Ashley Ringer McDonald

Note to self: decrease shrimp consumption for awhile. (Also, this article is super interesting.)

Undergraduate comp chemists! I know it’s a tough grad school climate right now, but here is someone great who is actively looking for 2-3 new students. Apply, apply, apply!!!

I found the solution to this one. On Canvas, if you go to Settings (very bottom of left side navigation menu) and you scroll through very carefully reading, there is a tiny little checkbox that says “Use course grading scheme” and you can uncheck it! Then it doesn’t display any letter grade at all.

Cue small world music! I am the physical chemist who was hired to replace Rod (who is of course irreplaceable) when he left.

Be my colleague! Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is hiring two tenure-track positions for Fall 2026, chemical education and coatings technology.

Chen Ed: jobs.calpoly.edu/en-us/job/55...

Coatings: jobs.calpoly.edu/en-us/job/55...

Bridging Artificial Intelligence and Real Intelligence: Self-Scaffolding Computational Modeling with Generative AI in Chemistry Chemistry education researchers have, for many years, explored different ways of learning chemistry through modeling and open-ended problem-solving. With the emergence of generative artificial intelli...

Super interesting paper about students’ use of generative AI. They categorize four distinct type of AI use and discuss which types lead to productive use by students. (Not my paper, I just found it super interesting.) pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

This is an advertisement for UMBC Chemistry & Biochemistry's virtual graduate school open house. It takes place Friday September 26th, 2025 from 3 to 6 pm via WebEx. The schedule includes faculty meetings, a departmental overview, and a panel with current graduate students.

Interested in chemistry grad school? Come check out the UMBC Chemistry Grad Open House!
Department website: chemistry.umbc.edu

Registration: forms.gle/1ttSe3XrnaPq...

I fell victim to the classic one where I said I wasn’t going to be at a particular meeting but that an agenda item for the meeting needed to be finding someone to do this task. So of course, guess who was assigned the task.

The Women Make COMP symposium is back for the Spring 2026 ACS meeting! Undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral scholars are all eligible. Don’t miss this great opportunity to present your research and grow your professional network! Application: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

#ACSFall2025
Come see my talk about new Python notebooks for pchem (and more), giving students choice to get them to code, and why we should consider student identity when teaching programming.
Room 140B at 4:55pm

No one is talking about the fact that adiabatic is not accepted in spelling bee today? What are the rest of you doing on your flights to #ACSFall2025? (And no, I haven’t finished my slides yet. It’s a long way from the west coast to DC. I’ve still got plenty of time.)

This is an excellent thread about some of the AI issues faculty should be thinking about this fall. I am by no means an AI hater, and I think a lot about what we should be teaching students about machine learning and generative AI. I think this is a very thoughtful piece.

Calling all grades 3-5 teachers! (Many of you know one- share this with them)?

We need your participation in Aug & Sept. And it is fun, ready to go, and a great learning opp!

Curriculum: rattlecam.org/rattle-ed

Please share.

I went to the Lindau meeting when I was a 2nd year graduate student (way back in 2006!) and it is a truly amazing experience. I am so glad it is still going on, and I strongly encourage students to apply!!

I feel like I have been trying to spread this message for years and no one has been listening.

That Computes: Faculty Member's Fellowship to Benefit Students Cecilia Vollbrecht is one of just 10 faculty members from around the country to earn a fellowship that will help students learn new skills.

Thrilled to have receive this fellowship to help add new skills to the chemistry curriculum that will help my students become better scientists! And thanks to the college for highlighting it! www.kzoo.edu/news/faculty...

Followers of the Church of Chemjobber, I'm delighted to endorse Dr. Chris Cramer for President of the United States in 2028. Now let us pray.

I can see an argument that lots of places put too much cream cheese now, but no cream cheese at all? 🤯

URichmond is hiring two tenure-track faculty. One in biochemistry/chemical biology and the other in experimental physical chemistry. This is a terrific place to work - our focus is on our talented undergraduates and we have robust research resources. chemistryjobs.acs.org/job/assistan...

The Klem Lab at LSU is hiring a postdoctoral researcher in computational biochemistry!
Application info: klem-research-group.github.io/join/
♻️ Please share with anyone who might be interested! #chemjobs #postdoc #compchem #biochemistry #enzymes

Max ALSO tried to give everyone an A this morning.

Our college communications director sent out a shared spreadsheet and asked people to fill it in with any cancelations, such that if there was a media request (which would come to his office) asking if a particular grant was canceled or how many cancellations we had, he would have the info.

I know there is nothing yall love more than filling out the annual DFT poll!

I am voting for laundry folding as the task I am most looking forward to the AI doing for me.

Maybe we could get @everywherechem.bsky.social to send an officially ACS letter to Will Shortz to rectify the situation?

I know! I tried it at least three times, thinking surely I had just accidentally misspelled it because there was no way it wouldn’t be included.

Have you considered setting this to the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire”?

I had so much fun being a judge at Cal Poly DataFest this afternoon! If you aren’t familiar with DataFest, it is a two-day undergrad competition where students find and tell a story in a dataset. All the students did amazing work! If your campus hosts a DataFest I highly recommend volunteering.

Bhalla Lab - Research Specialist (Junior Specialist) University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!

Hi all, I'm hiring a junior specialist/research technician for my lab at UCSC. An ideal applicant would be an undergraduate who would like more research experience before applying for grad school but all are welcome to apply 🧪
recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01882