Emory University

I should start by saying that we have not yet accepted Emory's offer, but it could be official within the next few weeks. Status = very probable.

Chris adored his first visit to Emory in November. He came back gushing about the friendliness of the faculty, the top-notch quality of the facilities, and the kind of life he could see for us in Atlanta. He received an offer from Emory in January, revealing that the warm feelings were mutual. This morning, we just got back from our family visit, which the chemistry department provided to convince us - mainly me, they admitted - to move there. Given the fact that Emory is currently the only school we are considering, and that Chris loves them and they love Chris, I could never veto the move, even if I do have issues with the summer temperatures and bugs, congested traffic, and the plain non-Europeanness of the US.  Although I wouldn't say that I fell in love with Atlanta, I feel like I gained an appreciation of what it has to offer and I believe in its potential.

Arriving at Atlanta's international terminal is outrageously tiresome. We landed on the tarmac, picked up our bag from the carousel, and were ready to head for the exit when we realized that we still weren't allowed to leave. We had to 1) Deposit our checked bag once again onto a conveyor belt, which would turn up again at the central/domestic baggage claim and 2) Perform an exit security screening, removing the shoes and liquids and all. Taking Daisy out of the stroller again. Removing her toggles/zipper/coat. Deep breaths.

We finally got out and rented a car from the airport - a Jeep Patriot, to my joy - and used it throughout our five-night stay. Even for Atlanta, it was an unseasonably warm spell, hovering around the upper-60's and lower 70's.

Driving into the city from the airport

We stayed at the Emory Conference Center hotel on campus, which was convenient and beautifully Frank Lloyd Wright - inspired. When we checked in, the clerk handed us a giant welcome bag sent by Chris' host in the Chemistry department. It was filled with toys and snacks for Daisy. After our long trip, it felt meaningfully welcoming to us, and the variety of books and crafts came in handy, both

At the hotel:

And out and about:

Pipe cleaners: endless possibilities

One of my first glimpses of the wooded nature of Atlanta was from the courtyard of the hotel, where Daisy insisted on playing every day. There are so many old trees and wild patches of forest! One of chemistry professors told the story of how her tree fell on her house, apparently a common occurrence here.

Chris had a fairly busy schedule for the first few days. First, he met one-on-one with the professors and discussed the terms of hire with the chair. He also went over plans for his lab space and how he would want it laid out. He attended a departmental seminar and had lunch with current graduate students. Daisy and I joined him one afternoon for a Wine and Cheese reception in honor of us, where I got to meet a lot of these people for the first time. We also went out to dinner with a few professors afterward, including a couple with a 3-year-old boy. Everyone was really friendly.

Emory's Chemistry building

The second half of the trip - and part of the reason that our visit was so long - revolved around the visitation weekend for prospective graduate students. This was one of Chris' first opportunities for explaining his research at this level and establishing his character and reputation as a professor, and I know he loved trying to convince the good students to come to Emory. The final night included a banquet that Daisy and I attended, as well.

A little about Emory: In 2011, it was ranked #20 of undergraduate institutions in the country by U.S. News and World Report. It's a major draw for academically minded students (Emory's sports aren't very emphasized) in the Southeast who want to stay relatively close to home.  The average incoming freshman's GPA last year was 3.84. There are about 7,000 undergrads and 10,000 grad students attending Emory, which shows the success of Emory's interesting meld of liberal arts college and high-powered research institution.

Here are some pictures of Emory's quad, lined with marble buildings:

Oh, the money at private schools: emblemed
trash bins!

What did Daisy and I do while Chris was busy with faculty meetings and graduate recruitment? One day, I visited a professor's wife who lives a 45-minute drive outside of the city to get a comparison of homes and communities. She made us lunch and took us to a park. But the rest of my time was filled with visiting preschools and rental properties around the university, meeting with realtors, and walking around neighborhoods.

The cooperative preschool I decided on meets in this Episcopal
church. I'm looking forward to being involved with this
community.

Daisy, helping me check out this condo 

Daisy, helping us check out this apartment complex

On our last day, we also got a chance to see my old friend Lindsay! She has lived in Atlanta for a few years after completing a master's program at Emory. After more time at the playground with Daisy, we had lunch with her and her boyfriend at a good old Southern bbq place. I still can't believe how delicious it was.

All in all, a very informative and positive trip! I've applied to the preschool because the due date is soon, but we're still waiting to closer to our move-in date to commit to a rental property. It will be nice when all of this becomes final!

