I stumbled across IONiC VIPEr almost by accident in 2016. I’ve been participating in the community in various capacities ever since – most notably as part of the second cohort of VIPEr Fellows. As a part of this project, we were asked to choose between two topics – bonding or solid state -- which would serve as the basis for our participation. I decided to join Team Solids, partially on a lark but partially because I knew it was my weaker topic. Oh, what an interesting and lovely ride this Fellows journey has been.

In many ways, my academic life has felt like a series of increasingly difficult mountains to climb: Get a Ph.D.! Find a job! Learn to teach [well]! Get tenure! Figure out my post-tenure focus! (Admittedly, the last one hasn’t been as rough as the rest.) Teaching at a PUI is my dream job, but ten years in I still find the sheer amount of work to be daunting. IONiC has proven invaluable as I develop my courses and think more deeply about what and how I am teaching. VIPEr frequently lowers the activation barrier to writing homework assignments or exams, and it even helped me plan an upcoming sabbatical -- just by facilitating conversations between people who are eager to help and learn together. I want this community to exist to help each of us make our jobs just a little bit easier and continue to improve inorganic chemical education.

What I have found most wonderful and valuable about IONiC and VIPEr, however, is the welcoming environment to be as involved or uninvolved as my schedule allows. When times are busy, I can insulate myself away, acknowledge its existence, and participate in a limited fashion (GFN -- Guilt-Free No!). When I have the focus, though, I can cross that small energy barrier and let my ideas flow in a wonderfully conductive environment. With each interaction, I have found that my conduction and valence bands get a little more doped with IONiC goodness, and that band gap shrinks. I learn new ideas and techniques, and my professional network strengthens and grows. I can (and have) moved between conducting and insulating states, and yet I continue to be welcomed in whatever form I am presenting. To me, this is the magic sauce of IONiC: (i) recognizing that we each have different capacities at different times and (ii) acknowledging that it is fine. I’m incredibly grateful to be a part of this lattice, and as my time as a Fellow comes to a close, I’m looking forward to seeing what crystallizes next.