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Offline Mitch

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Introduce Yourself
« on: March 10, 2004, 01:29:55 PM »
If you are new or old, please go ahead and tell us a little bit about yourself. :)

I am currently a graduate student at UC Berkeley, doing Nuclear and Radiochemistry research.

I was born in West Covina California, but lived my early-early years in the city of El Monte. I did my k-12 in the city of Malibu in its public education system. I did my undergraduate work at UC Riverside and worked on organic based materials for several years. As an undergrad, I also worked on radioactive ion beams at UC Berkeley. As a graduate student at UC Berkeley--I initially worked for 2 years in a physical-organic chemistry lab until switching to nuclear chemistry. Currently, I'm working on a new target methodology, low energy nuclear reactions, and transactinide chemistry.
« Last Edit: December 25, 2007, 03:50:53 AM by Mitch »
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Offline david

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2004, 10:19:46 PM »
I be here ;D

Hello everyone :D

Offline Donaldson Tan

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2004, 11:46:38 PM »
I am from Singapore. I study chemical engineering with fine chemicals processing at the renowned Imperial College London.

I fell in love with Chemistry in 1998 most unexpectedly because I used to struggle (and fail) that subject. I also maintain an interest in international politics and world government.
« Last Edit: September 20, 2005, 12:07:41 AM by geodome »
"Say you're in a [chemical] plant and there's a snake on the floor. What are you going to do? Call a consultant? Get a meeting together to talk about which color is the snake? Employees should do one thing: walk over there and you step on the friggin� snake." - Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of Glaxosmithkline, June 2006

Offline jdurg

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2004, 09:54:54 PM »
Hi Everybody!  [/Dr. Nick Riviera Accent]

I'm Jdurg and I'm from southeastern, Connecticut.  If you know of Foxwoods Casino and the Mohegan Sun Casino, you know the area I live in.  I'm a soon to be 24 year old male who is currently a Data and Document Processing Specialist at a Clinical Research Organization.  It really has nothing to do with chemistry, but I've got a lot of future mobility with what I'm doing.  

I graduated from West Chester University in Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Forensic Chemistry in May of 2002.  Sadly, the forensic chemistry field did not have any opportunities for me upon graduation, so I've had to go elsewhere to find employment.  I still have a passion for chemistry, and my element collection helps sooth that passion.  Being able to share that with all of you here at chemicalforums.com is a nice bonus.  In the future I may go back to the professional field of chemistry, but for now my element collection will have to do.  (If anything, it will give me gobs of experience with many different elements).

I first became interested in chemistry as a real little kid.  Being a Type I Diabetic since I was 2, I always had a passion for science.  I wanted to know why things worked and why my body didn't work right.  I remember watching a Mr. Wizard episode where he took apart fireworks and showed the different metal salts and explained how the fireworks worked.  That hooked me on chemistry.  Ever since then, I've loved working with chemicals and things that go "BOOM!"  My favorite labs were always the ones conducted in a fume hood or behind a blast shield.  I also loved using a GC/MS machine because the things that it could tell you are incredible.  One of my favorite days as a forensics intern in college was when I found a positive urine sample for cocaine.  It was really neat taking it from the preliminary tests, all the way through the confirmation page and seeing the cocaine show up clear as day.  I was even given permission to make a copy of the results, minus the sample number, for my own use.  Every now and then I look at it and marvel and the wonders of science.  

That's about it for now.  As I write more articles and post more in these forums, more about me will be revealed.   ;D
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Offline Scratch-

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2004, 05:08:51 PM »
I’m from Florida (who broke the AC  :P), I'm a junior in high school, I’m taking duel enrollment in a local college and I like chemistry and computer programming the best so far. I’m awaiting my first real chemistry class next year; most of my chemistry knowledge so far is from reading/experimenting/websites/parents. I like doing experiments that involve controlled explosions or semi-violent reactions and I like to be able to do things myself (like making fireworks  ;D)
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Offline hmx9123

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2004, 06:43:48 PM »
I'm from Missouri originally, but went to school at U of Illinois - Champaign-Urbana; got my BS in Chemistry there in 2003.  Now I'm here with Mitch at UC - Berkeley getting a PhD.

I'm working in the organic field now, but did inorganic research as an undergrad.  I'll let you guess what I work with.

