Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
@ewcss.info
Ad Astra Fellow, Asst. Prof. of Digital Chemistry, @ucddublin.bsky.social |
Editor, @joss-openjournals.bsky.social |
Personal: ewcss.info |
Research group (@coreacter.org): CoReACTER.org |
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1554-197X |
All opinions mine
Editor, @joss-openjournals.bsky.social |
Personal: ewcss.info |
Research group (@coreacter.org): CoReACTER.org |
ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1554-197X |
All opinions mine
Pinned
Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
@ewcss.info
· Nov 13
Please share!
The CoReACTER is hiring 1 PhD student (4 years, start date Sept. 1, 2026) to work on multi-scale modeling of reactivity in Li-ion and Na-ion batteries.
Apply by Jan. 16, 2026
#PhDjobs #PhDSky #CompChem #WomenInSTEM #LGBTQSTEM #BlackInSTEM #diversityinSTEM #LatinxSTEM #disabledinSTEM
The CoReACTER is hiring 1 PhD student (4 years, start date Sept. 1, 2026) to work on multi-scale modeling of reactivity in Li-ion and Na-ion batteries.
Apply by Jan. 16, 2026
#PhDjobs #PhDSky #CompChem #WomenInSTEM #LGBTQSTEM #BlackInSTEM #diversityinSTEM #LatinxSTEM #disabledinSTEM
www.ucd.ie
Come join me in Ireland @ucddublin.bsky.social @ucdchemistry.bsky.social! Help us understand the messiness of cross-talk in metal-ion batteries!
#BattChat #NewPI #sustainability #electrochem
#BattChat #NewPI #sustainability #electrochem
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Fun new paper out today! A new tool to explore how electronic density changes during chemical reactions. #compchem
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Electron Density Transport During Chemical Reactions
Statistical approaches are an increasingly powerful technique for characterizing changes in the electronic structure during reactions or molecular excitations. High-throughput studies in complex envir...
pubs.acs.org
December 23, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Fun new paper out today! A new tool to explore how electronic density changes during chemical reactions. #compchem
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
This might be a Christmas present for someone looking for a position in #TheoChem #CompChem #ChemJobs
Faculty position in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Liege, Belgium
www.uliege.be/cms/c_205421...
Via the Psi-K mailing list
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...
Faculty position in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Liege, Belgium
www.uliege.be/cms/c_205421...
Via the Psi-K mailing list
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...
www.uliege.be
December 24, 2025 at 3:11 PM
This might be a Christmas present for someone looking for a position in #TheoChem #CompChem #ChemJobs
Faculty position in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Liege, Belgium
www.uliege.be/cms/c_205421...
Via the Psi-K mailing list
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...
Faculty position in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Liege, Belgium
www.uliege.be/cms/c_205421...
Via the Psi-K mailing list
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Last minute Christmas shopping! With £15 you give the gift of understanding why we do not all see things the same way… #booksky #philsky #philosophyforchristmas www.bloomsbury.com/uk/why-delus...
December 24, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Last minute Christmas shopping! With £15 you give the gift of understanding why we do not all see things the same way… #booksky #philsky #philosophyforchristmas www.bloomsbury.com/uk/why-delus...
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Anyway if you’re (rightfully) mad that students at a flagship state university are being deprived of instruction from renown experts and are instead being taught by someone cramming the textbook 3 weeks before class starts, don’t pass state laws decimating higher ed
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
In red states, many academic researchers feel fear–and resolve
State-level mandates prompt changes and small acts of resistance at universities
www.science.org
December 24, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Anyway if you’re (rightfully) mad that students at a flagship state university are being deprived of instruction from renown experts and are instead being taught by someone cramming the textbook 3 weeks before class starts, don’t pass state laws decimating higher ed
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it
December 24, 2025 at 6:21 PM
If you’re wondering why your friends in academia are a little on edge right now, it’s because an eighteen-year-old who hasn’t done the reading, doesn’t look at the assignment, and has does no critical thinking skills more complex than “because I think it’s in the Bible” can literally end your career
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Oklahoma instructor removed from teaching for failing a Bible-based gender essay | CNN
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.”
cnn.it
December 24, 2025 at 11:00 AM
The University of Oklahoma has removed an instructor who was accused by a student of religious discrimination over a failing grade on a psychology paper in which she cited the Bible and argued that promoting a “belief in multiple genders” was “demonic.” https://cnn.it/4b6g3rd
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
"Earlier this month, the Finnish government released its Truth and Reconciliation report."
