ChemformationChemformation
Volume 14, Number 31
Friday, November 13, 1998
Chemformation is published by the Office of the Department Chairman. Please convey items of interest (or mailing list changes) to Linda Earle, Room 18-390, Department of Chemistry, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, 617/253-4080; 617/258-7500 (fax) or e-mail to lkn@mit.edu. Back issues of Chemformation can be accessed via the Chemistry Department Website.
Visit the Chemistry Department Website at http://web.mit.edu/chemistry/www/
|
A Series of Lectures on:
| |
|
Monday, November 16, 1998 |
"Biological electron transfer: The blue copper active site" |
|
Tuesday, November 17, 1998 |
"Dioxygen binding, activation, and four electron reduction to water by copper proteins" |
|
Wednesday, November 18, 1998 |
"Photodissociation Dynamics of Hydrocarbon Radicals" |
|
Thursday, November 19, 1998 |
"Structure/function correlations in non-heme iron enzymes" |
|
Tuesday, November 24, 1998 |
Topic TBA |
|
Thursday, December 3, 1998 |
Topic TBA |
From time to time one hears of students or staff attracted to their teachers or supervisors, and vice-versa. Sometimes this attraction leads to a sexual relationship. Occasionally one also hears of a senior or junior person who makes an implicit or explicit quid pro offer- or who is interpreted as having done so. Such situations involving a senior and junior person are always complicated. If they do involve a sexual relationship, they may, under MIT policy, represent a conflict of interest (and, of course, may represent harassment.)
MIT does not have a blanket policy forbidding sexual relationships between senior and junior people in educational or work settings, but does have a policy obliging faculty and staff to avoid conflicts of interest and to seek advice about potential conflicts of interest. "Potential conflicts of interest of a particularly sensitive nature may arise out of sexual relationships, especially in the context of educational and employment supervision and evaluationŠ(and)Šanyone with a personal interest that may have the potential for conflict with the interests and welfare of the Institute should seek advice and guidanceŠ.."(Policies and Procedures 4.4)
Several senior faculty suggested that I write this article, citing two reasons. One is to let people know what MIT's policy is on these matters. The second is to present examples of how such relationships may present problems for those involved, as well as for others in the workplace, classroom or lab.
If you are asked for advice, you might wish to discuss the following ways in which a personal relationship might conflict with an individual's responsibilities as a teacher and/or supervisor.
If someone finds that he or she is attracted to a student, a teacher, an employee, or a supervisor, it is possible to seek advice off the record (see Policies and Procedures 4.4)
There are often reasonable ways to avoid the conflicts of interest cited above. Most of us know of happy marriages or long-term relationships that have resulted from people falling in love with someone who supervises or reports to them.
The basic guideline is this: People should find an orderly and timely way to disengage from the supervisor/supervisee relationship if they want to pursue the personal relationship. For example, a TA might hold off asking out a student until the relevant course has ended. A responsible faculty member who is falling in love might work out some way to find appropriate alternate supervision for the junior person, or might wait until graduation to pursue the personal relationship. When approached in a timely fashion, department heads can often help to see that this happens in a supportive way for all concerned.
While people involved in a sexual relationship frequently seem unaware of effects on others at work on in the classroom, most faculty and staff I know take such matters very seriously. There are, however, a wide variety of opinions on these matters. For example, senior faculty and staff have recently expressed these thoughts to me:
Call Ed Udas at 253-4505 or stop by room 6-026 if students, faculty, or staff need help in organizing their MIT space.
Bob DiGiacomo will be coming in on Wednesdays or Thursdays to pick up any glass blowing work that you may have available. Please bring any work to room 6-031 or call Ed Udas or John Annese at 3-4505. Bob will do the work on a first-come, first-served basis
Please note, unless otherwise specified, most faculty positions require a resume, short description of research plans and to arrange for three letters of recommendation to be sent directly to the specific university or college.
Five new full time academic appointments are to be made in the School of Chemical Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. One appointment is likely to be in the area of Laser chemistry, with particular reference to applications in environmental science. Informal inquiries concerning this post can be made to the author (s.meech@uea.ac.uk) or Prof. David Andrews (d.l.andrews@uea.ac.uk.) 01603 592005.
