Molecular Podcasting with Darren Lipomi: Recent Episodes
Darren Lipomi
This podcast lifts the veil on all topics related to STEM in academia: research, teaching, writing, speaking, and other professional topics.
Darren Lipomi is a professor of nanoengineering, chemical engineering, and materials science at UC San Diego. He obtained his PhD in chemistry from Harvard in 2010 (w/ George Whitesides) and was a postdoc at Stanford in chemical engineering from '10-'12 (w/ Zhenan Bao). He is a recipient of the PECASE and became full professor in 2019.
Thanks to NSF CBET-1929748 for support. Views don't necessarily reflect those of NSF or UCSD.
Cover art bkg: Sam Root
Topics include generating ideas, finding the right funding agency, working with program managers, the grant proposal as an experiment in psychology, what goes on behind closed doors, and how to write concisely and convincingly.
I spoke in this episode with Maynard Okereke. Maynard is a trained civil and environmental engineer who has developed a second career in scientific communication for young people and particularly young people of color. He arrived at this interest from previous careers in engineering and then acting and music. He is also a seasoned entrepreneur, forgive the pun, with his own line of flavoring salt which are vegan and number one selling brand on Amazon. He is the host of hip-hop science as his alter ego, Hip Hop MD. He is a renowned public speaker and advocate for diversity in STEM, He is a true Renaissance human being, and it was my honor to check in with him.
In this video, I discuss how to write an effective and engaging statement of purpose, how to structure your essay, and how to use your writing to compensate for potentially weaker sections of your application. Thanks to the California Forum for Diversity in Graduation Education for the Invitation to give this talk. This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation CMMI-2135428. The views expressed are those only of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the sponsor, host, or UC San Diego.
In this talk, I discuss strategies for research and writing, how to know how much you should put in a paper, how to manage conflicts with co-authors, and how to respond to reviewers.
Darren Lipomi, PhD Professor and Associate Dean for Students Jacobs School of Engineering, UC San Diego
lipomigroup.org
This is an unusual episode for me. Rather than responding to questions about graduate school, in this video, I responded to an interviewer performing an ethnographic survey about how researchers in bioengineering and bioengineering-adjacent fields view certain controversial subjects like human modification. 0:50 Would you be in favor of a prenatal treatment such that it would be possible for children to live 200 years? 2:04 What if we could guarantee no inequities, and anyone that would want it could allow their children to live 200 years? 2:36 Why wouldn’t you want to live 200 years? 3:03 Would you accept an intervention that would increase your cognitive capacities permanently? 5:16 Do you think all technological advancements improve society? 6:43 What would you change to improve society and human well being if not advance technology? 7:12 What are the barriers to technological interventions to societal problems? 8:10 What would you change about the human body if you could? 9:31 How do you respond to the idea that humans should live forever? 10:51 How about the idea that it is humanity’s destiny to take control over its own biology? 11:40 What do you regard as the appropriate relationship between humanity and the natural world? 12:35 Is it good that the human species is limited biologically? 14:03 Would you say that a human being is similar to a machine? 15:13 Do you think science should seek to understand everything? 16:02 Should humans be modifying nature? 16:50 Are there any biological species we should be modifying? 19:32 How does your work fit into the broader field of bioengineering?
0:00 How do you get your research published in high-impact journals?
2:05 Grad students and postdocs are busy. How do you vet undergraduate researchers so that they are productive and not breaking equipment?
3:56 I noticed that you had a mini MBA on your resume. How valuable do you think business training is in academia?
6:25 Can you describe ways in which criticism from your students has landed particularly heavy and changed your approach to teaching and mentoring?
9:58 What is a Venn diagram and how has your Venn diagram showing the overlap of teaching, research, and service changed over time?
11:43 Is funding between researchers distributed equitably? And what would you do to change the way science is funded?
The pillars of academia--research, teaching, and service--often seem like very separate activities. However, it can be really rewarding to find ways to make connections between these areas to get more out of parts of academic life that may seem mundane. Here are some thoughts I collected and delivered at the Asian American Association for Scientists and Engineers (AAASE) in October, 2022.
0:00 What does your group work on?
2:20 How is your work funded?
3:25 Is there one project or grant you’re especially excited about?
4:13 How many students are in your group?
4:25 Is that typical?
