CCL: Workshop on Computational Biophysics (Berkeley, Aug 3-7, 2015)

 Sent to CCL by: Billy McCann [thebillywayne[A]gmail.com]
 Hello.
 This looks like a very exciting opportunity.
 If you would indulge me, I have a few words.
 One item in particular about this workshop is somewhat unfortunate for
 me, that is, the laptop hardware requirements.
 The workshop requires participants to bring their own laptop. This is
 understandable.  The hardware requirements for the laptop requires a
 discrete GPU. This also is understandable. However, such laptops do
 not come cheaply.
 I grant that the specifications listed represent technology that is
 more than a decade old. Perhaps an older, inexpensive laptop with
 these specs or better could be bought from ebay or craigslist? These
 sites are patronized for technology with "caveat emptor" writ large.
 This requirement alone keeps me from even applying.
 I, like many other chemists at the beginning of their scientific
 careers, am competing with an ever increasing number of colleagues for
 very few available positions and grant money that shrinks year by
 year. Some of us simply won't make it. Fact. You are holding this
 workshop in August, a time approximately when some of us are facing
 the end of our contracts and whose future employment is still dubious.
 The acquisition of laptops with a discrete GPU (sometimes referred to
 as "gaming laptops") will probably take priority far below the
 securing of food, shelter, clothing, and medicine.
 I apologize for the rant. But certain aspects of remaining competitive
 in computational chemistry simply strike an all-too-sensitive nerve
 for me.  Perhaps I'm over reacting. Perhaps it's that I'm frustrated
 at the state of job seeking in chemistry. Perhaps I'm frustrated
 because of the frequency at which I'm advertised such workshops,
 workshops  that I would love to attend and that I know would help me
 progress towards my long-term scientific goals (yours in particular
 does), but the limiting reagent in the reaction is money.  Always
 money.
 This ends my words. I may be alone in the sentiments that I've
 expressed here.  But I have a hunch that I'm not alone.
 For your consideration,
 Billy Wayne McCann, Ph.D.
 --
 Billy Wayne McCann, Ph.D.
 irc://irc.freenode.net:bwayne
 Plays, farces, spectacles, gladiators, strange beasts, medals,
 pictures, and other such opiates, these were for ancient peoples the
 bait toward slavery, the price of their liberty, the instruments of
 tyranny. By these practices and enticements the ancient dictators so
 successfully lulled their subjects under the yoke, that the stupefied
 peoples, fascinated by the pastimes and vain pleasures flashed before
 their eyes, learned subservience as naively, but not so creditably, as
 little children learn to read by looking at bright picture books.
 Roman tyrants invented a further refinement. They often provided the
 city wards with feasts to cajole the rabble, always more readily
 tempted by the pleasure of eating than by anything else. The most
 intelligent and understanding amongst them would not have quit his
 soup bowl to recover the liberty of the Republic of Plato. Tyrants
 would distribute largess, a bushel of wheat, a gallon of wine, and a
 sesterce: and then everybody would shamelessly cry, 'Long live the
 King!' The fools did not realize that they were merely recovering a
 portion of their own property, and that their ruler could not have
 given them what they were receiving without having first taken it from
 them.
 ~Juvenal
 On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 11:54 PM, Lela Vukovic Lvukov1/aillinois.edu
 <owner-chemistry ~ ccl.net> wrote:
 >
 > Sent to CCL by: "Lela  Vukovic" [Lvukov1(~)illinois.edu]
 > The Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group, NIH Resource for
 > Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics (www.ks.uiuc.edu) at the
 > University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (www.uiuc.edu), announces a
 >
 >  "Hands-On" Workshop on Computational Biophysics
 >
 > http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Training/Workshop/Berkeley2015/
 >
 > to be held August 3-7, 2015 at the University of California Berkeley.
 Application, selection, and
 > notification of participants is on-going through July 15, 2015.
 >
 > The workshop will explore physical models and computational approaches used
 for the
 > simulation of biological systems and the investigation of their function at
 an atomic level. The
 > course will be based on case studies, and will cover the following topics:
 using the biophysics
 > software VMD and NAMD, applications of VMD and NAMD in modern research,
 force fields
 > and parameterizing new molecules, modeling nucleic acid systems,
 computational nano-bio,
 > molecular dynamics flexible fitting of structures into cryo electron
 microscopy maps, and
 > refinement of low resolution crystal structures. Relevant physical
 concepts, mathematical
 > techniques, and computational methods will be introduced.
 >
 > The workshop is designed for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers
 in
 > computational and/or biophysical fields who seek to extend their research
 skills to include
 > computational and theoretical expertise, as well as other researchers
 interested in theoretical
 > and computational biophysics. Theory sessions in the morning will be
 followed by hands-on
 > computer labs in the afternoon in which students will be able to set up and
 run simulations.
 > Enrollment limited to 24 participants. The workshop will be held August
 3-7, 2015. All
 > participants are required to bring their own laptop, prepared for use in
 workshop tutorial
 > sessions. Course materials will be provided.
 >
 > The workshop is sponsored by the National Institute of General Medical
 Sciences
 > (www.nigms.nih.gov) and the NIH Center for Macromolecular Modeling and
 Bioinformatics.
 >
 > We look forward to receiving your application!
 >
 > TCBG Workshop Organizers
 > Email: workshop+berkeley2015^-^ks.uiuc.edu>
 >