Apologies for the delay in LfA XIII - as will be seen when I finally
catch up, things have been really rather busy here for the last
little while.  I'm going to aim to write LfA XIV (which will focus
mostly on last weekend) before I leave for Brazil today but I don't
know if I'll get it done (or when it will reach you due to unknown
internet access in Florianopolis).  So we'll just have to wait and
see.

Jason

___

This weeks Letter from America is going to be mostly a discussion on
matters of academia.  If this isn't your cup of tea, I suggest you go
straight to the end ("Finally this week,").  It's very non-academic,
though the associated pictures do have me in a lab.

To start with, the last couple of weeks have seen me finish up the
touring around to give talks at various Universities (at least for
now).  All has gone well and pretty much without a hitch - last
Friday was at Brooklyn College, New York (more on that in LfA XIV)
and this Tuesday was at Boston College.  While I have cared about all
the talks, the one at BC mattered most, not least because I now know
all the people here but also because I'm in the department for
another two months afterwards and I have to face them in the
corridors until I leave.  So I tried hard and even wore a suit (a
very strange sight for all who are used to me here in 'lab clothes')
Actually the talk went very well except for a couple of things.

First, having gone and set up everything relatively early (and will
all the computers/projectors/laser pointers/things having been
checked and working) I went to start after Larry (person I'm working
with) gave me a (surprisingly) long introduction - these seem to be
standard here.  Well, the computer and the projector decided that
while they had gotten along famously beforehand that now they were to
have a disagreement.  Not your traditional "can't put picture on
screen" disagreement, but one that caused the projector to shut down
and then restart - and when it did my computer froze.  While it was
all fine in a few minutes, it felt like a few hours.

Secondly, Amir Hoveyda (of the Hoveyda-Grubbs catalyst) was sitting
in the front row.  I think I've mentioned it before, he's a famously
abrasive personality though I seem to get along with him quite well.
However, he's clearly a synthetic guy and without a natural product
synthesis or any catalyst/ligand screening in sight - and probably
way too many actual numbers - he looked bored mindless.  (And didn't
seem to care who knew.)  It was all a bit weird actually and I found
myself rushing through the last section.  Asking some of the students
afterwards revealed this is apparently actually normal - and given
I've chatted with him since and there seems no difference to before;
it was all a bit weird.

[It is worth pointing out that being nervous before the talk I
decided to go and run a column in the lab.  I'm guessing not many
visiting speakers do that ...]

A brief note on the small world of academia, particularly in
Australia and NZ.  I was the first of two antipodeans who gave talks
at BC this week.  The second was a very good synthetic chemist from
NZ but now at U of Colorado, by the name of Andy Phillips.  It was
kind of odd to meet him because I feel like I know him already.  A
friend of mine from my time at Adelaide (now an academic at U of
Wollongong) spent time at UC and knew him there.  The person in the
next fumehood (and a really good friend of mine) while I was a
postdoc was a kiwi who had done her PhD at the same place  as him
(and I think in the same group as his now wife, with whom she was
very close).  And UNSW just appointed his best friend.  Seriously
small world.

The only other point of interest I am going to include from this week
is that Thursday ten days ago, I sat on my first thesis committee.
Effectively this committee is what reviews a PhD students thesis, and
then judges the 'defence'.  This defence comes in two parts - a
public portion (which is like a presentation and anyone can, at least
in theory, come - the interesting point being their supervisor, who
is on the thesis committee, can't have seen the presentation
beforehand) and a private section (which is comparable to an oral
exam, where the student can be quizzed on anything in their thesis -
and I mean anything).  It is interesting to contrast the system here
and in Australia - a full commentary on the differences between
graduate work in the two countries likely to follow in another LfA
but, in brief, being able to interact directly with your examiners is
a good thing (it means you can talk through things - rather than the
completely written examination process in Australia).  The entire
thesis committee being local (I was deemed as Visiting Faculty for
the purposes of this) introduces its problems and having something
more akin to the UK system (external and internal) might be
considered better.

It's worth noting that the student (who I'd been two benches over
from in the lab - yes, kind of weird sudden change in interactions
there) passed without a problem despite having major stress
beforehand - two days before 'the big day'  he was told that the
rooms he'd booked (the _students_ have to organise the rooms for the
both their defences) months beforehand had been double booked and he
was kicked out.  (Major running around there - the admin staff here
vary from very good to a waste of valuable oxygen.)  So he's now Dr
Steinberg, or at least will be at conferring in December.

Finally this week, a comment on the US Postal Service.  Actually, it
focuses on a single bad experience I had with them early on during my
time here.  I had been sent some advertising material for the School
of Chemistry, and it had arrived in a not so pristine state.  Only
the pictures can truly show the ridiculousness of the situation -
while it did not bother me in the slightest, can you imagine what
receiving this would do to a member of the general public? And we
wonder why people get scared.

The photo album can be found at

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=147835&id=570906321&l=5373609075

And this is why we always send stuff by DHL ...

Next time (whenever that may be): Jason's travels to New York, NY
--
Pre-Sig - I am travelling extensively over the next month and e-mail
is likely to be limited. Please expect delays in responses until the
end of October.