The Rheol World

Webinar of the Moment: Extensional Rheology

2012-02-04T08:00:00.001-06:00

A few months ago, I viewed this webinar on extensional rheology. The first part of the webinar is one of the best summaries of extensional properties and terms that I've seen. Highly recommended.

Rheology Courses for 2012

2012-02-03T07:00:00.001-06:00

The Centre for Industrial Rheology will hold Practical Rheology for Chemists March 14-15 in Hampshire, UK.
Hemi Nae will hold his Practical Rheology course in Princeton, NJ in June.
Professor Christ Macosko will hold his Rheology course in Minneapolis, MN June 10-15.
There will be two courses at the International Congress of Rheology: Colloidal Suspension Rheology and training on the IRIS software. Courses will be taught August 4-5.

Any others?

Jobs Report (Feb '12)

2012-02-02T20:15:00.001-06:00

A search conducted using the keyword "rheolog*" on February 1st found 28 jobs on Monster and 25 jobs on Careerbuilder.

Video of the Moment: Cooling Tea

2012-01-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

Believe it or not, these are Newtonian fluids...

Update: thanks to SWS for the link. Original link here on Buzzfeed.

Jobs Report (Jan '12)

2012-01-16T22:53:00.000-06:00

A search using the keyword "rheolog*" that was conducted on January 16th found 20 jobs on Monster.com and 17 jobs on Careerbuilder.

Relevant Ads

2011-11-18T08:23:00.000-06:00

I've never been that impressed with online advertising. It's rare that something appears in a banner ad that I want to click on. I have noticed recently that Brookfield is following me around. Here's a screenshot of a recent trip to Slate.

Link of the Moment: STF Fabric

2011-11-17T07:00:00.001-06:00

One of the more impressive applications of shear-thickening fluids is as a additive to body armor. A collaboration between the University of Delaware and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory has improved the protective properties of Kevlar. The home page is here, and pictures and video are here.

Ask Doc Rheo: Degrees of Food Rheology

2011-11-14T12:30:00.001-06:00

Dear Doc Rheo:

What do you think of a degree in food rheology?
A student

Dear Student:

I’m the wrong guy to answer your question.

All my degrees are in Chemical Engineering, and my graduate work was in polymer rheology. While my current position involves food rheology, my employer wanted a chemistry or engineering major with experience in rheology.

When I was in school, I was often told that a Chemical Engineering degree was extremely flexible, as it could provide employment in many different industries. These comments were correct, as my former classmates and I work in a wide variety of fields. If you take a look at job report posts from this year and last year, you’ll see that generic rheological jobs ask for Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Polymer Science/Engineering, or Material Science backgrounds most often.

However, I have been contacted recently by headhunters who are trying to fill some food rheology jobs. I think that these folks have found me by entering “food” and “rheology” into the LinkedIn search function.

To get an answer to your question, you would be better off contacting food rheology professors. I have no experience with the requirements for a food science degree, so I’m not sure what generic benefits the degree confers.

Sincerely,
Doc Rheo

Link of the Moment: Deadly Fluids II

2011-11-09T10:45:00.000-06:00

The Soft Matter Blog highlights a paper from MIT that discussed the rheological behavior of the fluid from carnivorous plants. The paper is available for free download until November 18, 2011. Registration is required at RSC to download the paper.

Jobs Report (Nov '11)

2011-11-08T07:00:00.004-06:00

A keyword search [1] conducted on November 7, 2011 found 28 jobs on Monster and 21 jobs on Careerbulder.

Degrees required for the jobs are listed below. Some jobs had multiple fields listed.

Monster

Chemistry -- 16 positions
Polymer Science/Engineering -- 13 positions
Chemical Engineering -- 12 positions
Materials Science -- 7 positions
Food Science -- 5 positions
Generic Engineering -- 3 positions
Electrical Engineering -- 3 positions
Physics -- 2 positions
Biology -- 2 positions
Supply Chain Management -- 1 position
Ceramic Science -- 1 position
Mechanical Engineering -- 1 position
No field specified -- 2 positions

Careerbuilder

Chemical Engineering -- 12 positions
Chemistry -- 10 positions
Polymer Science/Engineering -- 9 positions
Generic Engineering -- 2 positions
Mechanical Engineering -- 2 positions
Physics -- 1 position
Biochemistry -- 1 position
Food Science -- 1 position
No field specified -- 1 position

[1] The keyword was "rheolog*"

Muphry Was an Optometrist

2011-10-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

Back in August, when I complained about presentation errors, I made a mistake of my own in the post. It turns out I was following Muphry's Law, which states that "if you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written." Muphry is a deliberate misspelling of Murphy.

In Lieu of a Publication

2011-10-29T21:23:00.000-05:00

In my current position, I don't get too many chances to publish externally. So, I was pleased to see the latest commercial for PAM, which is based in part on some work I did last year. You can see the talking muffin commercial here.

Disclosures: I work for ConAgra Foods, and the link takes you to a site where a commercial will attempt to persuade you to buy PAM cooking spray.

Jobs Report (October '11)

2011-10-03T07:00:00.002-05:00

A keyword search [1] conducted on October 2nd, 2011 found 27 jobs on Monster and 25 jobs on Careerbulder.

[1] The keyword was "rheolog*"

Link of the Moment: Deborah's Number

2011-09-28T11:44:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of the month, The Dayside at Physics Today talked about the Deborah number, as it's one of two dimensionless numbers not named after a man. (If you want to know what the other one is, you'll have to click on the link.)

Hat tip: Physics Today online editor's picks email

Link of the Moment: Life of a Salesman

2011-09-15T11:35:00.000-05:00

As part of his series on alternate technical careers, Chemjobber profiled technical sales as an option. I was in technical sales for 2 years, followed by 4 years of sales support, so I provided a few comments for today's CJ post.
One of the persistent themes I hear about people looking for jobs is that they're sure they can do the job, but for whatever reason (wrong background, not enough education), they don't get an adequate hearing. Because sales compensation is often by commission, some employers may be willing to take a chance on someone without experience.

Jobs Report (September '11)

2011-09-12T06:00:00.000-05:00

A keyword search (rheolog*) conducted on September 11th found 26 jobs on Monster.com and 19 jobs on Careerbuilder.

