if you ever want to visit, this is why:
December 21st, 2007 by Ψ*ΨSince I just finished my degree requirements (at long last), there’s one less thing keeping me at home. Because I’ve been here awhile, though, I figured I’d list a few of the nicer things about the area and the university.[1] Unless you’re looking at pharmacy school (and if you are…why the hell are you reading CBC?), you’re probably not thinking much about Lexington. If I had to pick somewhere to stay for 20+ years…well, this would be far from the bottom of the list…and I’m apparently not the only one who thinks so, because mevans has a similar post up.
–Rent is cheap! (And so is electricity, in this state.) It’s a fairly safe city, too.
–Spring! Mid-to-late April is the best time of year in this area. Definitely look for the weeping cherry trees.
–The Red River Gorge is about an hour away, which is awesome for anyone who likes hiking, camping or climbing.
– Coffea Island is pretty much the best coffee shop ever. Their espresso is perfect, by my standards. (This guy in particular is a kick-ass barista. I hope he doesn’t mind me using his picture.)
–Most of the students in the chemistry department are nice people. The atmosphere is definitely more cooperative than competitive.
–If you do not understand (and maybe even like) quantum after Dennis Clouthier’s class, there is no hope for you. (Many other profs teach well also, but he is the reason I am Ψ*Ψ.)
–Our crystallographer is a god on earth. Every time I see him I want to bake him cookies. Haven’t acted upon that impulse yet, though.
–I have to mention something about my group here. It’s a pretty nice working environment, especially for undergrads. Labmates are some of the coolest nerds I know. (There are many not-so-nice things I could say about my advisor, and he would agree with most of them. He’s a good mentor, though, and is usually willing to let students pursue their own ideas.)
[1] Notice the telling omissions, too: Lexington drivers, Hamburg Labyrinth, our current basketball team…
Crazy bosses are part of the job description regardless if you are in Chemistry.
Mitch
Yeah, but I don’t think I’d list my crazy boss as a reason to visit.
Bake him pot-laced cookies. He will crystallize even more colorful entities.
WTF?! …No.
Pot-laced cookies + expensive X-ray machine = BAD.
Martin Luther’s Third of 95 Theses,
“Non tamen solam intendit interiorem, immo interior nulla est, nisi foris operetur varias carnis mortificationes.”
The real world is hungry for your insertion. Baby Boomers are massively retiring. Your wallet is our pablum. If you want something for yourself… you won’t get it unless you steal it. (Shed cherry petals pollute – BOD in the river.)
Hmmm. Cherry petals or hog farms? Which would I rather have polluting my water? Reeeeeally tough decision there.
Totally agree – the hog farmers are such an uncouth bunch. Having them swimming around (in tattered undies) in the Kentucky waterways…
I AM GETTING OUT OF HERE YESSSSS!!!!!!! SEE YOU IN ‘09 (maybe…
)
But in all seriousness, if you’re smart, come to Lexington.
For the normal college student in chemistry, if they are thinking of heading to grad school, I tell them there is nothing wrong with choosing a grad school based on geographic location. Wonderful graduate programs can be found in every corner of the USA.
After seeing the picture and your description, I’m willing to suggest Kentucky to my students. As long as you keep sending basketball coaches to Minnesota, I’ll do anything.
I don’t think you really want the coach we have now! I mean, he needs several seasons to prove himself, but…
So Minnesotans are glad to have Tubby?
Minnesotans are ecstatic about having Tubby. The Big Ten season will be the real test, but 7-1 so far is not too bad considering what he is working with.
Lexington is a pleasant city. I liked it there as well as anywhere I’ve lived. I like grad school there. I had other options, but my family was my main concern, since we are native Kentuckians, and my wife hated moving away from her mom. I fell into the right group and had a good and productive time, so I’m glad I went there.
UK is a mixed bag, with pockets of greatness. Bossman is a curiosity, but I like and admire the crazy bastard. We almost never butted heads, because I just wandered off when he got on my nerves, and some of my labmates were so fussy and whiny that my weirdness was kind of tame, I think. He put up with my crap and scheming. He looked away when necessary, and I made a point of leaving him plenty of room for plausible denial.
Got to agree with your assessment of the Lord of the Goniometer, too. And I love Dennis Clouthier.
There is some marvelous spelunking in the area.
The driving has been appalling everywhere I have lived. The basketball team has been breaking my heart, though.
I’m not cultured enough to fully appreciate the Shaker village nearby, but the architecture and furniture were way cool. The gorge is great, and the mountains and Cumberland Gap aren’t too far away.
