Baffled by U.S. high-skill immigration policy? A report issued by the Congressional Research Service on 11 May provides a clear, concise, balanced, and brief overview of the programs and policy issues in this highly contentious area, as well as a history of the legislation affecting it. One interesting fact: about 10% of the H-1B visas issued for 2011 were for work at universities. Another fact: though a number of bills to make changes in the current situation have been introduced, none has advanced as far as to clear a committee, which is a vital step toward a bill becoming law. In other words, nothing to bring about any changes has happened yet.
Beryl Lieff Benderly
May 14, 2012
A "Passing Comment" Becomes a Scientific Opportunity
Kathleen Bongiovanni is "pretty low on the totem pole" at the Seattle Children's Research Institute and, being a program manager, is not even technically a researcher. But a "passing comment" made by a senior medical expert gave her an idea that has already merited a $100,000 research grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It may eventually be developed into a simple test that could save the lives of millions of premature babies in poor countries, reports Tom Paulson at Humanosphere, a website that reports on global health.
Nobody believed a young program manager like Bongiovanni could win a research grant from a prestigious foundation, but she applied anyway. Now she's preparing to begin her study and is even traveling to Uganda to look into organizing a pilot project there.
Bongiovanni's brainwave occurred when, during a meeting, neonatologist Tom Hansen, MD, mentioned a test for respiratory distress that can kill premature babies that was used early in his career, but which has now been superseded in the United States by high-tech monitoring methods. In the "old days," Hansen said, doctors tested babies for the conditions by mixing alcohol with fluid obtained by amniocentesis. If the mixture was bubbly, the baby's lungs were healthy. If not, the baby was in respiratory distress.
"My idea was to revamp the old test so that it can be used with oral fluid from a newborn's mouth," the article quotes Bongiovanni. "I thought to myself that this could be really useful in poor countries." Thanks to her gumption in applying for a Gates Grand Challenges grant, she now has the chance to find out. And if she's right, countless babies may survive infancy who otherwise wouldn't.
It's wonderful that something so cheap and simple might do so much good. And it's possibly even more wonderful that someone of low academic status, whose colleagues "expressed doubt" (to put it mildly, I'll bet) that she could succeed in attracting funding, will actually have the chance to put her elegant insight to the test. Who knows what brilliant ideas are hatching among people "not qualified" to receive funding? Here's hoping that Bongiovanni was right; not only about her chances of winning the grant, but about saving babies as well.
Nobody believed a young program manager like Bongiovanni could win a research grant from a prestigious foundation, but she applied anyway. Now she's preparing to begin her study and is even traveling to Uganda to look into organizing a pilot project there.
Bongiovanni's brainwave occurred when, during a meeting, neonatologist Tom Hansen, MD, mentioned a test for respiratory distress that can kill premature babies that was used early in his career, but which has now been superseded in the United States by high-tech monitoring methods. In the "old days," Hansen said, doctors tested babies for the conditions by mixing alcohol with fluid obtained by amniocentesis. If the mixture was bubbly, the baby's lungs were healthy. If not, the baby was in respiratory distress.
"My idea was to revamp the old test so that it can be used with oral fluid from a newborn's mouth," the article quotes Bongiovanni. "I thought to myself that this could be really useful in poor countries." Thanks to her gumption in applying for a Gates Grand Challenges grant, she now has the chance to find out. And if she's right, countless babies may survive infancy who otherwise wouldn't.
It's wonderful that something so cheap and simple might do so much good. And it's possibly even more wonderful that someone of low academic status, whose colleagues "expressed doubt" (to put it mildly, I'll bet) that she could succeed in attracting funding, will actually have the chance to put her elegant insight to the test. Who knows what brilliant ideas are hatching among people "not qualified" to receive funding? Here's hoping that Bongiovanni was right; not only about her chances of winning the grant, but about saving babies as well.
May 11, 2012
Making Safety Progress at UCLA
As the academic science world awaits the next development in the case against UCLA and Patrick Harran over the death of Sheri Sangji, chemical safety expert Russ Phifer has been looking at the efforts UCLA has been making to improve safety in its labs. Writing at Chemical & Engineering News, he reviews the work of the University of California's Center for Laboratory Safety, founded in the wake of the catastrophe. He also introduces Petros Yiannikouros, UCLA's new chemical hygeine officer, whose hiring, Phifer said, is part of UCLA's effort "to fundamentally change its safety culture."
After spending "a number of hours" with Yiannikouros, Phifer finds him not only technically well qualified but also "engaging, communicative, and fun to talk with"--all qualities needed to help him convince errant lab chiefs to change their ways. "It is clearly a challenge to get principal investigators to 'buy in' to structured safety behavior," Phifer writes, "but it looks like Yannikouros has the tools to do that at UCLA."
That's good news, and also ought to be an example to other institutions.
After spending "a number of hours" with Yiannikouros, Phifer finds him not only technically well qualified but also "engaging, communicative, and fun to talk with"--all qualities needed to help him convince errant lab chiefs to change their ways. "It is clearly a challenge to get principal investigators to 'buy in' to structured safety behavior," Phifer writes, "but it looks like Yannikouros has the tools to do that at UCLA."
That's good news, and also ought to be an example to other institutions.
Continue reading: Making Safety Progress at UCLA.
May 8, 2012
Finding Freedom and Resources in Federal Service
Where can a scientist in his early 30s make major advances in a cutting-edge field while enjoying stimulating colleagues, intellectual freedom, and the resources to take risks? According to a short article in the print Metro section of today's Washington Post, as well as a longer online piece, the answer is the federal government, specifically the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
Continue reading: Finding Freedom and Resources in Federal Service.
Building a successful, lifelong career in a technical field requires the strategic development of a range of skills, a resilient network, and a solid professional reputation, John Meredith, former president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA), advised on 5 May at the IEEE-USA annual conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Meredith described how these principles helped him build his own successful, 40-year career with a number of prominent companies. While Meredith went through times of economic upheaval in specific industries, he has never been laid off, he said.
Now retired from a career that included work in nuclear energy and integrated circuits, Meredith remains an active volunteer at IEEE and a member of the board of the IEEE Foundation. His presentation was aimed at engineers but the ideas he outlined will serve anyone with advanced scientific or technical training who seeks a successful industrial career.
Now retired from a career that included work in nuclear energy and integrated circuits, Meredith remains an active volunteer at IEEE and a member of the board of the IEEE Foundation. His presentation was aimed at engineers but the ideas he outlined will serve anyone with advanced scientific or technical training who seeks a successful industrial career.
Continue reading: Building Lifelong Employability in an Uncertain Economy.
May 4, 2012
Better Living Through Chemical Safety?
Actually, that headline is a take-off on the long-time Dupont slogan, but it encapsulates the possible result of a pilot program announced 31 April by the Dow chemical company and the University of Minnesota to improve safety in the university's chemistry and chemical engineering labs. As Jyllian Kemsley reports at Chemical & Engineering News, the program will focus on "building and sustaining a good safety culture," although "neither Down nor UMN comes to the program with the expectation that the university will duplicate Dow's safety program."
"This unique safety partnership"--in the words of a university release--will extend to through the summer and will try to address, among other issues, the training problems caused by the high rate of arrivals and departures in academic labs. The program will also involve a "Joint Safety Team" composed of safety officers from every chemical engineering and chemical research group on the campus and will expose university people to Dow's best practices, with the goal of adapting them to academic research.
With industry widely recognized as enforcing much higher lab safety standards than academic institutions, this effort appears to hold real promise for improving safety practices at UMN, and perhaps even as a model for other institutions. We will never how many hideous incidents the program may prevent, but the students, postdocs, and researchers who improve their practices because of it might wish to consider a paraphrase of another advertising slogan long popular in days gone by: The lives they save may be their own.
"This unique safety partnership"--in the words of a university release--will extend to through the summer and will try to address, among other issues, the training problems caused by the high rate of arrivals and departures in academic labs. The program will also involve a "Joint Safety Team" composed of safety officers from every chemical engineering and chemical research group on the campus and will expose university people to Dow's best practices, with the goal of adapting them to academic research.
With industry widely recognized as enforcing much higher lab safety standards than academic institutions, this effort appears to hold real promise for improving safety practices at UMN, and perhaps even as a model for other institutions. We will never how many hideous incidents the program may prevent, but the students, postdocs, and researchers who improve their practices because of it might wish to consider a paraphrase of another advertising slogan long popular in days gone by: The lives they save may be their own.
Continue reading: Better Living Through Chemical Safety?.
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced today at a joint press conference in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the launch of edX, a system of online courses that will be available to learners worldwide. MIT's previously announced MITx program has been folded into the new program, which will use an open-source platform and may eventually also carry courses from other institutions.