Quotation of the Moment: Known & Unknown

2011-09-08T17:00:00.002-05:00

"There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."

--Donald Rumsfeld

Quotation of the Moment: Annoying Software Note

2011-09-08T08:11:00.000-05:00

While dealing with a sample robot for DSC that dropped a pan, the controlling software gave me this note, following a string of comments that told me the autosampler was having a problem--

"Warning: unknown warning"

That sounds ominous.

You Already Have a Seismometer In Your Lab

2011-08-26T09:43:00.000-05:00

This past Tuesday, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit the east coast of the United States. The last major quake to hit the Virginia area was in December 2003, which had a magnitude of 4.5. I was living in Virginia in 2003 and remember the quake vividly. I was running some rheometer tests during the seismic event; unfortunately, the experiment was in the middle of a thermal equilibration step, and so the data were not affected. If anyone out there was running a test this week that was trashed by the recent quake, drop me an email at rheolworldblog -at- gmail dot com.

Quotation of the Moment

2011-08-12T07:00:00.004-05:00

"Ask the material how it deforms, because ~~the~~ only the material knows."

Joachim Meissner, as noted in the latest Rheology Bulletin.

The Equations Left Behind

2011-08-10T16:00:00.003-05:00

The latest Rheology Bulletin (link not available yet) announced the death of Professor Dr. Joachim Meissner this year. During graduate school, I often spoke Meissner's name, because of his work in constitutive equations. In 1972, Arthur Lodge and Meissner used phenomenological arguments to show that the first normal stress difference and shear stress are proportional to each other when a single strain is applied at time zero [1].

This relationship is supported by many experiments and constitutive equations. During graduate school, I used the above equation to infer the sample thickness in my optical rheometer [2].

In addition to single-step strains, I and others did work on reversing double-step strains, where a second strain is in the opposite direction to the first. Osaki and co-workers [3] proposed a relationship similar to the equation shown above:

When Venerus and Kahvand published their study of mechanical double-step strain rheology [4], Lodge somehow heard of the work and proved and generalized the second equation for multiple reversing step strains where the absolute value of the strain is constant. Following this chain of events, I started referring to the second equation as the Osaki-Lodge relationship. (I always thought this chain of events showed scientific collaboration at its best.)

[1] Lodge, A.S.; Meissner, J. Rheol. Acta 1972, 11, 351-352.

[2] Brown, E.F. et al., Rheol. Acta 1995, 34, 221-234.

[3] Osaki, K. et al. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym Phys. 1981, 19, 517-527.

[4] Venerus, D.C.; Kahvand, H. J. Rheol. 1994, 38, 1297-1315 (with an appendix by Lodge).

Surely You're Joking (#11): Knock Knock

2011-08-10T07:48:00.000-05:00

Knock, knock
Who's there?
The fluid mechanics
The fluid mechanics who?
The fluid mechanics, so they're out today.

Knock, knock
Who's there?
Rheology
Rheology who?
Real? Gee! I thought they were fake!

I Acknowledge I Have a Problem with This

2011-08-09T07:39:00.001-05:00

We just wrapped up our summer intern cycle at ConAgra Foods [1], and I noticed a pattern in the final presentations. All the presentations I observed used the words "Acknowledgements." According to the dictionary, this is the British spelling of the word. If you're going to add that extra e, then you might as well put a discussion of the latest rumours on your "shed-yule".
I suspect that this British spelling slips by because the base word is spelled ~~acknowlege~~ acknowledge, and the extra e doesn't look out of place the way that extra u in rumours does to American eyes.

[1] Information on internships at ConAgra can be found here. The main opportunities are in food science, but other interested parties are welcome to apply.

Jobs Report (August '11)

2011-08-07T14:56:00.000-05:00

Keyword searches (rheolog*) conducted on August 7 found 31 jobs on Monster and 20 jobs on Careerbuilder.

3 for the price of 1!

2011-07-27T12:04:00.000-05:00

The folks who organize the triennial International Symposium on Food Rheology would like you to be careful with your travel funds in 2012. Instead of going to the Food Colloid conference in Copenhagen AND the Food Oral Proceesing Conference in Baune (France) AND the Rheology Congress in Lisbon, you can attend their conference in Zurich.

Hello Cleveland!

2011-07-05T07:00:00.001-05:00

This year's SOR meeting will be in Cleveland, OH. Any current or former children of Cleveland who would like to introduce their city to the readers of the blog, send me a note at rheolworldblog -at- gmail.com. (I did some writeups for Santa Fe last year.)

Poll of the Month (July)

2011-07-04T07:00:00.001-05:00

From the last post comes the current poll of the month. Which is the best basic rheology book?

Jobs Report (July '11)

2011-07-03T22:35:00.000-05:00

Keyword searches (rheolog*) conducted on July 3 found 39 jobs on Monster and 15 jobs on Careerbuilder.

The Wisdom of Crowds

2011-07-01T10:00:00.001-05:00

A recent discussion at LinkedIn's SOR group asked which introductory rheology book was best. This was the most popular discussion in recent memory. People mentioned--

The Rheology Handbook by T. Mezger (twice)
Handbook of Elementary Rheology by H. Barnes (twice)
Rheology: Principles, Measurements, and Applications by C.W. Macosko
Understanding Rheology by F.A. Morrison
An Introduction to Rheology by H.A. Barnes, J.F. Hutton, and K. Walters (twice)
A Practical Approach to Rheology and Rheometry by G. Schramm
(This book is self-published by ThermoFisher)
Rheological Methods in Food Processing Engineering by J.F. Steffe and C.R. Daubert (twice)
Bioprocessing Pipelines: Rheology and Analysis by J.F. Steffe
(Both the Steffe books are available online for free download.)
There was a mention of a book by K. Walters; it's either the one co-authored with Barnes listed above or Rheology: An Historical Perspective co-authored with R.I. Tanner

Breaking Radio Silence

2011-06-30T21:32:00.000-05:00

I'm back with a some new posts over the next few days. I haven't posted, because, to bluntly put it, there hasn't been anything I'd like to discuss.