4:54 How do you communicate with your lab members?
6:01 The roundtable sounds like great idea, does that work well?
7:44 How long have you been doing the shoutouts?
8:16 How have shoutouts and other cultural elements you have implemented influenced climate in the lab?
9:08 How do you hire new lab members?
10:06 What do you look for in new lab members?
13:10 How do you deliver your onboarding material?
17:35 Do you use any electronic tools to control your workflow? How often do you post to Slack vs your students?
In this episode, I collected my responses to questions I received on a panel discussion hosted by the American Chemical Society. I redacted any names and read the questions myself. Here is the list of topics with timestamps. 0:28 What is your background and how did you become interested in mental health of academic researchers? 2:00 Is there something special about researchers that make them especially susceptible to mental health challenges? 4:39 We often hear that academics are not good at saying no. How do you think about how to say no to people even about opportunities that may be exciting? 6:26 How do you know you are burned out, depressed, or anxious? 8:22 How do you respond to a friend or coworker who comes to you with an admission that they might be burned out, depressed, or anxious? 9:22 What are some resources on campus that you can reach out to for coping with anxiety and depression? 10:34 What are some self-care routines you do as alternative coping strategies for stress, burnout, and other metal health challenges? 12:21 How do you cope with mental health challenge or other negative situation that arises because of your relationship with your advisor? 15:47 Should I feel bad about taking a weekday off for self-care? 16:23 How do you get out of doing things you don’t want to do? 18:23 How do you work with a PI who is not transparent about their expectations? 19:15 What if I need to switch labs at the end of my PhD? 20:14 How do I know where the supportive labs are before I join? 21:26 Do I have to do a PhD to have a fulfilling job in research?
This episode is a crossover with the Teach the Geek Podcast, hosted by Neil Thompson, engineer, author, podcaster, and speaking coach. Here, we discuss my academic path and approaches to public speaking. You can learn more about Neil at teachthegeek.com and askuncleneilbooks.com.
This is a bit of an unusual book review for the book The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race. I'm going to focus on Walter Isaacson's portrayal of how scientific research happens in academic settings and provide some context for the comments he makes on scientists, the scientific method, the role of competition, fundamental science vs. technology, and the philosophy of science.
My brief bio: I did my PhD at Harvard in chemistry and postdoc in chemical engineering at Stanford. I have been in the same room with many of the individuals written about in this book, though none of them know who I am (unless they subscribe to this channel ;). I am now a professor of nanoengineering and chemical engineering, and Associate Dean for Students, in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego.
In this episode, I sat down with my colleague, Prof. Tod A. Pascal, of the Department of NanoEngineering and Chemical Engineering at UC San Diego. Tod developed an interest in computational materials science at a young age while growing up on the island of Grenada in the Caribbean. During his schooling, he spent significant time in Houston, New York, Philadelphia, Pasadena, South Korea, Japan, and Berkeley, before starting his lab at UCSD. In our wide-ranging discussion, we talk about how he became a computational materials scientist, what it was like to do research in such varied environments, and how computation can be used to expand access to technical education in underserved communities.
In this episode, I cover a range of topics having to do with the role of organic chemistry in chemical and engineering education. I also share my thoughts on flipped classrooms, active learning, peer instruction, and other teaching methodologies.
Studies show that engagement in undergraduate research is one of the surest predictors of retention and success of students in science and engineering. Unfortunately, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars assigned to mentor these students rarely receive training. In this episode, I discuss strategies you can use to mentor undergraduate researchers effectively. I draw from my own history as an undergraduate researcher, and my experience mentoring undergraduates at Harvard, Stanford, and UC San Diego.
In this episode, I sat down with Prof. Raychelle Burks of American University to discuss her career as a crime scene investigator, new approaches to field analytics, her side gig as a script consultant for movies, and approaches to inclusive teaching and mentoring.
This episode is cross-posted with IDEAs in STEM Ed. Please consider subscribing there also for faster access and exclusive content. Thanks! Darren
Everything I know about writing, reading, and being asked for letters of recommendation. Excuse the sound quality of this Covid-era recording. I was speaking through a mask to a group of IDEA Scholars at UC San Diego. Learn more at jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/idea.