Offline movies

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2004, 01:40:46 AM »
Hey all,

I've been a chemistry nerd since high school and I'm still living the dream.  I got my A.B. in Chemistry in 2003 and I'm working on my Ph. D. now.  Mostly organic chemistry, but our lab does some inorganic stuff and works on a lot of catalysis.
« Last Edit: March 11, 2007, 10:06:46 PM by movies »

Offline Juan R.

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2004, 08:12:38 AM »

Hi, I am Juan R. I am from Vigo, a city of Galicia (Spain). You possibly know my community by the unfortunate Prestige disaster.

When I was a 10-year boy, I wished for be many things as football player, fireman, etc. When I was 13 or 14 years (an “EGB” student) then I discovered science.

After, I learn more and more science in the “BUP”. Each year, there was a single course in physics and chemistry. We studied much physics but little chemistry.

But things changed in the previous course to university (“COU”); there were two separated courses: physics and chemistry. The book on chemistry was so fascinating for me that I say that discovered chemistry when I was an 18-year child! Then I obtained more information about chemistry and discovered many funny things. E.g., nobody say to me that Isaac Newton was a chemist, but the COU book on chemistry talked about the chemical investigations of Newton and his cousin Humphrey. Then I ask myself why had been occulted that Newton was a chemist. Unfortunately, I discovered that the history of science is usually rewritten, with an emphasis in physics. This was my first important lesson.

Then I began my studies in chemistry, University of Vigo. I used my “mathematical” mind to study chemical thermodynamics, engineering, and all that. I was fascinated with analytical chemistry, with my first synthesis of beautiful inorganic crystals, and others. Then, I received my first course on organic chemistry. The first exam was “easy”: nomenclature, molecular structure, SN1, SN2, etc. I remember that I remained perplexed when professor used kits called molecular models for shows us molecular motions. I thought that molecules were as rigid as book’s illustrations! Chemistry was, and continues to be, a box of surprises for me.

In the following exam on synthesis, I used my “mathematical” mind, which worked “well” in solving “physical” or “engineering” problems; but I do not pass it. I was desolated. Then, I began to read additional material on organic chemistry until finally I discovered the error. The error was that the mathematical method of “learn-this-equation-put-in-it-the-data-and-solve-it” did not work in organic synthesis. It was necessary to develop that I call a chemical intuition. It was then when I began to suspect that chemistry could not be reduced only to physics and math. This was my second important lesson.

Whereas I was still a student, I was a collaborator in the bulletin Galicia Química. Then I collaborated with two official bodies of chemical associates: the Colegio Oficial de Químicos de Galicia and A.T. ANQUE de Galicia. I learned that there exists a chemical world (law, bureaucracy, relationships with society, etc.) outside of chemical laboratory. This was my thirst important lesson.

After, I began to be a research collaborator in a group of marine biogeochemistry. I began each day in the classroom in the University, and finalized the day collaborating in the Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas (CSIC). It was a fascinating work; the research was multidisciplinary. I published several articles, chapters in monographs, etc. I also participated (M. DeCastro, M. Gómez-Gesteira, R. Prego, J. R. González-Álvarez & V. Pérez-Villar) in an international conference: Oceans III Millenium. 1st International Congress on Marine Science and Technology. I was the only student; in fact, Pérez-Villar was a recognized professor of physics and head of a dept. of physics of the University of Santiago de Compostela!

I learned research methodology and many biogeochemistry topics in the Prego’s group. Possibly the most fascinating lesson was that all in nature was linked. For studying cycles in the Rias, one needs to know inorganic chemistry of marine water, analytical chemistry of heavy metals in sediment, thermodynamics of atmosphere, oceanography, hydrodynamics, and bacteria metabolism, between others. Complexity was my fourth important lesson.

One day, I discovered a book by Ilya Prigogine: The End of Certainty. He, possibly the most important scientist of 20th century, talked about the role of time in our formulations of Nature and why that topic was ignored in usual literature, where the paradox of time is not noticed. I learned that there are profound “hidden” errors in usual scientific literature. This was my fifth important lesson.

The above book claimed for a change of perspective in science; I was impressed and contacted with Prigogine. My lack of PhD was unimportant for him and he presented to me to one of his collaborators, Dr. Gonzalo Ordonez. Since then, I have a fluent contact with both. There was an informal dispute (I was still a student) between his theory and my ideas. I was not sure of some mathematical steps of Prigogine’s theory, but then my mathematical preparation was insufficient for rigorous discussion. After of some time, I believed prepared and sent to Prigogine a list of questions that I was investigating by myself. His reply was fascinating: “The questions that you ask are very difficult”. Lamentably, Prigogine passed away some days after. He newer known my reply, neither the result of the research: canonical chemistry.

