8/30/2007

WelCome!

Welcome in US

Every year hundreds of Nepali students come to US for their further study. Among them at least ~80 are graduate students. This is my tentative figure. Nobody knows exact data, even the Government of Nepal. Very few undergraduates get scholarship/free ship and most of them don't get that opportunity. Only getting VISA is great for their departure to the so called dreamland of many people. Actually this is a dreamland. Life is very hard without funding. A very handful students get funding from home back in Nepal otherwise others do hard work to make money for their living, tuition fee and others. Ok, lets leave this matter here. I will write about this in depth later on.

And welcome to graduate students!

All graduate students get either teaching assistantship(~95% at the beginning) or research assistantship which includes fee waive and stipend. They don't need to worry about economic problems. You can have American standard life (with your family). Some are even able to save some money from the stipend- thats great.

My friend Nabin has written on his blog that approximately there are 25 new comers in physics. And in chemistry about 30. I have talked to some of them to make approximation. How many in mathematics? Some body from the same subject can tell. Some are from geology, agriculture & veterinary, engineering etc. This number is huge number from a country like Nepal. We have only Tribhuvan University to produce Masters in almost all science streams. In case of chemistry intake every year is 90. This year ~30 came to US and others in other countries for M.S or PhD. So about 40-50% go abroad every year.

You have got new life in a sense and it is challenging as well. Any you made it. Congratulations! to all of you and welcome once again. I wish all the best to everyone in future.


8/25/2007

Chemists! don't worry about Job

During my Bachelor's degree third year I had very hard time to choose my major. I had three options, Botany, Zoology and chemistry. I was equally interested to botany and zoology because I had thought that these subjects could bring me closer to community and nature than others. But for us(at least me, how abt you?), our interests is not the only one factor that decides your career. We look for availability of job also. Thats why I decided chemistry as specialized subject in the third year. The time was critical because you couldn't get admission in the subject other than your specialized one in Tribhuvan University. I decided chemistry as my major because I thought "I can earn for my living by tutoring private students." This is still true in Kathmandu. You can get more tutoring job with chemistry than with botany. I know most of the students feel chemistry is hard subject. Actually that was my good decision and I have no frustration after it. In my masters degree, I did very good. Now I am enjoying this area, though I have shifted little bit from pure chemistry to analytical-environmental chemistry.I can't guaranty that you can get good job in Nepal, but in USA a PhD chemistry graduate can earn $90000 per annum in average. Recently one article published in SCIENCE reveals that chemists have a broad, and broadening, range of career options to choose from, both in and out of the lab. This doesn't only include lab oriented works but also it explores 'not traditional roles'. Even with the exponential growth in the life science arena, chemists are central to the biotech and life science industries. Life science companies are crying out for postgraduate chemists.

According to the news report, Sigma-Aldrich which is a leading life science and high tech company hires about 45% chemists to 55% biologists at PhD level.

Non traditional chemists include all the science companies-chemical companies, biotech companies, pharmaceutical companies-but also law firms, companies involved in public policy, and companies involved in manufacturing or information technology.

Some of the chemistry areas in which you can find highly paid job easily are biochemistry, medicinal chemistry, analytical chemistry, combinatorial chemistry, synthetic organic chemistry etc.
Here are some links to some big organizations and companies. You can find more there.

Agilent www.agilent.com
American Chemical Society www.chemistry.org
Balbes Consultants www.balbes.com
Genentech www.gene.com
Royal Society of Chemistry www.rsc.org
Sigma-Aldrich www.sigmaaldrich.com

8/20/2007

Incredible! Tabala Player

Young and Promising tabala player from Nepal is playing 'Tabala' very well. His name is Niroj Shakya. The boy is showing his awesome skill. Great work of Niroj. He plays like a professional player. He is less than 10 years old, I guess. Woh! .The video was recorded in Yala Maya Center, Patan Dhoka Nepal on June 16, 2007. Tabala is a drum type of classical musical instrument mainly played in eastern culture. Enjoy the play.

8/12/2007

Divorce: Good or bad

Its been almost 11 months after I came to the United States of America. I landed on Los Angels airport 11th September last year. Working on my research which will lead me to get my degree is my main job. Besides that I am learning western culture and life style of people. Well, there is gig differences between west and east of the world. I am not an expert about this. I will just try to write whatever I see, my experience, and my feeling.

Yesterday I was pretty busy in lab with my work. My lab had group meeting, but due to "ASE" problems, I was not able to attend the meeting all time. Actually I couldn't leave the ASE unattended. After group meeting we went for drinks. At the mean time, my adviser told that it was for her "separation". I got surprised. really? I asked her. "Is it good news or bad news?" In between good and bad, she replied my second question.


8/09/2007

How do you use toilet in Space?

NASA has lunched its space shuttle Endeavour to International space station today from Kennedy space center in Florida.

Lets talk about one interesting thing here today-related to space travel. Here on earth there is a great force called "Gravity". Because of this we can walk, and more things possible..........But imagine the place where there is no gravity. You can't even walk on the ground as you are doing here on earth. Here is a video that tells how you use toilet in space-there is no gravity.

Great science and great scientists!

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=719635

8/05/2007

17 children from same parents in Arkansas, USA

Everyday I start my work by checking email and looking at news all around the world. Yesterday morning in the lab, my eyes got stuck on this news. I have heard many news related to the number of children in underdeveloped countries. This happens in the place from where I am from. May not be to the same number. In my village there is a family known as "Kanchha jyoti". This is the name of the family by which villagers call them. I know they have about 1 dozen children. In some places some family have more than this number.

My fathers youngest uncle had 9 children. Now all of them are grown up and doing good in their professional life. My mothers uncle had akin number of children. My guess is their first kid was born about at least 5 decades ago and youngest was born about 3 decades ago. At that time they didn't have the facility of family planning that's why they were compelled to give birth to so many children. Even these days some parents have about half dozen children. This is because they are not sensitive to the result of their kid's future or they don't have excess to contraceptives. One more reason is that due to some social miss-conception and due to religious belief athey need their son at the time of their last mourning work. So, hoping to get son, many mothers are forced to give birth to many daughters. This is the situation of developing countries or under developed villages. But here in USA why some crazy people want and give birth to so many children? Its a big  surprise  for me.