This is a bonus episode from my new podcast, IDEAs in STEM Ed. I never charge for any of my content and don't monetize (though YouTube may), so if you've found this useful, please consider subscribing to the "IDEAs in STEM Ed" podcast on Spotify or Apple (https://open.spotify.com/show/6wnj0T4yiFbehk5eTtBF50?si=8080602ae33e4952), and to the IDEA Engineering Student Center on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLiY4py9Yhn4dTRzPUO53ItqQ5tRmHN-or
Thanks! Darren
Zhigang Suo is the Allen E and Marilyn M Puckett Professor of Mechanics and Materials in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Professor Suo obtained his BS degree from Xi’an Jiaotan University in 1985 and PhD in mechanical engineering from Harvard University in 1989. He began his independent career at UC Santa Barbara, moved to Princeton in 1997 and to Harvard in 2003. It was during this period that I became aware of Zhigang’s work, when he attended some of our more mechanics-oriented group meeting. Zhigang has been a leader in the thermomechanical reliability of semiconductor devices, and did some of the first mechanical analyses on soft matter devices critical to haptics, robotics, adhesives, and human-machine interfaces. He is an engaging public speaker and storyteller, and his talks generate standing-room-only crowds at conferences. In this episode, we talked about his trajectory in his career and life and challenges facing Asian and Chinese American scientists and engineers.
My guest today is Eric Mazur, professor of physics and applied physics at Harvard University. He is also a creator and entrepreneur in the area of technological resources for classroom teaching. He is known for his research in ultrafast optics and condensed matter physics, and also for his extensive work in the teaching methodology known as Peer Instruction. Attending one of his lectures on teaching as a graduate student was one of the formative experiences of my professional life. He is a true pioneer in active learning in science and engineering education, and was practicing and espousing the benefits of “flipped classrooms” long before the word came into common usage.
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the IDEAs in STEM Ed podcast and the IDEA Center at UC San Diego channel on YouTube for early access to the episodes.
This is a bonus crossover episode to get some visibility for my new interview podcast, IDEAs in STEM Ed. If you've reached this episode, please do me a big favor and search for "IDEAs in STEM Ed" and subscribe! Everything I put up I do for free, and this will help me a ton. Thanks!
Malika Jeffries-EL is a professor of chemistry and Materials Science and Engineering, and associate Dean of the graduate school, at Boston University. She is an organic materials chemist and polymer engineer focusing on organic semiconductors. That is, the type of materials used in organic light-emitting displays, biosensors, solar cells, and other next-generation thin-film devices. She is well known on social media and in the community for her work on equity in academia and in the sciences. I first got to know Malika through her work on conjugated polymers when I was a graduate student, when one name kept appearing over and over. Her early work on molecular engineering of semiconducting polymers and their combination with nanostructured materials was an inspiration to me during my grad school and postdoc days. She is joining me today to talk about her work, her mentoring, and her new role in university leadership, and what she has learned.
This is a bonus crossover episode to get some visibility for my new interview podcast, IDEAs in STEM Ed. If you've reached this episode, please do me a big favor and search for "IDEAs in STEM Ed" and subscribe! Everything I put up I do for free, and this will help me a ton. Thanks!
In this episode of IDEAs in STEM Ed, Darren Lipomi sits down with Professor Andrea Armani. Andrea is the Ray Irani chair in Engineering and Materials Science and Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Southern California. Her laboratory uses a mixture of tools from chemistry, physics, engineering, and biology, and bridges the disciplines of materials science, medical imaging, and nano photonics. Among many awards she has earned over her career, she is the recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2010, and recognized as a World Economic Form Young Global Leader in 2015. Andrea is perhaps known as much for her scientific work as she is for her advocacy of students, young faculty, and women in science. She regularly organizes events stressing the importance of mentoring, careers in and outside of academia, and equity issues in science. We’re honored for her to join us today.
My guest in this episode--my first ever livestream--is my UCSD colleague, Professor Brian Keating. Brian is a Chancellor’s distinguished professor of physics at UC San Diego, co-director of the Arthur C Clarke Center for the imagination, host of the Into the impossible podcast, YouTuber with 30k subscribers, and writer of the scientific memoir “Losing the Nobel Prize.” Brian is joining me today to discuss his new book, Into the impossible, thinking like a Nobel prize winner. Lessons from Laureates to Stoke Curiosity, Spur Collaboration, and Ignite Imagination in your life and career. The book is a distillation of conversations with nine different Nobel prize winners in physics on his podcast, into the impossible. The book deals not with the technical details of their discovery, but rather with the collaborations involved, the importance of working in a team, curiosity and the process of discovery, and also personal insecurities.