Jobs Report (May '11)

2011-05-08T12:00:00.002-05:00

A keyword search (rheolog*) conducted on May 7 found 36 jobs on Monster and 18 jobs on Careerbuilder. Embedded links now go to the keyword search instead of the front page.

One position that is advertised on both sites is a senior-level food scientist position at ConAgra Foods. A knowledge of dough rheology is included in the position qualifications.

Quotation of the Moment: Evaluation Time

2011-05-06T20:32:00.002-05:00

At ConAgra, we are approaching the end of the fiscal year, which means performance reviews. As I was working on mine today, I thought of this rant from Dr. Cox in the TV show Scrubs--

I wanted you to think about yourself...And I mean really think! What are you good at? What do you suck at? And write it down. Not so I could read it, or anyone else could read it. But so you could read it! You see in the end, Newbie, you don't have to answer to me, or to Kelso, or even to your patients, for God's sake! The only one you have to answer to Newbie, is you! There, you are evaluated. Now get out of here, because you truly make me so damn mad I might just hurt myself!

(Season 1: My Fifteen Minutes)

Of Course You Can Use The Instrument

2011-05-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

A colleague sent an email today asking if he could use instrument X to test sample Y. For some reason, the email activated my obnoxious side. I told my colleague that asking the testing question was similar to asking "can I sue someone?" The answer is the same. You can always sue someone (at least, in American courts), the better question is whether you'll win. The same thing applies to instrument testing. You can always put the sample on the instrument; whether you get good data is another question.

Quotation of the Moment: Dr. Jones Lectures

2011-04-29T22:35:00.000-05:00

"Quicksand is a mixture of sand, mud, and water, and depending on the viscosity, it's not as dangerous as people sometimes think."
--Dr. Henry Jones Jr., in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

(Video can be seen here, in a Slate presentation on quicksand.)

Ask Doc Rheo: Tissue Fiber Rheology

2011-04-27T07:00:00.001-05:00

Dear Doc Rheo:
Do you have, or know anyone who has experience in tissue rheology, specifically on fibers? I am interested in developing a database on rheological characteristics of the various tissues in the body, ie breast tissue, abdominal adipose tissue, scar tissue, etc.
Josh

Dear Josh:
This is far outside my area. Any readers who would be willing to talk to Josh send me an email at rheolworldblog -at- gmail.com.
Thanks,
Doc Rheo

June in Montreal

2011-04-26T21:59:00.000-05:00

The Canadian Society of Rheology is presenting two short courses on rheology in June.

Current Topics and Trends in Rheology (June 6-7, 2011)
Rheology and Processing of Polymers (June 2-3, 2011)

The second item does not have a link on the CSR web site. I will post information when it becomes available.

SOR Award Winners

2011-04-25T07:00:00.001-05:00

Eric Shaqfeh will receive the 2011 Bingham Medal.
Richard Graham will receive the 2011 Metzner Award.

Congratulations to both gentlemen.

Links of the Moment: What I Did This Semester

2011-04-22T07:00:00.002-05:00

My employer, ConAgra Foods, and Michigan State University set up a 400 level course to introduce undergrads to industrial research. I am referenced obliquely in some of the stories--

Press release from MSU.
Detroit Free Press Article
WXYZ Channel 7
Detroit News, which was interested in identifying corporate corruption of academia

Quotation of the Moment: Flowing Like a River

2011-04-01T22:02:00.001-05:00

And so, like water, we flow. Or, let's try to imagine ourselves flowing. We may not realize it when we're in the flow, but take a look at these pictures from St. Petersburg. Russian photographer Alexey Titarenko sees city crowds as a stream of hands, heads and coats rushing along stairs and streets, in and out of buildings...rushing like water...
--Robert Krulwich, reflecting on the photographs of Titarenko

I have to admit, when I saw the pictures, I thought of the smoke monster from Lost.

Jobs Report (April '11)

2011-04-01T22:00:00.000-05:00

A search using the keyword "rheolog*" on April 1st found

39 jobs on Monster
21 jobs on Careerbuilder

2011 SOR Short Course

2011-03-24T07:01:00.001-05:00

The 2011 Society of Rheology Short Course will be held October 8-9, 2011 preceding this year's SOR Meeting. Gerry Fuller, Jan Vermant, and Andy Kraynik will talk about the Rheology of High-Interface Systems.

Short Course on Polymer Rheology & Extrusion

2011-03-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

John Vlachopoulos will present his 66th International Intensive Short Course on Polymer Rheology and Extrusion, April 14-15, 2011, in Brussels, Belgium. More information can be found here.

Hat tip: SOR member email

Video of the Moment: Liquid Body Armor

2011-03-23T12:01:00.001-05:00

The folks from the Discovery Channel TV Show Time Warp use a mixture of water and cornstarch as a test of the concept of a dilatant fluid-based liquid body armor.

I like this because it's a little different than the videos of people running across pools.

Quotation of the Moment: Rock'n'Roll Fantasy

2011-03-22T21:00:00.000-05:00

"He thought it was very funny to talk about his drummer complaining that the caviar in their dressing room was the wrong viscosity - for throwing."

Pete Townshend, in the liner notes for the album White City: A Novel

Quotation of the Moment: Pi Day

2011-03-14T20:39:00.000-05:00

"The sea was then cast; it was made with a circular rim, and measured ten cubits across, five in height, and thirty in circumference"

I Kings 7:23

This refers to a large circular tank at the Temple of Solomon that held about 12,000 gallons of water.

Hat tip: History of Pi by Petr Beckmann

Surely You're Joking (#10): Literal Dr. Seuss

2011-03-10T20:59:00.000-06:00

With apologies to Dr. Seuss...

Inspired by this post at Buzzfeed.

Ask Doc Rheo: Gamma Dot 2

2011-03-09T20:52:00.000-06:00

Dear Doc Rheo:
How do you put gamma dot into Excel plots?
Anna

Dear Anna:
Microsoft Equation has to be inserted as an object. Objects cannot be inserted into axis labels. If I really need to have gamma dot on the chart, I'll insert directly from the rheometer software.
Respectively submitted,
Doc Rheo

Jobs Report (March '11)

2011-03-01T21:34:00.000-06:00

A keyword search using the phrase "rheolog*" conducted on March 1 found 31 jobs on Monster.com and 32 jobs on Careerbuilder.com. There are 4 jobs from Dow Chemical on Careerbuilder. The polymer rheologist position mentioned here is not posted on the site.

