Originally posted July 14, 2011

Because people have been banging down our doors asking for another one

July 14, 2011

In our first roundtable on the state of chemistry jobs, you laughed, you cried (certainly you cried if you’re an unemployed chemist or currently in your PhD or postdoc), you commiserated. And, it was such a success, that we’ve decided to do another roundtable next week.

Actually, the four of us had such a great time doing it that we wanted to do another one. And since Leigh has turned in her thesis (it IS in, isn’t it Leigh?), we’re ready to go.

“There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to create a successful sequel. Number one: the body count is always bigger. Number two: the death scenes are always much more elaborate – more blood, more gore – *carnage candy*. And number three: never, ever, under any circumstances, assume the killer is dead.” Or something like that. I think that line pretty accurately describes what we expect our roundtable sequel to entail!

Our theme this time around is a little different. What we really would like to address are misperceptions that some (even some chemists) have about chemistry-related topics. As such, we are calling our newest version of the round-table “CHEMisperceptions” if for no other reason than all of us just like a good pun.

Here’s the schedule:

On Monday this site will introduce the week and start a discussion on the safety of certain chemicals (commonly found, natural, industrial, etc) and attempt to compare the risks involved with these chemicals.

On Tuesday, CJ will talk about what chemists do all day, and why it’s important for the public to know that. And considering the recent re-appearence of the Sames-Sezen case, perhaps chemists need to be reminded of this as well.

On Wednesday, Paul will write a long, arrogant post (his words) covering some common misconceptions about energy policy. He contends that in many cases, the public is being sold ideas that don’t stand up to simple chemical analysis.

On Thursday, Leigh will be writing about the term organic–where is came from, how its use has changed in the past century, and what it means today.

We really hope that you stop on by next week. If the last round-table was any indication, this version is sure to include stellar writing and (most importantly) lots of excellent conversations going on in the comments.

-mrh