When I last posted to this blog, I was still working in the Southeast at a nonprofit research institute, maintaining about six LC-MS/MS and GC-MS instruments. Most of the work that I'd been doing, when I wasn't maintaining those instruments, was small molecule work. I worked with tobacco, some biologicals, bulk materials, and designer drug projects, the last being a pretty interesting Pyrolysis-GC-MS project. Then I left.
My wife got a tenure-track job at a small Midwestern liberal arts University and I decided that I would follow her if she wanted to pursue it. It took a little deliberation, but, ultimately, we did decide to head out. I leapt and, while I did look, I didn't know where I would land. I interviewed for a position preparing materials for the school's biology labs, but decided against taking the job after learning that I'd have to help run experiments with an animal colony. I don't have any ethical issues with it, but I didn't want to do that. I still wish that I had learned some microbiology techniques, but that's history now.
After turning down the job, I was told about an opening in Chemistry for a similar job, but without live animal work. I took the job and have been there since. I was able to help them out with a couple of instruments and even got to set up a student on a GC-MS for a research project. Beyond that, I was on the outside of the analytical chemistry bubble as far as my professional career was concerned. I kept up with my ASMS membership and kept my hopes up about being able to get back into the field later and it looks like I'm going to see exactly how possible that is in the near future.
My wife and I have known for a little while now that we wanted to move back to the Southeast, ideally near our common alma mater, but with both of us working at full-capacity, something that I was only sort of able to do in the Midwest (something that was not the university's fault; I will always be grateful for the opportunity that they provided for me). After surviving a white-knuckle academic hiring season, she wound up with a surprise opportunity at a great school in our target region and now we are nearly packed to move there and we are beyond excited. The new job puts us in a mid-sized city and will provide a lot more amenities than our small Midwestern town. I'll also be in my home state, something that I'm happy about, and analytical chemistry jobs will be available there.
I don't know exactly what type of job to expect after not really working in a professional lab for a couple of years. I do, however, already have an interview in a mass spec lab, so I'm optimistic. It's also spurred a great deal of renewed enthusiasm for analytical chemistry and science communication, so hopefully I can "ride the wave" a little and write more here. In any case, it feels good to know that the years of experience in my last lab weren't entirely wasted after leaving for a couple of years. Maybe that's some anecdotal data that a working chemist out there could benefit from. I'll try and remember to post the interview results as I get them.
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