Help Wanted: C&EN Audience Engagement Editor

Hello, intrepid readers. Hope those of you living above the Tropic of Cancer are enjoying the start of Summer.

Though this usually falls into the Chemjobber camp, an inside source asks whether I can recommend an engaged, excited, passionate web-denizen for a newly-created role at the newsmagazine. From the horse's mouth (emphasis mine):

"We're hiring for someone to act as the 'voice of the magazine' on our social accounts, writing our newsletters, and helping us shape overall social and engagement strategies. Important would be to have someone who is comfortable with social and loves chemistry."

Wow, that sounds like the exact job I would have wanted coming out of grad school! However, I can't keep pace with the ever-changing landscape of social media* and iPhone apps. It's best left to someone, methinks, with an "always-on" mentality and a quicker set of thumbs than yours truly.

If you or someone you know are interested, please apply here.
Look forward to crossing paths with you in the Great Social Experiment.

--
*Get off my lawn, you kids with yer Tencent and Snapchat and Baidu and Twitterz and Hipstergram and Skype and Facebook and Yelp and hi5 and Qzone and Friendster!

2015 JLC New Year's Resolutions

And so we close another year on the chemblogosphere. Instead of recounting the highs and lows of 2014, I've decided this year to focus on what lies ahead for Just Like Cooking.

A goofy, fitting send-off to 2014,
courtesy of the San Fran ACS Meeting

Three areas I'll try to focus on for 2015:

1. Photocatalysis. It's exploding in all areas of chemistry, with new complexes and new (old) dyes appearing daily. Hopefully 2015 will show more light-promoted reactions as key steps in total syntheses.

2. Antibiotic Development. Dire predictions swirl around our readiness, as a species, to defend ourselves against the ever-evolving horde of microorganisms surrounding us. Hopefully 2015 - whether by luck or skill - finds new molecules to address this challenge.

3. Alternative Careers / Leaving the Lab. (Refer to my apologia from a few weeks ago...)



Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy start to 2015!
See Arr Oh

John Kuhn: NFL Chemist

Meet John Kuhn, age 30. Two-time Super Bowl Champion (XL, XLV). Pro-Bowler (2011). Former Pittsburgh Steeler, now Green Bay Packer. And...a chemist.

Source: ShipNewsNow

Wow, if only I had known when #ChemCoach was going on!

Apparently, while at Shippensburg College, Mr. Kuhn not only majored in chemistry (GPA 3.29) but had a variety of internships with Johnson & Johnson and the PA D.E.P.

Here's a few quotes from a 2011 Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article:

"A lot of people don't know I was a chemistry major in college. It was kind of tough, but at the same time I really enjoy science and math. I just kind of stuck it out in college and got my degree in it. . . . I worked a couple of internships, including one with Johnson & Johnson. I'm fairly certain they would have offered me a job if football wouldn't have worked out."

"It was pretty tough but it's something that I enjoyed. When you enjoy something, it makes it easy to do the work."

I'm absolutely floored that I haven't heard about this earlier. Kudos to CoulombicExplosion and Alex Goldberg for the initial tip-off!