I’ve actually never been to the Cumberland Gap.
I’ve read the blog for a long time but now feel the need to post. We can’t let Lexington get all the glory. Let me tell you about the marvelous jewel to the west–Louisville.
I’ve only lived in Louisville for my undergrad years, but I must say it is quite the marvelous city. Sure beats the snot out of the NKY.
First off, check out the funny, weird ad campaign here: http://www.sharelouisville.org/.
We have Bardstown road, Mecca of the weird and eccentric. A place where you can buy shirts that say “Keep Louisville Weird” or “Keep Lexington Lame”. A place to listen to indie music, buy CDs, check out a weird, never heard of movie, eat Bosnian, and drink beer brewed five feet from you all in the same city block.
There’s Waterfront park where you can take your sweetie to walk around at night and gaze out into Indiana (but never really travel there…except for this place called Richo’s which has an AMAZING beer selection from around the globe).
We have Thunder Over Louisville, one of the largest fireworks display in the world, which leads up to what we’re most famous for: HORSES. That’s right, Derby, the perfect time to go into the infield, drink under the blazing sun, and watch horses run around in loops. Hey, the Queen was here for it last year.
As for the main school, the University of Louisville, we’ve got quite the Medical program. We had the first hand transplant and are on the cutting edge of modern medicine and training of doctors (especially with the standardized patient training program). The chem department is currently in overhaul mode as most of the organic faculty begin to retire. We’ve hired two new professors in the past two years for organic and are currently screening more, including one for organometallics (one candidate was quite impressed with the amount of lab space she, as a lowly assistant professor would be given to begin her research in). Collaborative work is incredibly easy to accomlish here. My group has very close ties with the med school where we’re doing some medicinal chemistry and having plant extracts screened. It seems the program is definitely trying to reinvent itself and, hopefully in the coming years, will become a powerhouse of chemistry.
We do have some issues, notably a city wide smoking ban in buildings (if that’s your thing) and the state government continually thinking that UK is the only thing worth dumping money into (even if UofL surpasses the “Flagship Institution” in several ways). Come check it out. You won’t be disappointed.
I’ve never lived in Louisville, but my mother’s family is from there, and I have had friends there. My brother went to Bellarmine for a couple of years and really loved Louisville. Visiting family and in-laws is always a treat. And I have friends from the funkier parts of Louisville who have shown me some of the scene there.
I think that Louisville’s engineering school is very good. That sort of thing matters more and more as multi-disciplinary research becomes the rule. And your experience with the med school shows that the lines of communication are open there.
I still watch Kentucky politics a little, and it is appalling how higher ed is treated. UK is favored, but neither is having money ‘dumped’ into it; these two schools shouldn’t be arguing over who gets the table scraps and chicken bones. Two healthy, competitive and vital schools with good funding would do the state wonders.
Couldn’t agree more on the last point. This state as a whole would be completely different if it actually valued education.
And parking spaces.
Perhaps “dumped” is the improper term. The stuff I’ve seen definitely favored the blue over the red. Our dorms could desperately use some renovation! If only politicians had a little sense.
The Speed Engineering school is quite impressive. Masters in five years, though I’m not intimately familiar with it. I do have friends going through it and I know a lot of people who started out as aspiring engineers to be crushed by 8am calculus and whatnot. There is interesting research being done, however, I get the feeling that they exist in a separate universe, so to speak. It’s probably a shame, a good, interdisciplinary connection could really lead to amazing things.
Since I know exactly who you are, I think a day trip to Lousiville is in order soon. I’ve never had much of an opportunity to go exploring there.
You should come over. And then I’ll day trip over to Lex to explore. T’would be very amusing.
excimer, psi*psi: sorry for changing a subject – please do you know of any decent meterial science company that is hiring and has a decent pharma company nearby that is hiring too?
We have a great medicinal chemist in our group and she married a material science chemist; his company is in Research Triangle and for her it is hard to find a job up there so so they live in this long-distance relationship for many years now. Please let me know if you happen to know about something, thanks. My e-mail address is tomasv@[myinstitutename].edu
Much appreciated
Sounds rough! I don’t know of anything out there, but hopefully one of our readers might.
um, not off the top of my head. A bunch of people just got jobs in my group (mostly for polymer chem) but I don’t remember where they are located. I’ll ask.
thanks!
Don’t forget, UK has Jack Selegue. He’s got plenty of recovered ruthenium and hoarded thallium sulfate for everyone.
Just don’t steal his pennies.
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