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Richard West

@richardhwest.bsky.social
407 followers 130 following 34 posts

Assoc. Prof. of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern U. in Boston); computational chemistry and kinetics; reaction mechanism generation. Parenting. Music. Food.

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Reposted by Richard West
Faraday Discussions @faradaydiscussions.rsc.org · 16/02/2026
Join us in April 2026 for the 𝐁𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐩 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐅𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 📅Early bird registration: 𝟗 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 🔗 www.rsc.org/events/detai... 🌍London, UK #FDHETCAL #ChemSky #FaradayDiscussion #Catalysis #SurfaceScience @rsc.org
Bridging the gap from surface science to heterogeneous catalysis Faraday Discussion
20 - 22 April 2026, London, United Kingdom

Early Bird registration deadline: 9 March 2026

The Discussion will bring together established and early-career scientists, postgraduate students and industrial researchers from the heterogenous catalysis and surface chemistry communities to design the new catalysts needed for society’s most pressing problems ranging from energy production, air quality and transportation to environmentally sustainable industry.

The Discussion will be organised into four themes: 

💠 New experimental methods for observing catalysts in action
💠 Impact of artificial intelligence on heterogeneous catalysis
💠 Chemical mechanisms and system analysis in heterogeneous catalysis
💠 Rational design of dynamic and self-repairing active sites
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
It’s not just the news that’s breaking 🤦🏼‍♂️ www.bbc.com/news/live/c1...
bbc.com
Trump tariffs: US president announces plan to hit UK, Denmark and other European countries with tariffs over Greenland
The US president says the countries will be charged a
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 13/06/2025
I love the geekiness of the North American Catalysis Society. Most conferences have bronze, silver, and gold sponsors. #NAM29 has Rhodium sponsors above Gold, because Rhodium is 5x more valuable as a catalyst than Gold (e.g. it’s better at three-way catalytic converters for NOₓ reduction).
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Reposted by Richard West
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 03/06/2025
If you burn down a forest, you don't miss out on lumber for just that season. You have to replant all the trees, nurture them, and wait for them to grow. The science and research budget cuts happening now are wanton, senseless arson. Recovery, if it ever happens, will take generations.
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
🥲
nytimes.com
Energy Dept. Cancels $3.7 Billion for New Technologies to Lower Emissions
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Actively considering the beauty of art increases abstract thinking and transformative emotion www.cam.ac.uk/stories/arti...
cam.ac.uk
Pondering artistic beauty encourages ‘big picture’ thinking
A psychological experiment conducted at Kettle's Yard suggests that actively considering the beauty of art increases abstract thinking and “transformative” emotion – helping us escape the “mental trap...
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
chng.it/tvBbTfHMgZ
chng.it
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
Defend the Internet Archive
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Reposted by Richard West
Jorge Bravo Abad @bravo-abad.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Price et al. developed an automated workflow using Pynta to train ML potentials for rapid transition-state searches. They report up to 20× speedups over DFT and streamlined generation of microkinetic data. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
pubs.acs.org
Automated Pynta-Based Curriculum for ML-Accelerated Calculation of Transition States
Microkinetic models (MKMs) are widely used within the computational heterogeneous catalysis community to investigate complex reaction mechanisms, to rationalize experimental trends, and to accelerate ...
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
A nice essay www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
theatlantic.com
America and Its Universities Need a New Social Contract
Fifty dollars for STEM, five cents for citizenship—that’s how America apportions its education dollars. Our beleaguered universities must redress the balance—helping the country and themselves.
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Reposted by Richard West
Northeastern Global News @nuglobalnews.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
By hacking genomes, this Northeastern University researcher devised a new way to grow plastic and feed astronauts. @northeasternu.bsky.social Read more: news.northeastern.edu/2025/02/03/g...
news.northeastern.edu
This Northeastern researcher is hacking genomes to grow plastic and feed astronauts
This Northeastern researcher is engineering genomes to revolutionize what calls can do, from growing plastic to feeding astronauts.
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
South Korea air-force jets accidentally drop bombs on homes, injuring 15 - Reuters. “The accident was due to a pilot entering incorrect coordinates” Oops!
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Reposted by Richard West
Joshua Gallaway @joshuagallaway.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
New paper from us. We modeled the localized charging and discharging (i.e. balancing) that happens in a battery after a high current pulse. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
pubs.acs.org
Modeling High Current Pulsed Discharge in AA Battery Cathodes: The Effect of Localized Charging during Rest
During high current operation, substantial heterogeneity develops within battery cathodes, particularly when their thickness is large. Heterogeneity relaxation during subsequent rest is important for ...
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Understanding the Real Costs of Research - A nice explainer video about these NIH “indirect” costs, from 2019. youtu.be/GzNcZh49f-s?...
youtu.be
Understanding the Real Costs of Research
YouTube video by AAMCtoday
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Yay! A study I've been meaning to do for years! Di Lorenzo, E., Romano, F., Ciriaco, L. et al. Periodic cooking of eggs. Commun Eng 4, 5 (2025). doi.org/10.1038/s441... But they neglect natural convection inside the egg, which I've often wondered about.
doi.org
Periodic cooking of eggs - Communications Engineering
Emilia Di Lorenzo and colleagues propose an approach to address the energy transport problem of cooking the albumen and yolk of a boiled egg at their optimal temperatures without separation. By altern...