Topics include:
Is this a science book or a self-help book?
Why should we care about Nobel Prize winners?
Do they really suffer from the Imposter Syndrome or know what it is?
Does high-level academic work allow service? That is, were any of these people ever Department Chair or Associate Dean?
Did any of them have a podcast? ;)
Is partisanship and rivalry helpful in advancing science?
In this episode, I discuss the reasons why science and engineering professors always seem to be on the road, including the good and bad aspects. For example, the joy and excitement of meeting old friends in new places and sharing scientific discoveries, as well as the sacrifices that one makes in terms of time with one's students and family. I'll also discuss why I believe most of this travel is gratuitous and hard to justify after the birth of a child and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
This is a highly personal, idiosyncratic, unrehearsed talk I gave to my own research group on scientific publication and peer review, when I was on the verge of 100 papers. I hesitated a long time in posting this, but I think it accurately represents my thinking on society vs. for-profit journals, the value-add of publishing, the harm done by careless referee reports, alternatives to traditional publication, and some thoughts on patents vs. publications.
This is the full version of my thoughts on choosing a grad school and a PI/lab. I gave this talk for the American Chemical Society East Bay California Section and the American Women in Science virtual seminar series, and the organizer was kind enough to let me repost my side of the presentation, here. The Q&A topics are as follows:
26:56 If the chances of getting a faculty position is only 5%, should I even bother if I don’t get into a top-10 school?
30:49 If we indicate diverse research interest on our personal statement, are we digging ourselves a hole?
31:31 Do I need to have a paper in order to get into a top lab?
32:29 How did Covid affect graduate admissions the last two years?
33:40 How do you find the research interests of PIs?
34:34 How many PIs at each institution should you want to work for before deciding to go to that school?
35:29 Do graduate programs admit students as a pool or do they admit directly to professors’ labs?
36:33 What are the red flags that tell you that you should not join a particular lab?
37:16 If I thought I wanted to do the PhD, would it ever make sense to apply to a terminal MS and then switch up once I’m there?
38:20 How should I make the decision between two different research groups who pursue similar topics?
39:56 How should I interpret it if a PI does not return my email?
40:58 If I know that a lab doesn’t have a lot of funding but I want to join anyway, would it make sense to TA every semester?
42:16 What is the process for switching labs if you find that you’re in a toxic environment?
44:53 If I want to go to industry after my PhD, when should I bring this up to my prospective advisor?
46:15 If I want to join an industry that is concentrated in one location (as in biotech in Boston or the Bay Area), should I go to grad school in the same location?
47:51 Do students who have an academic gap between undergrad and grad school have an advantage or disadvantage?
In this episode, I read a short essay I wrote on effective scientific writing, with references to Strunk and White, Steven Pinker, and George Whitesides. The original article was published in Chemistry of Materials, 2021, 33, 11, 3865–3867, original publication date, June 8, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater... This reading was done with permission from the American Chemical Society.
This is my combination of travel diary plus comedy routine at the Loft at UC San Diego. Warning: this episode contains explicit language. The episode works without the slides, but if you're interested, there is also a YouTube version, located here https://youtu.be/RtLRrp7Gd9w
This episode is a distillation of everything I learned being close to the founding of a few research-based startups and also my experience from Stanford Ignite (mini MBA program). This is a talk I gave to an undergraduate audience made up of students majoring in nanoengineering, chemical engineering, and bioengineering. I hope it serves as a primer on the language of startups that someone who has never heard of, e.g., "venture capital," can use to learn more.
This episode is a cross-posting from The Soft Matter Show, hosted by Amal Narayanan. We covered many topics, including my responses to the following questions:
You have worked in the Northeast and West Coast of the United States. Have you ever noticed any differences in the work culture across them?
What were some of the deciding factors that inspired you to pursue a career in academia?
How did you develop an interest in chemistry/chemical engineering?
What was your experience working in Whitesides and Bao research groups?
Other than Science, What have you learned from your PhD and Postdoc PIs that help you to run your current lab?