MITx made big news and launched much speculation and rumination earlier this year when it announced that it would allow online students to earn certificates for courses they successfully complete online through the program, after paying a small fee. Many observers have wondered what this new credential might do to the value of taking on-campus courses at MIT and other institutions around the world. In response to an question posed online by this reporter (and maybe others), MIT's Anant Agarwal, who will direct edX, said that the first MITx course, which is currently ongoing, allows students to earn grades and a completion certificate. He implied, but did not state outright, that the same would be true for edX courses.
A major theme of today's news conference was that edX will provide researchers the opportunity to study the mechanism of learning in order to strengthen education for students on the two Cambridge campuses. Speakers also noted that many details still need to be worked out, including a financing model for the non-profit undertaking.
MITx made big news and launched much speculation and rumination earlier this year when it announced that it would allow online students to earn certificates for courses they successfully complete online through the program, after paying a small fee. Many observers have wondered what this new credential might do to the value of taking on-campus courses at MIT and other institutions around the world. In response to an question posed online by this reporter (and maybe others), MIT's Anant Agarwal, who will direct edX, said that the first MITx course, which is currently ongoing, allows students to earn grades and a completion certificate. He implied, but did not state outright, that the same would be true for edX courses.
A major theme of today's news conference was that edX will provide researchers the opportunity to study the mechanism of learning in order to strengthen education for students on the two Cambridge campuses. Speakers also noted that many details still need to be worked out, including a financing model for the non-profit undertaking.
There will be a lot more to learn as this project unfolds, so stay tuned.
May 1, 2012
Keck Graduate Institute to Manage Affiliation Process for Professional Science Masters Programs
Beginning July 1, the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) of Claremont, California, will house the office that manages review of graduate programs for official recognition and affiliation as Professional Science Masters (PSM) programs, gathers information about programs and their graduates, and controls use of the registered PSM logo. KGI won the contract to run the office handling these functions, which have until now been carried out by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).
As James Sterling of KGI, and Carol Lynch and Sally Francis of CGS, explain in an article in the May issue of the CGS Grad Edge newsletter, affiliation with the PSM program does not constitute accreditation of curricula and programs, but rather recognition that they comply with a set of formal guidelines that have been developed by CGS.
Full-scale, separate accreditation of PSM programs, apart from the overall accreditation of the their home institutions, is not necessary, the article asserts. "The PSM is a professional degree but there is no single clearly-identified profession that graduates enter, and there is no single profession whose interests warrant licensure of PSM graduates or accreditation of this degree. Therefore, in contrast to many professions, there is no need for an independent accreditation organization. Similarly, there is no single type of risk that is presented to the customers of the employers of PSM graduates that could lead to a specific form of malpractice, the need for licensing, or the need for specific continuing education requirements for PSM graduates."
There does exist, however, "a perceived need to ensure that a new program [calling itself a PSM program] meets [the official guidelines] and that some form of re-affiliation review system be in place" to guarantee that existing programs continue to meet them as well. The new office at KGI will carry out these functions. It will also manage the www.sciencemasters.com website used as the central repository for information about PSM programs.
Hallmarks of PSM programs, which generally run two years, include close cooperation with advisers from industry, extensive mentored experience for students in industrial settings, and a curriculum that combines study of both a scientific discipline with study of business, management, regulatory affairs, or other topics relevant to a specific science-based industry. About 250 PSMs currently exist, up from 80 in 2006. In the academic year 2010-2011, 173 graduates received PSM degrees, and about 5500 students were enrolled in programs at the beginning of the current academic year.
In addition, the new office at KGI will continue efforts to increase awareness of the PSM degree and its benefits among both potential students and company human resources officials nationally, KGI president Sheldon Schuster told Science Careers in an interview.
As James Sterling of KGI, and Carol Lynch and Sally Francis of CGS, explain in an article in the May issue of the CGS Grad Edge newsletter, affiliation with the PSM program does not constitute accreditation of curricula and programs, but rather recognition that they comply with a set of formal guidelines that have been developed by CGS.
Full-scale, separate accreditation of PSM programs, apart from the overall accreditation of the their home institutions, is not necessary, the article asserts. "The PSM is a professional degree but there is no single clearly-identified profession that graduates enter, and there is no single profession whose interests warrant licensure of PSM graduates or accreditation of this degree. Therefore, in contrast to many professions, there is no need for an independent accreditation organization. Similarly, there is no single type of risk that is presented to the customers of the employers of PSM graduates that could lead to a specific form of malpractice, the need for licensing, or the need for specific continuing education requirements for PSM graduates."
There does exist, however, "a perceived need to ensure that a new program [calling itself a PSM program] meets [the official guidelines] and that some form of re-affiliation review system be in place" to guarantee that existing programs continue to meet them as well. The new office at KGI will carry out these functions. It will also manage the www.sciencemasters.com website used as the central repository for information about PSM programs.
Hallmarks of PSM programs, which generally run two years, include close cooperation with advisers from industry, extensive mentored experience for students in industrial settings, and a curriculum that combines study of both a scientific discipline with study of business, management, regulatory affairs, or other topics relevant to a specific science-based industry. About 250 PSMs currently exist, up from 80 in 2006. In the academic year 2010-2011, 173 graduates received PSM degrees, and about 5500 students were enrolled in programs at the beginning of the current academic year.
In addition, the new office at KGI will continue efforts to increase awareness of the PSM degree and its benefits among both potential students and company human resources officials nationally, KGI president Sheldon Schuster told Science Careers in an interview.
May 1, 2012
How to Craft a Winning Application
How can you make your application for that grant, fellowship, job, or award stand out from the great pile of other applications the judges will read? Hester Blum of Penn State University has read more than (gasp!) 740 such documents in the past year, and she offers some sage, judge's-eye-view advice on how to catch her attention at Inside Higher Ed.
Some major points:
But don't take it from me. Read her own specific and detailed advice here.
Some major points:
- Be specific and give examples. How, exactly, will you use the money or equipment or whatever? Clearly the judges already know you believe you're qualified and deserving, but exactly why should they agree?
- Make sure the people who write your recommendations actually know your work, not just your personality. The judges are sure you're a swell person, but that isn't why they're giving the award.
- Only list things on your CV that have actually happened. That paper under consideration at the International Journal of Really Prestigious Research might never see print or pixels.
But don't take it from me. Read her own specific and detailed advice here.
April 30, 2012
Even More on Women (and Men) Opting Out of Academic Science
Women scientists in the United Kingdom find academic careers far less attractive than do their male counterparts, according to a report, 'The chemistry PhD: The impact on women's retention', that was issued jointly by the UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology (UKRC) and the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2008. No surprise there for people who have been following the research into the experiences and aspirations of women scientists on this side of the Pond. A peripheral comment Curt Rice, vice president for research at the University of Tromsø in Norway, recently made on the report at Inside Higher Ed, however, brought the document to my attention.
The British study arrived at the same conclusions as the researchers whom I quoted on the subject elsewhere on Science Careers this very month: many women qualified for careers in academic science decide against them because of the conflict they see between pursuing a faculty position and having a family. There's at least one difference between the American and British findings, though: 'The chemistry PhD' uses the term "repellant" to describe how some women chemists perceive the "'all-consuming' nature of a career in academia." The American researchers used milder terms to convey the distaste that many of their female subjects expressed at the prospect of competing for a faculty post and for tenure.
Rice is particularly concerned about another of the British report's findings, which he finds "alarming": Early in their Ph.D. education, over 70% of women and over 60% of men hope for research careers, whether in academe or industry. By the time they are nearing the end of their Ph.D. programs, those hoping for academic research careers amount to 12% of the women and 21% of the men.
I can certainly understand his dismay at the gender gap in the percentage of new Ph.D.s wanting to persevere into academic careers. But from another standpoint, these figures look like good news.
The figures are still way above the percentage of new Ph.D.s who have any realistic chance of landing a job on the tenure track (at least in the United States). Thinking about the welfare of the young scientists who have devoted many years to preparing for their careers and are about to begin them, it does not appear "alarming" to me that they have traded in their formerly unrealistic notion about the possibility of landing an academic post.
Rice finds the situation "alarming", he explains, because he fears that "universities will not survive as research institutions...because we have no reason to believe we are attracting the best and the brightest." Rice puts a great emphasis on the necessity to improve the experience of Ph.D. students and recognizes young scientists' concerns about having to go through a string of postdoc positions and face competitiveness in this stage of their careers. But did he miss the part of the report that mentions the "fierce competition to secure a permanent post" in academe? Or the passage that explains that this level of competition exists because "there are many more PhD students and post-docs than there are permanent [faculty] posts"? Isn't it the universities themselves that admit students in numbers they know far exceed the academic career opportunities available to their alumni?
So why shouldn't we cheer the fact that young people appear to realize that they should adjust their aspirations to the reality of the circumstances they will face? Isn't it the responsibility of universities to prepare their students for the world that they will find rather than one that their professors wish existed?