Link of the Moment: Business Practices

2011-02-24T07:01:00.000-06:00

The satire found here imagines how Hunt's ketchup could overtake Heinz as the #1 ketchup in America.

Disclosures: The ideas presented in the column are illegal and punishable by law. I work for ConAgra Foods, which manufactures Hunt's ketchup.

He's Hiring!

2011-02-23T20:34:00.000-06:00

Peter Arnoudse, a Director at Dow Chemical, is looking for a polymer rheologist. He posted a note to the SOR Group on LinkedIn. Interested parties should apply at the Dow Career Site.
Here is the job description...

Polymer Rheologist-1100521

Description
The Dow Chemical Company has an exciting and challenging opportunity for a Ph.D. level polymer rheologist in Plastics R&D with the Plastics Characterization Group in Freeport, Texas. This laboratory supports the development, manufacture and sales of polyolefin resins for film, pipe, blow molding and similar end use applications. The selected candidate will serve as a technical resource for our rheology testing capability, develop new rheology test capabilities, and apply rheological tools and principles to product development and resolution of manufacturing or customer issues. The candidate will lead a local laboratory consisting of four technicians and participate in a global rheology team.

Responsibilities:
1. Serve as technical resource to the Freeport rheology capability:
•provide technical support and training to the testing group
•maintain high-standard service levels for routine testing
•develop new test methodology/models/understanding to support business needs
•participate in Dow global rheology network to leverage best practices
•keep up-to-date with advances in the field of rheology
•play key role in new instrument evaluation and selection

2. Serve on multidisciplinary teams supporting product and application development
•provide consulting in solving complex problems (e.g. characterize polymers with new structures, troubleshooting issues at customer)
•participate in the definition and defense of patents

3. Network internally with other Dow business units and externally with universities and research institutes
•proactively participate in Dow internal seminars and document high quality research reports
•scientific communications at international conferences and publication of articles in scientific journals

Qualifications
A Ph.D. in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Polymer/Materials Science or a closely related discipline is required for this position.

Additional requirements and preferences of the position:

•Strong theoretical background in polymer rheology with an understanding of the relationship between polymer molecular architecture and polymer rheological behavior, processing, and physical properties
•Strong experimental skill with dynamic, capillary and extensional rheometers
•Experience in the characterization of polyethylene is strongly preferred
•Experience with other polymer characterization techniques is a plus
•Strong, innovative problem solving skills
•Ability to collaborate effectively with others in a team environment
•Excellent written and verbal communication skills

At Dow, we are harnessing the power of science and technology to improve the lives of people around the world. We are accomplishing this by empowering our people - the Human Element - to lead change. To recognize their outstanding efforts and contributions, we offer a total rewards package which is considered top tier in our industry.

Dow offers:
•Competitive salaries and comprehensive benefits
•An annual variable pay program that rewards team and individual performance and shares company, business or functional success
•Employee stock ownership - and the commitment to long-term success that it brings
•On-going learning opportunities in a rewarding work environment
•Career experiences that can span different Dow businesses and functions with opportunities for personal and professional growth
•The chance to work on global teams with colleagues around the world and in different locations

Silly Putty & Play-Doh: Great Toys

2011-02-23T13:30:00.000-06:00

Time.com has put together a list of the 100 all-time greatest toys. Silly Putty is one of the toys from the 1950's. According to the article, the polymer was a byproduct of the development of synthetic rubber.
The other rheologically interesting toy is Play-Doh, which was originally a wallpaper cleaner. The product was a hit with kids because it was softer than the clay that was available then.

Link of the Moment: Soft Matter Blog

2011-02-10T21:19:00.000-06:00

While doing one of my Google searches for other rheology blogs, I came across the Soft Matter Blog, which comes from RSC Publishing. They summarize articles from the journal Soft Matter and provide articles and previews for free [1]. I've added them to the Science & Engineering blogs.

[1] John put up a link to the rheology of peanut butter. I swear I found Soft Matter independently the same day he put up his post.

Jobs Report (Feb '11)

2011-02-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

A search of the sites Monster.com and Careerbuiler.com using the term "rheolog*" found 42 positions and 23 positions, respectively. In January, this search found 22 and 18 positions, respectively. Part of the increase on Monster is due to 6 technical sales positions advertised by MRI Network.
The food rheologist position at Kraft (first mentioned here) is advertised on both job boards.

Ask Doc Rheo: Paper Coatings Companies

2011-02-03T21:46:00.000-06:00

Dear Doc Rheo:
Can you give me the names of some paper coatings companies?
A Student (again)

Dear Student:
Here are some companies that I know make paper coatings--

Commenters--do you have any other names?

Here are some other coatings links--

Good luck,

Doc Rheo

In case of rapture, I will still post to this blog

2011-01-31T21:43:00.001-06:00

If you type "[favorite blog name].blogpsot.com" into a browser window, you're not taken your favorite blog, but azt.com, which is a Bible study website.

Conference Announcement: Dynamics of Complex Fluids

2011-01-29T09:08:00.003-06:00

First Circular & Call for Papers: Dynamics of Complex Fluids Conference – May 5-7, 2011 – Iasi, Romania http://reologie.ro/2011/01/18/first-circular-call-for-papers-dynamics-of-complex-fluids-conference-may-5-7-2011-iasi-romania/ All interested people are invited to present and to discuss current results in the field of complex fluids (design and flow properties). Please submit your paper (title, authors, affiliation, a short abstract of maximum 400 words, with the specification of type of presentation) until February 28, 2011, to the conference office.

(Conference announcements can be sent to rheolworldblog -at- gmail.com. Please include a valid email address)

Update 2/10/2011: You're welcome, Monica

A New Logo

2011-01-28T00:01:00.000-06:00

I've changed the logo. The joke is explained here. The original post where this cartoon appeared is here.

