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Alexandra Brumberg

@nanobrumberg.bsky.social
922 followers 332 following 63 posts

assistant professor of chemistry at Drexel University | structural, optical, electronic dynamics of inorganic (nano)materials | she/her

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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
This is (I think) a Greater Blue-Eared Starling (Lamprotornis chalybaeus) & the amazing chrome job is their super-power. They've evolved to manipulate light in VERY specific ways, attracting mates, intimidating rivals. Let's look at the nanostructures that bring this bling into being.
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Brittany Trang @brittanytrang.com · 29/01/2026
If anyone else's personal Gmail suddenly started giving AI summaries of your emails with no option to turn them off: I already took the elevated blood pressure hit for you and figure out how to get rid of it WITHOUT getting rid of the multiple inboxes (which I personally need in order to function)
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Honored to be featured by ChemSci! I always love reviewing and try my hardest to make sure my reviews are of high quality (which has definitely been a learning process).
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 04/11/2025
I had my students do exam corrections after our first midterm. They were allowed to use whatever resources they needed (me, their classmates, the internet/AI) to correct their mistakes. Seeing some of them still not get the right answer hurts my soul 😭😭
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Laura Helmuth @laurahelmuth.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S. Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world. www.nobelprize.org
nobelprize.org
The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org
The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
I know we all have lots of issues with MS Word, PPT, etc, but all I am asking for is a reverse numbering feature
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 25/08/2025
#chemsky I am introducing the field of inorganic chemistry to our first year chem majors. Does anyone have any resources on this topic? Looking for an overview of the field as a whole, like active research areas eg "five slides about inorganic chemistry" 😅 to quote the VIPEr resource categories
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
The only thing I am sure about as a new instructor of inorganic chemistry is that all three commonly used textbooks of inorganic chemistry do a terrible job 😭
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Jason G. Gillmore @jasongillmore.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Come be my colleague at @hopecollege.bsky.social ! We are hiring a tenure-track open rank #chemprof to teach #GenChem & #Inorganic and establish a thriving experimental #undergradresearch group in our exceptional #PUI #Chemistry department! #chemjobs #facultyjobs jobs.hope.edu
jobs.hope.edu
Hope College Applicant Portal | Home
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Well I can now confirm that both United AND American aren't capable of getting planes/crews to a given location in order to transport passengers in exchange for money. Will somebody please just get me home 😭
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
So does anyone else always call it "Ted Paella" or is that just me
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Hank Reichman @hankreichman.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
". . . it is not, in any real sense, about Columbia. Neither is it about antisemitism or free speech. It is not even at its root about education." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
insidehighered.com
The attempt to destroy Columbia (opinion)
The Trump administration has the symbolic fight it wants, Brian Rosenberg writes.
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 17/01/2025
Just had a bottle of DMSO arrive as a completely solid chunk... apparently the melting point is ~18 °C? Definitely colder than that outside today 😅
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
So today I went to go open up my brand new centrifuge for the lab and inside the box I found a single box of 10 uL centrifuge tubes So, not at all a centrifuge, and in fact completely useless to me WITHOUT said centrifuge
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 11/01/2025
Some of my LA friends have told me that the problem is climate change, and it is. It’s January for fucks sake. But that doesn’t mean we have to solve climate change to better control fire. If we wait for that, cities will keep burning. There are ways to mitigate risk. www.latimes.com/california/s...
latimes.com
Inconvenient truths about the fires burning in Los Angeles from two fire experts
For years, renowned fire experts Jack Cohen and Stephen Pyne have tried to shift the conversation on fire prevention strategies. This week’s destruction, they say, could have been minimized.
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 06/01/2025
hello I would like everybody to imagine for a second that you are a new faculty member and that your university is switching to a new purchasing system, such that you will not be allowed to make any purchases for a FULL WEEK while the transition happens please pray for me
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
ErrantScience @errantscience.com · 22/12/2024