The fact that the majority of Ph.D. students understand that they will not make their careers as faculty researchers-despite the prevalent pro-academe bias in so many university departments-doesn't strike me as "alarming" but as encouraging, even a sign of progress. It means that these soon-to-be Ph.D.s can devote their energies not to pursuing a goal that will only end in frustration and disappointment but to making the informed plans that will, one hopes, lead them to careers and lives that they find satisfying and fulfilling.
The British study arrived at the same conclusions as the researchers whom I quoted on the subject elsewhere on Science Careers this very month: many women qualified for careers in academic science decide against them because of the conflict they see between pursuing a faculty position and having a family. There's at least one difference between the American and British findings, though: 'The chemistry PhD' uses the term "repellant" to describe how some women chemists perceive the "'all-consuming' nature of a career in academia." The American researchers used milder terms to convey the distaste that many of their female subjects expressed at the prospect of competing for a faculty post and for tenure.
Rice is particularly concerned about another of the British report's findings, which he finds "alarming": Early in their Ph.D. education, over 70% of women and over 60% of men hope for research careers, whether in academe or industry. By the time they are nearing the end of their Ph.D. programs, those hoping for academic research careers amount to 12% of the women and 21% of the men.
I can certainly understand his dismay at the gender gap in the percentage of new Ph.D.s wanting to persevere into academic careers. But from another standpoint, these figures look like good news.
The figures are still way above the percentage of new Ph.D.s who have any realistic chance of landing a job on the tenure track (at least in the United States). Thinking about the welfare of the young scientists who have devoted many years to preparing for their careers and are about to begin them, it does not appear "alarming" to me that they have traded in their formerly unrealistic notion about the possibility of landing an academic post.
Rice finds the situation "alarming", he explains, because he fears that "universities will not survive as research institutions...because we have no reason to believe we are attracting the best and the brightest." Rice puts a great emphasis on the necessity to improve the experience of Ph.D. students and recognizes young scientists' concerns about having to go through a string of postdoc positions and face competitiveness in this stage of their careers. But did he miss the part of the report that mentions the "fierce competition to secure a permanent post" in academe? Or the passage that explains that this level of competition exists because "there are many more PhD students and post-docs than there are permanent [faculty] posts"? Isn't it the universities themselves that admit students in numbers they know far exceed the academic career opportunities available to their alumni?
So why shouldn't we cheer the fact that young people appear to realize that they should adjust their aspirations to the reality of the circumstances they will face? Isn't it the responsibility of universities to prepare their students for the world that they will find rather than one that their professors wish existed?
The fact that the majority of Ph.D. students understand that they will not make their careers as faculty researchers-despite the prevalent pro-academe bias in so many university departments-doesn't strike me as "alarming" but as encouraging, even a sign of progress. It means that these soon-to-be Ph.D.s can devote their energies not to pursuing a goal that will only end in frustration and disappointment but to making the informed plans that will, one hopes, lead them to careers and lives that they find satisfying and fulfilling.
April 30, 2012
New Award Will Egg On Federally-Funded Scientists
The late Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin) used to ridicule federally-funded research he considered frivolous by periodically announcing to the media that a certain scientist had won his highly publicized--and controversial--Golden Fleece Award for wasteful government spending. Now, a trio of congressmen (Jim Cooper, D-Tennessee, Charlie Dent, R-Pennsylvania, and Robert Dold, R-Illinois) and a gaggle of high-powered organizations are offering awards to apparently quirky federally-funded research projects-but, rather than to denigrate them, this time to celebrate the handsome payoffs they produced in the long run.
The Golden Goose Award are to be presented to celebrate "the often unexpected and serendipitous nature of basic scientific research by honoring federally funded researchers whose work may once have been viewed as unusual, odd or obscure, but has produced important discoveries benefitting [sic] society in significant ways," according to a press release that was issued jointly by Cooper's office and the Association of American Universities on 25 April. "The name of the award is based on the fable about the goose that laid the golden egg," the release explains.
Know of researchers who you think fit that description? You can nominate them for the honor. Nomination forms are available by writing to info@goldengooseaward.org.
Proxmire, by the way, did relent on some of his Golden Fleece choices, acknowledging that despite their apparent obscurity and risibility, the projects did produce worthwhile outcomes, as Mitch Smith reports at Inside Higher Ed.
The Golden Goose Award are to be presented to celebrate "the often unexpected and serendipitous nature of basic scientific research by honoring federally funded researchers whose work may once have been viewed as unusual, odd or obscure, but has produced important discoveries benefitting [sic] society in significant ways," according to a press release that was issued jointly by Cooper's office and the Association of American Universities on 25 April. "The name of the award is based on the fable about the goose that laid the golden egg," the release explains.
Know of researchers who you think fit that description? You can nominate them for the honor. Nomination forms are available by writing to info@goldengooseaward.org.
Proxmire, by the way, did relent on some of his Golden Fleece choices, acknowledging that despite their apparent obscurity and risibility, the projects did produce worthwhile outcomes, as Mitch Smith reports at Inside Higher Ed.
Are you an early-career health researcher -- a physician, veterinarian, dentist, or scientist -- with an idea for a project that could help advance the cause of health in poor or middle-income countries? If so, the National Institutes of Health's Fogarty International Center has announced a program that could get your research off the ground, broaden your horizons, and boost your career.
The Fogarty Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars has awarded $20.3 million over 5 years to allow consortia of institutions (coordinated by "support centers" at five universities) to support members of the "the next generation of global health scientists" in nearly year-long, mentored research projects in any of 27 countries. General information about the program is here. Applications can be submitted through any of the 5 support centers. You can find specific application requirements for each of the five consortia here.
The Fogarty Global Health Program for Fellows and Scholars has awarded $20.3 million over 5 years to allow consortia of institutions (coordinated by "support centers" at five universities) to support members of the "the next generation of global health scientists" in nearly year-long, mentored research projects in any of 27 countries. General information about the program is here. Applications can be submitted through any of the 5 support centers. You can find specific application requirements for each of the five consortia here.
April 23, 2012
Growing Interest In Jobs at Community Colleges
For people who love to teach, community colleges can offer satisfying career opportunities. And, notes Rob Jenkins in an essay published yesterday in The Chronicle of Higher Education, more and more Ph.D.s are showing interest in working at those institutions.
One motivation is the bad academic job market in many fields. "In any hiring cycle, 40 percent of the available teaching positions are at two-year campuses," Jenkins writes. But another part of it is also that, despite pressure at many graduate schools to consider research the be-all and end-all of academic activity, these people who show growing interest in community colleges have "discovered (as I did) that what they really enjoy most is teaching."
The qualifications that community colleges look for are different from those sought by other kinds of institutions, Jenkins notes. Teaching experience ranks high and scholarly brilliance is less important, so a snazzy Ph.D. may not be the advantage it is elsewhere. Candidates with high-powered credentials need to be careful how they present themselves, making clear that they share the college's priority on teaching and avoiding any appearance of feeling superior to their future colleagues.
One motivation is the bad academic job market in many fields. "In any hiring cycle, 40 percent of the available teaching positions are at two-year campuses," Jenkins writes. But another part of it is also that, despite pressure at many graduate schools to consider research the be-all and end-all of academic activity, these people who show growing interest in community colleges have "discovered (as I did) that what they really enjoy most is teaching."
The qualifications that community colleges look for are different from those sought by other kinds of institutions, Jenkins notes. Teaching experience ranks high and scholarly brilliance is less important, so a snazzy Ph.D. may not be the advantage it is elsewhere. Candidates with high-powered credentials need to be careful how they present themselves, making clear that they share the college's priority on teaching and avoiding any appearance of feeling superior to their future colleagues.
The essay offers more useful advice on how to navigate the community college job market. You can find it here.
April 23, 2012
What a Difference Age Makes
Over the past few months, we've been following the continuing saga of President Obama, Jennifer Wedel, her still-unemployed, mid-30s husband Darin, and the case of the vanishing engineering jobs. Now, over at Bloomberg, the ever-astute Norman Matloff offers a crucial clue that may help solve the mystery: for many technical people, "employability starts to decline at about age 35."
Matloff has been arguing for years that the dirty secret of the so-called shortage of technically trained American workers is age discrimination, specifically that many employers prefer young workers, who are energetic and cheap, to older workers who have years of experience and expect their paychecks to reflect that. The argument often made that only young workers have the up-to-date skills that employers need "doesn't jibe with the fact that young ones learned those modern skills from old guys like me," he writes. (Matloff is a professor of computer science at University of California-Davis.) "Basically, when employers run out of young Americans to hire, they turn to young H-1Bs, bypassing older Americans."
Not a very attractive prospect for a lot of the young Americans whom President Obama wants to encourage to invest their youth in education in the hope of a good long-term career, Matloff suggests. But don't take it from me. Get more on this idea from Matloff himself.