"Medium" List

A few months ago, I shared an incredibly long list of the schools that Chris applied to in order to be a professor. The total count was 41. He wasn't picky; we decided that we'd rather have more choice than be snooty about living in Oklahoma, although I'll admit that I am thrilled that Oklahoma is not on our current list.

Our current list, or what I'll call the medium list, includes all the departments which invited Chris to come out for an interview. Eleven is kind of a lot of interviews to take, but, once again, we're not going to be picky yet. Although it's been a long interview process (still not over), and it's really intense, Chris has been living the good life. They're paying for airfare, all his meals, and nice hotels. When he comes home, he only half jokingly asks what's for dessert and if he could please have new towels.

Someday within the next month, he'll see what schools want to give him offers and we'll have a short list. Until then, here's what we're dealing with, in order of ranking (from best to good):

University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
Cornell (Ithaca, NY)
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Princeton (NJ)
University of Washington (Seattle)
Emory University (Atlanta, GA)
Iowa State (Ames)
University of Rochester (NY)
University of California - Riverside
Notre Dame (South Bend, IN)
University of Vermont (Burlington)

The List

What's this I found next to our bed? Not my nighttime reading material...

My husband, recently a graduate student, has transformed into future Professor Christopher C. Scarborough. As the first deadline of September 24 approaches, Chris is trying to publish papers, create brilliant research ideas, and sort through the unique application demands of each school. Despite the hours Chris is working, he lingers at the breakfast table with a pot of tea and makes sure to come home for dinner and playtime with Daisy before running back to the library. It feels like we're a team; I've had way too much fun making excel sheets for the application requirements of each school and doing everything secretarial that I can think of.

Although we have "no idea" where we'll be next year, it will most likely be one of these schools that are currently on his application list (ranked according to graduate chemistry programs in decreasing order). If all we're left with is Iowa and Detroit, though, we might opt to stay in Europe after all...

Cal Tech (Pasadena, CA) MIT (Cambridge, MA) UC- Berkeley (Berkeley, CA)

Stanford University (Palo Alto, CA)

Harvard University (Cambridge, MA) University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign, IL)

University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI)

Northwestern University (Evanston, IL)

Cornell University (Ithaca, NY) University of Texas - Austin (Austin, TX) University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC)

University of Chicago (Chicago, IL) Princeton University (Princeton, NJ) University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI)

UC - San Diego (La Jolla, CA)

University of Minnesota (Twin Cities, MN)

University of Washington (Seattle, WA)

Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)

Washington Univ. in St. Louis (St. Louis, MO)

Emory University (Atlanta, GA)

Iowa State University (Ames, IA)

Boston College (Boston, MA) Duke University (Durham, NC)

Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) University of Rochester (Rochester, NY) USC (Los Angeles, CA) Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)

North Carolina State (Raleigh, NC)

Notre Dame University (South Bend, IN)

University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA)

Wayne State University (Detroit, MI)

Univ of Nebraska - Lincoln (Lincoln, NE) Univ of Oklahoma (Norman, OK) Univ of Vermont (Burlington, VT)

Temple University (Philadelphia, PA) Univ of New Mexico (Albuquerque, NM)

Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK) UC-Merced (Merced, CA) *Unranked because it's so new McGill University (Montreal, Canada) *Unranked because it's not in the US

The first step is to apply. Then, Chris WILL be invited for some interviews. After these go well and he has offers pouring in, we'll start talking about what our options are. Until then, I have "no idea."

The Chemist

I feel your pain. When somebody starts asking about what - specifically - Chris is doing in Germany, what kind of chemistry he's working on...it's just a tough situation. Here is a {wordy} description of Chris' current workplace and research. You may plagiarize at will. This post should have come last year, but better late than never!

The Max Planck Society maintains over 80 institutes and facilities. They all pursue basic research (a loaded term) in the natural and social sciences. This is something special that attracted Chris to Max Planck Institutes. As opposed to research groups at American universities, which need to focus on the applications of research in order to get funding, these MPI's are already financed by the government and can examine the smallest particulars, making fundamental, textbook-worthy discoveries. Chris' group is in the middle of a controversy because they claim that something exists (singlet diradicals) - at the molecular level - that others say is not there. (And I will have to let Chris write his own post to flesh that one out.)

Pictures make everything better. The attractive (ha) white building is Chris' MPI for Bioinorganic Chemistry in Mülheim. About 150 scientists and support staff work here. (Around the corner is another institute, the much larger MPI für Kohlenforschung. A huge research complex plopped into a quiet residential area. We don't understand.) The support staff is its own issue; it is supposedly nice for Chris to just drop off a sample to the NMR tech guy instead of running it himself. However, it is something that he could have done in 10 minutes himself at UW, and here he sometimes has to wait until the next day to get his results back! It took a while to get into the slower rhythm here. He has compensated by always having simultaneous projects going on, so he's never waiting on one result.