Ask Doc Rheo: Industries for Rheologists

2011-01-27T21:05:00.001-06:00

Dear Doc Rheo:
I would like to know more about rheology jobs in other areas besides polymers.
--A Student

Dear Student:
When I worked in sales and applications for a rheometer company, I looked at samples from adhesive, asphalt, building materials, cosmetics, food, ink, paint, pharmaceutical, polymer, and paper coatings industries. This is by no means an exhaustive list; as materials and supplies have gotten more complicated and expensive, companies want precise methods of characterization. If you would like to find out more industries that employ rheologists, do the following...

Take a look at job web sites like Monster or Careerbuilder. My monthly job search shows results from all sorts of companies. (Besides, it's never too early to start thinking about your job hunt.)
Take a look around your lab and note the instruments that are there. Go to the instrument company web site and find the list of shows the company attends. You will identify where the instrument companies have customers and prospects.

The good news about jobs in these other industries is that the top majors for rheologists are Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, and Polymer Science.

Respectively submitted,
Doc Rheo

Video of the Moment: "Bad Project"

2011-01-24T20:10:00.003-06:00

Because we have bad projects after grad school, too.

Hat tip: Carbon-Based Curiosities

News from the Rheology Bulletin

2011-01-22T14:01:00.000-06:00

Three bullet items from the Rheology Bulletin

The official SOR report from Santa Fe is on page 4 of the Bulletin.
The next SOR meeting will be in Cleveland. As of this posting, the meeting page has not been updated.
The short course at this fall's meeting will be on the rheology of high-interface systems. The course will be added to the list once I have an appropriate link.

'Prime Time'

2011-01-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Is it fine
If I pine
For the time
Of the prime?
'Twas sublime

Written to celebrate the period where the ages of everyone in my immediate family was represented by a prime number.

A Rheological Misconception

2011-01-10T11:59:00.001-06:00

Rheological item related to Wikipedia's list of common misconceptions

Glass is not a high-viscosity liquid at room temperature: it is an amorphous solid, although it does have some chemical properties normally associated with liquids. Panes of stained glass windows often have thicker glass at the bottom than at the top, and this has been cited as an example of the slow flow of glass over centuries. However, this unevenness is due to the window manufacturing processes used in earlier eras, which produced glass panes that were unevenly thick at the time of their installation. Normally the thick end of glass would be installed at the bottom of the frame, but it is also common to find old windows where the thicker end has been installed to the sides or the top. In fact, the lead frames of the windows are less viscous than the panes, and if glass was indeed a slow moving liquid, the panes would warp at a higher degree.

Hat tip: xkcd

Rheology Courses for 2011

2011-01-09T10:00:00.004-06:00

The Hyden practical rheology course will be held in June. Information available here.
The Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium will host the 13th European School of Rheology in September. Information available here.
Professor Macosko of the University of Minnesota will not be holding his Rheological Short Course this coming summer. The course will next be held in 2012.

This is Serious

2011-01-08T07:00:00.001-06:00

#840 at xkcd.

A Point of Clarification

2011-01-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

I know that some people find this blog using the search term "eric brown rheology." I was originally flattered, but I remembered that there is another member of the Society of Rheology with the name Eric Brown. The other Dr. Brown is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago. I attended one of his talks at last year's SOR meeting, and he has a promising future.

Jobs Report (January '11)

2011-01-06T22:25:00.000-06:00

Using the search term "rheolog*", I found 22 jobs on Monster and 11 jobs on Careerbuilder. On Monster, the education level of jobs required is as follows...

8 require B.S. or higher
2 require HS diploma or higher
1 requires a MS degree or higher
1 requires an Associates degree or higher
The other jobs do not specify a particular education

On Careerbuilder, the education level is as follows...

6 require BS or higher
2 require HS or higher
2 require PhD
1 requires a MS or higher

Fixing the Best Advice

2011-01-03T20:32:00.000-06:00

The original post on Best Advice for Graduate Students contained a factual error. The original post stated theives stole a grad student's computer, when in fact, they stole the computer and the portable hard drive used as a backup. I apologize for the error. Thanks to the anonymous contributor at Chemjobber for the tip.

2010 Review

2010-12-31T07:00:00.003-06:00

The most popular posts of this year are

The Best Advice for Graduate Students (thanks for the link, Chemjobber)
Q&A with Crazy Aaron (thanks for the Facebook link, Aaron)
Rheologist Job at Wrigley
Rheologist Job at Kraft
Bulletproof Shirt--It turns out if you run a Google Image search on kevlar molecular structure, the post is attractive because of the yellow-colored picture.

Favorite Post Title: Elvis was a Chemical Engineer

Quotations of the Moment: Bad Examples Edition

2010-12-30T20:49:00.000-06:00

"If you can't be a good example, you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning."
--Catherine Aird

"A man who swings a cat by a tail will learn something he can learn in no other way."
--Mark Twain

Pointless Trivia (SF Prep #3 Update)

2010-12-28T10:05:00.000-06:00

I found out recently that the question "red or green?" when ordering food in a New Mexican restaurant is actually the official state question of New Mexico.

A Pointless Observation

2010-12-28T10:01:00.000-06:00

During the holiday break, I used a Mac for the first time in a while. I noticed that the pie charts from some previous posts [1,2] looked like the Mac beach ball of death.

The Best Advice for Graduate Students

2010-12-24T14:44:00.004-06:00

Back up all your data and your thesis and put the backup in a secure place.

An article in the December 20, 2010 edition of the Albuquerque Journal [1] told the sad story of a Ph.D. student who lost all her work when thieves stole her computer and her back-up drive [5] during a break-in. She's hoping for the return of her computer, but the article indicated that her laptop was the only place where her data, collected over the last 6 years, were stored.
I received this blunt advice from R.L. Peters's book Getting What You Came For when I was in grad school. I kept three copies of my writing: one on me, one in my lab, and one at my apartment. I got paranoid when I found that the library book detectors were slowly erasing my floppy disks.

[1] The article is available online, but only to Journal subscribers.
[2] To end this post on a happy note, in time for the Western holidays, check out this story from New Zealand where the computer was returned.