Matloff has been arguing for years that the dirty secret of the so-called shortage of technically trained American workers is age discrimination, specifically that many employers prefer young workers, who are energetic and cheap, to older workers who have years of experience and expect their paychecks to reflect that. The argument often made that only young workers have the up-to-date skills that employers need "doesn't jibe with the fact that young ones learned those modern skills from old guys like me," he writes. (Matloff is a professor of computer science at University of California-Davis.) "Basically, when employers run out of young Americans to hire, they turn to young H-1Bs, bypassing older Americans."
Not a very attractive prospect for a lot of the young Americans whom President Obama wants to encourage to invest their youth in education in the hope of a good long-term career, Matloff suggests. But don't take it from me. Get more on this idea from Matloff himself.
Do university programs provide their students the information they need to plot post-degree careers? Anyone familiar with the situation of grad school alumni can provide the answer. Many programs -- often those preparing students for professional or business careers -- do a decent job of equipping their students with realistic job market information. But many other programs -- often those leading to the Ph.D. -- fail to prepare their students for anything but the traditional academic job market, which today yields far fewer career opportunities than the number of doctorates the programs produce.
Nothing new in those statements, but it's nice to see two prestigious organizations analyze them in a new report that could attract some attention to the issue. Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers, sponsored by the Council of Graduate Schools and the Educational Testing Service, takes a look at the ways graduate students learn about possible careers and how extensive and accurate their knowledge is. (For more coverage, see Science Careers staff writer Michael Price's article in Science Insider.) The report considers the question from the viewpoints of students, employers, and university officials. Despite a few mentions of professional programs such as law or medicine, the document essentially focuses on on arts and sciences graduate programs.
Students' career information before they enter graduate school is often quite scanty, the report finds. During grad school, faculty members are students' main source of career information, although they, too, often have only a limited understanding of career options outside academe. Very few grad students appear to take advantage of the career counseling services at their universities.
Nothing new in those statements, but it's nice to see two prestigious organizations analyze them in a new report that could attract some attention to the issue. Pathways Through Graduate School and Into Careers, sponsored by the Council of Graduate Schools and the Educational Testing Service, takes a look at the ways graduate students learn about possible careers and how extensive and accurate their knowledge is. (For more coverage, see Science Careers staff writer Michael Price's article in Science Insider.) The report considers the question from the viewpoints of students, employers, and university officials. Despite a few mentions of professional programs such as law or medicine, the document essentially focuses on on arts and sciences graduate programs.
Students' career information before they enter graduate school is often quite scanty, the report finds. During grad school, faculty members are students' main source of career information, although they, too, often have only a limited understanding of career options outside academe. Very few grad students appear to take advantage of the career counseling services at their universities.
Continue reading: Report Discusses Improving Pathways from Graduate School to Career.
April 17, 2012
Tell It to the Judge
Talk about innovative, real-world applications of science! According to the Physics Central blog, physicist Dmitri Krioukov of the University of California-San Diego talked-or, actually, wrote-his way out of a traffic ticket by composing and posting a scientific paper (entitled 'The Proof of Innocence'). In his paper, Krioukov, who was being fined for allegedly running a stop sign, explains how the police officer who claimed to have witnessed the alleged offense was deceived by an unusual combination of physical effects. Krioukov claimed on the spot that he had actually stopped but the officer couldn't see it.
The judge bought the argument and even the officer agreed that Krioukov was right (or maybe he just dazzled them with his equations). This may seem a lot of work to beat an accusation of a moving violation, but conviction would have meant a $400 fine. (There's no mention of whether conviction would have also meant penalty points on Krioukov's license).
Krioukov invites readers of his paper to point out flaws. An anonymous commenter on the blog offers, "The flaw? The paper is dated April 1st...."
The judge bought the argument and even the officer agreed that Krioukov was right (or maybe he just dazzled them with his equations). This may seem a lot of work to beat an accusation of a moving violation, but conviction would have meant a $400 fine. (There's no mention of whether conviction would have also meant penalty points on Krioukov's license).
Krioukov invites readers of his paper to point out flaws. An anonymous commenter on the blog offers, "The flaw? The paper is dated April 1st...."
April 16, 2012
What Sequestration Could Mean for NIH
The Budget Control Act of 2011, which Congress passed in August to end last summer's total struggle between the Republicans and Democrats over raising the national debt ceiling has, as you may recall, a built-in booby trap. If federal spending this year exceeds certain predetermined caps, a process called sequestration will begin come January 2013. In plain English, it will bring across-the-board cuts to domestic programs in the neighborhood of 9.1%.
Continue reading: What Sequestration Could Mean for NIH.
April 16, 2012
What Constitutes a Successful Placement?
What does it mean for a graduate adviser or a department (or, in science, a postdoc's lab chief) to successfully "place" a protege? In academics, writes English professor Leonard Cassuto in an astute and provocative essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, it is almost always taken to mean helping the person land a job on the tenure track. But, he argues, that definition is far too limiting and needs to change -- and not only at the level of individual faculty members, but all the way up to the National Research Council, which uses records of placement in "those pernicious lists" that show the relative rank of departments.
To illustrate why the current approach is erroneous, Cassuto presents the fascinating case of Nathan Tinker, who earned his Ph.D. in Cassuto's department but disappeared from the department's records until Cassuto looked him up on LinkedIn almost 10 years after Tinker finished his degree. There, Cassuto discovered a remarkable career.
Though Tinker studied literature, he has made a successful career in the nanotechnology and biotechnology industries. He is now executive director of a nonprofit bioscience trade group. All the university knew about Tinker during those highly productive years, however, was that he "did not seek academic employment."
Losing track of Tinker (and his success) was "an instructive mistake on at least two levels," Cassuto writes. First, it's a "practical loss" because the department couldn't take advantage of his experience and contacts to help other students plan and develop their own careers. Second, it is a conceptual mistake that demonstrates academe's limited thinking on the subject of careers in general. As Tinker's unexpected but extremely intriguing story illustrates, opportunities can be far broader than blinkered conventional thinking assumes.
To illustrate why the current approach is erroneous, Cassuto presents the fascinating case of Nathan Tinker, who earned his Ph.D. in Cassuto's department but disappeared from the department's records until Cassuto looked him up on LinkedIn almost 10 years after Tinker finished his degree. There, Cassuto discovered a remarkable career.
Though Tinker studied literature, he has made a successful career in the nanotechnology and biotechnology industries. He is now executive director of a nonprofit bioscience trade group. All the university knew about Tinker during those highly productive years, however, was that he "did not seek academic employment."
Losing track of Tinker (and his success) was "an instructive mistake on at least two levels," Cassuto writes. First, it's a "practical loss" because the department couldn't take advantage of his experience and contacts to help other students plan and develop their own careers. Second, it is a conceptual mistake that demonstrates academe's limited thinking on the subject of careers in general. As Tinker's unexpected but extremely intriguing story illustrates, opportunities can be far broader than blinkered conventional thinking assumes.
A year to the day after Yale undergraduate Michele Dufault died while working alone, late at night, on her senior project in a university machine shop, the university's student newspaper, Yale Daily News, carries two remembrances of the 22-year-old physics major who was just weeks away from graduation. She strangled to death after her hair became entangled in a lathe that, according to later investigation, lacked required safety features.
In an affecting essay Dufault's roommate, Merlyn Deng, recalls that terrible night and her friend's intellectual boldness, appealing humility, determined efforts on behalf of women in science, and impressive work ethic. A news story describes efforts by Dufault's friends and the physics department to fund a memorial foundation intended to support educational opportunities for female science students.
What neither article mentions, however, is exactly what Yale has done in the past year to better protect those working in its labs and other scientific facilities. A photo shows a smiling Dufault with her long hair that, in combination with faulty equipment and the lack of a workshop companion, doomed her. The caption states that in addition to establishing the foundation, "Yale has tightened workshop safety regulations." But it doesn't say how, and it doesn't say what else the university has done or not done on the safety front. And it doesn't mention that, because Dufault was a student rather than an employee, occupational safety laws did not cover her case and therefore government sanctions are not possible. In the case of the death of University of California lab technician Sheri Sangji, by contrast, felony charges have been brought against the university.
Both Yale Daily News articles, furthermore, describe the fatal event as an "accident," a word that safety experts have advised me not to use in cases like this. It implies that something happened unpredictably, almost at random. That's hardly an accurate description when many easily avoidable factors combine to cause a death--rather analogous to not using a seatbelt while riding in a car.
It is, of course, good and worthy to remember Dufault's many fine personal qualities, the brilliant promise that was needlessly lost, and to endeavor to continue her admirable efforts to advance the cause of women in science. But sorrow is not enough. Also necessary is a determination by powerful institutions like Yale--and universities everywhere--that such events are utterly unacceptable and that every effort will be made to see they don't happen again. That must also be part of a fitting memorial to Michele.
