This would be what we called a “gas pack” - which I think was a brand name, it’s been a while.
What I would have considered a ‘dewer’ was a vessel meant to hold cryogenic liquid that was not under pressure, basically a thermos of any number of sizes. And then there are these large vessels that can hold pressure. Some are only meant to have minimal pressure, because the user is interested in the cryogenic liquid inside, so the pressure is like less than 20psi if memory serves. The unit that is being referred to in this post was the aforementioned ‘gas pack’ that has an extra set of tubing that is wrapped in a around the inner of two vessels, so that liquid can gasify due to the heat exchange effect this coil provides, and allow this gas to be used by the customer. These are usually vented around 250psi, again if memory serves, so that the vessel doesn’t explode, ha ha. You can keep it from venting by isolating this gasification line, but that also reduces the convenience. It’d probably be best to store the vessel in a temperature controlled location to minimize the the chance of overpressurization.
you haven’t known true fear until you’re working with incredibly toxic chemicals or weighing tiny amounts and get the jumpscare of your life by one of these
The entire post-PhD phase put me off getting a PhD. I’d rather work an office job than trying to constantly scramble for Grant funding literally all the time on top of the demands of teaching, research, and the constant pressure to write papers.
I did one year of a postdoc in the neuroscience/endocrinology of stress and trauma. I dragged my wife and daughter from Ohio to NY, not quite NYC but close enough to feel the pain of its cost of living, and nearly ruined my marriage trying to support the three of us on the stipend. I wrote a grant proposal about nine months in, but I was so stressed out over everything (fitting for the research, no?) that I already decided I was done with the whole thing before I even submitted it. We moved back to Ohio, and I did a couple of semesters as an adjunct prof, after which I swore never to do it again.
I interviewed for other fellowships prior to that one; one lab, a very well-regarded lab at Michigan focusing on functional MRI and affective neurophysiology, stood out to me because none of the seven postdocs the lab already had had authored a single paper even after having been there for years. The two PIs running the lab, a husband and wife team, collaborated so much with other labs that they never gave their postdocs any opportunities to work on their most pivotal, high-profile projects. After I interviewed, one of them took me aside and said that it would not be a good opportunity for that reason, and that his experience in academia was not an isolated one. The others ranged from being similarly jaded to… idk, having some kind of Stockholm syndrome.
Between these experiences and the long chats I’d have with my similarly disenchanted labmate from grad school, I gave up on all of it and looked for alternatives. I’ve been working as a sci-comms writer in the pharma industry, in the agency setting, for almost five years now and I’m way better off. Being in academia for a year after defending just straight-up murdered my idealistic outlook on research. I’m not in love with the job I have now, but I’m in a mindset anyway where I don’t want to be defined by my career, it’s just something that pays the bills, but it does it very well.
I hear ya. Grad school did a number on my mental health. The fear of failure is embedded in just about everything, from the high GPA expectations (even from your first semester), to the quals, to the thesis. The pressure on yourself can be too much to bear.
I find myself less stressed in industry having worked in various positions over the years, and despite all the college I have yet to use calculus at all (it’s spreadsheets as far as the eye can see) and rarely have to use any of the other number of subjects I took in college. The one school course that had helped me the most in my actual work career has been my middle school typing course, I can type super fast as a result lol. Maximum productivity with my mechanical keyboard at work, keycaps go brrrrrrr.
I used to feel ashamed at myself for not going all the way, for withdrawing soon after I got my masters. I felt like a complete failure. This has lessened over time as I realize that the entire rest of everyone’s working life is a grind regardless of how far up in academia you go, and that I would be in a very similar position otherwise.
What if so? Well, then that’s not the whole of academia that they dislike, only maybe those parts being mixed with the others, and as you note, there are apparently jobs in the field/industry that do allow one to avoid some of those parts they dislike.
Had a prof tell horror stories about this kind of thing happening. Peers who started at a similar time were already postdocs or in industry, meanwhile their colleague had yet to defend cause their PI just would not let them go.
In the UK the regulation is very strict, especially for foreign students. Need to submit by the end of 4th year and finish viva within five. years. If not, end up with complimentary MPhil or nothing.
Got a fellow candidate who submit against his supervisor’s advice. Thesis end up below par, given another year to submit (first draft) but still not satisfactory. Five years wasted.
Heard quite a lot of story like that. My office mate was even stuck during proposal session at the end of the first year. The school changed their course offer to MPhil instead. So they quit rather than doing MPhil.
Another story I heard, a student failed their viva, twice. Luckily given a third chsnce and passed at the end.
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