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Vance Williams

@vancew.bsky.social
507 followers 268 following 87 posts

Professor of chemistry at Simon Fraser University (SFU), materials nerd, lover of science-based art. (he/him)

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Reposted by Vance Williams
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 06/07/2026
The number of students admitted to Ph.D. programs this fall dropped 15% from the previous year, according to data from over 50 top research universities. The decline is driven, in part, by a chaotic and unpredictable federal funding environment under the Trump administration.
nyti.ms
Research Universities Are Admitting Fewer Ph.D.s, a Bad Sign for Science
Some of the nation’s top research universities are shrinking doctoral programs because of uncertain federal funding.
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turgut keskintürk @tkeskinturk.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
data visualization is my passion.
fox news showing weekly temperatures: 92, 92, 92, 94, 94, 92, 92, with a very strong gap between 94 and 92.
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C&EN (Chemical & Engineering News) @cenmag.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Companies claim that the amount of a chemical they use, produce, or import is confidential more often if it’s one that the Environmental Protection Agency has determined poses a significant risk to human health or the environment, according to a C&EN analysis: cen.acs.org/environment/... #chemsky 🧪
Companies withhold info more often for dangerous chemicals, C&EN finds.
by Leigh Krietsch Boerner.
An oil refinery in front of blue sky. Power lines crisscross in the foreground.
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Kicking off our second full day of #ilcc2026 with a great Plenary from Prof. Rae Robertson-Anderson from University of San Diego!
Rae Robertson-Anderson presenting plenary lecture
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Excited to be kicking off #ilcc2026!
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
I don’t usually post selfies, but I’ll make an exception in this case #crow #brooding #divebomb
Man being attacked by crow
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
From our lab— chiral nematic liquid crystal droplets suspended in glycerol. The concentric rings in each droplet arise from the periodic helical ordering within the fluid. #liquidcrystal #chiral #polarizedlight #microscopy #sciart #fluid #crystals
Multicolored droplets composed of concentric rings
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Physghoul 👻 🎃 @physgal.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
And tells teenagers how to shoot children. 🇨🇦
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will pooley @willpooley.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
absolutely wild to see people out here saying that it is responsibility of peer reviewers to check for hallucinated references. it is hard enough to persuade people to read articles and provide reviews. expecting them to spend hours cross reffing literature is unreal.
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
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Physghoul 👻 🎃 @physgal.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
The report offers a surfeit of evidence to suggest that students who use generative AI are already seeing declines in content knowledge, critical thinking and even creativity. And this could have enormous consequences if these young people grow into adults without learning to think critically. 🍎🎢
npr.org
The risks of AI in schools outweigh the benefits, report says
A new report warns that AI poses a serious threat to children's cognitive development and emotional well-being.
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Landscape? This was a photo I captured of caffeine crystals several years ago. I foresee a lot more of this molecule in my life in 2026. #polarizedlight #microscopy #sciart #caffeine
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Holiday baking 2025 involved a lot of this molecule #vanillin #polarizedlightmicroscopy #crystals #sciart #vanilla #chem #ochem #microscopy #2025
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
As 2025 draws to a close, some images that summarize my holiday preoccupations. First up, cholesterol crystals by polarized microscopy. Healthy eating was not a priority these last weeks of the year. #microscopy #crystals #polarizedlight #sciart #ochem
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Artologica aka Michele Banks @artologica.net · 13/10/2025
Beaded #sciart by Ruth Cuthand for Indigenous Peoples Day www.thisiscolossal.com/2019/05/ruth...
thisiscolossal.com
Beaded Images of Disease Explore the Impact of Colonial Trade
In her series Trading, Saskatchewan-based artist Ruth Cuthand creates a visual metaphor that outlines how early settler/Native relationships influenced First Nation people’s living conditions and well...
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Demonstrating linear dichroism in a synthetic sapphire #optics #polarizedlight #stem
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
A chiral nematic liquid crystal in transmitted and reflected light. #liquid #sciart #liquidcrystal #moodring
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
Acetaminophen crystals viewed by polarized microscopy. #tylenol #science
Crystals viewed by microscopy.
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Excited for the first day of grade 49!
Strange man with backpack looking excited and/or nervous
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 10/08/2025
The night garden. My mint plant during the day and the same leaves at night under UV light. The red color is chlorophyll fluorescence. #fluorescent
Mint leavesMint leaves under uv light showing red fluorescence
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Suspended stone circle II by Ken Unsworth at the AGNSW
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
At the AGNSW #sydney #art
Caution sign “throw caution to the wind”
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Blue Spring walkway #freshwaterspring #aquatic #nature #newzealand #putaruru
Blue spring amongst verdant green landscapeBlue spring amongst verdant green landscapeBlue spring amongst verdant green landscapeBlue spring amongst verdant green landscape
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
Today from New Zealand; bird butts of Rotorua! #swan #swallow #fantail #swamhen #birds #wildlife
Swamp hen (pukeko) grooming itself Black swan dives while New Zealand scaup looks onSwallow flying awayFantail (piwakawaka) in flight
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Craters of the Moon, NZ. #steam #steamvents #newzealand
Steam rising from the ground
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Grist @grist.org · 20/06/2025
Trump quietly shutters the only federal agency that investigates industrial chemical explosions. Hazardous chemical accidents happen in the U.S. about every other day. Who will investigate them now? grist.org/energy/trump... #Politics #Environment #Chemicals #Pollution #Policy #Industry
grist.org
Trump quietly shutters the only federal agency that investigates industrial chemical explosions
