Research for Mystery Novel

[Larimar]

I am writing a novel in which the protagonist is a STEM professor. For a scene in the story I need to know how long the typical lifespan would be of a mass spectrometer of a kind that a fictional SLAC might have in their science labs, and how many a typical science division at a SLAC might have. Would anyone in STEM be able to tell me?

Thanks,

Larimar

[fleabite]

I have no expertise in that domain, but I wanted to wish you luck on your novel. That's exciting! I think there used to be a thread on the old fora about novels with academic settings. As it happens, I just finished Allison Lurie's Foreign Affairs, which features two faculty members from Corinth University in New York (an obvious stand-in for Cornell).

[marshwiggle]

I am writing a novel in which the protagonist is a STEM professor. For a scene in the story I need to know how long the typical lifespan would be of a mass spectrometer of a kind that a fictional SLAC might have in their science labs, and how many a typical science division at a SLAC might have. Would anyone in STEM be able to tell me?

Thanks,

Larimar

I'd imagine you can find some that are decades old and still in operation. How many there would be would depend entirely on the research interests of the faculty members. Lots of physics faculty would never need one; others would use one routinely.

[spork]

You might try asking Charlie Freeman at SUNY Geneseo this question.

[Larimar]

Thanks, everyone. If mass spectrometers can last for decades, then I may need to come up with another type of lab equipment for my fictional committee to argue about purchasing. It needs to be something that different science departments would all use at a SLAC, something that would need to be replaced - or usually gets replaced - maybe about every 5 years, give or take. Any ideas?

Thanks,

Larimar

[Larimar]

Still working on my mystery novel, and have another question to ask if any forumites with relevant administrative, security, or journalism knowledge are willing.

How would the campus administration and security at a SLAC react to a sudden large burst of media attention focused on a couple of tenure-track faculty members, related to a police investigation? If it matters, the media attention is not because of anything my fictional characters had done - they are not suspects in the mystery, and are not in legal or ethical trouble. They are just unavoidably close to the situation, caught in a proverbial crossfire.

Would the college put the faculty members on leave? Would the college president get involved? How would campus security handle a sudden swarm of reporters on campus trying to interview the faculty members? What journalistic rules/norms of behavior would the reporters need to follow? Anything else I would need to know to make such a scene realistic?

Thanks,

Larimar

[Ruralguy]

We had a situation like this recently, in some ways more than one. In any case, the only one that led to a leave was when the favulty member was under investigation. Some other folks who were personally or professionally involved with this person were not put on leave.

[sinenomine]

My institution's media and communications team would mandate that all requests for interviews go through them (and our president would definitely be apprised). In a situation like you outline, campus security would be advised as well. And since 2020, all access to campus buildings is via institutional ID cards, so outsiders would not be able to access buildings/offices.

[Volhiker78]

Interesting stuff Larimar.   I can only speculate about my alma mater but unless the media attention somehow endangers the students, I don't think my SLAC would put them on leave.  They might request leaves themselves, and my guess is that there are committees/policies in place for granting such leaves.  Yes, the President and Dean would likely be involved.  I do not know how campus security would handle a large media throng, they would probably place a few officers outside of faculty members' office building and lock the entrances if they don't already automatically lock. My guess would be that security would tell media the persons are unavailable without acknowledging whether they are even there or not.

[ciao_yall]

Campus media would request that all go through them. Faculty are not usually affected unless they, specifically are in legal trouble and it has gone to the extent that they cannot fulfill their duties. IE, they are in jail so they can't teach their classes. Unless they have really done something wrong, or someone has something on them such as another wrongdoing that hasn't surfaced publicly, they administration would not be able to do much.

You can always write in a few loudmouthed students and other employee activists who would use the media spotlight to ignore the campus request to go through official channels and try to push visibility for their own agendas.

[Istiblennius]

I think we are the kind of institution you have in mind - multiple departments (Chem, Bio, Environmental Science) use the same piece of equipment and we only have one. The equipment that comes to mind is we've got an -80 freezer, a shaking incubator, a microcentrifuge, and a nano-drop system (think pipetting very small amounts of liquid). We also have a central De-ionizing water system that isn't replaced regularly, but is touchy and has to be serviced and upgraded on a regular cycle.

[Larimar]

Thanks, everyone! This is all very helpful! Hadn't thought about ID-access locks for the campus buildings, probably because my CC doesn't have them. Come to think of it, though my alma mater, which is a SLAC, didn't have them back during the Devonian Era when I was there,  they do have them now. I'm glad I won't have to have my characters put on leave; I didn't want to do that. Having the media need to go through the college media relations office will also simplify some things for my next couple of scenes. Also thanks for the ideas for the lab equipment for my fictional committee to argue over (it's gonna be a horrible, awful, cringe-worthy squabble)! One of those items might be just what I need!

Thanks,
Larimar

[Funastrum]

Anything that you could make up, no matter how implausible it may seem, could happen on some campus somewhere.   Our power (electricity supply) is old and sometimes fries equipment.  The equipment eventually gets replaced but the underlying problem is never fixed.  Similarly, people get put on leave or fired for trivial reasons while others continue to work while having stolen millions (although their spouse was a high-level administrator).   We have keypad locks which routinely let everyone in or keep everyone out.  People would not believe the stuff that really happens. 

[Larimar]

An excellent point, Funastrum. Hence the familiarity of the phrase stranger than fiction! BTW sorry to hear that your campus infrastructure is so problematic. I know my patience quickly wears thin when things don't work at my institution.

[Larimar]

I'm almost finished with the first draft of my mystery novel! Finished the chapter with the story's climax on the morning of Christmas Eve!

Then it'll be back to the beginning for a ginormous about of revisions.

Are there any forumites who teach astronomy who would be willing to be interviewed, via Zoom or email, for the purposes of my book about day-in-the-life tenure-track workload and committee work, astronomy research and workspace, and anything else I might need to know to make my story realistic? Please PM me if you're interested.

Thank you!
Larimar