In an affecting essay Dufault's roommate, Merlyn Deng, recalls that terrible night and her friend's intellectual boldness, appealing humility, determined efforts on behalf of women in science, and impressive work ethic. A news story describes efforts by Dufault's friends and the physics department to fund a memorial foundation intended to support educational opportunities for female science students.
What neither article mentions, however, is exactly what Yale has done in the past year to better protect those working in its labs and other scientific facilities. A photo shows a smiling Dufault with her long hair that, in combination with faulty equipment and the lack of a workshop companion, doomed her. The caption states that in addition to establishing the foundation, "Yale has tightened workshop safety regulations." But it doesn't say how, and it doesn't say what else the university has done or not done on the safety front. And it doesn't mention that, because Dufault was a student rather than an employee, occupational safety laws did not cover her case and therefore government sanctions are not possible. In the case of the death of University of California lab technician Sheri Sangji, by contrast, felony charges have been brought against the university.
Both Yale Daily News articles, furthermore, describe the fatal event as an "accident," a word that safety experts have advised me not to use in cases like this. It implies that something happened unpredictably, almost at random. That's hardly an accurate description when many easily avoidable factors combine to cause a death--rather analogous to not using a seatbelt while riding in a car.
It is, of course, good and worthy to remember Dufault's many fine personal qualities, the brilliant promise that was needlessly lost, and to endeavor to continue her admirable efforts to advance the cause of women in science. But sorrow is not enough. Also necessary is a determination by powerful institutions like Yale--and universities everywhere--that such events are utterly unacceptable and that every effort will be made to see they don't happen again. That must also be part of a fitting memorial to Michele.
April 11, 2012
Arraignment of Harran and the University of California in Sangji Case Postponed Yet Again
A judge has for the second time postponed the arraignment of Patrick Harran and the regents of the University of California on felony violations in the death of Sheri Sangji -- this time until 7 June.
April 10, 2012
New Report Focuses on Regulatory Science
Regulating the products used in health care is both a vital function of government and a professional area that employs scientists trained in a number of disciplines. A new report from the Board on Health Sciences Policy of the National Academies' Institute of Medicine, entitled Strengthening a Workforce for Innovative Regulatory Science in Therapeutic Development, examines a number of aspects of the work, including needed competencies, potential career paths, labor force considerations, and international applications. Scientists interested in learning more about this career field will find much of interest.
Continue reading: New Report Focuses on Regulatory Science.
April 10, 2012
The Titanic and Sheri Sangji
This is a big week for those of us interested in safety. This coming Sunday, April 15, will mark the hundredth anniversary of one of the most notorious design failures in history, the sinking of the supposedly "unsinkable" Titanic, flagship of the then-prestigious White Star line, with the loss of 1514 lives. And tomorrow, April 11, is supposed to be the day when Patrick Harran and the regents of the University of California will finally be arraigned, after two postponements, on charges of felony violations leading to the death of Sheri Sangji.
I see a connection between these two events not because I am obsessed with the Sangji case (though I suppose I am), or the Titanic, but because of a provocative article in the Washington Post by engineering professor Henry Petroski about what the old song calls "the ship that they thought the water couldn't come through."
I see a connection between these two events not because I am obsessed with the Sangji case (though I suppose I am), or the Titanic, but because of a provocative article in the Washington Post by engineering professor Henry Petroski about what the old song calls "the ship that they thought the water couldn't come through."
Continue reading: The Titanic and Sheri Sangji.
April 9, 2012
Cloak and Dagger on Campus
American academe, with its ethic of openness and its dedication to cutting edge research, offers tempting pickings to foreign governments (sometimes disguised as companies) seeking to steal the latest technology, reports Bloomberg News. And in recent years, the number of such instances has been growing. "We have intelligence and cases indicating that U.S. universities are indeed a target of foreign intelligence services," says Frank Figliuzzi, assistant director for counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), quoted in the article.
Continue reading: Cloak and Dagger on Campus.
April 9, 2012
Engineer Who Sent Resume to Obama Still Out of Work
The two months -- and countless phone calls and media interviews -- since Jennifer Wedel famously spoke with President Obama about her husband have not yet produced a job for Darin Wedel, an engineer who has been out of work for 3 years. Instead, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Wedels' phone, which for weeks rang with inquiries from recruiters and potential employers, is quiet now and Ms. Wedel has assumed the role of family breadwinner by taking a job at an insurance agency.
One thing that has not changed is her focus on the H-1B visa, which admits high-skilled immigrants, as the cause of her husband's unemployment. He has been, however, unable to pursue many of the potential job leads offered him because of a child custody agreement from a previous marriage that keeps him from leaving North Texas.
"We didn't do the interview with the president to get a job," Ms. Wedel told the Star-Telegram. "We did it to get a voice for so many Americans who, like my husband, are in the very same situation."
One thing that has not changed is her focus on the H-1B visa, which admits high-skilled immigrants, as the cause of her husband's unemployment. He has been, however, unable to pursue many of the potential job leads offered him because of a child custody agreement from a previous marriage that keeps him from leaving North Texas.
"We didn't do the interview with the president to get a job," Ms. Wedel told the Star-Telegram. "We did it to get a voice for so many Americans who, like my husband, are in the very same situation."
April 6, 2012
Changing Women's Career Preferences?
"Women, to some extent more than men, really want to see the application
of what they do in people's lives," says Marissa Meyer, one of the leading female
figures in a highly masculine field. A Google vice president and the first female engineer hired by the then-tiny startup, she adds in an article at Huffington Post that, "For a lot of women, they don't see how computer science touches
people."
This preference for a human effect in fact plays an important role in the under-representation of women in some scientific and technical fields, researchers Amanda Diekman of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Stephen Ceci of Cornell University have told Science Careers. Although individuals of both genders of course vary widely, studies have revealed certain general tendencies that on average differentiate men and women. In these results, attaining intellectual understanding of abstract problems appears to rank higher with men than with women, who on average tend to prefer work that benefits people and other living things.
This preference for a human effect in fact plays an important role in the under-representation of women in some scientific and technical fields, researchers Amanda Diekman of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and Stephen Ceci of Cornell University have told Science Careers. Although individuals of both genders of course vary widely, studies have revealed certain general tendencies that on average differentiate men and women. In these results, attaining intellectual understanding of abstract problems appears to rank higher with men than with women, who on average tend to prefer work that benefits people and other living things.
Continue reading: Changing Women's Career Preferences?.
April 6, 2012
More on Mothers in Science
This month's "Taken for Granted" column on Science Careers examines the role of motherhood in the careers of women trained as scientists. "The single most important factor in explaining women's underrepresentation" on science faculties is "a desire for children and family life," says an article by Stephen Ceci and Wendy Williams of Cornell University's Institute for Women in Science that is quoted in the piece.
Over at Inside Higher Ed, a thoughtful essay by Sue V. Rosser, provost and vice president for academic affairs at San Francisco State University, concurs. Research shows that "balancing career with family...is perceived to jeopardize the careers of women scientists and engineers more than any other factor," she writes. She also presents illustrative anecdotal evidence from her own and other women's experience and offers suggestions about what women scientists and engineers and their advisers and supervisors can do to improve the situation. The essay is here.
Over at Inside Higher Ed, a thoughtful essay by Sue V. Rosser, provost and vice president for academic affairs at San Francisco State University, concurs. Research shows that "balancing career with family...is perceived to jeopardize the careers of women scientists and engineers more than any other factor," she writes. She also presents illustrative anecdotal evidence from her own and other women's experience and offers suggestions about what women scientists and engineers and their advisers and supervisors can do to improve the situation. The essay is here.
Continue reading: More on Mothers in Science.
April 5, 2012
The Importance of a Well-Prepared CV
Applicants for academic jobs face the daunting task of preparing a number of daunting documents. People without faculty experience may not understand the importance and impact that well-prepared materials can have in making the case for why the hiring committee should choose you over all the other worthy candidates vying for an opening. To help aspiring academics create the most favorable presentation of their qualifications, Joshua R. Eyler examines "The Rhetoric of the CV" in a thoughtful and practical essay at Chronicle of Higher Education.
The curriculum vitae -- literally, the account of your life -- is the single most important document you will submit, he writes, and the one that your potential employers will read the most closely. It is therefore generally crucial to your candidacy that it be constructed strategically and with utmost care. Eyler gives astute advice about what to include, and in what order, and why such apparently minor matters as headings and white space require careful thought in order to achieve maximum beneficial impact.
At the end of his remarks, he also offers an affecting apology for his inability, as a lone academic, to remedy the real problem, which is the shortage of positions. Though he "cannot, on my own, open more tenure-track jobs in universities across the country," he writes, he can help aspiring academics "prepare their applications in a way that gives them the best chance of success."
And that, in a nutshell, is also why Science Careers exists.