Williams College, Williamstown, MA: Has faculty positions in many areas. Inquiries should be directed to: Williams College, Dean of the Faculty, Hopkins Hall, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267
The University of CA at San Diego, Depts. Of Chemistry and Biochemistry: seeks outstanding candidates for a tenure track Assistant Professor- position in environmental chemistry. All areas of environmental chemistry will be considered, including aquatic, atmospheric, biogeochemistry, environmental sensing, and green chemistry. Applicants must have a Ph.D. or equivalent degree in chemistry or a related field. A dissertation or research experience in some area of environmental science is required. Candidates should send a curriculum vitae, research plans and a list of publications to: Chair, Environmental Search Committee 3-533, University of California, San Diego, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, La Jolla, CA 92093-0332. Prompt response is recommended. All applications received by December 1, 1998 will be assured full consideration, but we will consider later applications until the position is filled.
Los Alamos National Laboratory: Special Postdoctoral Appointments: J. Robert Oppenheimer (JRO) Postdoctoral Fellowship, The Richard P. Feynman (RPF) Postdoctoral Fellowsh in Theory and Computing, the Frederick Reines (FR) Postdoctoral Fellowship in Experimental Sciences: Candidates for these awards must display extraordinary ability in scientific research and show clear and definite promise of becoming outstanding leaders in the research they pursue. Sponsored candidates competing for this fellowship will be reviewed by the Laboratory's Postdoctoral Committee at the December quarterly meeting. (meeting date information can be accessed at http://www.hr.lanl.gov/html/postdoc/meeting _info.pdf. For more information access the http://www.lanl.gov/external/science/subjects/. Further details about the Posdoc program may be found at http://www.hr.lanl.gov/postdoc/.
Tufts Universit, Medford, MA: A postdoctoral position is available immediately in the area of bioorganic chemistry and de novo protein design. The position is in the Department of Chemistry at Tufts University. Projects involve design,synthesis and biophysical characterization (mainly 2-D NMR and CD) of peptides and proteins. Students from the fields of organic and/or peptide chemistry with biological interests are encouraged to apply, but other areas of chemical biology/biochemistry will also be seriously considered. Please send curriculum vitae, summary of research experience (or reprints), and names of three references to Dr. Krishna Kumar, Tufts University, 62 Talbot Avenue, Medford, MA 02155-5813 Fax: 617.627.3443; Epost: kkumar01@tufts.edu
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR: Postdoctoral Position Opening in Vibrational Sum Frequency Spectroscopy Studies of Liquid Surfaces. A postdoctoral research position involving the study of surfaces and interfaces by nonlinear optical methods is currently available in Prof. Geraldine Richmond's laboratory at the University of Oregon in Eugene. The postdoctoral associate will have the opportunity to be participate in a variety of projects which involve the measurement of molecular structure and adsorption dynamics at liquid/liquid, liquid/air and solid/liquid interfaces. The studies center around the use of vibrational sum frequency spectroscopy (VSFS) as a surface specific probe of the interface. Current ongoing projects in this laboratory include studies of water structure and hydrogen bonding at these interfaces, adsorption of atmospheric molecules at liquid and ice surfaces, adsorption dynamics of surfactants including phosopholipids and other biomolecules at these interfaces, polymeric film structure and adsorption dynamics, solvent structure at chemical modified surfaces, and ion transport and chemical reactivity at these interfaces. Several different picosecond and nanosecond laser systems are available for use in these studies. Preference will be given to exceptional candidates who have experience in several of the following areas: vibrational spectroscopy, pulsed laser instrumentation and optics, biophysics, surface science and surface characterization. Application consists of a vitae and two letters of recommendation to be sent as soon as possible to Prof. G. L. Richmond, Dept. of Chemistry, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. (email: richmond@oregon.uoregon.edu, fax: 541-346-5859) Files will be evaluated as they are received.
