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Conor Broderick

@conorforgot.bsky.social
379 followers 300 following 96 posts

UCB Chemistry PhD Candidate | Organic methods for energy storage, occasionally electrochemistry for organic methods | Proud UAW 4811 member.

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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
hey #chemsky, does anyone have a sense of whether it's possible for reagent grade mCPBA (75 wt %) to act as a single electron transfer reagent or will it always just add oxygen? I've got a system I need to oxidize chemically (i.e. OAT) but not electronically (i.e. want the radical, not the cation)
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Stopping my deference to shared chemical expertise and returning to traditionalism by teaching exclusively the Bohr planetary model of orbitals and railing against the cultural Marxism of molecular orbitals theory
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Colin Carlson @colincarlson.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Last year, I developed a one hour training for scientists on both "hidden curriculum" and practical pointers I've figured out for working with journalists. I'd be happy to run it for free for a few scientists who need press as a lifeline to save their labs / projects. Please feel free to reach out.
How to talk to journalists (without getting in a huge amount of trouble and ruining your life)
Today
Why do press?
Types of press
How to pitch
How embargo works
How to answer questions
How the record works
How to run a press cycle
During and after the story
How to manage risk
Q&A
A screenshot of a very long email that unfortunately I can't OCR but it shows how I pitch a journalist on a story under embargo.How to answer questions if they’re cueing you
“But don’t you think that” / “Would you say that”