The curriculum vitae -- literally, the account of your life -- is the single most important document you will submit, he writes, and the one that your potential employers will read the most closely. It is therefore generally crucial to your candidacy that it be constructed strategically and with utmost care. Eyler gives astute advice about what to include, and in what order, and why such apparently minor matters as headings and white space require careful thought in order to achieve maximum beneficial impact.
At the end of his remarks, he also offers an affecting apology for his inability, as a lone academic, to remedy the real problem, which is the shortage of positions. Though he "cannot, on my own, open more tenure-track jobs in universities across the country," he writes, he can help aspiring academics "prepare their applications in a way that gives them the best chance of success."
And that, in a nutshell, is also why Science Careers exists.
Any innovator hoping to turn a bright idea into a marketable product or successful company needs to know how to protect their intellectual property (IP). They may now find help from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which have joined forces to develop the Intellectual Property Awareness Assessment Tool. The tool is designed to help aspiring and actual entrepreneurs and business owners in the United States find out how much they know about this arcane yet crucial aspect of innovation and fill the gaps in their knowledge.
The free online tool takes about 20 to 30 minutes to provide a detailed assessment of one's awareness of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and design patents, as well as of strategies for protecting and using valuable IP. It then offers appropriate learning resources based on what the assessment reveals.
The site emphasizes that its resources do not constitute legal advice and that people thinking of filing for IP protections should get knowledgeable legal help. But the site can help orient non-lawyers to the issues they need to understand in order to safeguard IP. The tool is here.
The free online tool takes about 20 to 30 minutes to provide a detailed assessment of one's awareness of patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, and design patents, as well as of strategies for protecting and using valuable IP. It then offers appropriate learning resources based on what the assessment reveals.
The site emphasizes that its resources do not constitute legal advice and that people thinking of filing for IP protections should get knowledgeable legal help. But the site can help orient non-lawyers to the issues they need to understand in order to safeguard IP. The tool is here.
Research and development spending at US universities reached $61.2 billion during federal fiscal year (FY) 2010, which ran from 1 October 2009 to 30 September 2010. This represented an inflation-adjusted increase of 6% over the previous year, although the rise resulted primarily from one-time payments totaling $2.7 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ARRA), also known as the stimulus. These figures come from a National Science Foundation report issued in late March that covers a survey of 742 institutions.
Continue reading: University R&D Spending in FY2010 Topped $61 Billion, Reports NSF.
April 1, 2012
More Misinformation at the White House?
President Obama is not the only member of the administration who appears to lack an understanding of how the H-1B visa works. Several months after the president's awkward and widely reported conversation on the subject with Jennifer Wedel, the wife of an engineer who has been out of work for 3 years, a reporter recently asked Vice President Biden whether he thought the U.S. grants too many high-skill visas.
Biden's answer, writes Patrick Thibodeau at Computerworld, reveals that the vice president "doesn't know a thing about the H-1B visa." Biden, for example, did not know that "there's almost nothing to stop an employer from replacing a U.S. worker with an H-1B visa holder," Thibodeau notes. "Those who have had to train their visa-holding replacement" could have set him straight.
But "even odder" than Biden's apparent failure to brush up on the issue after the "embarrassing" Wedel incident is that the vice president appears so uninformed even though "his own former Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser, Jared Bernstein, has spoken negatively about the H-1B on various occasions," writes University of California-Davis computer professor Norman Matloff in an e-mail newsletter. Rather than suffering a true shortage of qualified technical personnel -- Matloff quotes Bernstein as saying -- what employers claiming they need to hire employees using the H-1B "really mean is that they can't find enough people at the rate they want to pay."
Matloff goes so far as to "wonder whether one of the reasons Bernstein left the Obama administration is that his bosses simply didn't want to hear statements like the one above. Or worse, they understand what he said only too well, and don't want such statements coming out under their imprimatur."
Matloff is admittedly speculating here, rather than offering any evidence one way or the other. Thibodeau, however, is on much firmer ground when he writes that confusion about the realities of the H-1B "is not a partisan issue. The Republican candidates are as clueless as the Democrats. One exception is Newt Gingrich, who is for unlimited work visas. There will never be a complete or honest discussion about the global shift of high skilled jobs overseas unless the political leadership understands the basics."
Biden's answer, writes Patrick Thibodeau at Computerworld, reveals that the vice president "doesn't know a thing about the H-1B visa." Biden, for example, did not know that "there's almost nothing to stop an employer from replacing a U.S. worker with an H-1B visa holder," Thibodeau notes. "Those who have had to train their visa-holding replacement" could have set him straight.
But "even odder" than Biden's apparent failure to brush up on the issue after the "embarrassing" Wedel incident is that the vice president appears so uninformed even though "his own former Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser, Jared Bernstein, has spoken negatively about the H-1B on various occasions," writes University of California-Davis computer professor Norman Matloff in an e-mail newsletter. Rather than suffering a true shortage of qualified technical personnel -- Matloff quotes Bernstein as saying -- what employers claiming they need to hire employees using the H-1B "really mean is that they can't find enough people at the rate they want to pay."
Matloff goes so far as to "wonder whether one of the reasons Bernstein left the Obama administration is that his bosses simply didn't want to hear statements like the one above. Or worse, they understand what he said only too well, and don't want such statements coming out under their imprimatur."
Matloff is admittedly speculating here, rather than offering any evidence one way or the other. Thibodeau, however, is on much firmer ground when he writes that confusion about the realities of the H-1B "is not a partisan issue. The Republican candidates are as clueless as the Democrats. One exception is Newt Gingrich, who is for unlimited work visas. There will never be a complete or honest discussion about the global shift of high skilled jobs overseas unless the political leadership understands the basics."
March 28, 2012
The Importance of an Adviser's Placement Track Record
How should someone aspiring to an academic career choose a graduate department and an adviser? According to a provocative and clear-eyed essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Karen Kelsey, a former anthropology professor who now runs a consulting firm specializing in the academic job market, the paramount factor should be the department's and the adviser's records in getting graduates onto the tenure track. (The essay assumes that this is your career goal.)
"Choose your graduate program based both on its focus on your scholarly interests and its tenure-track placement rate. If it does not keep careful records of its placement rate or does not have an impressive record of placing its Ph.D.s in tenure track positions, do not consider attending that program." Kelsey's essay is focused on humanities and social science fields, but those in scientific fields where postdoc appointments are customary should substitute "postdoc" for "graduate program" to get the idea.
"Choose your adviser the same way," she continues. "Before committing to an adviser, find out how many Ph.D.s the mentor has placed on the tenure track in recent years."
An amazing number of departments, advisers, and labs do not have, or do not wish to divulge, this information. You may, of course, be able to discover something about a lab chief's placement record by using the Internet to look for its alumni. But the fact that an adviser or department does not make the information readily available ought to give a strong hint about what applicants might expect at the end of their time in that department or lab.
This leads to the issue that many people do not want to think about: If your major goal in investing years of your life in a grad program or a postdoc is getting into an academic career, and your institution or adviser doesn't have a proven record of delivering jobs for alumni, then you'll likely be wasting your time and probably ought to rethink the venture and your goal.
That's because, Kelsey emphasizes, when it comes to tenure-track academic jobs, the past performance of the adviser and department carries immense weight. In fact, "the placement history of a top department tends to produce its own momentum, so that departments around the country with faculty members from that department will then look kindly on new applications from its latest [alumni]. That, my friends, is how privilege reproduces itself. It may be distasteful, but you deny or ignore it at your own peril."
So if you don't get one of those top programs, or labs, or advisers, the outlook for moving on to the academic career you want is probably dim, and sooner or later you'll need to think about seeking your future in another line of work. Harsh advice, perhaps, but wise and, in the long run, more compassionate than spending years fostering false hope. Of course, advanced scientific training opens doors to numerous fine career opportunities outside the academy. Landing a tenure-track job is certainly not the only valid reason for studying science. But if you want an academic career, it's best, as Kelsey advises, to choose a grad school and adviser with your eyes wide open.
"Choose your graduate program based both on its focus on your scholarly interests and its tenure-track placement rate. If it does not keep careful records of its placement rate or does not have an impressive record of placing its Ph.D.s in tenure track positions, do not consider attending that program." Kelsey's essay is focused on humanities and social science fields, but those in scientific fields where postdoc appointments are customary should substitute "postdoc" for "graduate program" to get the idea.
"Choose your adviser the same way," she continues. "Before committing to an adviser, find out how many Ph.D.s the mentor has placed on the tenure track in recent years."
An amazing number of departments, advisers, and labs do not have, or do not wish to divulge, this information. You may, of course, be able to discover something about a lab chief's placement record by using the Internet to look for its alumni. But the fact that an adviser or department does not make the information readily available ought to give a strong hint about what applicants might expect at the end of their time in that department or lab.
