Volker Blum

I hope your writing exercise was manageable though. In the end, need to be thankful we have people who are excited about research.

Ah. Some major universities make sure you do :)

I am puzzled by the universities who require a detailed postal address when submitting reference letters. I expect to receive a postal (paper) response soon.

Nothing like resposting a good postdoc opportunity during lunch!

looking for a 5y postdoc to work with Stephen Dale (scholar.google.com/citations?us...) and myself within a collaboration between the Acceleration consortium at UofT and the Institute for Functional Intelligent Materials at NUS.

Yes. This is increasingly a problem. Partly an issue of convention center cost, I would suspect, but it would be interesting to learn how different societies view this.

It is a process that is highly unusual.

Yes. Review period: 9 days. Funding volume $168M. Is that the one?

Bright orange crystal octahedra of scheelite in white crystals. It sits on a black background. Edges of a plexiglass label and white specimen can be seen to the upper right. At the Sorbonne.

Great little crystal of bright orange scheelite. It would be surprisingly heavy if you held it due to the tungsten in this mineral. #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪

Ah,well, what's the fun if there's no rattlesnake involved? Can one isotopically label the snake? ;)

It does sound like a fun project in any case!

Err. Why don't they just stop burning fossil fuels?

That sounds like a pretty amazing project.

Also, significant thanks go to ALL developers of @fhi-aims.bsky.social since the code, the many tutorials available, and the fact that they are kept up to date, are thanks to them.

2025 HybriD3 Materials Theory Training Workshop The 2025 HybriD3 Theory Training Workshop will be held at Duke University on November 21 and 22, 2025. The workshop is aimed at graduate students and postdocs entering the field; senior undergraduate ...

#chemsky #compchemsky

We updated the web page for our Theory Training Workshop, November 21/22, 2025, with several IMO really useful materials, almost to completion:

hybrid3.duke.edu/workshops/20...

The talks were remarkable, as were the tutorials. HUGE thanks to all speakers and tutors!

Mengen Wang‘s lecture on defects in semiconductors

…. And Mengen Wang on Machine learning of defects in semiconductors - thank you!

Yosuke Kanai starting off the second day of our HybriD3 Theory Training Workshop

Yosuke Kanai starting off the second day of our HybriD3 Theory Training Workshop. Molecular and electronic dynamics. Happy to see everyone back on a Saturday at 9 am. The future of our field is bright :) #compchemsky

Olivier Delaire in a packed room, capturing electrons and phonons in solids.

Olivier Delaire in a packed room, capturing electrons and phonons in solids.

Forgot #chemsky #compchemsky

Weitao Yang kicking off our HybriD3 Materials Theory workshop this morning

Weitao Yang kicking off our HybriD3 Materials Theory workshop this morning, with 60+ participants from the Carolinas, Virginia and elsewhere. Thank you!

Well, I just moved back to First and Last and Always, Sisters of Mercy, 1985. Never too late.

2025 HybriD3 Materials Theory Training Workshop The 2025 HybriD3 Theory Training Workshop will be held at Duke University on November 21 and 22, 2025. The workshop is aimed at graduate students and postdocs entering the field; senior undergraduate ...

The big day of our HybriD3 Theory Training Workshop is almost here!

hybrid3.duke.edu/workshops/20...

Thank you to everyone who is coming and looking forward to seeing you there! Thank you to NSF-DMREF, NCShare & Rhodes IID for support!

As far as the masked individuals in unmarked cars (my first post): I have not met them. But I have seen some videos from Durham, North Carolina, my home town. So this is close enough for me to comment. As I said, my firm view is that this needs to stop.

The point is that this practice of sowing fear needs to stop.

Now. I am actually a citizen. But because of Justice Kavanaugh's words, technically I can be profiled. And no, the current profiling, as reported, does not appear to target me. But that does not make things better.

I have never lived in an America where immigrants needed to be afraid to be rounded up by masked individuals in unmarked cars according to their looks and their accents. I am not likely to be profiled. I think. But I carry my passport, as I always have.

Happy to see this tonight. Go TACC & NSF!

So I'll be here. Thanks to everyone else who is here.

And also, sorry if I'm missing so many posts. There should really be an algorithm of some kind ;) (not.)

Well, I view it this way, if someone wants to find me, they will find me here.

I do believe that most others have moved to LinkedIn but I am no longer interested in algorithms that sort posts for me. Likewise, I am bewildered by the constant stream of LinkedIn emails seeking to engage me.

No, but my organic chemistry is a bit rusty. Still trying to work out how to react a traditional advent season cake from a Viennese cemetery ...

How about the Inorganic Compounds cup? ;)

Am I missing a subtlety here?