardella, Book Reviews the Trustees of Section Calendar Coordinator: Sheila Rodman, email: srodman(at)konarka.com Funds are members of the Photographers: Morton Z. Hoffman and James Phillips Board of Directors. Any Councilor of the American Chemical Society Proofreaders: Donald O. Rickter, Vivian K. Walworth, Mindy Levine residing within the section area is an ex officio Webmaster: David Cunningham, webmaster(at)nesacs.org member of the Board of Directors. Copyright 2009, Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society, Inc. The Nucleus May 2009 3 Memoirs of Professor Corporate Patrons ($2000+) Abbott Bioresearch Genzyme Saul G. Cohen Lyophilization Service of New England Merck Reviewed by Myron S. Simon National ACS One of the leading chemists in our ships with interesting people (anec- Novartis Section has recently published an auto- dotes including the names of Nobel Pfizer biography in the form of a series Laureates Selman Waksman, Drs. Schering Corporation of memoirs. The book, Memoirs of Minot and Murphy and Dorothy Crow- Sepracor Saul G. Cohen, relates his early life, foot Hodgkin and Robert Woodward Serono Reproductive Institute education, difficulties in establishing a slip in) and his highly competent Vertex Pharmaceuticals career in chemistry, jobs in industry, research for this book over his years Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and finally his academic career, which after retirement has produced a story in Patrons ($1000-$1999) had major importance for science and which a passing reference may lead to Aptuit teaching at Brandeis University, espe- a fascinating digression into, for exam- Astra-Zeneca R&D Boston cially his work in transforming that ple, the instabilityofaluminum towards Broad Institute fledgling college into a small univer- iron oxide, or the diradical nature of Creagen Biosciences sity with a highly respected reputation oxygen, or the race to see which coun- Estate of Wallace Gleekman for its scientific research. try has the most atomic firepower. Irix Pharmaceuticals In the introduction by daughter Dr. Saul, the fourth child in his fam- Millennium Pharmaceuticals Elisabeth Cohen, she writes, “It pro- ily, grew up amid a host of uncles, PCI Synthesis vides a remarkable picture of twentieth aunts, and cousins, who had grown up Shasun USA century life in Boston, particularly in in America, become well-educated, and Sirtris Pharmaceuticals academia, from the point of view of an were doctors and engineers.