In the Bioinorganic institute, there are 2 directors. Here is a picture of Chris' soon-to-be-retiring director, Prof. Dr. Karl Wieghardt. (Yes, to be formal, you would address him as Herr Professor Doctor Wieghardt.) About 12 scientists work under him, and he freely collaborates with many people around the world. Just last month, he invited 3 professors over from the US who had never worked together before, and they all discussed their research and traded favors ("oh, yes, I have equipment that can do that for you") and ideas.
Ok, now for the details I promised, directly from the Institute's English-language brochure that I picked up just for you:
The Institute is dedicated to basic research in selected fields of bioinorganic and biophysical chemistry. Currently in focus are topics like the coordination chemistry of the essential trace elements, the structure and function of metallo-proteins (non-heme iron and manganese proteins), artificial photosynthesis, the photolytic water oxidation, hydrogen production by biological systems, synthesis of protein structure motifs, structure determination by spectroscopic techniques, as well as the computer-assisted calculation of structures and spectroscopic parameters.


If you remember what Chris used to talk about while studying in Madison, it was something like carbenes, catalysis, palladium, and aerobic oxidation. He then took the "high risk-high reward" path and jumped to a new field for his post-doc. I can testify that he was scared. Now, he confidently talks about electronic coupling and spin-states, singlet diradicals, redox-noninnocent ligands, running calculations, magnetism, and spectroscopy. He's become a leader in the group, even though just last year he was a beginner. Chemistry ideas just spill out of him, which excites me because that will be his currency as a research professor, a job that more and more seems to be made for him. He is currently reading chemistry books as bedtime reading, dreaming up research proposals which he'll send out this fall. He'll send out an application to whoever is hiring, maybe about 30 schools, and then we'll see what we're left with. Exciting times ahead for our chemist!

Furthermore, I posted this without consulting Chris, a during-Daisy's-nap-time-activity. (Chris, I hope this shows that I've been listening during those dinnertime conversations!) Please look under "comments" to find any corrections he may have!

Chris' 28th Birthday

We mainly celebrated Friday, December 4 with food: cinnamon rolls in the morning, meeting for pizza at lunch, and having the Tomsons over for lasagna at night.

Chris blowing out the candle before dessert:


Chris' birthday gifts were a binder with the lyrics printed with some of those long Bob Dylan songs, so now he can really play and sing them, and a sudoku book. However, his real present came the previous Friday, when I surprised him with a babysitter showing up at our door, strolled with him through the Muelheim Christmas market, took him on a train, and produced tickets to see one of his favorite orchestral pieces, Smetana's "Ma Vlast," with the Essener Philharmoniker. "Ma Vlast," or "My Fatherland," has 6 movements, the most famous of which is the 2nd, "The Moldau." We both loved the performance.

Happy 28th, Chris!

Someone has discovered Poobie (Pooh Bear)

It has happened. Daisy loves Winne the Pooh. So far, our Pooh-related activities are comprised of watching "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree" on the computer and playing the theme song on the piano while Daisy dances with her stuffed Tigger and Pooh Bear. (However, this "Pooh Bear" is actually a souvenir Berlin bear in red sweater.) How do those songs get stuck in one's head ALL day?

Alexander von Humboldt Study Tour

On Monday, 22 Humboldt Fellows and spouses/partners came from all over Nordrhein Westfalen to the Bochum main train station to find the bus that would take us all over Germany. Unfortunately, children were not able to come, which precluded Holly joining me. I told her I wouldn’t go unless she found a good alternative for her and Daisy, which she found in the Mediterranean. Our group consisted of four of us without an accompanying spouse/partner (all because of children, with one Japanese man, a man from Cameroon, and a man from Nigeria), a Japanese couple, a British/Kyrgyzstani couple, a Polish couple, a French couple, five Chinese couples, a tour guide and a raucous bus driver. Our fields of expertise included chemistry, biology, and literature. The tour was all in English. During the trip, we were to have five dinners paid for by “Uncle Alexander,” a night at the theater, a wine tasting, a few city tours, and a meeting at the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation headquarters. Aside from two city trains in Berlin, I did all the site-seeing by foot, an exhausting feat.

