Kaz Skubi
@kazskubi.bsky.social
Radical chemist and sometimes also a radical chemist 😉. Assistant Professor at Carleton College. He/Him.
First Indigenous Peoples Day where I can say: If you are not fully aware of how the US government has terrorized Indigenous people and our children from its inception, read my book.
Boarding Schools and the Indigenous Story by Ashley Fairbanks | Moon Palace Books
Created in collaboration with Race2Dinner, here's the harrowing true story of America's history with boarding schools, and the forced assimilation of Indigenous kids and families.
moonpalacebooks.com
We are about 6 months away from my book, RESONANCE & RADIANCE, being released into the world. (April 13th, 2027!) RESONANCE & RADIANCE is a narrative nonfiction book about spectroscopy—the field of science that studies how light interacts with molecules. I want to share this book’s origin story 🧵:
A bit surprised by the Kagan/Soai Nobel Prize. Definitely a missed opportunity for Donna Blackmond to be recognised for her outstanding work on understanding the physical organic chemistry and mathematical detail of these processes. What could it possibly be about HER that meant SHE got overlooked?
BREAKING NEWS The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2026 #NobelPrize in Chemistry to Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai “for the discovery of non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis.”
I must really write a statement (at least for my website) on why “senior” (permanent position) academics should reject AI-powered “research”, if not for ourselves, for our students and our junior colleagues. I’m thinking about maths and comp science here, but I think it holds for all disciplines.
"GenAI is here, so I'm going to teach my students how to use it well." Are educators who choose to do this aware that they're complicit in exploiting and traumatizing data labellers in Global Majority countries? I guess they would have willingly enslaved people 200 years ago.
'AI Is African Intelligence': The Workers Who Train AI Are Fighting Back
Kenyan workers are still the underpaid labor behind AI training, moderation, and sex chatbots. The Data Labelers Association is fighting back.
404media.co
8. often, when people say LLMs "can do" something they mean LLMs can produce output that looks like the output of doing something 9. producing something that looks like the output of doing something is not the same thing as doing it
Imagine replacing people with tokens for plagiarism slot machines. This is why I take the extreme position that LLM-fuelled papers are not research, should not be read or cited, and should definitely count in one’s CV, but negatively.
Alexander Kasprzyk@amkasprzyk.bsky.social · 2w agoThere is a strong interest in using grants to buy more tokens. Many people have said that they get more research value in tokens than students: turning down a department-funded PhD studentship in exchange for tokens is surprisingly popular; replacing PDRAs with tokens on grants too.
i've been going to a weekly support group called Hope but every once in a while they skip a week
People who don’t know the difference between ‘entomology’ and ‘etymology’ bug us in ways we cannot put into words.
“But, we are repeatedly told, employers want students with skill at using generative AI. This doesn’t mean, however, that this skill needs to be taught in every class or to every student. Employers want many things, and we are not all responsible for teaching all of them.“
Iris van Rooij 💭@irisvanrooij.bsky.social · 2mo ago"The class atmosphere became tense as more students pushed back against this required use of generative AI. They wanted to know what their classmates thought rather than what a large language model produced in response to prompting; they wanted to wrestle with difficult readings and complex ideas"
What I’m trying to say—writing should be a human endeavor. There is no place for LLMs in ANY step of the process because these are tools that are built on theft of creative work. As scientists we should be rejecting the use of LLMs! We should be holding a higher standard because it’s right.
Research in a university context is teaching. You do it with students, one on one, or at least one with a small number. You mentor how to think deeply about solving problems that have never been solved. It is the PUREST form of teaching. The rest is, comparably, content delivery.
Emilio M Bruna@brunalab.bsky.social · 4mo agoShocked someone who left academia after 10 years (in 2008) following tenure denial thinks a system that requires research AND teaching sucks. We should VALUE and REWARD TEACHING MORE. We don’t have to eliminate research to do so. Setting Research against Teaching undermines both.
Excited to share this set of 40 multicolor 3D-printed molecular orbital models for second-semester organic chemistry classrooms, developed with students @pomonacollege.bsky.social. Article and 3D print files (no paywall): pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/.... #chemsky #compchemsky #3DP #3Dprint #3DModels
3D-Printed Multicolor Molecular Orbital Models for a Second-Semester Organic Chemistry Course
We have developed a set of multicolor 3D-printed molecular orbital models associated with topics taught in a second semester organic chemistry course at Pomona College. The set includes the following: (1) π molecular orbitals (MOs) in benzene; (2) water sp- and p-type lone pair orbitals; (3) valence bond and π-MO models of amide stability and reactivity; (4) formaldehyde (neutral, H+, and Li+ complexes) sp- and p-type lone pair and π/π* orbitals; (5) orbital interactions and the Bürgi–Dunitz angle in a cyanohydrin transition state; (6) acetaldehyde enolate π-MOs; (7) orbital interactions in an enolate alkylation transition state; (8) orbital interactions in a lithium enolate aldol transition state; (9) benzyne πHOMO and π*LUMO orbitals; (10) n−σ* orbital interaction in the water dimer intermolecular hydrogen bond; (11) peptide α-helix structure and n−σ* orbital interaction in an intramolecular i, i + 4 hydrogen bond; (12) anomeric effect (nO–σ*CO orbital interaction) in a carbohydrate model compound. The models provide insights regarding aspects of π molecular orbital theory, stability, reactivity, and mechanistic “arrow pushing”. A hobby-grade five-color 3D fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer is used to make the models, which are sized to provide compact take-home class handouts and kits for each student. The models are fabricated with orbital bisections and text annotations to enhance information content. Student perceptions of this set of 3D-printed molecular models and their use in the classroom are generally favorable. 3D Manufacturing Format (3MF) model files are available in the Supporting Information for this article.
pubs.acs.org
At the end of the term I asked my college creative wriing students to submit anonymous thoughts on AI. No real surprises: Mood ranges from resignation to despair, capitulation from embittered erosion of standards to total, feelings of betrayal from deep to furious. 1/
On the eve of our submission window opening, we felt we should add an AI policy
Fashion designer Jeremy Scott delivers commencement speech to Kansas City Art Institute graduates. Wait for it…
As someone who had a kid in 2022, my wife and I often joke that we bet wrong on the moral arc of our country. But this kind of doomerism is loser shit. Basically every parent I know is raising their kids to be part of the solution. It just takes time. Why should we quit, they're the ones that suck.
Hey Lab folx, I’m interested to know how lab coats work at your undergrad labs. Do students purchase them? Are they stored onsite? Do you sell them/provide them? Thanks!
If I never have to read some person saying "what happened to innocent until proven guilty" about why some guy should still be elected to one of the most powerful positions in the country despite numerous sexual assault allegations it will be too soon
a criminal conviction isn’t required to say someone does not have the moral character to run for office and i don’t understand why this needs to be said over and over and over again.
@opus3.bsky.social · 6mo agoI am a woman and I say still innocent until proven guilty by a jury of his peers in a court of law. Not trial by innuendo.
We are hiring a tenure-track organic chemist! Truman State is the #1 public regional in the midwest...29 years running. Our Chemistry and Biochem/MolecularBio programs are @acs.org accredited. Apply by 4/7! #chemsky #chemjobs #chemistry #iteachchem 🧪 trumansu.peopleadmin.com/postings/1532
Assistant Professor of Chemistry -- Organic Chemistry (Fall 2026) -- Revised Review Date
trumansu.peopleadmin.com