Not many more days to open, I hope you've all finished purifying your products from door 16 to mix with the product of door 22
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Well, it happened... I turned 30 and then I hurt my back moving furniture 😭
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
What I find more fun is when schools let you know that the search has closed in like, July. Or October, at which point the next cycle has begun. Like thanks I had figured that out by now that is not helpful
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
I will forever be of the belief that customers should be reimbursed for the amount of time that internet and utilities are unavailable to outages. I am literally paying for a service that you are not delivering
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Dr. Joseph J. Thiebes @thiebes.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
A classic editorial by Prashant Kamat @kamat.bsky.social that was partial inspiration for the quoted thread below: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.... #ChemSky #Physics 🧪
pubs.acs.org
The Lost Art of Composing Single-Panel Figures
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
It turns out it is very easy to get 10k steps if (1) you are commuting to work on public transit and (2) your office and your lab are in different buildings
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
you know I really don't feel like I listened to this song that much #spotifywrapped #ajr
Your top song was Yes I'm A Mess by AJR. You were in the top 0.05% of listeners globally.
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Oded Rechavi @odedrechavi.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Re-reading your rejected manuscript
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
This article hits the nail on the head 💯
open.substack.com
Needing to move is a huge barrier to broadening representation in the sciences
Science will be more inclusive and equitable when we stop expecting people to uproot their lives every few years
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Terry McGlynn @hormiga.bsky.social · 04/09/2024
When I became a professor, I was excited about all of the teaching, research, mentoring, outreach, and more. But now, doing All The Things is just exhausting and less exciting. How can professors be effective but not do All The Things? open.substack.com/pub/sciencef...
open.substack.com
What was the best part of being a professor is now the worst part of being a professor
We get to do it all. Which means we have to do it all.
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Here's what drives me up the wall: We take research ethics as students. We learn and are told that "all authors must have reviewed and approved the submission of their manuscript." Then you end up on papers that get submitted without your knowledge, and what?
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Has anybody tried the ACS Publishing Center (new version of ACS Paragon Plus) and has it worked for them? Literally I cannot get anything to update in my profile 😠
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
Jacopo Bertolotti @jacopobertolotti.com · 22/10/2024
#PhysicsFactlet: The "Ashcroft/Mermin Project" I will try to (likely very slowly) make one or more visualization per chapter of "Solid State Physics" by Ashcroft and Mermin, with the hope that they will be useful to people teaching/learning solid state Physics. 1/
Cover of the "Solid state Physics" textbook by Ashcroft and Mermin.
(Source|: Wikipedia)
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
I see many people posting pictures of their pets to establish #proofofcat. I lived with the two best fluffballs ever when I was a kid. If I still had a cat today, I promise you it would be all I ever post about 😅
Me holding my cat Arik up to reveal his fluffy pantsMy cat Dipsie taking a cat nap
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
Help me gather the nanoscience community here on #chemsky!
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Alexandra Brumberg @nanobrumberg.bsky.social · 16/11/2024
I've entered my first graduate recruitment season as a professor, and I am going to go crazy reading these rec letters. Writers, please remember...
Avoiding gender bias in reference writing:
- Mention research & publications
- Keep it professional
- Don't stop now!
- Stay away from stereotypes- Emphasize accomplishments, not effort
- Be careful raising doubt
- We all share bias

Adjectives to avoid:
caring, compassionate, hard-working, conscientious, dependable, diligent, dedicated, tactful, interpersonal, warm, helpful, successful, excellent, accomplished, outstanding, skilled, knowledgeable, insightful, resourceful, confident, ambitious, independent, intellectual
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Neil Kaye @neilrkaye.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
What is the difference between weather and climate. This #dataviz shows the "Central England" average temperature for periods ranging from 1 day (weather) to 30 years (climate). This shows the climate signal emerging. Note the varying y axis that covers the range of the data.
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Reposted by Alexandra Brumberg
The Surendranath Group 🥭 @interphases.org · 12/11/2024
what's up #chemsky we have arrived get hyped for some incredibly stupid memes made by incredibly talented electrochemists
STOP
doing voltammetry
charge was never meant to transfer
this is very cruel to electrons
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