On our first day, we drove to Bremen, a new city for me. I was impressed: a beautiful old downtown square, and a cozy district called “Schnoor” filled with closely-packed half-timber houses with an array of not-so-touristy shops and restaurants. A poster informed me that Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, would be giving a talk that night in the city center in the run up to the national elections this month. Unfortunately, we were told that we would hold our first “Uncle Alexander” dinner during the speech. After ordering our food that night, many of us revealed that we would love to see Merkel, and as she was speaking just around the corner, we snuck away for about fifteen minutes while our meals were being prepared (much to the chagrin of our tour guide, we later learned). Merkel’s speech sounded great, although I don’t think any of us really knew what she was talking about.


Alley in Schnoor, Bremen


The next morning, we drove to Hamburg, which Holly and I very much enjoyed visiting a few months ago. It was nice to see some favorite sights again, although the second time taking a 1.5-hour boat tour around the harbor in German is slightly less thrilling than the first. That night, we held our second “Uncle Alexander” dinner on the water right in front of the beautiful Rathaus (town hall).


Waterfront terrace where we enjoyed our second "Uncle Alexander" meal by the Hamburg Rathaus


The next morning was spent at NDR Fernsehen headquarters, a major German television station. We enjoyed pretending to be newscasters in front of a blue screen on the set of the “Tagesschau,” a mainstay of German nighttime news. We then got back on the bus for a day trip to Lübeck, the former capital of the Hanseatic League and now a UNESCO world heritage site. The brick architecture was charming, and the apparent obsession with skeletons in the local churches was a bit surprising. We then returned to our hotel in Hamburg to pass the night.


The gate into Lübeck


Lübeck's unique cathedral decor


In the morning, we headed to Rostock, our first day in the former East Germany. Rostock is on the Baltic Sea, and swimming there was one of the highlights of the trip. The water is very shallow: you can walk out about a quarter mile into the water without the water reaching your shoulders (well, I can). There were hundreds of tiny jelly fish, which I found quite alarming at first until I saw children playing with them. I was assured that they were harmless, so I went out to swim in the cold waters of the Baltic. I was about as cold as I remember being swimming in Lake Superior. That night we held our third “Uncle Alexander” dinner, and the members of the group began to bond. We started talking about science, and before long, I saw the all-too-familiar glazed look on almost everyone’s faces (except the Brit, with whom I had a number of excellent scientific discussions).


After swimming in the Baltic Sea, Rostock


The following morning was spent driving to Berlin, where we stayed two nights. Holly and I enjoyed Berlin immensely when we where there two months ago. It is a gem, with so much architectural and cultural diversity derived from a rather complex recent history. I had tea with John, a friend I had met at the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, who was also passing through Berlin on a different Humboldt tour. During the afternoon, I watched as the competitors in the men’s marathon of the World Championship in Athletics ran down Unter den Linden, many of whom I recognized from the last Summer Olympics. That night, we enjoyed our fourth “Uncle Alexander” dinner. The following night, we attended an experimental musical theater double-header put on by a small private troop. Berlin is known for this sort of thing, and I found it very unusual and not at all to my liking; it was, however, very well received, perhaps demonstrating why Berlin is Europe’s hotspot for budding artists.


Largest remaining portion of the Berlin Wall


Our next stop was Potsdam, very near to Berlin. Here, we saw the palace where the allied leaders (excluding the French) met after the war to decide the fate of Germany. We also saw the palace “Sansouci”, built by Fredrick the Great, an enlightened despot, as a getaway from the troubles of ruling Prussia. It was pretty, but I had just visited Versailles, which it was supposedly modeled after, and which it did not really compare favorably against (of course). That afternoon we drove to Weimar, home at times to people including Goethe, Schiller, Bach, Luther, Anna Amalia, and Franz Liszt. Franz Liszt made surprise appearances all over the city, appearing behind Goethe and Schiller on a famous statue, and with a paper-mache bust of his head covering other statues in the city, including one of William Shakespeare. All over the city, signs read “Liszt Lebt!” (“Liszt Lives”). It was creepy. Weimar is a real gem. It is in the heart of the cultural center of Germany, and it is a beautiful and serene place. Too bad we only had a few hours to see it on a Sunday night.