The Chemical Safety Board, a federal agency that investigates large-scale industrial chemical disasters, will close under Trump's orders.
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Physghoul 👻 🎃 @physgal.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
A coalition of organizations representing educators and researchers (including the @aapthq.bsky.social) has filed a legal challenge to the recent mass termination of grants by the National Science Foundation (NSF). 🎢 🧪 🍎 👩‍🔬 #AcademicSky
democracyforward.org
Coalition Files Suit Challenging DOGE Attacks on Congressionally-Approved STEM Programs - Democracy Forward
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 18/06/2025
Taking some time to appreciate the New Zealand wildlife! #kaka #wellington
Kaka (parrot) in a tree
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Louise Dawe @louisedawe.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Last day for submissions to this year's ChemiSTEAM competition! For more information and a link, please find details among the #CSC2025 signature events: www.cheminst.ca/conference/c...
cheminst.ca
Signature Events: Additional Events - The Chemical Institute of Canada
Networking coffee breaks Poster sessions Analytical Chemistry New Faculty Discussion Forum Chemistry in Canada 2067 CSC President’s Event ChemiSTEAM – Putting the A(rt) in STEM Inclusion, Diversity, E...
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Making mood rings in the lab. I should lay off the coffee before filming time lapse photos.
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Louise Dawe @louisedawe.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
The deadline has been extended to 11:59 PM on Monday, June 9!
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 29/05/2025
Mass Spec xkcd.com/3094/
[Person with ponytail wearing lab coat hands balloon to another person in front of a springboard, a magnet hanging from above, and then a target] PERSON WITH PONYTAIL to Person 2: Rub this balloon against your head, then go jump past that magnet toward the target on the wall. [caption] Before the bathroom scale was invented, the only way to weigh people was mass spectrometry.
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Physghoul 👻 🎃 @physgal.bsky.social · 13/05/2025
This is so stupid.
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Catherine McKenna @cathmckenna.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
Exercise your right to vote today, Canadians! Own your democracy! 🇨🇦🗳️
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
Chiral landscape. With teaching over for the year I can turn my attention to research! This polarized microscopy image was captured as part of a study into stimuli responsive chiral liquid crystals #sciart
Photomicrograph of a chiral liquid crystal
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Signs of spring!
Two flickers mating on a roofBirds migrating in V formation
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
First day of advanced voting! Casting my vote early.
Sign pointing to voting station
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David Shiffman, Ph.D. 🦈 @whysharksmatter.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
In the wake of the ongoing disasters with funding streams, I'm seeing lots of folks suggest that scientists turn to social media crowdfunding to fund their research. For about a decade I held the record for the social media crowdfunded project that got the most funding. I received about $9,000.
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Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
New blog post: Nicol invents a polarizing prism (1828) 🧪 skullsinthestars.com/2025/04/12/n...
skullsinthestars.com
Nicol invents a polarizing prism (1828)
I’ve talked a lot about polarization recently, including the story of how the best polarizing material was discovered on accident and how modern polarizers made from that material really chan…
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Physghoul 👻 🎃 @physgal.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
This would have a huge impact on particle physics research. ⚛️ 🧪
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Christopher Mims @mims.bsky.social · 12/04/2025
“It turns out you can’t buy gummy bears because you can’t buy chips from Taiwan”
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Randy McIntosh @ar0mcintosh.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
By Attacking Science, Poilievre Takes a Page from Trump's Playbook via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025...
thetyee.ca
By Attacking Science, Poilievre Takes a Page from Trump’s Playbook | The Tyee
Professors find this chilling and warn of the costs.
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Hank Green @hankgreen.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
A tricky thing about modern society is that no one has any idea when they don’t die. Like, the number of lives saved by controlling air pollution in America is probably over 200,000 per year, but the number of people who think their life was saved by controlling air pollution is zero.
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
I stood in line for more than 3 hours yesterday to vote in a municipal by election. As frustrating as the wait was, the turn out gave me hope. Democracy is fragile and needs constant nurturing.
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Between hummingbirds and the #handsoff movement, I feel a glimmer of joy for the first time in a while!
Hummingbird on branchHummingbirdHummingbird
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Happy 10th anniversary to the SFU Trottier observatory!
Observatory done illuminated by moonlight
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Randy McIntosh @ar0mcintosh.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
I'm making sure this gets the profiling it needs for the upcoming Canadian Election. The Conservative Party of Canada is using the US-WhiteHouse playbook instead of coming up with a better way to ensure Canadian science shines. www.caut.ca/latest/2025/...
caut.ca
CAUT alarmed by Conservative Party platform on research funding
(Ottawa – March 31, 2025) The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) is expressing alarm
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Two weeks ago, I visited several of the Smithsonian museums in DC. The art was inspiring and often subversive. It is no surprise that an authoritarian regime would find this work threatening, which is precisely why we need to fight to preserve art that speaks truth to power.
Neon sign “what if women rolled the world”Barbara Kruger “Belief+Doubt” in Hirshhorn Neon sign “this present moment used to be the unimaginable future”Quilt that reads “water is a basic human right”
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
Notwithstanding, the world spins and spring arrives.
Cherry blossoms before a darkened sky
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Vance Williams @vancew.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Recently visited DC; likely my last trip to the US for the foreseeable future.
street signs on Pennsylvania Ave. highlighting evacuation route sign
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