This leads to the issue that many people do not want to think about: If your major goal in investing years of your life in a grad program or a postdoc is getting into an academic career, and your institution or adviser doesn't have a proven record of delivering jobs for alumni, then you'll likely be wasting your time and probably ought to rethink the venture and your goal.
That's because, Kelsey emphasizes, when it comes to tenure-track academic jobs, the past performance of the adviser and department carries immense weight. In fact, "the placement history of a top department tends to produce its own momentum, so that departments around the country with faculty members from that department will then look kindly on new applications from its latest [alumni]. That, my friends, is how privilege reproduces itself. It may be distasteful, but you deny or ignore it at your own peril."
So if you don't get one of those top programs, or labs, or advisers, the outlook for moving on to the academic career you want is probably dim, and sooner or later you'll need to think about seeking your future in another line of work. Harsh advice, perhaps, but wise and, in the long run, more compassionate than spending years fostering false hope. Of course, advanced scientific training opens doors to numerous fine career opportunities outside the academy. Landing a tenure-track job is certainly not the only valid reason for studying science. But if you want an academic career, it's best, as Kelsey advises, to choose a grad school and adviser with your eyes wide open.
March 27, 2012
Lessons to Take from Graduate School
Jon Bardin, a neuroscience graduate student at the Weill Cornell School of Medical Sciences, has no plans to seek a research career. In fact, he intends to return to the career as a writer that he pursued before starting his graduate studies. But, as he explains in an intriguing essay at Chronicle of Higher Education, his graduate science education has been and will be extremely useful nonetheless.
His graduate education has equiped him to compete for desirable writing assignments, and also taught him such valuable life lessons as bouncing back from rejection (a skill he will have ample opportunity to exercise as a writer), analyzing and solving unexpected problems, and communicating effectively before an audience. Since only a small minority of science graduate students will ever have a career on the tenure track, the others -- including Bardin -- can use these skills in any number of endeavors that they pursue in later life, Bardin rightly notes.
"If graduate students can learn to approach their education as a series of learning opportunities rather than a five-year-long interview, I think that many who choose to leave would find that they have not wasted their time but rather that they had learned a great deal in a safe environment, while being paid to boot," Bardin writes. "As the world becomes more data driven, our experiences in collecting and analyzing data make us increasingly valuable commodities in any number of fields."
He's right about that, too.
His graduate education has equiped him to compete for desirable writing assignments, and also taught him such valuable life lessons as bouncing back from rejection (a skill he will have ample opportunity to exercise as a writer), analyzing and solving unexpected problems, and communicating effectively before an audience. Since only a small minority of science graduate students will ever have a career on the tenure track, the others -- including Bardin -- can use these skills in any number of endeavors that they pursue in later life, Bardin rightly notes.
"If graduate students can learn to approach their education as a series of learning opportunities rather than a five-year-long interview, I think that many who choose to leave would find that they have not wasted their time but rather that they had learned a great deal in a safe environment, while being paid to boot," Bardin writes. "As the world becomes more data driven, our experiences in collecting and analyzing data make us increasingly valuable commodities in any number of fields."
He's right about that, too.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has extended the deadline for applying to attend its Life Science Ventures Summit scheduled for June 22 and 23 in San Francisco. At the summit, up to 200 aspiring founders in the biomedical sciences will learn from experts and experienced entrepreneurs about the practicalities of starting a company. Registration costs $100. Information on the program and on applying is here.
Following three safety incidents -- including explosions in October 2011 and January 2012 that occurred in the same laboratory -- the chemistry department at the University of Florida is placing new emphasis on safety, reports the Alligator, an independent, student-run newspaper affiliated with the university.
"We're trying to change the culture so people will take safety as seriously here as they do in an industrial lab. Where we've fallen down is really stressing the importance that safety is everybody's responsibility, all day, every day," says department chair Daniel Talham, quoted in the article.
Among the steps taken is organizing a committee including people representing the departments of chemistry and chemical engineering and the office of environmental health and safety to review potentially hazardous experiments.
"We're trying to change the culture so people will take safety as seriously here as they do in an industrial lab. Where we've fallen down is really stressing the importance that safety is everybody's responsibility, all day, every day," says department chair Daniel Talham, quoted in the article.
Among the steps taken is organizing a committee including people representing the departments of chemistry and chemical engineering and the office of environmental health and safety to review potentially hazardous experiments.
Continue reading: New Emphasis on Lab Safety Following Explosions at University of Florida.
March 23, 2012
Record Unemployment Among Chemists in 2011
The unemployment rate for chemists who belong to the American Chemical Society (ACS) reached a record 4.6% in 2011 -- 6.2% among bachelors degree chemists, 5.2% for masters degrees, and 3.9% for Ph.D.s, according to Chemical & Engineering News. Each of these figures represents an increase in joblessness over the year before, each is the highest in the 40 years that ACS has tracked unemployment. Strikingly, the proportion of ACS members holding postdoc positions dropped by more than half, from 4.0% to 1.8%, between 2010 and 2011.
Overall U.S. unemployment dropped by almost a full percentage point, to 8.8%, between 2010 and 2011. Historically, unemployment among chemists often reaches its peak a year after the general economy, the article notes.
Overall U.S. unemployment dropped by almost a full percentage point, to 8.8%, between 2010 and 2011. Historically, unemployment among chemists often reaches its peak a year after the general economy, the article notes.
Continue reading: Record Unemployment Among Chemists in 2011.
March 16, 2012
Virginia Tech, UCLA, the Courts, and Accountability
Here in Washington, DC, where I live, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, aka VPI&SU, or VA Tech [Editor's note: Thanks to the commenter for the correction] shooting massacre and the just-ended trial that grew out of it are heartbreakingly local. The killer grew up around here, as did 6 of his 32 victims. Many families hereabouts send their kids to study in Blacksburg, and thousands of alumni live in the metropolitan area. At strategic points in the athletic calendar, maroon-and-orange Hokies banners go up all over town.
But that hideous day in 2007 has important national implications as well, as the Chronicle of Higher Education points out.
But that hideous day in 2007 has important national implications as well, as the Chronicle of Higher Education points out.
Continue reading: Virginia Tech, UCLA, the Courts, and Accountability.
That young biomedical investigators are getting a raw deal in the competition for funding against older, more established, competitors is a widely held suspicion these days (and not only among young investigators.) It especially rankles because history suggests that young scientists, not well-connected graybeards, are the ones likeliest to do transformative new science.
I had no idea just how large the the discrepancy is until Stephen Apfelroth of Albert Einstein College of Medicine told me about some calculations he has done based on information he received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
I had no idea just how large the the discrepancy is until Stephen Apfelroth of Albert Einstein College of Medicine told me about some calculations he has done based on information he received from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Continue reading: A "Shocking Disproportion" in Funding of Young and Older Scientists.
March 9, 2012
A Shortage of Faculty in India?
Given the discouragingly tiny number of faculty openings available in the United States and the large number of able applicants vying for them, it's refreshing to read of a country that has an oversupply of jobs and a shortage of qualified candidates. According to P. Pushkar's essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education, India is short some 300,000 needed professors, and the deficit grows by 100,000 each year.
Continue reading: A Shortage of Faculty in India?.
More than two thirds of U.S. medical schools rate a grade of B or better for their policies regulating faculty relations with pharmaceutical companies, according to survey results released on 8 March by the American Medical Student Association.
Two schools -- University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and Florida State University College of Medicine -- prohibit campus visits by pharmaceutical company sales reps. A quarter of schools have shown improvement in their policies over the past 2 years and Harvard has moved from having no policies in 2008 to receiving an A in the current report. Seventeen schools prohibit or "severely" limit work with company speakers bureaus.
Full details of the survey results are here.
Two schools -- University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and Florida State University College of Medicine -- prohibit campus visits by pharmaceutical company sales reps. A quarter of schools have shown improvement in their policies over the past 2 years and Harvard has moved from having no policies in 2008 to receiving an A in the current report. Seventeen schools prohibit or "severely" limit work with company speakers bureaus.
Full details of the survey results are here.
The National Aeronautical and Space Administration wants to fund research by "outstanding early career faculty beginning their independent careers," according to an announcement issued 8 March. Grants awarded under the new Space Technology Research Opportunities for Early Career Faculty will begin in the fall. Notices of intent are due March 30 and proposals are due May 3. A wide range of fields are eligible including communication and navigation systems, health, and materials. Information is here.
Life scientists seeking to turn a brilliant idea into a viable company can learn about the process of company formation at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's 2-day Life Science Ventures Summit planned for San Francisco on 22 and 23 June.
The Foundation will choose up to 200 would-be entrepreneurs, using as the main criteria "how much they will benefit from the experience based on where they are in their early-stage entrepreneurial journey" and the "commerical viability of their plan," according to the Foundation's announcement. Registration for the program will cost the selected participants $100. The deadline for applying is 2 April. More information and application materials are here.