I am a young researcher specialized in fundamental chemistry on Vigo. I love chemistry. The rest of my history is known in the canonical chemistry forum. Is there a sixth lesson? Yes. Future is not given, determinism of physics (Schrödinger equation is still deterministic) is an approximation to real systems. We are both writers and actors at the same time of our own history.

Juan R.
The first canonical scientist.

Offline Tiger

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2004, 01:45:59 AM »
Hi. My name is Jackie N. I'm currently working on my B.S. degree in Chemistry. I came to this country in 1997 (Halloween night). I didn't notice that it was a Halloween night and I shut the door when the kids were asking for candy. We didn't celebrate Halloween in Vietnam at that time so I didn't know about it that much. Rumor spread around when I attended high school and I was known as "Halloween hater" even though it's not true. I know that I'm too old to go "trick or treat". I want to do this year but I couldn't because I had my Advanced Organic Chem test on Nov 1. Darn it. Hopefully I can go with my students next year.


I love Chemistry even though I have a hard time with it. I have been trying to work in the lab to get experience but I haven't found anything specific. I tried to work in the lab at school.  I actually let one beaker flying from one side of the room to another side  :bigwink: (long story).

I'm glad that I found this forum. Thanks to everyone here that helping me. I will try to help others too. (I might be wrong too :)

Nice to meet all of you...

JN
« Last Edit: November 14, 2004, 01:46:49 AM by jackie »

Offline ATMyller

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2004, 05:17:56 AM »
Hello everybody!

My name is Antti T. Myller, I'm a freshly graduated chemist from Finland and I work as a researched for university. I'm currently working on kinetics of organometallic compounds.
This is a great community and planning to visit here often (when I have some spare time) and maybe even post sometimes. ::)

And merry christmas/hannukah/kwanza to all!  :newyear:
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Offline maxyoung

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #10 on: January 22, 2005, 12:57:05 AM »
hi, i'm younghui from Singapore. 20 years old and currently doing a undergraduate course at National University of Singapore. I love chemistry, especially organic chemistry. Hope to learn something from you all.

Offline Borek

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #11 on: March 06, 2005, 08:10:18 PM »
Citizen of Poland.

Born in early sixties.

Promising chemistry student in early eighties. I was even three times member of a team that represented my uni at the event called International Competition in Analytical Chemistry. Life and computers were more interesting then studies so I was thrown away from uni.

A year later they proposed me a job at uni, as they needed someone for numerical diffusion simulations and I was good in chemistry and computers at the same time. I have even some paper published on diffusional noise at microelectrodes.

These were interesting times in Poland (so called fall of the communism and the dawn of capitalism) and I didn't work long at the university. I started a new career as a journalist in computer presss, becoming after some time editor in chief of a monthly magazine about computer games.

That ended in 1996 with the fall of publishing house. I could move to other magazine or start on my own and choosed the latter. For nearly nine years I was developing software for SpLD children but finally I get bored.

While the SpLD software is still my main income source I am trying to start a new project at www.chembuddy.com, simple and perhaps more complicated chemical calculators for students, technicians and hopefully for R&D people (they get money :)

Hopefully nobody will read it to the end :)
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Offline Vette Freak

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2005, 10:28:09 AM »
I attend the University of Maryland, College Park and am double-majoring in cell biology/genetics and biochemistry.  After completing 47 credits of chemistry, among all other things required, I hope to graduate a semester early in December 2006.
I joined this forum to help improve my understanding of chemistry by helping others understand it better.  I found I didn't have working knowledge of chemistry so I thought this would help me review and remember.
« Last Edit: April 18, 2005, 02:38:03 PM by Vette Freak »
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Offline Jiro

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #13 on: April 12, 2005, 11:03:24 PM »
Hi all.. dont have much to say except that Im from British Columbia Canada and studying chemistry in the rocky mountains!!!!!!!!

Offline XxslbabesxX

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Re: Introduce Yourself
« Reply #14 on: May 12, 2005, 07:43:00 PM »
Hey everybody.

I just joined. I'm from the U.S and I'm 16. I am currently a sophomore in high school who is taking chemistry. It's my worst subject and I tend get mediocre grades on tests no matter how much I study. I'm hoping this forum will help me!

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