Can you tell me about some of the recent findings from your lab?
What are some of the unique expertise that you are cultivating in the Lipomi Research Group?
Workflow and projects in the lab?
What do you think is the future of sensors and haptics-related technologies?
What are the real-life implications of the research in your lab?
When hiring a lab member, what are the factors that you consider? How do you judge these factors?
How to apply for M.S., Ph.D., or Postdoc in your lab?
Can you tell me about your online presence and if that has an impact in your research?
What is the future of molecular podcasting?
In one of your podcast episodes, you mentioned that you may write a book for academics. Can you tell me about it?
How do you manage time to be a professor, PI, YouTuber, and Podcast host?
What are your thoughts for the next generation of scientists?
Topics covered in this episode:
0:00 The life of a professor sounds really stressful. Knowing what you know now, would you still go into academia?
4:21 Professors spend a lot of time writing grants and doing administration. Do you ever want to go into the lab and do experiments on the bench?
9:30 Where does a public university get its money and how is it distributed?
13:35 How much money does it cost to hire a graduate student, and how does this investment affect who you hire?
20:04 How do you feel about productivity hacks, like batching similar tasks?
23:08 Are undergraduate researchers a negative cost to the lab since they pay tuition to get training?
24:17 What happens if a PI can’t get a grant? Does the lab go bankrupt?
26:48 What happens to the students and postdocs in a lab that loses its funding?
In this episode, I address the following questions. For a short video tour, see the accompanying video on YouTube "What does a professor do?" 0:05 What does a professor do? 1:29 Why did I want to be a professor? 2:57 What is a typical day like? 5:51 What is nanoscience? 8:56 What do you need to know to be a nonscientist? 10:12 What do you work on?
Topics addressed:
0:00 What’s easier, giving talks with slides or talks with no slides?
0:51 What are some strategies for avoiding non-words, like um, like, and so?
4:00 Is it calming to hold onto an object when giving a presentation?
5:42 What’s the best way to prepare for a Q&A session?
9:00 What level of complexity should you prepare your spoken remarks?
12:15 How do you get better at giving talks?
15:06 Is it possible to be too polished in your presentation style?
16:19 Are there strategies for giving effective talks over Zoom? How does it differ from giving talks in person?
21:31 How has your experience been giving talks over Zoom for more than a year?
In this episode, I respond to questions related to scientific writing, and coming up with new ideas in scientific research.
To what extent should we minimize jargon in scientific writing?
Is it acceptable to use literary techniques like metaphor in scientific writing?
If I have a lot of data for a single figure, how do I organize it so that the figure isn’t overwhelming?
Different readers are expecting to get different things from a paper. How do you organize the content, and what do you put in each section, from the title to the methods? (Credit to George Whitesides in my description of what should be in the first introductory paragraph of a paper.)
How do you write the abstract to draw the reader in? What’s the difference between the abstract and the introduction?
How do you select a research topic that combines separate disciplines?
Should you “follow your passion” or focus on developing skills? How do you know how your own skills can help inform the selection of a research topic?
Should one expect their skills and their passion to align?
This episode is a short conversation between me and my senior PhD student, Andrew Kleinschmidt, who had recently suffered a brain injury. As part of his rehabilitation, one of his assignments was to conduct an interview about science. We covered some pretty existential topics as well, including the question "if you got hit by a bus tomorrow, would you have done enough?"
One of my students interviewed me for a class on leadership. I was honored he chose me for this assignment. Here are some of the topics we covered:
What were some formative experiences that influenced your career trajectory?
Is it better to seek a range of experiences or to focus in a single area?
What are the values that underlie effective leadership in research?
Do you have a mentor or role model?
What advice would you give to a college undergraduate about to enter the job market, especially during Covid?
In this episode, I share my thoughts on a variety of topics related to starting out in an undergraduate or graduate research lab. Whom should you ask for a letter of recommendation? How can you spot bad work environments? What are the red flags? How do you identify a positive fit? When do you know if you should drop a bad project? When applying to grad school, should I stay in the same field or try something different? How can you figure out what a lab is working on when you don’t yet “speak the language”? How much agency do undergrads typically have in choosing a project within a research group? Suppose you have a good idea of what you want to work on as an undergraduate or graduate student. How do you find the labs doing the work you want to do?
