Science Metropolis – Boston

A scene from last year’s fair. (Credit: Daniel Pressl)

The 13th annual European Career Fair (ECF), matching candidates from America’s best universities with the top echelon of employers from Europe, will be held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), January 24-26, 2009.

Supported by the European Commission and leading European employers, the career fair is the largest event of its kind. Given the state of the global economy, it is increasingly important to have the ability to mobilize and attract creative employees. The European Career Fair is not merely a stepping stone for Europeans to continue their career back in Europe, but it also attracts many non-European candidates from a number of different fields.

At the last fair in February 2008, the ECF attracted over 4000 job seekers from 114 countries, with roughly equal numbers from Europe, US and the rest of the world. The majority of them came from MIT and Harvard or other Ivy League universities. The number of companies and non-profit organizations attending the career fair has grown by over 40% in recent years, reflecting the increase in global competition for talent and the high quality of the fair. Owing to its success, the ECF has been endorsed by the Ambassador of the European Commission Delegation to the United States – John Bruton, Nobel Prize winner – Roger Kornberg, and the MIT president – Susan Hockfield, among others. Organized by the European Club of MIT with the support of the European Commission and the MIT International Sciences and Technology Initiatives (MISTI), the transatlantic nature of the ECF is underscored by the cooperation with the IKOM Career Fair in Munich.

The 13th European Career Fair will take place on the MIT campus, January 24-26, 2009. Candidates who wish to participate are invited to submit their resumes to www.euro-career.com by November 28, 2008. Participating employers can select candidates from the online database and hold interviews at the fair. Companies and non-profit employers may register until December 15, 2008.

The fair will also include several panel discussions. On January 23rd, 2009 the European Commission and MISTI will host a panel discussion focusing on renewable energy and the knowledge economy.In addition, ScienceCareers, the career section of the journal Science, will present a discussion on transitioning from US academia to European industry on January 25th.

The above is a press release from the Press Team of the European Career Fair 2009.

Earlier this month, I posted “Of Pests and Pesticides,” a video by me and my classmates on chemical-free pest control.

BU Today just posted their version of the story, which portrays the safer pest control movement, known as Integrated Pest Mangement or IPM, as an effort to prevent childhood asthma.

It’s a bit more complicated than that. Although research showing a link between childhood asthma and cockroaches does exist, it is still a theory. What researchers are finding is that harmful pesticide residues stick around in carpets and other fabrics for years after they are used. What could be causing the asthma, no one knows. Nor does anyone know whether better pest control can reduce asthma rates.

What Pest Consultant Don Rivard, (pictured above), does when he checks for roaches covers both possibilities. By using tactics such as sticky traps and gel baits to get pests, people use less pesticide sprays. At the same time, he kills more roaches.

Roaches and asthma are national issues, not just for low-income families in Boston Public Housing. Asthma has been linked to everything from smog to not going outdoors enough as a child. IPM keeps the possible connection in mind, but it is more about helping people live cleaner, healthier lives. It would have been nice to have seen the bigger picture rather than just the BU research connection. But that’s the difference between PR and journalism.

Dear readers,

When I started this site 5 months ago, I had a vision of creating something that Boston/Cambridge residents would find useful and contribute to their excitement over what’s going on in local science.

I attempted to do this with original reporting, contributions and articles, but am starting to see that this direction isn’t enough. Also, reporting on the city of Boston from Cape Cod has added another layer of difficulty.

I could really use your input on how to make this site a better resource. I’ve seen some very interesting blogs that are simply news aggregators and distributors, and think this might be an important component to add into the mix. In the past I’ve also reported to the beat of my own drum, but I see there is a news cycles and an online conversation about news items, so I may shift the site in that direction as well. If I combine this with the original reporting Science Metropolis is built from, stay tuned for more posts and a more dynamic site.

Please comment if you have ideas for what you’d like to see or how I can improve this site.

Joseph

It’s finals time at Boston University, and student science journalists here are hard at work calling researchers and reading journal articles. As a way to pay my classmates tribute, here is a special post showcasing some of their work this semester. Below are excerpts from controversy features about nanotechnology, pharmacrops and biometrics. If you’re a student and have a science story that you’re proud of, e-mail me, and we can post it here or on the visitor contributions page.

“The Promise (and Potential Perils) of Nanotechnology” by Lauren Rugani

Asbestos was once heralded as a miracle material, only to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths. Genetically modified foods were supposed to cure world hunger, but ended up creating the first artificial cancer. Now, as nanotechnology promises improved consumer products, potential cancer therapies and a cleaner global environment, should we take a hint from the past and abandon all efforts, or should we give this emerging technology the benefit of the doubt as it grows into a trillion dollar industry?

Nanotechnology has grown steadily over the past few decades, but has also faced questions about its unforeseen and unintended health and environmental consequences. Because nanoparticles are so small – on the scale of one billionth of a meter – most of the atoms sit at the surface and are able to interact with other materials better than their bulk counterparts. However, the unique physical and chemical properties that make them so useful are also cause for concern, since relatively little is known about their long-term effects. continue reading…

“Farming Drugs: Playing with Pharmacrops” by Nuño Dominguez

Paul Christou’s corn may look ordinary, but inside each kernel is an ingredient found in no other corn crop in the world.

Christou, an expert in plant biochemistry working at Lleida University in Spain, has tweaked the genes of his corn so it produces 2G12, an antibody that blocks HIV infection. The research is part of a European project to use genetically modified plants to generate inexpensive drugs that could help developing countries fight infectious diseases on their own. In the United States, other researchers are also using plants to develop easy-to-use vaccines with an eye on poor countries. The philosophy of the transgenic plant researchers is clear: why manufacture a drug, when you can grow it? continue reading….

“The New Lunch Money: The Business of Biometrics in Schools” by Jeff Meredith

It’s becoming much tougher for the class bully to steal your lunch money these days. Thousand of schools in the US now allow students to pay for their meals by simply placing their index finger on a fingerprint scanner: a cashless system. But the growing use of biometrics in cafeterias has many parents and civil libertarians worried about identity theft and violation of children’s privacy. And their voices are being heard as many states are either banning fingerprint scanning in schools or requiring parental consent.

Biometrics, physical or behavioral characteristics of a person that can be measured and used for identification, were once relegated to spy thriller movies and classified government installations. Now they’re being used in schools for a variety of purposes: recording attendance, preventing unauthorized building access, and managing the checkout of library books. But most schools focus upon speeding up lunch lines; the rationale is that students may lose their ID cards or forget PIN numbers and slow down a transaction, but they can’t forget their index finger. continue reading…

Science Metropolis is being reborn. By the end of the week expect new content, a better blog, and more ways to learn what’s going on in the world of Boston science. Email Joseph if you’re interested in being a writer or want to get involved.