My colleague and scientist extraordinaire, Dr. Glen Smales, has been key to the successful operation of the MOUSE lab for the last five years. During that time, he gradually took on and took over an increasing amount of tasks, now organizing and running most of the collaborative X-ray scattering projects we have (in addition to developing extended synthesis series on our robotics platform). His work has, of course, led to a stellar publication record over those years, and has put our scattering efforts on the international map. We’ve organized workshops, ran a lecture series, invented several new analysis and investigation methods, and had quite some fun along the way. Testimonials include “The best! :)”, “a critical and compassionate colleague, five stars!”, and “Glen is one of the colleagues who really cares about scientific integrity”.
In two months, however, his post-doc contract will end and no permanent position was available for him to transition into. While he is not alone in this – it is just one of many crises currently plaguing academia – it is heartbreaking to see and experience the lack of career opportunities for post-docs. The expertise that has been painstakingly gained over the years is now lost so easily, and with that loss, we have to dial back the plans and ideas for the laboratory as well. No replacement is envisioned.
In any case, I hope you will all join me in thanking Glen for his massive efforts for the scattering and materials science community, and wish him all the best for the coming future. We still have quite a few highlights and new work of his to share with you in the coming weeks and months, and I aim to be among the first to inform you on that.