Friday Fun - Jobs from the Future

Who wants to help me construct a job description for the brave new world of automated synthesis?
Leave your suggestion in the comments, and I'll modify our advert as needed...

March 13, 2025 - Automated Synthesis Engineer

Our company seeks a motivated individual to work in our growing Automated Synthesis division.

Experience: Qualified candidates should have 5+ years previous experience in chemistry, mechanical engineering, or robosynthesis. Ideally, you'll have completed 10 (or more) previous multi-step total syntheses using 3D-Flow ModuloChem-XLs.

Software: Candidate should feel comfortable using the IBM SynBlox suite for fragment assembly, exploring GDB-23 for potential lead molecules, and assessing synthetic feasibility using the OPRD Engyn iPhone 9 app.

Special skills: Our synthesizers often require adjustments, thus experience in a trade - plumbing, welding, electrical - would be highly valued. Candidates interested in creating holographic "how-to" vidlets especially encouraged to apply.

Source: Burke Lab historical archives

2013 State of the (Scientific) Union

(Adapted from last year's post, with updated data for 2013)

Did you watch President Barack Obama present the 2013 State of the Union address?

Source: Whitehouse.gov

Once again, I downloaded the text to the 2013 S.o.T.U. (Unfinished Tasks / Next Chapter), and compared it against the text from 2011 (Winning the Future) and 2012 (An America Built to Last). Now, I’m not a political pundit or a news analyst - I’m a scientist. So let's see how certain scientific themes grew or shrunk over the past 366 days (leap year!).

Breakdown (# of each word in full text):

Energy – 2011: 9, 2012: 23, 2013: 18

Oil – 2011: 2, 2012: 10, 2013: 5

Gas - 2011: 1, 2012: 9, 2013: 7

Wind / Solar - 2011: 4, 2012: 3, 2013: 4

Nuclear – 2011: 5, 2012: 3, 2013: 3

Batteries - 2011: 0, 2012: 2, 2013: 1

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Biotech / Biomed / Biofuel – 2011: 3, 2012: 0, 2013: 0

Chemical – 2011: 0, 2012: 1, 2013: 0

Tech / technology – 2011: 12, 2012: 9, 2013: 8

Science / scientist – 2011: 7, 2012: 2, 2013: 4

Engineering – 2011: 3, 2012: 1, 2013: 3

Research – 2011: 9, 2012: 4, 2013: 4

Development – 2011: 1, 2012: 2, 2013: 1

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College / Universities– 2011: 12, 2012: 15, 2013: 8

Math – 2011: 3, 2012: 0, 2013: 2

Health – 2011: 8, 2012: 5, 2013: 5

Internet - 2011: 6, 2012: 1, 2013: 1

Cyber - 2011: 0, 2012: 1, 2013: 2

Jobs: 2011: 25, 2012: 33, 2013: 32

Exciting 2013 "one-offs" - Human Genome, drug development, battery materials, 'Space Race',  human brain, IBM, networks, climate change, NASA 'Mohawk Guy' (guest of the First Lady)

Is there a take-home message here? Does word count relate to the overall direction of the country? Probably not. Each speech is different: 2013 spent serious time on fiscal reform, job creation, foreign affairs, and domestic mass shooting incidents, while 2011 focused on education, business, and terrorism, and 2012 dealt with global politics, Congressional reform, and taxes.

Still, science and scientific policy seem to be waning in recent Presidential politics. Ironically, energy production and storage now garner increased mentions while R&D, education, and biofuel fall away.

Readers: Did I miss anything? How'd you react to the speech? Let me know in the comments.