Nate DeYonker

We will probably elect at president who will yet again bend to the donor class and form a few committees about this stuff

If you spliced Charlie Kirk with a mouse and then turned the racism and sexism from 9.5 to 11 you'd get this guy

She's the face of national decline

Jfc

That's good to know, friend. I was getting a little mad, but now I realize that was silly.

A word cloud from the titles of ~1100 NSF grants that were terminated. The most frequent words are STEM, ADVANCE, Student, career, and engines.

This a word cloud from the titles of ~1100 terminated NSF grants.

It is hard not to see these grant terminations as an attack on the training of the future United States scientific workforce.

Getting mad at an old friend because he isn't as publicly mad about something as you are? You're better than that.

You fucking kidding me? There has been great concern. Maybe more so on social mediums though. Sorry for not meeting your threshold of concern

Because I live in the USA, I can't have an opinion about Iran? What Iranian friends and coworkers who have heard about friends, family, and colleagues not sure if they are dead or alive. The Iranians I know on social media think the 30K killed by Iranian government is underestimated.

Your take here is that because the US and Israeli governments are acting horrifically, this makes the government of Iran heroic? They are all bloodlusting oligarchs. Iran would kill as many Iranians as Israel has killed Palestinians if that's what it took for them to stay in power.

Isn't it remarkable to head into middle age and consider that for more than 75% of my life, my country has been led by someone who was (or is) a confirmed or suspected sex pest

Getting snowed in for five days has made an interesting beginning

Biking, modular synthesis

is that irony? thank god this was nothing like the storm 4 years ago. we had to get a hotel room for 2 nights and spend 3 days watching tv in my lab

Yes this is a Science account, but its also a political account because we can't do science if ICE shoots us in the street for protecting our fellow humans.

I am stoked to share the pre-print for our walkthrough and review of applications with RINRUS (residue interaction network residue selector) the Python package my group has been working on for ~10 years to standardize and automate QM-cluster model construction!
chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10....

With friends like Linux, who needs friends?

April still thinks we're going to lose power and freeze to death while clutching the cats

17 inches of snow is a bit much, even for this michigander

Theoretical Electronic Spectroscopy of Gas Phase Transition Metal Acetylide Cations (MCCH+, M = Sc···Zn) C2H radicals and CnH polyynes are among the most abundant interstellar polyatomic molecules, predominantly observed in molecular clouds and planetary nebulae. While the C2H– anion is considered a plausible component in the interstellar medium (ISM), it has not yet been detected. Given the extensive study of interstellar polyynes, MCCH/MCCH+ species are also expected to exist in the ISM. Via fundamental metal–carbon bonding, MCCH/MCCH+ molecules exhibit strong polarity, enhancing the intensity of their rotational transitions and improving the chances of astronomical observation. Theoretical spectroscopy enables the generation of molecular reference data to aid in detections. In this study, highly accurate single reference coupled cluster theory [CCSD(T)] is compared to multireference configuration interaction theory (MRCISD+Q) to survey the electronic structure of 3d metal mono acetylide cations (MCCH+, where M = Sc to Zn) which could catalyze gas phase reactions in cold astrochemical environments. CCSD(T) and MRCISD+Q theories gave equivalent predictions of ground electronic states for all cations excluding CoCCH+. The MRCISD+Q ground state for CoCCH+ (4Φ) is multireference and multiconfigurational, and single reference coupled cluster energies could not be converged. The investigated electronic states of MCCH+ arise from interactions between the 1Σ+ ground state of the C2H– anion and the metal dication (M2+). A thorough analysis of multireference character of electronic states is reported. The 3Π excited state of NiCCH+ was the variationally accessible electronic state with the strongest reported multireference character (T1 diagnostic = 0.15, D1 diagnostic = 0.55, C02 = 0.26). Harmonic vibrational frequencies, infrared intensities, and dipole moments are computed for the identified ground states. Theoretical characterization of the ground and excited electronic states of these specific ions will assist in their astronomical detection, constrain laser spectroscopy experiments of the neutral species, and guide characterization in synthetic laboratories.

holy moly, my 100th peer reviewed publication!!! We look at fundamental gas phase organometallic bonding with CCSD(T) and MRCI, get super accurate ionization energies of the 3d MCCH series, and find several challenging cases for electronic structure theory.
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

You ever read the Leisure Town web comics?

SERMACS 2026 Memphis SERMACS 2026 Memphis, TN Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society ACS Expo Program Registration Sponsorship Nov 2026 Southern Chemists

Hello #chemsky #ACS150 friends! The deadline for volunteering to organize a symposium at #SERMACS2026 is soon. Please msg me or email for details! sermacs2026.org "Molecules in Memphis!"

Thanks Jay. I'm perpetually hard on myself. I know I need to view this as valuable reading/writing/me-time, rather than as some kind of professional set of New Years resolutions that must change my entire life for the better. Are you planning on coming to SERMACS in Memphis in 2026?

About to embark on sabbatical next month, but conservatively planned due to family and funding constraints. I feel like I've already squandered the time and it hasn't even started yet. Anyone have tips on how to make the most of life?

I ask a similar question "what's something cool you learned in my class" and occasionally I get similar dumbassery :(

AI should be used to make strong skills stronger, but we are training multiple generations of K-12+college+grad school that they should use AI to make their weak or non-existent skills strong... what could possibly go wrong?

Happy holidays from the DeYonker lab and an M&M

One of the saddest part about going through Andrew Weatherall's DJ/radio set archive in reverse chronological order is that I have hit the late 90's, there are few full track listings, and suddenly Shazam can't ID any of the best tracks.

Isn't academia great? Yesterday I got my 100th paper accepted, nearly finished a grant proposal, started SERMACS mass emails, finished grading for the semester. Today I'm panicking about a collaborator who can't submit paperwork on time, and one of my grad students quit.

EUTOW!