I did this introduction and interview with Prof. Ching W. Tang as part of the 2019 Kyoto Prize Symposium at UC San Diego, delayed until 2021 because of COVID-19. It was a real honor to chat with him about industrial research, the invention of the OLED, science in an international context, and advice for rising scientists.
This is the full-length interview I did for an article in Chemistry World on science podcasts.
In this episode, I sat down with Prof. Daniela (Dani) Arias-Rotondo, Dr. Madison Fletcher, and Dr. Craig Fraser (absent: Dr. Monica Gill) on their creation, JAWS: Just Another [Chemistry] Webinar Series (https://jawschem.wixsite.com/home). Dani, Madison, and Craig discuss the origin of JAWS, its name, its mission, and the need for diverse voices to be heard among up-and-coming scientists.
Nanoengineering students peppered me with questions of all types, and I responded with my wisdom, such as it is. Identities of the questioners have been redacted. We covered the following topics.
How did you know you wanted to be a scientist? Why chemistry in particular? How are you trying to generate an inclusive community in the classroom during Covid? What aspects of remote work would you keep once life returns to normal? Did you develop any “Covid hobbies”? Are you working from home or remote? You mentioned that you work while taking walks by dictating problem sets into your phone. How does that work? Why did you start the podcast? What are your most successful podcast episodes? What episodes do you have coming up? Do you have any particular goals for the podcast? Tell us about the book you want to write? What have you learned about being a professor that you didn’t know before you started? Is there an opportunity cost to speaking with us now? How did you know you wanted to go into academia? Why did you enroll in the COVID vaccine trial? How do you come up with proposal ideas, especially as a student when you don’t know much about the topic? How does your group come up with project ideas for graduate students? What skills should engineering students try to pick up before starting their jobs? What have you learned as a manager? How do you get good work out of a team? Is that a piano behind you? How did you become a fan of classic Star Trek?
In his second appearance on the podcast, Brandon Marin (BS, Chemical Engineering, USC; MS/PhD Chemical Engineering & Nanoengineering, UCSD) describes his role as an R&D engineer at Intel. I learned a lot from this very wide ranging interview.
Aliaksandr (Alex) Zaretski, PhD (UC San Diego, Nanoengineering, '16), is the Co-Founder and CTO of GrollTex, Inc., a leading supplier of graphene and other nanomaterials to the R&D market and developer of graphene-based electronic sensors. He has had a fascinating educational trajectory from studying linguistics in Belarus in the early 2000s to biomedical engineering and nanoengineering. He offers his insights here on entrepreneurship in the physical sciences, the importance of business training, how to raise $1 million in startup funding, and building a manufacturing site from scratch.
(Part 2) This is a panel discussion on the topic of materials for haptics – technologies that interface with the sense of touch. We touch (pun intended) on a lot of topics, from the philosophy of haptics, the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, and future applications. The moderators are Darren Lipomi (UC San Diego), Benjamin Tee (National University of Singapore), and Yigit Menguc (Facebook). Panelists are Ed Colgate (Northwestern), Tania Moriomoto (UC San Diego), Charles Dhong, Fabrizio Sergi, and Laure Kayser (all of University of Delaware). Part 2 of 2.
In this episode, I describe my experiences as a participant in the Oxford/AstraZeneca phase III clinical trial for the COVID-19 candidate vaccine, AZD1222. I discuss my motivation for volunteering, the process of enrolling, what it was like at the test site, side effects (not very serious) and issues surrounding blinding (i.e., vaccine vs. placebo) in vaccine trials.
This is a panel discussion on the topic of materials for haptics – technologies that interface with the sense of touch. We touch (pun intended) on a lot of topics, from the philosophy of haptics, the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, and future applications. The moderators are Darren Lipomi (UC San Diego), Benjamin Tee (National University of Singapore), and Yigit Menguc (Facebook). Panelists are Ed Colgate (Northwestern), Tania Moriomoto (UC San Diego), Charles Dhong, Fabrizio Sergi, and Laure Kayser (all of University of Delaware). Part 1 of 2.
I sat down for an educational and inspiring conversation with Victoria Fu (UCSD BS in chemical engineering '12, MS in nanoengineering '13). Our wide-ranging conversation covered her upbringing and education, trajectory in the chemical and beautycare industries, the stories behind the founding of Chemist Confessions, and advice for young scientists and engineers headed out into the world on their own.