This is probably a practical trick, and not a malicious one

Options
Be cool about it
Do not be cool about it
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
gimlet-eyed gleam of an f-block chemist being able to show that one crustal abundance chart
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Ava Hu @avahu.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
One of the happiest updates I’ve written since I started following this story. 12 students back in status and maybe more to come. Across the country, students are saying their SEVIS is back. www.dailycal.org/news/campus/...
dailycal.org
12 UC Berkeley students' visas restored by ICE in nationwide reversal
At UC Berkeley, 12 students have had their status restored today after 23 were terminated since April 4.
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
I love you batteries I love you ever decreasing cost of LFP I love you paired solar/storage I love you death of new fossil fuel infrastructure
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Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 21/04/2025
The number of international students hit by the Trump administration's visa actions is likely much larger than reported. For example, Northwest Missouri State has 43 revocations--twice as many as the University of Michigan. The regional public angle here deserves more attention.
insidehighered.com
Five Key Takeaways From Tracking Student Visa Revocations
More than 1,500 students from nearly 250 colleges have had their visas revoked, but who they are—and why they’ve been targeted—is still largely unknown.
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
UCB chem moment
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Sarah Hörst @planetdr.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Sarah’s rules of looking for life with only chemical signatures: 1) the smaller the molecule(s) the more likely they can also be produced by abiotic processes 2) one molecule, if it can be produced by any abiotic process, will never be enough to definitively claim detection of life
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Mark Levin @levinchem.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
Among the many reasons it was good that Harvard decided to fight this is that "viewpoint diversity" can become insidious very quickly. e.g. Creationists in your evolutionary biology department, vaccine skeptics in your immunology department? Very important not to cede arbitration in that sense.
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Sabrina Imbler @sabs.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
that's not a dire wolf. and that's not space!!! defector.com/at-what-poin...
defector.com
At What Point Has One Actually "Been To" Space? | Defector
On Monday, the singer Katy Perry, the TV personality Gayle King, Fight Club star Lauren Sánchez, and a few others took a 10-minute, 21-second ride aboard the New Shepard rocket operated by Jeff Bezos’...
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The Mary Rose Museum @maryrosemuseum.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
On the anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, we thought we'd answer a question that's often asked, "If they raised the Mary Rose, why not raise the Titanic?" Allow our scaled diagram to explain...
A light blue diagram depicting the sea, with the water's surface at the top, and just below it is an outline of the Mary Rose, with the depth (12m, 40ft or 6.7 fathoms). There is a line showing the seabed, which takes a rapid dive into the vertical...
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Circumstances appear to justify handing it to Harvard University
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
dire straights realizing that the best azeotrope for my material is 77% water and has a boiling point of 99 C
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
This "burn the university to the ground" x "more fine chemicals manufacturing" situation is a great chaser to "gut all federal health and safety regulation"
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Caltech Grad Student Workers & Postdocs United @uaw2478.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Today is historic: thanks to years of organizing by GSWs & postdocs, Caltech’s first-ever union contract is now in effect! We will finally see the benefits of our fight for higher wages, protections against bullying & discrimination, and support for international workers!
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
Remarkable level of administrative cowardice in this memo
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SEIU_ORG @seiu.org · 27/03/2025
🚨An SEIU 925 member at UW Medical Center has been in ICE detention since early March after being denied re-entry to the U.S. following a trip to the Philippines. She’s part of our union family — and this could happen to any of us.
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
God, california is the future (derogatory)
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Center for Constitutional Rights @ccrjustice.org · 18/03/2025
Must read: Mahmoud Khalil speaks out for the first time since his arrest by the Trump administration in an exclusive letter, dictated over the phone to his family, from ICE detention in Louisiana.
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
Someone tell the massive number of PIs who actively retaliated against their grads for striking about their Maoist cadre pedigree
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Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Columbia has expelled the president of @swcolumbia.bsky.social, a HELU member org, for participation in Palestine solidarity activism. This comes less than 24 hours before SWC's first bargaining session. We stand with SWC-UAW against this illegal interference in bargaining. uaw.org/in-shocking-...
uaw.org
In Shocking Move, Columbia University Fires Union President One Day Before Contract Negotiations Begin, in Further Crackdown on Free Speech - UAW | United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implem...
In the latest assault on First Amendment rights, Columbia University has expelled and fired Grant Miner, President of UAW Local 2710, which represents thousands of Columbia student workers.
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Gabriel Winant @gabrielwinant.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Here is an open letter signed from UChicago AAUP signed by over 200 faculty to our administration on what we believe this moment requires: uchicagoaaup.wordpress.com
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Dana El Kurd @danaelkurd.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Very interesting to see which liberals decrying Trump are now silent about the detention of a Columbia grad student. It can't possibly be the pro palestine thing can it? 🤔
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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
UPDATE—Mahmoud's attorney says they do NOT know where he is. They were first told he was sent to an ICE facility in Elizabeth, NJ. But when his 8-month-pregnant wife tried to visit him, she was told he's not there. They've received reports he may be sent as far away as Louisiana.
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Never in history has there been a better time to have an egg allergy, it's my time to shine
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Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
As an industry member, it is extraordinarily frustrating to me that: 1. ACS puts out such a milquetoast statement while its academic members are suffering seemingly existential-level catastrophe immediately under the second Trump Adminstration: www.acs.org/pressroom/ne...
acs.org
ACS support for science - American Chemical Society
The ACS is committed to working to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity.
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Reasonable confident that if these fluorospar activation papers from Governeur & co scale industrially they'll be the basis of a chem nobel in a couple decades
pubs.acs.org
One-Step HF-Free Synthesis of Alkali Metal Fluorides from Fluorspar
Alkali metal fluorides (MF) are commodity chemicals currently synthesized from naturally occurring fluorite (fluorspar, CaF2) in two steps: conversion of acid grade fluorspar (AGF) into highly hazardo...
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Brad Johnson @climatebrad.hillheat.com · 20/02/2025
Are you a federal worker fired by the treasonous Trump-Musk regime? House Democrats have finally woken up: Share your story so they can fight for you. Here's the @housedemocrats.bsky.social form: @fedworkersunited.bsky.social @fednews.bsky.social @fedsagainstdoge.bsky.social
democraticleader.house.gov
Share Your Story
Since January 20, Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Republicans' actions — many of them unconstitutional and in violation of federal law — have led to the firing of essential civil servants with responsibil...
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
Essential reading for chemists
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Anton Hur @antonhur.com · 17/02/2025
To think that I used my top-flight legal education, perfect bilingualism, and dashing good looks to become a literary translator instead of raking in consultant money by writing de facto fiction for outfits like the Heritage Foundation I sleep at night BUT AT WHAT OPPORTUNITY COST
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
Stoked to pick some of these titles up (also good god the cover art is beautiful)
nytimes.com
Tilted Axis Press Took a Big Risk on Translated Literature. It Paid Off.
The British publisher Tilted Axis specialized in innovative translated literature. It won them major awards. Now they’re coming to the U.S.
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Not true. I'll give you some examples of when styles crossed over from womenswear to menswear, and how men have worn straight-up womenswear or just feminine styles in cool ways. 🧵
A screenshot from Twitter. 

The original tweet reads: "Rapper Kenderick Lamar wore size 29 women's jeans to Super Bowl LIX." The tweet garnered over a thousand replies, most negative. 