"[C]entrality of climate change in its findings and recommendations."
"[L]eaders must renew their cooperation with the Sámi to face these threats head on."
#Finland #Climate #Forests #Mining
"[C]entrality of climate change in its findings and recommendations."
"[L]eaders must renew their cooperation with the Sámi to face these threats head on."
#Finland #Climate #Forests #Mining
Report: Climate is central to truth and reconciliation for the Sámi in Finland
As Finland reckons with its historic mistreatment of the Indigenous Sámi people, climate change complicates the path forward.
grist.org
December 24, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Started reading Robert Macfarlane’s “Is a River Alive?” y’day and it has sucked me in like few physical books have in recent years. This quote from Ursula K Le Guin stopped me in my tracks just now, for I have really struggled with being a prof in a college of natural resources for quite a while:
December 23, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Started reading Robert Macfarlane’s “Is a River Alive?” y’day and it has sucked me in like few physical books have in recent years. This quote from Ursula K Le Guin stopped me in my tracks just now, for I have really struggled with being a prof in a college of natural resources for quite a while:
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
It's Festivus, so I'm going to air some grievances.
1. If you're going to write a year end story about how scientists responded to authoritarianism and *NOT* include @standupforscience.bsky.social in the write up or cite that the photo you used as your header is from one of our rallies...that's bs.
1. If you're going to write a year end story about how scientists responded to authoritarianism and *NOT* include @standupforscience.bsky.social in the write up or cite that the photo you used as your header is from one of our rallies...that's bs.
December 23, 2025 at 3:04 PM
It's Festivus, so I'm going to air some grievances.
1. If you're going to write a year end story about how scientists responded to authoritarianism and *NOT* include @standupforscience.bsky.social in the write up or cite that the photo you used as your header is from one of our rallies...that's bs.
1. If you're going to write a year end story about how scientists responded to authoritarianism and *NOT* include @standupforscience.bsky.social in the write up or cite that the photo you used as your header is from one of our rallies...that's bs.
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
"… I share my story in the hope that others … will reflect on moments when trust mattered in their own career journey, and on the responsibility we each hold in ensuring that the next generation enters a scientific world where safety is actively protected." https://scim.ag/4sdMVof
December 22, 2025 at 10:02 PM
"… I share my story in the hope that others … will reflect on moments when trust mattered in their own career journey, and on the responsibility we each hold in ensuring that the next generation enters a scientific world where safety is actively protected." https://scim.ag/4sdMVof
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Academics: what's the best bit of knowledge you created this year?
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
What historians (and other scholars do) is create knowledge. We should use that phrase more and talk about what it means. I think we don't, and it's part of why AI enthusiasts are confused when we don't readily agree that our work can be replicated/replaced by their products.
December 22, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Academics: what's the best bit of knowledge you created this year?
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
I co-authored a new model of the Irish Neolithic, effectively rewriting social structure and the role of large funerary monuments for the creation of community identities
Love this. The knowledge that I'm most proud to have created is a critique of "foundation models", including but not limited to LLMs, based on scientific and chemical ethics. This involved a grounded theory analysis of chemical codes of ethics to define what "chemical ethics" even are.
December 22, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Love this. The knowledge that I'm most proud to have created is a critique of "foundation models", including but not limited to LLMs, based on scientific and chemical ethics. This involved a grounded theory analysis of chemical codes of ethics to define what "chemical ethics" even are.
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Can you pledge $5 a week so Ruaa and her family can eat? #MutualAidBoost #FundSky #HelpSky
chuffed.org/project/help...
chuffed.org/project/help...
December 20, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Can you pledge $5 a week so Ruaa and her family can eat? #MutualAidBoost #FundSky #HelpSky
chuffed.org/project/help...
chuffed.org/project/help...
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
Really interesting research showing that while ultra-specialization in a single discipline might lead to better results early in one’s career, multi-discipline training and practice pays off big time in the long run. This applies to a range of professions from scientists to athletes and more
Recent discoveries on the acquisition of the highest levels of human performance
Scientists have long debated the origins of exceptional human achievements. This literature review summarizes recent evidence from multiple domains on the acquisition of world-class performance. We re...
www.science.org
December 20, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Really interesting research showing that while ultra-specialization in a single discipline might lead to better results early in one’s career, multi-discipline training and practice pays off big time in the long run. This applies to a range of professions from scientists to athletes and more
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
If you're not studying it, then it's not your area of study. This isn't remotely difficult to understand.