Update (12/30/2010)
[3] Thanks to CJ for the link. For those who are stoping by, this is a blog focused on the field of rheology. The logo at the top of the page refers to the phenomenon called yield stress.
[4] Here are some quotations about being a bad example.

Update (1/3/2011)
[5] The original post indicated that the student had not backed up her work. She used a portable hard drive, which was stolen along with her computer. The post has been revised to reflect this fact. This information comes from an anonymous commenter at Chemjobber. I apologize for the error.

Where are the Rheology Schools?

2010-12-16T22:51:00.002-06:00

Following up on a previous post, I thought a search of academic members of SOR could provide information on where people would go to school to obtain a rheological education. I performed ~~erformed~~ another search on SOR members, focusing on academics. Any one who listed an academic title (university ~~universtiy~~, college, department) was counted as an academic. The top ten states for academic SOR members are TX, WI, CA, MA, OH, IL, PA, MI, NY, and MN [1,2,3]. (I went to graduate school in Illinois.) I pooled together the states where there were fewer than 5 academics per state. States with zero academic SOR members were AK, HI, NE, NH, NM, and VT.

[1] Postal code abbreviations here.
[2] Raw data here.
[3] John has put together a list of polymer-related programs here.
[4] Update 2/8/2011: Fixed 2 typos.

Where are the Rheology Jobs?

2010-12-16T22:50:00.004-06:00

Back in May, the states with multiple industrial rheological job positions were NJ, MA, PA, NY, OH, CA, IN, CT, and DE [1]. I was wondering where the rheological jobs in the United States were and realized some information could be obtained from the Society of Rheology directory [2]. I looked through all 50 states and counted up government and industrial positions. Some members do not identify their place of employment. If I recognized that person as a professor, I did not count them; otherwise, I assumed that person had an industrial or government job. From the data [3], I generated the following chart.

The top ten states for SOR members are OH, TX, NJ, CA, MN, IL, PA, DE, MD, and NY. VA, MA, MI, WI, NM, and CT all have more than 9 industrial and government members. The remaining 97 members were divided among 30 states. (I'm one of two SOR members from Nebraska.) States with zero industrial or governmental members are IA, ID, LA, ME, MT, ND, NV, and, RI. (Next post--academic members).

[1] Postal code abbreviations here.
[2] SOR members can access the directory.
[3] Raw numbers used to generate the chart can be found here.
[4] Update 2/8/2011: Fixed broken link

An Ode to the Sleep-Deprived

2010-12-15T12:11:00.001-06:00

Lack of z's
Affects the bees
Up in the trees
So when it's late
'Twould be great
To be quiet, please

Hat tip: icanhasscience

Link of the Moment

2010-12-13T07:01:00.001-06:00

Chemjobber runs some numbers on materials science jobs at Materials Views.

2010 Job Report Review

2010-12-10T07:12:00.001-06:00

Here's a chart of job postings using the keyword search "rheolog*" from Monster and Careerbuilder for this calendar year. The average number of postings from Monster was 31. (I've only been tracking Careerbuilder for 3 months.) February-July was the time when the most positions were advertised.

'Burn the Place to the Ground'

2010-12-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

San Diego-area radio stations will be playing songs from the following list today--

Burning Down the House (Talking Heads)
Rooms on Fire (Stevie Nicks)
Fire Burning (Sean Kingston)
Great Balls of Fire (Jerry Lee Lewis)
Ring of Fire (Johnny Cash)
Eyes on Fire (Blue Foundation)
Hold Your Fire (Rush)
Disco Inferno (The Trammps)
The Roof Is on Fire (Rock Master Scott & the Dynamic Three)
Burning Love (Elvis Presley)
We Didn't Start the Fire (Billy Joel)
Burn All the Letters (Indigo Girls)
Fire Woman (The Cult)
Paper in Fire (John Mellencamp)
St. Elmo's Fire (John Parr)
I'm on Fire (Bruce Springsteen)
Fire and Rain (James Taylor)
Smokin' (Boston)
T.N.T. (AC/DC)
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)--which is quoted in the post title

Stations will also be playing the Pyromania album from Def Leppard, as well as the collected works of Earth, Wind & Fire and Arcade Fire. Once you're tired of music, you can read The Girl Who Played with Fire by Steig Larsson or Firestarter by Stephen King. Don't forget the showing of the movie Backdraft later.

(Surely this is an incomplete list. Make your additions in the comments below.)

Quotation of the Moment: Corporate Culture

2010-12-08T06:51:00.000-06:00

This anecdote, by Robert Townsend (1920-1998), shows how one person can have an effect on corporate culture. It comes from his book Up the Organization.

When I became head of Avis [in 1962--EFB] I was assured that no one at headquarters was any good, and that my first job was to start recruiting a whole new team. Three years later, Hal Geneen, the President of ITT (which had just acquired Avis), after meeting everybody and listening to them in action for a day, said, “I’ve never seen such depth of management; why I’ve already spotted three chief executive officers!” You guessed it. Same people. I’d brought in only two new people, a lawyer and an accountant.

Idea for Improving Culture

2010-12-08T06:50:00.000-06:00

At a recent brainstorming session, I came up with an idea for improving corporate culture. This idea has yet to be rejected, and I haven't heard any criticism of it yet. I don't know if it will make it through the winnowing process. Let me know what you think.

"Free Lunch Program"
Give everyone an amount on their corporate travel accounts ($50-$100/year) that they can use to go out and have lunch with colleagues. It could be a single lunch at a reasonable restaurant, or an order of subs from the local sandwich place. This helps build camaraderie and adds to brainstorming time. It also reduces the relentless cost-cutting that seems to be part of corporate life these days.

Corporate Culture Commentary

2010-12-08T06:49:00.000-06:00

There's been some discussion on corporate culture [1,2,3], and I'd like to add a few thoughts, as I've been included in discussions on finding ways to improve the culture at my employer.

Different people have different experiences, and what works well for one person may not work well for others. Some people may think that everything is just peachy, while others who report up to the same VP may be seething with anger.
Project quality matters. Give people kick-ass projects, and they'll do great. Make them do crap work, and you'll get crap back.

Experienced and secure employees will let you know when you've given them crap.