Exxon Research and Engineering Company, Annandale, NJ: Seeks a postdoctoral researcher to study the high temperature gas-phase pyrolysis and oxidation chemistry of model hydrocarbon fuels. Send letter of reference and cv to: either Dr. John Farrell (jtfarre@erenj.com , 908-730-2686 and Dr. Anthony Dean, at Corporate Research Laboratory, Exxon Research and Engineering Company, PO box 998, Annandale, NJ 08801-3344, fax is (908) 730-3344.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Applications are invited for a one to two-year postdoctoral research position funded under the EPA STAR Grant project "Aerosol Partitioning and Heterogeneous Chemistry," in the research group of Dr. Roger Miller. The group's research focuses on investigating the chemical and physical properties of tropospheric and stratospheric aerosols. The successful candidate will be involved in the development and implementation of an in situ spectroscopic technique for monitoring the composition and heterogeneous chemistry of tropospheric aerosols. This technique involves the combination of step-scan FTIR spectroscopy, tunable diode laser spectroscopy and laser induced thermal desorption. The aerosols of interest include those currently being considered by the EPA as a component in future PM2.5 regulations. The goal is to develop non-invasive in situ methods for determining the properties of these semivolatile species. Candidates are expected to have a PhD in chemistry, atmospheric science or related field. Experience with spectroscopy and lasers is necessary. Please send CV, a letter describing research interests and background, relevant publications and at least two letters of reference to Professor Roger E. Miller, Department of Chemistry, CB3290, Kenan Laboratories, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3290, USA. Phone 919-962-0528, fax 919-962-2388, remiller@unc.edu.
Jasper Whiting Foundation: seeks qualified applicants for fellowships. The Foundation exists to help college and university teachers pursue their studies or broaden their capabilities at some locations other than their ususal place of teaching. The trustees can consider applicants who have graduated from college and desire to become teachers, but have not yet attained that position. However, in recent years the trustees have been strongly emphasizing full-time college and university teachers in their awards as opposed to graduate students who desire at some point to become teachers. The deadline for submitting applications is Saturday, February 1, 1999. The trustees anticipate making about fifteen awards. Please contact: Allan S. Bufferd. Office of the Treasuer at MIT, 238 main Street, email: bufferd@mit.edu, The candidates for these fellowships should create their own applications. The most usual form is a brief summary of the project or study comtemplaed to be a university teacher of a grduate of a college or university progressing toward a teaching career on the college or university level, and a budget indicating the estimated expenses to be incurred in carrying out the project, as well as any other information that the candidate feels will help his or her application. These papers must be submitted in triplicate in order for the trustees to consider the application. Additionally the trustees recommend three letters of support from fellow faculty members, professors, or simliar persons who can speak both to the candidate and to the project. Supporting letters need not be triplicated and should be send directly to the trustees from the writers. Fifteen awards totaled $74,264 last year and eighty-three applied. The average amount is $4950. Please send your application to: Marion and Jasper White Foundation , Suite 1025, 50 Congress Street, Boston, MA 02109. Telephone is: (617) 557-7411.
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT: A full time Research Associate position is available in the DOE Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative (ASCI) Center at the University of Utah. Salary will be $60K per year with full benefits. The applicant must have a doctoral degree in a scientific discipline, in addition to experience in object oriented programming, including the use of C++, and experience with a Unix OS (SGI preferred) and scientific programming. Experience with FORTRAN programming, MPI parallelization, molecular dynamics, and/or electronic structure codes is desirable. The applicant must have the ability and desire to work in a high profile interdisciplinary environment. A vitae, publication list, and three letters of recommendation should be sent to: Professor Gregory A. Voth, Director- Henry Eyring Center for Theoretical Chemistry- Department of Chemistry. University of Utah. 315 S. 1400 E. RM Dock- Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0850. voth@chemistry.chem.utah.edu
Daresbury Laboratory, cheshire, UK: Seeks a Senior Research Scientist: The Computational Materials Science group at CLRC Daresbury Laboratory is seeking to fill a staff position concerned with the theory of surface spectroscopy and diffraction. The successful candidate will work within an internationally recognised team of scientists to develop the theoretical framework and computational tools for the interpretation of various photon and electron scattering experiments at surfaces. This work will be performed in collaboration with leading academic research groups in the United Kingdom. There will also be an opportunity to work closely with researchers performing experiments on the synchrotron radiation source at Daresbury. Candidates should have a good degree at Ph.D. level and a strong research track record in theoretical surface science or a related discipline. A strong background in advanced scientific computing and experience of collaborative software development is also desirable. For further information contact: n.harrison@dl.ac.uk or http://www.dci.clrc.ac.uk/Group/DCICSECMG. Application forms can be obtained from: Recruitment Office, Personnel Division, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QX. Telephone (01235) 445435 (answerphone) quoting reference VN1719/98. http://www.cclrc.ac.uk. All applications must be returned by 11 December 1998. The CCLRC is committed to Equal Opportunities and to achieving the Investors In People standard. A no smoking policy is in operation.
Return to Chemistry Department Home Page