Invisibly Important

Who does more important work: The scene-stealing front man, or the patient show-runner backstage?

Sumac in Fall, 2014

Writing at the New York Times "Motherlode" blog, author David Zweig posits that, in an era of attention-grabbing occupations - Internet whiz-kids, Wall Street financiers, American Idols - the real winners may be those who select the quiet, thoughtful "enabler" roles behind the scenes. He claims that, though they may not get the glory, such "Invisibles" end up better paid and more highly satisfied with their chosen stations.

Though Zweig volunteers occupations like structural engineers or quantitative analysts, I'd offer that most important roles in scientific research belong equally on his list: Spectroscopists. Molecular modelers. Patent examiners. Grant writers. Purification staff. Procurement. Health and Safety. Administrative assistants. Graduate students.

If you get a chance today, think about the Invisibles that help your science to succeed.
And buy that mass-spec guy a beer, already!

Coaching Science

Scrolling through my ACS Matters newsletter, I came across an interesting program I hadn't seen before:


The ACS Science Coach Program.

Participants in the program volunteer with a local elementary, middle, or high school, visiting at least six (6)
times, helping to plan labs and mentor young scientists. ACS even chips in a small grant ($500) to support the effort. Sounds like a cool program to me!

Just one question: Do you suppose the admins ever read the #ChemCoach carnival? [crosses fingers]

Update: Apparently, this dates back to pre-2011, so perhaps *I* subconsciously used *their* idea!

Hall Pass Top Ten

Apologies for my recent blogging absence. I've been...

1. Trapped in a cargo crate on the high seas, eating bugs and crackers, with only gull cries and typhoons to amuse me. Help!

2. Entering development data into an Excel spreadsheet by hand, from 70 years of targets.

3. Abducted by aliens. I haven't been probed or dissected, but they really, really want me to tell them about organocatalysis and NanoPutians.

11. Messing with the bull, and got the horns.

4. Sleeping (not).

5. Furiously scribbling down every potential idea for a major grant renewal.

6. Stuck in traffic.

7. Eating my way out of a giant cake.

8. Downloading, scanning, printing, "borrowing," recording, and photographing disparate data for a very looooong document.

9. LMAO.

10. Working.

Regular posts [should] resume next week. Stay tuned!

(P.S. Cheat sheet - Nos. 2, 5, 8, and 11 are pretty much true...)