December 21, 2025 at 7:52 PM
If you're not studying it, then it's not your area of study. This isn't remotely difficult to understand.
Trying to transition away from GitHub towards Codeberg, given Microsoft's abysmal politics (would have done this sooner but didn't know a FOSS-based alternative existed!). Still a work in progress, but I did manage to get a new website up using Codeberg Pages: ewcss.info.
Evan Walter Clark Spotte-Smith (they/them)
ewcss.info
December 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Trying to transition away from GitHub towards Codeberg, given Microsoft's abysmal politics (would have done this sooner but didn't know a FOSS-based alternative existed!). Still a work in progress, but I did manage to get a new website up using Codeberg Pages: ewcss.info.
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
I feel like "academic hiring" discourse is always kind of downstream of the fact that in the 50s we started building a giant public system to make a college education almost universally available and in the 80s and 90s we started taking it apart to go back to the only-the-rich model
December 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I feel like "academic hiring" discourse is always kind of downstream of the fact that in the 50s we started building a giant public system to make a college education almost universally available and in the 80s and 90s we started taking it apart to go back to the only-the-rich model
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
In the wake of this news from UNC, I'm seeing some talk about copyright ownership and faculty scholarship.
If you're interested in the topic, here's a good explainer from from @authorsalliance.bsky.social:
If you're interested in the topic, here's a good explainer from from @authorsalliance.bsky.social:
December 20, 2025 at 1:33 PM
In the wake of this news from UNC, I'm seeing some talk about copyright ownership and faculty scholarship.
If you're interested in the topic, here's a good explainer from from @authorsalliance.bsky.social:
If you're interested in the topic, here's a good explainer from from @authorsalliance.bsky.social:
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
“Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to chemical biology of disease related proteins, natural product biosynthesis and enzyme discovery; structural biology and mechanistic enzymology; and microbial engineering.”
Manchester Institute of Biotechnology is looking for a new Professor. There are a few priority areas including microbial engineering (broadly defined, from pathways to cells to microbiomes). Closing 12 Jan.
Join us in the best city in the UK 😜
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Join us in the best city in the UK 😜
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
December 20, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
They've been draining talent from academic research and teaching for decades. This is just their final push
Built a system where scientists like me joined industry for the financial security and health insurance. I couldn't afford to teach as an adjunct even though that was my dream
Built a system where scientists like me joined industry for the financial security and health insurance. I couldn't afford to teach as an adjunct even though that was my dream
When I'm feeling particularly hopeless about the future of professoring as a profession, I try to remind myself: That's what they want. They want us to not want to be professors anymore.
December 21, 2025 at 6:22 AM
They've been draining talent from academic research and teaching for decades. This is just their final push
Built a system where scientists like me joined industry for the financial security and health insurance. I couldn't afford to teach as an adjunct even though that was my dream
Built a system where scientists like me joined industry for the financial security and health insurance. I couldn't afford to teach as an adjunct even though that was my dream
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
When I'm feeling particularly hopeless about the future of professoring as a profession, I try to remind myself: That's what they want. They want us to not want to be professors anymore.
December 19, 2025 at 8:57 PM
When I'm feeling particularly hopeless about the future of professoring as a profession, I try to remind myself: That's what they want. They want us to not want to be professors anymore.
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
I know disciplinary standards differ, but I've been at this for decades and I've never cited a paper I didn't read. Didn't like, sure; didn't understand, often; kind of drifted off in the middle there, it happens. But didn't read at all? Nah. Come on.
December 19, 2025 at 8:47 PM
I know disciplinary standards differ, but I've been at this for decades and I've never cited a paper I didn't read. Didn't like, sure; didn't understand, often; kind of drifted off in the middle there, it happens. But didn't read at all? Nah. Come on.
Reposted by Evan Spotte-Smith (they/them)
I’m sorry, but it is disgraceful to be an academic who uses this technology to conduct research. It should be prohibited in all of our scholarly institutions, including universities and journals.
December 20, 2025 at 12:35 PM
I’m sorry, but it is disgraceful to be an academic who uses this technology to conduct research. It should be prohibited in all of our scholarly institutions, including universities and journals.