Avoid frivolous organization chart rearrangements and cubicle relocations. When people say "I've worked for x bosses in y years," minimize x and y.

[1] In the Pipeline
[2] Chemjobber
[3] Rheo Thing

My first spam comment

2010-12-06T09:53:00.001-06:00

My post on iTunes, which seems to be a favorite of search engines, attracted a spam comment today. This was the first spam comment for this blog. I'd always planned to keep the first one for sentimental reasons, but this one involved NSFW activities. So, I terminated it with extreme prejudice.

Kraft/Wrigley updates

2010-12-06T07:00:00.002-06:00

I posted about jobs at Kraft Foods and Wrigley a few months ago. Both those jobs are still listed on the respective company web sites.

Jobs Report (December '10)

2010-12-03T06:44:00.001-06:00

A keyword search using the term "rheolog*" found 17 jobs on using Monster's "new search" and 23 jobs using the standard search. (All previous searches were done using standard search.) The same keyword found 28 jobs on Careerbuilder. The search was performed on December 3rd.

Report from Santa Fe?

2010-11-30T12:14:00.000-06:00

I've just realized that it's been an month since the SOR meeting in Santa Fe? Did any readers go? Anything to report? Did you get anything out of the posts I put together for the meeting? (If you want to email me something, go ahead.)

Thanks, Readers

2010-11-30T12:07:00.000-06:00

The month of November was the best one yet for this blog. I had more than 200 readers for the first time, and more than 300 page views for the first time. Particular thanks to Crazy Aaron's Putty World (and their Facebook link) and to Bob Schiffman for participating in email interviews.

Leslie Nielsen, RIP

2010-11-30T12:03:00.000-06:00

Best known as a comic actor in Airplane! and the Naked Gun movies, Mr. Nielsen passed away Sunday at the age of 84. Many of the tributes I've seen have referenced the Surely/Shirley joke from Airplane!, which was the inspiration for the Surely You're Joking headings I've put out this year. (I posted the trailer for Airplane! back in February to explain the headings.) Thanks for the laughs, Leslie.

Quotation of the Moment

2010-11-25T12:00:00.002-06:00

A mere elementary knowledge of any natural science is a proposition from which reason starts; it is a foundation on which thought builds, and a height from which imagination takes its flight. It is an education in all other knowledge, because it demands attention, observation and accuracy with well-defined expression.

Helen Harlin Walworth Science 1880, 1, pp 198–199.

Hat tip: Sharon Neufeldt at icanhasscience.com

Thanks, Bob

2010-11-25T06:00:00.002-06:00

I'd like to thank Bob Schiffmann for his Q&A on blogging. You can visit Bob's company here.

Q&A with Robert Schiffmann (R.F. Schiffmann Associates, Inc.)

2010-11-24T12:55:00.000-06:00

As mentioned in a previous post, I attended the IMPI Microwave Short Course held November 9-10. During the course, Bob Schiffmann gave a talk entitled "Myths Vs. Reality: Blogs Vs. Science." The talk centered on information and misinformation in the blogosphere, especially regarding microwave cooking of food. I asked Bob if he would answer questions by email, and he agreed. The exchange was checked via email for accuracy.

RW: What's your background and your current job?
BS: I have a Bachelors degree in Pharmacy from Columbia University, and a Masters degree in Analytical and Physical chemistry from Purdue University. I entered the food industry in 1959 as a research scientist, where I did all kinds of product and process development. It was in 1961 that I accidentally discovered a microwave oven, and about 10 or 15 minutes later I did and experiment that resulted in my first patent and many large industrial installations of microwave heating systems. I left industry along with a partner in 1971 to become an independent consultant, and in 1978 formed my second consulting company (R.F.Schiffmann Associates, Inc.). The company is focused on product and process development and, since 1982, all of our work has been microwave heating related. We also do a great deal of product testing for various companies. I also teach a lot of microwave technology courses.

RW: Your talk discussed myths related to microwave preparation of food. First, haven't these myths been around since the advent of ovens in the home, and second, how are things worse with blogs?
BS: You are correct that these myths have been around for many years, for example the concept that you can't use metal in a microwave oven, which is totally erroneous. What makes it worse today is the advent of the blogosphere. Before this, news traveled rather slowly and the influence was limited. But today, everyone thinks that he or she has brilliant things to say and therefore has a blog. Now, if it only a few people read the blog, but many blogs have the same misinformation, the cumulative effect is very large. Also, people tend to read things that agree with their own thoughts. So, people tend to read the same sorts of misinformation and myths over and over. Also, very few bloggers are really original: most simply copy and paste from others so that this misinformation travels like a virus.

RW: What do you do when you encounter postings that you know are wrong or inaccurate?
BS: I sometimes respond in the “comments” section on the blog page. I don't do that as much now as I did when I started receiving Google Alerts, because I found that there was so much misinformation, and repeated so often, that I could literally spend hours each day writing responses to the various bloggers. Further, in something like two or three years I've only got one response from a blogger who apologized for the misinformation and promised never to do it again. When I do comment, I very often include the science, or scientific facts that refute the kinds of comments that are made in the blog.

RW: Have you thought about starting your own blog?
BS: Yes I have, but right now my time is so limited because of my work with IMPI, as well as my consulting business, that I simply can't find free time to write a blog. However, I probably will, hopefully not too far in the future.

RW: Having run a science blog for a year, I've found that I have a small audience (on the order of dozens of readers). Don't these blogs operate on a similar scale, and therefore, their impact is limited?
BS: As I indicated above, these blogs may be small, however, there are so many of them, I virtually see 5 or more a day that say exactly the same thing because of the cut and pasting, so, in the aggregate, the readers must amount to several thousand or more. Just looking at the number of comments some of these blogs get I am astounded by the number of people who spout the same misinformation, and are so poorly informed. After all, we now live in an era in which ignorance is exalted.

