"Academics literally cannot make genAI go away" we also can't make underage drinking go away and we're not advocating for installing bar carts in every classroom.

"Did you see what Mark Cuban posted? Oh did you see the clapb—" You shake yourself awake in the cold North Atlantic water. You are not online. It is July of 1858. You are a baleen whale, and you have changed your mind. The future most not come to pass. The telegraph cable must break.

"AI is a tool." No. Empirically not. A tool empowers people; helps people. It solves an extant problem. Generative AI in creative mediums is being used as a cudgel that diminishes and eliminates people, and the only "problem" being solved is fiscal. Stop validating it, even in passing.

Minnesota cities as Muppets: Stillwater:

A heartfelt thank you to all the grad programs that just let me upload my letter of recommendation. I hate answering, "Is this candidate excellent (top 15%), amazing (top 5%), or truly exceptional (top 2%)?" I don't know, man! Read my letter! And don't make me pit my students against each other.

I've updated my document that tackles four of the common arguments used to encourage teachers to use AI. I hope this will be helpful to those educators wanting to push back on AI mania.

I'm an "A.i." abolitionist. No consumer-facing LLMs or generative "A.i." in anything. Sure, machine learning in science and a few other limited applications is fine. But consumer-facing LLMs and generative "A.i." that are based on theft, push disinfo, and can be manipulated by billionaires? No.

Elementary school kids can learn to play the glockenspiel or understand Roman numerals or speak French. These skills won't be helpful for them anytime in the rest of their lives but sometimes just learning something different is rewarding.

We can teach people things that they aren't ever going to have any use for later in life! That's an okay thing to do!

My new favorite kind of meme is "here are detailed instructions on how to turn off AI". 🔨

Is there a hashtag for STEM internships? Merck is accepting applications for internships in cell biology and assay development, immunogenicity, protein metabolism, biostatistics, vaccine communications, DMPK, and discovery and process chemistry.

Good morning! AI is being force-fed to you by a handful of billionaires who will lose a bunch of money if they fail to convince you that you need it. You do not need it 🫶

Call me controversial, but technology that leads vulnerable people into crisis and even holds their hand as they die by suicide should not be endorsed by schools and universities, we should not be giving discounted subscriptions to this monstrous tech to young people AT ALL

If you (or an undergraduate in your life) is thinking about graduate school in Chemistry, I want to share that Stony Brook Chemistry will be holding two virtual info sessions in about 2 weeks on our PhD program! Register: forms.gle/exxMufpr2dLv...

Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.

Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.

Imagine studying a technology whose presence in the classroom is so detrimental to the development of writing and research skills (including even the will to know the sources behind claims!) that mitigating its effects becomes a central goal of course design, and concluding with tips on adopting it.

It is morally wrong to want a computer to be sentient. If you owned a sentient thing, you would be a slaver. If you want sentient computers to exist, you just want to create a new kind of slavery. The ethics are as simple as that. Sorry if this offends

Bryn Mawr College is looking for an analytical chemist! #chemsky www.brynmawr.edu/inside/acade...

Are you a DFL voter in MN? Do you dislike transphobia? Consider signing this letter to stand up against transphobia in our party. docs.google.com/forms/d/1D9m...

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

a selection of US scientists and foreign collaborators:

Give me your favorite Treachery of Images derivative meme. I’ll start.

My department at Colgate University is hiring a tenure-stream assistant professor in Organic Chemistry this fall. Please feel free to reach out with questions, and please repost. We're an undergraduate university with a strong focus on research. @chemjobber.bsky.social apply.interfolio.com/170152

Andrea Gibson, Colorado’s poet laureate who attracted praise and a large following by writing about social issues and queer identity, died Sunday of ovarian cancer at age 49. www.instagram.com/p/DMGo2skM1Ve/

If you agree with our 5 requests to our universities, please sign 🖊️ the open letter and don’t forget to confirm your email! ☺️🙏 openletter.earth/open-letter-...

When we intentionally changed the course to help out our students, we ended up helping *all* these students – even the ones who were already performing well in the course. This is a common effect for "DEI programs" in education. Education just gets better for everyone.

I'm excited to share the first publication out of the Brezny lab! We explored some unexpected reactivity of an indole with metalloporphyrins. Thank you to all my awesome students that contributed to this work. pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Cannot emphasize enough that, if you dislike doing the things academics do (reading, writing, developing and expressing opinions about things you've read) enough to try to make a chatbot do them for you, there are lots of actual humans who would be happy to take that unpleasant job off your hands

I just saw a good example of what I was talking about with chatgpt being a crackpot generating machine. A guy had started Wheeler's Spacetime Physics, and had a problem on page 2. Wheeler expressed a square root as a power of 1/2. √a = a^1/2. This is basic algebra, not physics.

The ACS Inclusivity Style Guide used to include sections on “Gender and Sexuality” and on “Race, Ethnicity, and Sexuality”. Both are now gone. www.acs.org/about/inclus...

The Department of Chemistry at Middlebury College is hiring a Lab Professor in our Organic Chemistry sequence. This is a full-time, renewable position. Details here: apply.interfolio.com/164028 And some additional background here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Hi network, I am looking for senior positions in computational and medicinal chemistry. If you need someone with a strong background in med chem who has contributed to multiple leads and clinical candidates and has hired and managed teams and built computational platforms, please reach out. Thanks!

Visiting assistant professor of chemistry, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN #chemjobs #chemsky fa-ewur-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Hey folks-- If you're a recent (or soon-to-be) analytical chem PhD, or if you know of one... We're hiring a 1-year VAP as sabbatical replacement. We don't do a national search for 1-year positions; it's completely word of mouth. DM me if you want details. #ChemSky

“I don’t consider myself COVID cautious. I consider myself COVID competent,” Zebrowski said. “Cautious would imply that I have an unreasonable fear of something. I do not have an unreasonable fear of this disease.” Nailed it 🔥

#chemsky, I need your help. Does anyone remember reading an experimental section from a 19th century (German?) chemist that included the taste of the chemical? I remember something about how the crystals "crunched between the teeth" or something to that effect. But I cannot remember where I saw it.

I’m so excited to share my group’s first pre-print! This is a collaboration with @johnswierk.bsky.social and @japanetier.bsky.social. Here’s your reminder that great science comes from PUIs, too 😊 doi.org/10.26434/che...

So excited to promote the BRIDGES virtual conference! We have a fantastic lineup for four sessions across two days (Jan 31 &Feb 1st, 2025) to focus on broadening research and instructional design for greater equity in STEM. Register through the QR code or the posted link below.

The gang’s all here! go.bsky.app/2ytnrK3

@wcima.bsky.social and I are excited to introduce the newest addition to our labelers system: @stemlabels.xyz! This labeler has over 300 different specialties, from Astrophysics to Zoology, covering fields from the Physical/Biological/Earth sciences, engineering, technology/math.

College students need a one credit, pass/fail course about using computers, managing online file storage, and digital collaboration. Some get it but others just... don't. And the divide in which students are which is stark (hint: it often falls along socioeconomic lines).

Times Higher Ed has a column today about getting rid of accommodations for students with disabilities. It is breathtakingly ableist. It argues for the exclusion of people with disabilities from higher ed. I am not linking: it's click bait, but you can see the opening paragraph below.