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Reposted by Richard West
Michelle Francl @michellefrancl.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
May I suggest a soothing cup of Earl Grey or an invigorating Assam to pair with the talk? Join me for this ACS webinar where we'll take a dive into the fantastic molecular mash-up that is a cup of tea. www.acs.org/acs-webinars...
acs.org
Steeped in Science: The Chemistry Inside Your Perfect Cup of Tea - American Chemical Society
Learn the chemistry behind the different styles of tea and how to use science to brew a better cup!
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Reposted by Richard West
Paul J. Dauenhauer @pauldauenhauer.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
This Wednesday I will be giving a webinar open to the public about the potential and mechanisms of Programmable Catalysis. I invite you to join! www.chemcatbio.org/resources/we...
The Big Opportunity for Catalysis & Energy
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Reposted by Richard West
Christina Areizaga Barbieri, Ph.D. @cabarbieri.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
I’m an NSF panel reviewer that was scheduled to meet today. Just got notice that all NSF panels were canceled today. I reviewed some innovative proposals in support of students. Devastating if these scholars don’t get to do this work. For the love of science & students I hope this is just a delay.💔
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv... Ironic posting this to your feed, but it’s worth a moment of your attention
theatlantic.com
You’re Being Alienated From Your Own Attention
Every single aspect of human life is being reoriented around the pursuit of attention.
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Reposted by Richard West
Psyche Loui @psycheloui.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
The @northeasternu.bsky.social global news did a nice writeup of our study on background music and ADHD #neuroskyence #musicscience #psysky news.northeastern.edu/2025/01/14/m...
news.northeastern.edu
Music can improve focus for people with ADHD. Here’s what to listen for
New research from Northeastern music professor Psyche Loui and Brain.fm pinpoints the musical characteristics that can help concentration.
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Reposted by Richard West
Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 29/12/2024
Still the best two sentences on climate action.
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 21/12/2024
Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? Me: my compute jobs were in the queue on Perlmutter
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 14/12/2024
😟
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 13/01/2024
This looks intriguing. Is anyone using it already? Got any first hand experience to share?
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Reposted by Richard West
Stu Cantrill @stuartcantrill.com · 13/01/2024
Hey Chemsky: the first issue of Nature Chemical Engineering is live! I've been involved in 3 journal launches, but this is the first as Editorial Director. The Chief Ed (Tom Dursch) and team have done an amazing job. The first issue is free to read. Check it out here: www.nature.com/natchemeng/v...
The cover of the first issuse of Nature Chemical Engineering. Ball-and-stick molecular models emerge from a reactor on the right and float out to the left above a pile of wood shavings. In the background are large pipes of a chemical plant.
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Reposted by Richard West
Mia Sato @miasato.bsky.social · 08/01/2024
New from me: I wrote about how search algorithms have created a web full of content and words for Google, not humans. We made a fake lizard website to show you what has happened over 25 yrs. The visuals are beautiful. I’m so proud to work with such talented people! www.theverge.com/c/23998379/g...
“Along with the subheads, we’ll add a table of contents to the top of articles so each section becomes a link that can drive traffic on its own.
“
A blog post on a fake lizard site is chopped in the subheads with keyword crammed writing that mirrors People Also Ask sections in Search.“We’re also adding significantly more professional background details. We’re going to round up how long we’ve been writing about reptiles — it’s mostly true. Can Google even tell?
“
An author bio section shows a longer blurb about experience, targeting Google’s EEAT guidelines.“Our lizard blog doesn’t look much like what we started out with, but it probably resembles hundreds of sites you’ve seen before.” Shows the contrast between the website before SEO took over and after.
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 19/12/2023
Years ago, as a teaching assistant for Quantitative Risk Assessment and Process Safety, I could calculate how often you must test backup systems for them to have any chance of working when needed. Now, as an owner of a 100-year old house with sump pumps, I wait for a power outage in a rain storm.
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Reposted by Richard West
Psyche Loui @psycheloui.bsky.social · 13/10/2023
Book talk next week! Free and hybrid, but you have to register.🎻🧠 libcal.countway.harvard.edu/event/108346...
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Reposted by Richard West
Tatyana Deryugina @tderyugina.bsky.social · 04/10/2023
Attention tenure-track faculty (whether tenured or not)! Please help me out by taking a short (4-question, multiple choice) anonymous survey on informality in recruiting. This is NOT for research, and I'll post the results here. And please repost. illinois.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
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Reposted by Richard West
Stu Cantrill @stuartcantrill.com · 28/09/2023
‘Sunak’s speech could have been written 30 years ago: it rehearsed decades-old arguments to stop or delay action to protect the environment.’ Nature Editorial on our pathetic Government 👇
nature.com
Shock delay to net-zero pledges turns UK from climate leader to laggard
It could have shown vision and leadership. Instead, the country that proudly hosted the 2021 COP26 climate summit is ignoring the advice of its own researchers. It could have shown vision and leadersh...
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Allen Downey @allendowney.bsky.social · 23/09/2023
I am proud that ModSimPy came out on top in this collaborative review process.
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Richard West @richardhwest.bsky.social · 22/09/2023
One of my favorite assignments in my Computational Modeling for Chemical Engineering course is to have students review a dozen books/websites/resources for learning Python (for science/simulation). This year a new winner emerged...
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