As part of the 10-year anniversary celebration of the IDEA Center in the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, I sat down with its current and former Directors, Profs. Olivia Graeve and Carlos Coimbra. We discussed the founding of the center, its role in creating a culture of inclusion, and advice for individuals wishing to create something similar at their institutions. I have the distinct honor of taking over as Director in July of 2021, and thus really enjoyed this discussion!
You can learn more about the IDEA Center here: https://jacobsschool.ucsd.edu/idea/
These are my personal reflections on publishing papers, good practices, and the peer-review process in general. These opinions are my own and do not reflect those of UC San Diego or any organization but me. When I list my "career ratio" of reviews done to scientific papers published of 5:1, that is since starting my independent career, since almost half of my scientific output was as a student or postdoc, and I am not counting the reviews I did then.
In this conversation, I sat down with the enigmatic Chemjobber, one of chemistry's most prolific bloggers and commentators. Since 2008, CJ has amplified job postings to his readers and twitter followers, identified trends in the chemical job market, and provided commentary on a range of practical issues of interest to chemists and chemical engineers. He has nearly 30 thousand followers on Twitter and is the first resource to whom all it many of us in chemistry or chemistry-adjacent fields turned when we have found ourselves unemployed or looking for a new position. Since 2017, he has had a monthly column in Chemical and Engineering News, the primary trade publication of the American Chemical Society. I know I share the widely held sentiment that Chemjobber provides an enormous value to the community and does essentially all of it on his own time.
I was honored to get to spend an hour chatting with Prof. Tyler Cowen of George Mason University. Tyler is the author of several books on topics ranging from the value of commercial culture to economic stagnation in the US. Tyler is remarkable in his breadth of learning, intense curiosity, and freshness of his ideas. While he does not come from a background in the physical sciences and engineering, I nevertheless think he has a great deal to offer my audience, as I have learned an inestimable amount from his books, podcast episodes, and public appearances. You can learn more about Tyler in the following places
His blog, Marginal Revolution
https://marginalrevolution.com/
Online education resources through Marginal Revolution University
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkEhPBMZcEO0QGu51fDFDg
His podcast, Conversations with Tyler
https://conversationswithtyler.com/
Here is the transcript of my introduction: Tyler Cowen is a professor of economics and Director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. He is also the host of the podcast “Conversations with Tyler,” and author of a regular column on Bloomberg, along with engaging in a million other activities in writing, speaking, and investing. I’ve discovered many things through his books and podcast, from how to find good inexpensive ethnic food to why I should perhaps feel less guilty about my consumption of commercial culture. Back when it was safe to travel, I used to download several episodes of his podcast before long flights to academic conferences, and often remembered learning more from Tyler and his guests than I did from the conference. I invited him here today to see what an audience of natural scientists and engineers might learn from an economist. More so, I just think he has interesting thoughts on many of the topics that interest me and the people who are probably listening.
In this episode, I sat down with Prof. Jillian Buriak of the University of Alberta and until recently Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry of Materials. We spoke to each other about her life in chemistry, her journey as an editor, the role of impact factor, inclusion in science, and integrating work and life, especially with children.
In this episode, I chat with Marwa ElDiwiny, who hosts the IEEE Soft Robotics Podcast, which has paved the way for several podcasts made by scientists, for scientists. We discuss Marwa's journey from Egypt to France and beyond, the story behind her podcasts, her most interesting guests, lab culture, being an outsider, and her interests in communication, visual art, clothing, and food. Enjoy!
In this episode, I chat with my colleague, Prof. Brian Keating, about his various channels of outreach, including the Into the Impossible podcast, his YouTube channel, and his book, Losing the Nobel Prize. There is a lot of great, practical advice here for scientists who would like to engage with the public, or for people interested in why some scientists are motivated to put themselves in the public eye.
Here is where to find more content from Prof. Keating:
Book: Losing the Nobel Prize http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA
Please join my mailing list; just click here 👉 http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php
Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel, just click here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1
Please subscribe, leave a rating and review The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast here https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible/id1169885840?mt=2
https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating
In this episode, I chat with Prof. Laure Kayser of the University of Delaware on her experiences being an outsider, starting a new laboratory as a PI, her values in creating a lab culture, applying for jobs, running an interdisciplinary lab, the two-body problem in academia, and other topics.