Fredrick the Great's Sansouci Palace


Palace gardens


Famous Weimar statue of Goethe and Schiller, with Franz Liszt making a surprise appearance


Our next morning, we travelled to nearby Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thüringen (English Thuringia). I quite liked the shallow stream that lazily wound through the city, and the charm of the medieval-style downtown is hard to resist. I took Thüringer Bratwursts for lunch, which is one of the best kinds of bratwurst in Germany I think. In the afternoon, we drove a short while to Bamberg, also a UNESCO world heritage site, and for good reason. Our hotel was a converted palace, and the town was celebrating its annual festival, with food stands everywhere. The old cathedral, royal residence, and monastery were classic, accessible by cobblestone streets. We ended the night by watching the fireworks that marked the end of the annual festival.


Medieval house-bridge, Erfurt


Bamberg riverside homes


Bamberg square


The next morning we travelled to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of Germany’s best-preserved medieval towns. Holly and I had visited in the winter while we were living in München. As with most things, it was much nicer in summer. In the afternoon, we traveled to Würzburg, also on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites. Würzburg, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Erfurt, Bamberg, and Weimar would, in my opinion, make an excellent medieval vacation. These are my favorites of the German towns. The royal residence is breathtaking, and I enjoyed walking to the only castle on the tour. That night we had a wine-tasting at the Bürgerspital winery (home to the world’s oldest bottle of wine, 1540 A.D.), which also serves as a home for the elderly. The residents here are allotted 250 mL of Bürgerspital wine every day, and double on Sundays and holidays. The average age is 90, and the waiting list is very long.


Rothenburg ob der Tauber


Royal residence in Würzburg


World's oldest bottle of wine, Würzburg


Our last trip was to Bonn, the formal capital of West Germany and home to the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. We enjoyed lunch with the staff of the foundation. It was there, we were told, that our applications to the foundation were scrutinized by the infamous “selection committee.” It is a remarkable foundation, paid almost exclusively by government grants. The goal of the foundation is to create a word-wide network of scholars with ties to Germany by providing funding for foreign post-doctoral scholars to conduct their research in Germany. Uncle Alexander has been very good to us.

The last morning we returned to Bochum, said our goodbyes and went home. I had had a wonderful trip, but was more than ready to see Holly and Daisy again. It had been way too long. It’s remarkable that the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation would put so much money into its scholars’ experience of Germany, but I’m very grateful that they do. It was a trip I’ll never forget.

Lindau Meeting of the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry (Chris)

Traditional Bavarian Dance

First Panel Discussion on Climate Change

Nobel Laureate Mario Molina

Countess Bettina Bernadotte and E.U. Commission President José Manuel Barroso

Two weeks ago, I attended a meeting of 23 Nobel Laureates and about 600 young researchers in all fields of chemistry (or in other fields closely associated with chemistry) on the beautiful German island of Lindau on the eastern edge of the Bodensee, which borders Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. This annual meeting, which rotates between the disciplines awarded the Nobel Prize, is chaired by Countess Bettina Bernadotte, who hails from her personal island, the Isle of Mainau, on the western edge of the Bodensee. The meeting also attracted political figures, including Commission President of the European Union José Manuel Barroso, Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, and Kapil Sibal, Indian Minister of Science and Technology. The meeting was comprised of lectures by the Nobel Laureates, Q&A sessions with the Laureates, and two panel discussions on Climate Change, with the second including figures such as Nobel Laureate Mario Molina and the polarizing Danish economist Bjorn Lomborg. The second panel discussion took place on Countess Bettina’s own beautiful Isle of Mainau. I stayed up late every night having good (and sometimes rather heated) scientific discussions with chemists from all parts of the globe, and left the meeting with a broadened perspective. I immensely enjoyed my interactions with other attendees, but was admittedly very happy to see Holly and Daisy again in our beloved Munich. Although the meeting in Lindau was very inspiring, there’s nothing like being with my favorite people in my favorite city in the world.

Father's Day

For Chris' second Father's Day, we took the train two hours west to Aachen (also called Aix-la-Chapelle), which borders Belgium and Holland. Aachen had a quarry in Neolithic times, was a source of hot springs used by the Romans, and home to Charlemagne around 800 AD. He lived in a palace and built a wonderful cathedral that is still standing today, though it benefited from Gothic add-ons. When Charlemagne died, he was buried here, and his body and other important church relics are still objects of pilgrimage for many. Because of Chris' love for history, this city was a perfect place to go to celebrate. (Another silly detail is that "Charles the Great," Christopher Charles, and Daisy Charlotte are all connected by name!)

I will post some pictures to our blog through Shutterfly. During our train ride, we read the current favorite book, "Daisy to the Rescue!" many times and snacked snacked snacked. In Aachen, Daisy loved running around in the courtyard by the old town hall and Charlemagne fountain, eating an ice cream cone (Eis! Eis!) and chasing pigeons.