Quotations of the Moment: Better Off Ted

2010-11-22T07:00:00.002-06:00

I just finished working my way through Better Off Ted, a short-lived sitcom that ran for two years on ABC. Both seasons are available on Netflix. The show centers around Ted, a the head of Research and Development at Veridian Dynamics, a do-everything company that is an amalgam of GE and Kraft Foods. The show is a great business satire that avoids the Dilbert trap of smart engineers working for stupid bosses. Everyone on the show is smart and good as his or her job. My favorite episodes out of the first 13 are the ones on affirmative action "Racial Sensitivity" and the project everyone wants to work on "Jabberwocky". The scientists on the show work on everything. Here are the materials-related lines I was able to pull from the first season. (Veronica is a VP, and Phil and Lem are the main scientists.)

Veronica: We want to make a metal that is hard as steel but bounces like rubber...and is edible.

Phil: The plastic [in a solar-powered oven] we're using leaches toxins into food.
Lem: However, the toxins are only released when the ovens are exposed to sunlight.
Phil: Which is the only time solar ovens work.

Phil: You were right. That polymer could burst into flames on high impact.
Lem: You owe me a smoothie.

After the jump, one of the fake Veridian Dynamics commercials.

Link of the Moment: Slime Time

2010-11-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday, the University of Nebraska at Omaha hosted an event teaching local Girl Scouts about the chemistry and physics of polymers.
Hat tip: The Omaha World-Herald

Quotation of the Moment

2010-11-18T21:00:00.000-06:00

"Last week, in between leading a graduate seminar on Proust and delivering a long-scheduled lecture on mass spectrometry, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin ventured a few ticks beyond her acknowledged area of expertise and reflected on monetary policy at a convention in Phoenix." Noam Schieber, The New Republic

I look at those phrases and wish I could write like that. Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish

Product of the Moment: Recycled Shirt

2010-11-17T21:18:00.000-06:00

While at a short course last week, I won a prize for correctly answering a trivia question about per capita use of paper in the United States. My prize was a polo shirt made of recycled PET made by 8bottles.com. The company uses 8 soft drink bottles for each shirt (hence the company name). Even the buttons are made of recycled PET. The shirt is not dyed, and takes its color from the bottles. The shirt itself can be recycled once its service is over. New shirts cost $40.

Electronic Lab Notebooks

2010-11-16T07:38:00.003-06:00

Our division is starting to look at electronic lab notebooks. Anyone out there with experience to share? Pros? Cons?

Update: Thanks for the comment, David. Here's the link to "Life as a Physicist" logbook entries. Gordon uses a Lenovo tablet PC with OneNote software.

SunChips Observations

2010-11-12T07:01:00.001-06:00

John has already covered the polylactic acid SunChips bags in several posts [1], so there’s little need for additional comments on the package, its properties, its benefits, or its shortcomings. As someone in the food industry [2], I have two observations. The first is that this is a very public launch and failure. Most packaging changes are barely noticed by the consumer and are set up to be seamless. For example, ConAgra launched a new 46 ounce ketchup bottle two years ago. The bottle won an industry award, but I don’t believe the launch was ever noted on the product.
The second observation is that SunChips will likely be a laboratory for green packaging for some time. Two years ago, SunChips packaging advertised a partnership with TerraCycle, a company that was (and is) looking for ways to recycle plastic and develop green technologies. I don’t recall seeing similar information on any of Frito-Lay’s other products, so a recycling outlook will likely be part of the brand’s identity.

[1] Posts 1, 2, 3, 4

[2] Disclosure: I work for ConAgra Foods, which competes against Frito-Lay in the ready-to-eat snack category.

Video of the Moment: Engineers & Cats

2010-11-11T21:02:00.004-06:00

There isn’t much engineering in this video, which is titled An Engineers Guide to Cats. They do calculate feline aspect ratios and show off calculators, but that’s as far as the nerd-like behavior goes. (Thanks to SWS for the tip.)

After the jump, one of my favorite videos by the same crew: an advanced guide to cat yodeling.

A Personal Milestone

2010-11-09T07:52:00.000-06:00

This week marks my fifth anniversary at ConAgra Foods Inc. For most big American corporations, this offers some significant financial advantages. I am fully vested in my retirement account. To celebrate the occasion, I wore a vest.

I looked up the original job posting for my position. The focus of the job has changed in the last 5 years, but readers can compare this position to the jobs offered by Wrigley and Kraft this year. Current job hunters should take note: this is not a posting for a position that’s currently available; this was the job advertised 5 years ago.

Summary
Collaborate with R and D support groups and project team in relevant areas: rheology, texture, and material science of food. Guide engineers to understanding how the process affects viscosity and how food texture correlates with sensory aspects. Assist with transferring of new technologies and implementation of cost saving programs.

Position Responsibilities
Under minimum direction from management, lead technical projects in the general area of material science of food. Ensure that the milestones of business objectives are met in a timely manner. Communicate program-related issues and status to management to keep them up-to-date. Aid plants with developing and transfer of new technologies. Support pilot and plant trials. Operate and ensure proper functioning of physical implementation in Rheology laboratories (40%).

Prepare project proposals, including experimental design and timelines. Participate in project planning, including the selection of technical guidelines for achieving objectives. Identify manpower and resources to meet primary objectives (20%).

Provide routine and non-routine support to client groups with solving urgent processing and production problems (20%).

Keep abreast of technical developments and utilize this knowledge initiating new projects on cutting edge of technology (5%).

Manage and direct technician resources (5%).

Position Qualifications
M.S. or preferably Ph.D. in chemistry/engineering or related discipline. 3-5 (post-M.S.) or 1-2 (post-Ph.D.) experience in the general area of rheology.

Requires ability to apply Rheology, Thermal analysis, Spectroscopy, Particle Sizing, and Optical Microsopy in the development of new technology and use these skills in solving complex problems of non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, in-line viscosity measurement, process modeling, and equipment scaling.

This position requires knowledge of advanced statistics and experimental design, and proficiency in Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. Good communication skills, ability to work with multi-functional teams and understanding technical information including chemistry, physics, statistics, and food is required.

Surely You're Joking (#9)

2010-11-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Anybody know what this is?

Answer after the jump...

Why, it's a viscous circle!

Thanks to Crazy Aaron

2010-11-04T07:01:00.003-05:00

I'd like to thank Elizabeth for taking the time to answer my questions. I'd also like to thank her for the Facebook link; more people stopped by here then ever have before!