Every Wednesday I do the dance of taking half a leftover seminar donut pretending like I'm not gonna go back five minutes later for the other half.

As an aspiring author, I can tell you that professors have nothing on them in terms of rejections and unanswered queries.

Friends at AIChE in Boston: today, Sunday, 11/2, please join our 110th anniversary of Chemical Engineering @ Rochambeau on Boylston from 7:30-9:30. And, the transformation of the department to Chemical and Sustainability Engineering! Free drinks of all types and dinner-sized bites! No RSVP required.

Surprised James Cameron hasn't sued the internet for the sudden popularity of the Homer/hedges clip.

I predict that they're going to start injection molding kids toys to look like they've been 3D printed.

Thanks to Andrew Akbashev for the chance to share my comprehensive, unvarnished thoughts about PhD admissions to STEM programs in the US. youtu.be/4btUrU0Z9SA?...

What's the difference between environmental engineering and sustainability engineering? Environmental engineering is downstream of the pipe; sustainability engineering is upstream of the pipe. Both are needed. youtube.com/shorts/7Ej_L...

Some of the story behind our name: Chemical and Sustainability Engineering at URochester. Few high schoolers know what ChemE is unless they have a family member. "Chemical Engineering" was used 50y before people knew there were molecules! youtube.com/shorts/TaHuv...

Thanks to @lukeauburn.bsky.social for this article explaining our renaissance as the Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering. www.rochester.edu/newscenter/f...

It's website-and-email-signature official! After 110 years as just "Chemical Engineering," we are now the Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering at University of Rochester.

ACS publications need to add something useful to the first sentence of the body of their emails. In the summary column, all I ever see is "To improve and transform your experience..." According to my records, they have been improving and transforming for well over a year.

The *word* for a color is almost as good as the *perceived* color in touch-color associations of engineered materials. Our case study with an individual with loss of color vision. Collab w Romke Rouw Edward de Haan, Nina Vreugdenhil, Laura Becerra et al. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Thinking of getting a Lafufu as a loss prevention device for the communal undergrad lab key.

Have a high school student interested in having an impact in energy, materials, and sustainability? Should you major in chemical engineering, chemistry, or environmental sc... youtu.be/Tyx_oT9CoCk?... via @YouTube

Academic research is a lot of things. Do you have a primary motivation? open.spotify.com/episode/3N2U...

The lack of production values in my videos about STEM academia is a feature…not laziness :-) open.spotify.com/episode/32If...

How companies start in university labs: My wife interviews me about startups, business, & how STEM students become entrepreneurs. youtu.be/yZRB2B13cho?... via @YouTube

Meet candidate for AIChE president (and Rochester grad) Brian Davison! Here, we spoke about opportunities in chemical & biological engineering at a National Lab, along with leadership and community building youtu.be/pKp3PtveQF4?... via @YouTube

What's the REAL purpose of science research? Knowledge? Training opportunities? Conversation with @marcporosoff.bsky.social

Congrats Robert and Andrew: sometimes semiconducting polymers fold like a book instead of twist like an axle. Does it matter? Quantifying the Effect of Intermonomer Improper Angles on Electron Delocalization in Conjugated Polymers pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Candid conversation with my colleague @marcporosoff.bsky.social on effects of real and coming cuts to academic research laboratories. youtu.be/RLVWA3lqYPA?...

This was a fun exercise as an antidote to misinformation about the role of federally funded research in the economy, regardless of human capital and the creation of knowledge youtu.be/sQwvuoTLrIg

Can't we just give the economy an NSAID? I've heard they reduce inflation. 

Is saving 0.15% of your budget the excuse for having no study sections or council meetings the last 6 weeks?

Thanks for the opportunity to be involved! The article is thorough and it also aimed for a broad audience. Check it out!

Congrats Yu Wang and Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social lab's team on the involvement for PIEZO2 in adipose tissue phenotype. Pleased that Lipomi/Patapoutian lab postdoc Utku Sonmez were able to help out. @stanfordpress.bsky.social @hhmi.org @scripps.edu www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Just purchased a box of 5000 staples. The first box I bought in 24 years and surely the last one before I perish!

The bad news: I think I need bifocals. The good news: I no longer see smudges and dust on my glasses.

I spent an evening earlier this semester helping students write personal statements for many NSF REU programs. I wrote many letters of recommendation. This is really sad and I’m not sure what to tell students.

"List Strengths and Weaknesses separately against the NSF Review Criteria" The reviewer finds this proposal to be staunchly anti-Marxist. The Broader Impacts are in line with guidance that farmers til their own land and cede the means of production to the factory owners.

"When he realized that Senate Republicans were characterizing his [NSF] project as one of many they considered ideological and of questionable scientific value, Darren Lipomi, chair of chemical engineering at the University of Rochester, was incensed." undark.org/2025/02/21/a...

Turns out a lot of things can be described as a thing with a thing attached.

Can we just rename the NSF and NIH the Small Business Development Agency or something?

The "savings" are trivial, and the cost to the nation in terms of stewardship of science will be profound

(1/6)My NSF-funded project intended to help throat cancer patients recover from radiation therapy faster was identified among 3,500 other NSF grants as "woke DEI" research and "advancing Neo-Marxist ideology" and pursuing a "far-left" agenda. www.commerce.senate.gov/2025/2/cruz-...

I have yet to see an article in a mainstream outlet on the 15% rule that hasn't conflated the 30% overall IDC expenses with the 60%+ rates *as a fraction of allowable DCs* on top of the research dollars. Most literally think that only 30c on the $ is going to research at Harvard

This framing is their framing, and NYT took the bait. The correct and accurate framing is: “Deep cuts to medical research threatens progress on cancer and heart disease research, costs the economy $80B, and threatens 300,000 jobs across red and blue states”

So if you're saving $5B/year you can give out 3 thousand additional R01s. It's just arithmetic.

"Why are 'communication fees,' 'computing,' and graduate tuition/remission suddenly so much higher after today?"

I thought this was fake but then i realized that USAID is gone...https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-068.html

His fanboys can eat their heart out. This was back in the day when stewarding federal funds, doing science in the public good, and training the US workforce would get you an autograph.

I hope NSF gives us a chance to Ctrl+F for problematic words in our submitted proposals before rejecting them outright.

My bid to change the name of my department from the "Department of Chemical Engineering" to the "Department of Potions" was shot down by the Board of Trustees

Why pay for search engine optimization? Just add a cat! youtu.be/fopbCYXYTlo

I tend to keep my office door closed when I indulge thus.

Still haven't updated my affiliation/email with some of the more annoying journals. Considering not.

Any PI in a low-cost housing market ever thought of buying a "Lab House" for guaranteed rental income? I guess it would be too oppressive/COIy to have your PI also be your landlord.

Most athletes and musicians wouldn't start performing without at least a short warmup. Is there something equivalent for writing? Or do you just blast right into it?

To the college seniors in your life who may be applying to PhD programs youtu.be/XsI2VDcnKbE?...

I am the only panelist at this event with a irrelevant qualification (though perhaps an unhealthy obsession : ) events.rochester.edu/event/health...