Professor Reggie Mills (University of Houston) joins us on this episode of the SW Pod. We discuss the academic job market in 2024 and advice for people seeking jobs as faculty members in chemistry as well as things you might not think about when job searching. In addition to the academic job market, we discuss Reggie's journey up to this point: pursuing his doctorate studies with Professor Sophie Rousseaux and then a post doctoral position with Professor Paul Chirik. If you are curious to know about what it is like to search for a faculty position in chemistry in 2024, then this episode is for you.

Be sure to follow Reggie in socials to stay up-to-date with his research: https://x.com/reggiemills28

Resources to find work: ChemJobber: https://chemjobber.blogspot.com/

In this episode of The SW Pod, we are joined by Scott Bagley, who is an Associate Research Fellow at Pfizer and the American Chemical Society. Scott has been a scientist at Pfizer for over 30 years and in this episode, we dissect that journey while also addressing safety considerations in chemistry and how to become a competitive applicant in the job market. When Scott is not in the lab, he is volunteering at ACS conferences and is the Division of Organic Chemistry's Program Chair-elect and runs their Virtual Symposium.

Be sure to follow Scott on his socials: X: https://twitter.com/BagPhos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-bagley-2201504/ For more information about the Division of Organic Chemistry: https://www.organicdivision.org/ How to get involved/volunteer at the DOC: https://www.organicdivision.org/volunteer/

Professor Molly Atkinson is an Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas where her group broadly studies chemical education. Her group has 3 main areas of research that includes the understanding of chemistry representation, assessment instrument development, and the pathways to chemistry and STEM. For more information about Molly and her group: https://mollyatkinson92.wixsite.com/atkinson X: https://x.com/MollyBAtkinson Website listing all Chemistry Education Research (CER) Graduate Programs in the United States: https://chem.uncg.edu/popova/cer-website/Facebook

Page, Strategies for Teaching Chemistry: https://www.facebook.com/groups/849427775469472Survey

Link for Graduate Students in Chemistry: https://unt.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_74l7EKMGfairBJ4Survey

Link for Research Faculty in Chemistry (for those who advise Graduate Students): https://unt.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_1Ty6dzBnpVyhtrg

Mario received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan working in Prof. Corinna Schindler's group conducting research in natural product synthesis. He is now a Patent Agent for Leydig, Voit, and Mayer, Ltd., specializing in chemical patent prosecution. In today's episode, we discuss Mario's journey to taking an alternate career path for a Ph.D. level organic chemist as a patent agent. Connect with Mario: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mario-gaviria-ph-d-48268610a/ More about Mario and his career path: https://www.cell.com/chem/pdf/S2451-9294(23)00148-1.pdf

Professor Nick Chiappini grew up in Vernon, NJ, best known for Action Park. He received his BA in Chemistry from Drew University, where he worked in the group of Prof. Ryan Hinrichs studying photochemical oxidation on atmospheric aerosols. He then moved to the West Coast for his PhD, working with Prof. Justin Du Bois at Stanford and developing efficient Rh(II)-catalyzed intermolecular sp3 C-H amination reactions applicable to late state functionalization. Nick was an NIH postdoctoral scholar in the group of Prof. Robert Knowles at Princeton University, where he developed a photochemical platform for oxidative and reductive radical generation from organobismuth compounds. Nick is now an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where his group broadly work on directed functionalization using silicon and organobismuth chemistry. For more information about Nick and his group: https://www.chiappinichem.org/ X: https://twitter.com/ndchiappini Fun and useful articles (from Nick!): Practical Synthesis of α,β-Alkynyl Ketones by Oxidative Alkynylation of Aldehydes with Hypervalent Alkynyliodine Reagents (https://doi.org/10.1246/cl.200131) A CONVENIENT PREPARATION OF ALKYL- AND ARYLSULFONYLPYRIDINES (https://doi.org/10.1080/00304948109356112) Organobismuth Reagents: Synthesis, Properties and Applications in Organic Synthesis (10.1055/s-0036-1589482) Birch Reduction of Arenes Using Sodium Dispersion and DMI under Mild Conditions (https://doi.org/10.1246/cl.210546)

Professor Julian West grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and received his undergraduate degree from the University of British Columbia while completing undergraduate research with Prof. Glenn Sammis. He then completed his graduate studies with Prof. Erik Sorenson at Princeton University working on various photocatalytic reactions using Earth-abundant metals. After his graduate degree, he moved to the California Institute of Technology as an NIH and Resnick Postdoctoral Fellow to investigate inorganic chemistry and electrocatalysis with Professors Harry Gray and Brian Stoltz.

Julian is now an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Rice University where his group broadly work in catalysis design, developing new synthetic reactions, and cancer research. Some of his group's research interests include cooperative hydrogen atom transfer, azidation reactions, and applying vitamins (such as Vitamin B12) in photocatalysis. Julian has received early career awards as well such as C&EN's Class of 2024 Talented 12, CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research Award, and 2021 Forbes 30 under 30 - Science list.

For more information about Julian and his group: https://www.westchem.org/X: https://x.com/pushingarrows

Dr. Anna Davis recently received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Virginia while completing research with Prof. Michael Hilinski working on using vinylazarenes as dienophiles in Lewis acid-promoted Diels-Alder reactions as well as other projects within organic methodology. Over the years, she has gained a large following within the chemistry twitter sphere; actively promoting and creating a positive atmosphere for organic chemists across the globe. Be sure to follow Anna on X: https://x.com/radscientist_

Professor Sharon Neufeldt grew up in Tucson, AZ and earned her B.S. in Chemistry at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She began her Ph.D. studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor working with Professor Melanie Sanford on the development of Pd-catalyzed C—H functionalization reactions. In 2013, she became the Cram Teacher-Scholar at UCLA. There, she undertook postdoctoral research with Professor K. N. Houk using DFT to study the mechanism and selectivity of transition metal-catalyzed C—H activation, while also teaching sophomore organic chemistry. In summer 2016 she moved to Bozeman, MT to begin her independent career and promoted to Associate Professor in 2023. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER award (2019), a Thieme Chemistry Journals Award (2020), a Cottrell Scholars Award (2020), and an NIH NIGMS MIRA award (2020). For more information about Sharon and her research group: https://neufeldt-chemistry.com/ X: https://twitter.com/NeufeldtLab