Heads up: I'll be away the weeks of 9/21 and 9/28. I trust that my sharp C&EN colleagues will capably handle anything that comes up in my absence. I return 10/5, so if you need something from me specifically, I'd reach out or re-up then!

Big praise coming from one of C&EN's finest

Very very cool interactive data story from some of C&EN's finest!

The coolest part, IMO, is this "build your own city ranking" tool. You can use sliders to adjust how much weight you'd give to one dimension, like VC funding or lab space, and see what cities come out on top.

Special thanks to Shea, whose data chops made this feature possible, and to the folks at Tevard Biosciences, @elilillyandcompany.bsky.social, @greentownlabs.bsky.social, and Michelle Arkin at UCSF for showing why geography is important for building a career and/or a chemistry ecosystem.

Boston & Massachusetts may not house the headquarters of top US pharmaceutical companies, but they commands the most chemistry-related VC investment and the third-highest chemistry article output, reflecting their status as a life sciences hub spanning start-ups, academia, and research hospitals.

The coolest part, IMO, is this "build your own city ranking" tool. You can use sliders to adjust how much weight you'd give to one dimension, like VC funding or lab space, and see what cities come out on top.

These tools are interactive, allowing you to play with data yourself to see what regions are dominant as research centers, chemical industry hubs, and start-up havens—ultimately, whatever matters most to you.

Houston, long the stronghold of the petrochemical industry, is now establishing itself as the geographic cornerstone of the US energy transition.

Different cities and regions play host to different kinds of chemistry ecosystems.

And you need institutions. Depending on how you’d like your career to unfold, those institutions can include academic centers, big industrial companies, start-up accelerators and incubators, and venture capital firms.

For any career, a network is everything. For chemists, that network is highly specialized. You need laboratory space. You need coworkers and mentors with certain skill sets.

What are the most important ingredients for chemical innovation? For @cenmag.bsky.social, my colleague Shea Murphy and I sought to find out. 🧵