Tips and tricks for finding a lab, getting your way in, and success once you arrive. Also motivation for why (or why not) you might want to do undergraduate research in the first place.
My approach to scientific writing with guidance inspired by Steven Pinker, George Whitesides, and Anne Lamott. I hope you find something in here useful or interesting!
This episode is a deeply personal reflection on coping with issues surrounding mental health as a student in STEM, particularly as a PhD student in a research lab. I identify several sources of anxiety and depression which are often felt by students in research laboratories, whether or not the PI is actively promoting a toxic work environment. I then discuss my own struggles with anxiety, which manifested in many physiological forms, some of which required intervention. These included cardiac arrhythmias, temporomandibular joint disorder, hyperhydrosis, and high blood pressure. While I offer some words of encouragement and concrete strategies one can use to cope with anxiety and depression, I urge any listener or viewer to seek the services of professionals on or off campus.
In this episode, I chat with Prof. Graham Sazama of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. Graham discusses the process of applying to faculty positions at a primarily undergraduate institution (PUI) and teaching and mentoring once there. We also discuss active learning, remote teaching during COVID-19, and what we would change about the way chemistry is taught.
This is a short talk I gave to entering freshmen at UC San Diego on how to make the most of a bad situation. Namely, trying to learn in college while at home during a pandemic.
My former student, Brandon Marin, and his incredible journey from science nerd in East Los Angeles, to addiction, jail, and multiple arrests, to obtaining a PhD in chemical engineering and becoming a prolific inventor in semiconductor processing.
In this episode, I sat down with my former labmate, Paul Bracher, now assistant professor of chemistry at St. Louis University, to chat about a variety of topics. Paul is known in the chemistry community as the writer of the ChemBark blog, which had a ubiquitous presence in grad student lounges around the world from the '00s to the early '10s. We discussed his interest in writing and community building, investigative journalism in science, toxic culture in labs, and how to navigate difficult relationships between PIs and graduate students.
Hints for teaching assistants (and professors). Please consult with your course instructor before adopting any of these suggestions as policies :)
Advice on getting into graduate school in science and engineering. My take on the importance (or lack thereof) of GPA, GRE, letters of recommendation, personal statement, and fellowships. I hope something here is useful.
My thoughts on promoting your research, working with journalists, and posting your work on social media. I also cover some controversies I've been involved with.
This is a conversation with my colleague, astrophysicist Dr. Brian Keating, made for the Into the Impossible Podcast and associated YouTube channel. (You should definitely check out and subscribe to his channel, where he interviews people way more famous and interesting than me https://youtu.be/En2wjpzv464.) I cover a lot of previously untrodden ground, including my scientific biography, books that have influenced me, and the importance of soft skills in research.
This is a cross-posting of my conversation with Marwa ElDiwiny on her IEEE RAS Soft Robotics Podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard, please subscribe to the Soft Robotics Podcast. It is the best way to support the great work she is doing. Available on all platforms.
https://open.spotify.com/show/3f19OvcbN05f9r9DUY15tk
https://soundcloud.com/ieeeras-softrobotics
My take on working with people in professional and personal environments with allusions to Dale Carnegie, The Simpsons, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars.
In this episode, I discuss careers for PhDs in STEM outside of the traditional dichotomy of "industry vs. academia." Topics include jobs in teaching, government, policy, journalism, consulting, and patent law.
In this episode, I share some general tips on writing grants, along with some specific guidance for proposals submitted to NSF and NIH.
This episode contains all of the advice I wish I got before starting my faculty position.
In this episode, I discuss the ways in which ideas are generated in science and engineering. My goal is to provide students and early-career researchers some practical approaches to conceiving of interesting, marketable, or fundable projects.
An annotated reading of an essay I wrote which appeared in Trends in Chemistry, April 16th, 2019. The original article is located here: https://www.cell.com/trends/chemistry/fulltext/S2589-5974(20)30076-9
In this episode, I describe my personal reflections on getting rejected in academia. It applies mostly to graduate students, postdocs, and assistant professors in the sciences and engineering, or to relatives of those people :)