Podcast
Molecular Podcasting with Darren Lipomi
Hosted by Darren Lipomi · EN
This podcast lifts the veil on all topics related to STEM in academia: research, teaching, writing, speaking, and other professional topics.
Darren Lipomi is a professor of nanoengineering, chemical engineering, and materials science at UC San Diego. He obtained his PhD in chemistry from Harvard in 2010 (w/ George Whitesides) and was a postdoc at Stanford in chemical engineering from '10-'12 (w/ Zhenan Bao). He is a recipient of the PECASE and became full professor in 2019.
Thanks to NSF CBET-1929748 for support. Views don't necessarily reflect those of NSF or UCSD.
Cover art bkg: Sam Root
17episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
#104 – Defending science on AM radio: How (or not) to communicate to the public
2w ago00:33:54Tap to summarizeLately I've been doing a lot of early-morning AM radio spots in local markets: 700WLW in Cincinnati, WCUB in Wisconsin. I posted "my side" of what these radio hits look like. The prep, the environment, the difficulty of coming up with answers which are do not sound canned. I think science, particularly in the US, needs defenders. I'm just experimenting with the best way to do this and letting you in on the process. Cheers!**Correction: 600 thousand papers per year published in the US; not 600 : )My name is Darren Lipomi, professor and chair, Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering, University of Rochester. Please consider supporting my public advocacy for science by purchasing my book, from $9.99 and up, here:https://a.co/d/0akwfp3y Available for Spotify subscribers here:https://open.spotify.com/show/3uEY9jOwopxCyZ6DHAFkLE?si=23d46c1752bb419e
Transcribe →#103 – How to manage your time and other people in a lab: productivity hacks for undergrads, grad students
4w ago00:52:40Tap to summarizeA talk I gave to undergraduate summer researchers at University of Rochester. Tips and tricks I use to manage my time and work with others. Hopefully something in this video saves you many times more time than it takes to watch it!Darren Lipomi, professor and chair, Department of Chemical and Sustainability Engineering, University of Rochester. Please consider supporting my public advocacy for science by purchasing my book, from $9.99 and up, here:https://a.co/d/0akwfp3y Available for Spotify subscribers here:https://open.spotify.com/show/3uEY9jOwopxCyZ6DHAFkLE?si=23d46c1752bb419e
Transcribe →#102 – Is A.I. in college courses a force for good or for EVIL? We decide once and for all...i wish
Jun 600:15:40Tap to summarizeThere's a ton of controversy around the use of A.I. in the classroom. The New York Times just published an article effectively saying that indiscriminate dumping of A.I. resources into the California State University system was no good, while at the same time (now Dr.) Robert Ramji and I were teaching using an A.I. tutor based on a book that we ourselves wrote (Intro to Nanoengineering, Royal Society of Chemistry). We found that the results were mixed and the students' engagement with the tutor and their feelings about it were determined by how its use was framed by the instructors. Robert, along with myself and my colleague David Fenning, wrote an article about our experiences with the tutor in Chemistry of Materials. Here, I contrast some of the findings with those of the NY Times article.Robert Ramji, David Fenning, Darren Lipomi: Chemistry of Materials articlehttps://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6c00883New York Times articlehttps://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/01/magazine/ai-university-college-california.html?smid=url-shareFirst, please consider supporting my public advocacy for science by purchasing my book, from $9.99 and up, here:https://a.co/d/0akwfp3y Available for free for Spotify subscribers here:https://open.spotify.com/show/3uEY9jOwopxCyZ6DHAFkLE?si=23d46c1752bb419e
Transcribe →#101 – How this nerd got a PhD from Harvard
Jun 400:10:00Tap to summarizeIt's "pub week" for my book, Science Nonfiction: Behind the Scenes in University Research. I don't have a paywall, so if you've enjoyed my work or found it useful, I think you'll enjoy the book. Here, I talk a bit about it, and then read a few pages describing my PhD defense in George Whitesides lab at Harvard. Available in print and eBook and audiobook from all major distributors. Here it is on Amazon https://a.co/d/08XFxt3Q and Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/3uEY9jOwopxCyZ6DHAFkLE?si=09745dff528444a0
Transcribe →#100 – The Skills You Never Got in Grad School | Darren Lipomi & Jen Heemstra
Jun 100:52:43Tap to summarizeIn this episode I sat down (though at our standing desks) with the great Jen Heemstra. Jen is the Charles Allen Thomas Professor of Chemistry and Department Chair at Washington University in St. Louis. I learned, among other things, that Jen never planned to be a chemist. She was headed toward bioethics law when a night job in a stockroom changed her trajectory entirely. Now she runs a nucleic acid chemistry lab, chairs a major department, and has just published "Labwork to Leadership: A Concise Guide to Thriving in the Science Job You Weren't Trained For" (Harvard University Press), a book for STEM researchers used to working in isolation who suddenly find themselves responsible for the success of other people.We dig into how scientists end up in leadership roles they were never prepared for, what a department chair does and who they answer to when nobody is technically their boss, and how Jen went from "I could never write a book" to finishing one in 45-minute early-morning writing sessions spread across a few years and while moving between institutions. We also lament the loss of academic Twitter, where we are finding community now, and other topics I've been dying to ask her about. You can find out more about Jen and her book at jenheemstra.com. It's also available on Amazon and all major retailers. I couldn't recommend it more. Instant classic in STEM leadership.
Transcribe →#99 – BOOK LAUNCH PREVIEW! The time I thought my advisor wanted me to make love to a molecule & other bits
May 100:06:22Tap to summarizeI've launched my book! Science Nonfiction: Behind the Scenes in University Research. Available in print and eBook (release date 6/1/26) and audiobook (available immediately) from all major distributors. Here it is on Amazon and Spotify (free with paid Spotify).
Transcribe →#98 – How to get into grad school: Lessons from a dean, chair, & grad admissions director
Apr 1900:50:00Tap to summarizeIn the last 10 years, I've posted many of my thoughts about getting into grad school. Here is the current state of my "wisdom," such as it is, now as department chair of chemical and sustainability engineering at the University of Rochester. Lessons learned from getting into Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, Scripps, and Columbia, and now having reviewed thousands of applications at large public and small private R1 institutions, and having had more than 20 undergraduate lab members get into "top-5" graduate programs.
Transcribe →#97 – How much money do PhD students make? Lifetime earnings vs. pursuing a passion
Feb 1600:10:57Tap to summarizeExcerpt and commentary from my forthcoming book, Science Nonfiction: Behind the Scenes in University Research. Please subscribe for updates and more nuggets from the book!
Transcribe →#96 – The $60 Billion System Nobody Understands: University research and the engine of discovery
Feb 900:11:55Tap to summarizeI've been absent for a while because I wrote a book! I have permission to read the prologue. It's a memoir and scientific advocacy book about how research works, under the hood, and who actually does the work. Please subscribe for updates!
Transcribe →#95 – What no one tells PhD applicants to US universities when they're preparing their applications (interviewed by Andrew Akbashev)
Oct 2401:46:33Tap to summarizeIn this thorough conversation, I tell interviewer Andrew Akbashev everything I know about graduate admissions. My credentials are graduate admissions chair, associate dean for students, department chair, advisor to many successful applicants, and applicant myself. Please check out his YouTube channel here for a trove of information for young researchers, and PLEASE subscribe to his channel. This is better than payment to us content creators: http://www.youtube.com/@andrew_akbashevCheers,Darren
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