I (Derek Guy) screenshotted that tweet and wrote: "so funny to see history repeat itself. men who wear slim fit and stretch denim—both of which were once considered strictly for women—criticizing kendrick for wearing flares bc they were on the women's aisle. in ten years, you'll be in flares clutching pearls about something else"

Then another user replied to my tweet, saying: "Wearing women’s clothes has never been in style, homo."
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Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
i wonder why these guys hate the CFPB so much ohh
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Thinking about how a TT prof in film I was talking to one time said he wasn't sure how he'd spend through $30k in start up funds, how the value of the university is well beyond whether we can spin out another billion dollar invention but that always seems to be the focus when it comes to funding
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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 09/02/2025
Saying "don't worry, they'll stop it, our scientific research is valuable and profitable and important to tuition-paying students" suggests you've misunderstood that it has been an ideological project all along. The humanities were all those things too! It was never just about profit and loss.
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DaveAnthony @daveanthony.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Should you have been voting for activists and union members instead of lawyers? Yes, you should have.
Dem: “what more do they want us to do? Handcuff ourselves to lampposts and get arrested?” The senator asked incredulously
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David Sacerdote @davidsacerdote.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
This is shaping up to be the largest of the events outside Senator Padilla's San Francisco District Office asking him to start fighting with every tool available. 12:45pm on Wednesday, outside 333 Bush St San Francisco. www.mobilize.us/indivisible/...
mobilize.us
Join a coalition of Nor Cal Indivisible Groups & Demand that CA Senators Fight Back · Indivisible
We are facing a crisis and we need all Members of Congress to fight back. Join your friends and neighbors in telling Senator Padilla that we demand they use every tool at their disposal to fight back ...
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Darby makes this point but I just want to reinforce it: These words are entirely legitimate to discuss science, accurately and correctly. This attack on "DEI" (🙄) is not only an attempt to resegregate science but also an attack on expertise, itself. Resisting it is a defense of science
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Beautiful paper, must-read for anyone doing organic electrochemistry or thinking about the double layer in detail pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org
Molecular Processes That Control Organic Electrosynthesis in Near-Electrode Microenvironments
Electrosynthesis at an industrial scale offers an opportunity to use renewable electricity in chemical manufacturing, accelerating the decarbonization of large-scale chemical processes. Organic electr...
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
moss landing situation is incredibly scary, sobering reminder that Li-ion just isn't a good enough solution for grid scale storage.
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
absolute stunning work by song lin and coworkers, so excited to think about how to apply this www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Light-harvesting microelectronic devices for wireless electrosynthesis - Nature
A method to produce wireless microelectronic devices powered by light using standard nanofabrication techniques is described to convert any traditional 96-well or 384-well plate into an electrochemica...
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
digital native baby joey coming out of the pouch for the first time: chat I'm cooked
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holden m. accountable @noahs.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
with the LA fire apocalypse going on, important to remember what our mayor and city council thought it was more important to spend money on than fire prevention: cops to beat you!
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
It's out! Everybody read my phenomenal coworker Katie's new JACS paper. Her presenting this preliminary work ~2.5 years ago was a huge reason I joined the group, and it has some absolutely nuts data in it (most stable reported all organic nonaqueous RFB system yet reported!)
pubs.acs.org
Regioisomeric Engineering for Multicharge and Spin Stabilization in Two-Electron Organic Catholytes
Developing multicharge and spin stabilization strategies is fundamental to enhancing the lifetime of functional organic materials, particularly for long-term energy storage in multiredox organic redox...
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Excited to take my combination lactaid x tungsten capsules
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Courtney Roberts @cortnieroberts.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
New year, new arynes! Our goal was to provide easy access to our favorite synthon, getting rid of the barrier to its widespread adoption. Now you can make an aryne precursor in one pot from a carboxylic acid ($1.55/g) then derivatize it using SNAr. Bonus: just use blue light or heat to activate!
TOC graphic of an aryne precursor being derivatized through SNAr and activated by blue light
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
Kinda despicable that the two grants I did a lot of drafting on this year are on the order of 2-3% of ALL federal U.S. humanities funding, good lord
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Conor Broderick @conorforgot.bsky.social · 23/12/2024
It is bad, actually, to collaborate with the military on research which is used to harm people. To collaborate with this particular military is simply unconscionable.
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