The Foundation will choose up to 200 would-be entrepreneurs, using as the main criteria "how much they will benefit from the experience based on where they are in their early-stage entrepreneurial journey" and the "commerical viability of their plan," according to the Foundation's announcement. Registration for the program will cost the selected participants $100. The deadline for applying is 2 April. More information and application materials are here.
We have just learned that arraignment of Prof. Patrick Harran and the regents of the University of California on criminal charges in the death of lab technician Sheri Sangji has been postponed again, until April 11. This is the second such postponement in the potentially precedent-setting case. It is the first time a professor or academic institution has been criminally charged in a laboratory safety incident.
The first postponement was granted on 2 February in order to give the prosecution and defense additional time to negotiate a disposition of the charges. The judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court at that time stated that the delay until today would be the last.
In recent weeks, rumors have persisted that efforts to reach an agreement short of a criminal trial continue. Today's development appears to indicate that that goal is still out of reach. Sangji's sister, Naveen Sangji, and supporters have been encouraging the Los Angeles County district attorney to proceed to trial. The university, on its own and Harran's behalf, has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
The first postponement was granted on 2 February in order to give the prosecution and defense additional time to negotiate a disposition of the charges. The judge in Los Angeles County Superior Court at that time stated that the delay until today would be the last.
In recent weeks, rumors have persisted that efforts to reach an agreement short of a criminal trial continue. Today's development appears to indicate that that goal is still out of reach. Sangji's sister, Naveen Sangji, and supporters have been encouraging the Los Angeles County district attorney to proceed to trial. The university, on its own and Harran's behalf, has denied any criminal wrongdoing.
March 6, 2012
University of California Research and Technical Employees' Union Dedicates Contract to Memory of Sheri Sangji
The union representing 12,000 research, technical, and professional employees at the University of California has dedicated its new contract with the university to the memory of Sheri Sangji, the union member who died in 2009 as the result of burns sustained while working in the laboratory of Prof. Patrick Harran at the University of California, Los Angeles. Known as University Professional and Technical Employees, or UPTE-CWA Local 9119, the union today issued a release announcing the dedication and and stating that the university "refused to allow" mention of the dedication "in the official text" of the document.
The ability to give a good presentation -- both at the all-important job talk and at conferences -- is a key skill in an academic career. Kathryn Hume, who apparently has sat through her share of really bad talks, offers practical advice for job seekers in an astute essay at Inside Higher Ed. (Also not to be missed: Science Careers' Content Collection on delivering a great presentation.)
Continue reading: How to Give an Effective Presentation, Including a Great Job Talk.
March 2, 2012
How Much Green is a Green Card Worth?
Norman Matloff, the University of California-Davis computer science professor and prominent critic of the H-1B temporary worker visa, has been saying for at least a decade that the true impetus behind employers' desire to hire foreign workers on H-1Bs is not any shortage of American talent. Rather, it's wage suppression resulting from the visa holders' inability to change jobs while in the country on a visa (a visa, by the way, that belongs to the employer not the employee). Until now, no one had quantified that crucial difference in pay.
Now Matloff is drawing people's attention -- including mine -- to a recent article, by University of Nevada-Reno economist Sankar Mukhopadhyay and graduate student David Oxborrow, that does exactly that.
Now Matloff is drawing people's attention -- including mine -- to a recent article, by University of Nevada-Reno economist Sankar Mukhopadhyay and graduate student David Oxborrow, that does exactly that.
Continue reading: How Much Green is a Green Card Worth?.
March 2, 2012
Want to Be a TV Star?
A new Public Television Service series on the history of chemistry is in the works, we have learned from the Newscripts blog at Chemical & Engineering News, and the producers are seeking a host who combines chemistry chops with an engaging onscreen personality.
Could this be your big break? "The host needn't be famous, a Nobel Prize winner, or even a leading researcher," project director Stephen Lyons told C&EN. He or she might be a college, community college, or even a high school teacher--so long as the person is also a "gifted chemical communicator," the production's website says.
The producers don't want a CV or list of publications, but rather a link to a YouTube video featuring the aspring Carl Sagan in action. For more information on the planned production and how to apply, check out the series website. These are the folks, by the way, who did the fine PBS documentary about the groundbreaking African-American chemist Percy Julian, so they know their way around both chemistry and television. Can't wait to see whom they pick for this gig.
PS. The Percy Julian program is well worth viewing, by the way. Julian was a distinguished scientist who overcame severe discrimination and even a vicious attack on his and his family's physical safety. As the daughter of chemist who spent a decade in Chicago and knew Julian personally during that time, I grew up hearing repeatedly about both aspects of Percy's life.
Could this be your big break? "The host needn't be famous, a Nobel Prize winner, or even a leading researcher," project director Stephen Lyons told C&EN. He or she might be a college, community college, or even a high school teacher--so long as the person is also a "gifted chemical communicator," the production's website says.
The producers don't want a CV or list of publications, but rather a link to a YouTube video featuring the aspring Carl Sagan in action. For more information on the planned production and how to apply, check out the series website. These are the folks, by the way, who did the fine PBS documentary about the groundbreaking African-American chemist Percy Julian, so they know their way around both chemistry and television. Can't wait to see whom they pick for this gig.
PS. The Percy Julian program is well worth viewing, by the way. Julian was a distinguished scientist who overcame severe discrimination and even a vicious attack on his and his family's physical safety. As the daughter of chemist who spent a decade in Chicago and knew Julian personally during that time, I grew up hearing repeatedly about both aspects of Percy's life.
The residency programs that train new physicians to practice medicine will begin to change in July 2013, according to an announcement by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The requirements of the so-called Next Accreditation System will increase attention to such skills and personal characteristics as the ability to communicate with patients and to exhibit a high level of professionalism. The system will focus on fostering "the actual behaviors you should see in order to be confident that resident physicians are progressing to the point where they will be ready to practice on their own," according to Carol Aschenbrener, chief medical education officer at the Association of American Medical Colleges, as quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The change is necessary because under the 31-year-old existing system, "program requirements have become prescriptive, and opportunities for innovation have progressively disappeared," write ACGME CEO Thomas Nasca and co-authors in the New England Journal of Medicine. "As administrative burdens have grown, program directors have been forced to manage programs rather than mentor residents." The new system, however, will aim to "take the best of the current system and [enhance] it with a more explicit focus on attributes of the learning environment that carry over into a lifetime of practice in a clinical specialty."
The change is necessary because under the 31-year-old existing system, "program requirements have become prescriptive, and opportunities for innovation have progressively disappeared," write ACGME CEO Thomas Nasca and co-authors in the New England Journal of Medicine. "As administrative burdens have grown, program directors have been forced to manage programs rather than mentor residents." The new system, however, will aim to "take the best of the current system and [enhance] it with a more explicit focus on attributes of the learning environment that carry over into a lifetime of practice in a clinical specialty."
February 28, 2012
Who Watches the Watchers?
On 13 February, Celltex Therapeutics Corporation, a Houston, Texas, stem cell company, announced the appointment of Glenn McGee as its new "president of Ethics and Strategic Initiatives." The "internationally respected bioethicist" would be responsible "for assuring that all of the firm's work...will meet the highest ethical standards....," said the company release. "We wanted Glenn at Celltex because...we have been determined to do things right," said Celltex chairman and CEO David Eller, quoted in the release.
Continue reading: Who Watches the Watchers?.
Earlier in the month, we reported on President Obama's online conversation with Jennifer Wedel, the wife of an unemployed engineer. The president expressed surprise at Wedel's 3-year effort to find work because, he said, industrial leaders have told him "they don't have enough highly skilled engineers."
We have belatedly learned that the Washington Post's "Fact Checker" column has examined the president's claims about the employment situation in engineering and given him One Pinocchio for his comments to Mrs. Wedel. The Post's Pinocchio Scale ranges from one Pinocchio for "Some shading of the facts. Selective telling of the truth. Some omissions and exaggerations, but no outright falsehoods." The Post awards four Pinocchios for "whoppers."
The employment outlook in the semiconductor industry, where Mr. Wedel worked, looks "bleak heading into 2020, and the president should have known that," the Fact Checker writes. The president earned his Pinocchio "for suggesting that demand remains high for engineers in high-tech industries. He can't gloss over this area of unemployment."
We have belatedly learned that the Washington Post's "Fact Checker" column has examined the president's claims about the employment situation in engineering and given him One Pinocchio for his comments to Mrs. Wedel. The Post's Pinocchio Scale ranges from one Pinocchio for "Some shading of the facts. Selective telling of the truth. Some omissions and exaggerations, but no outright falsehoods." The Post awards four Pinocchios for "whoppers."
The employment outlook in the semiconductor industry, where Mr. Wedel worked, looks "bleak heading into 2020, and the president should have known that," the Fact Checker writes. The president earned his Pinocchio "for suggesting that demand remains high for engineers in high-tech industries. He can't gloss over this area of unemployment."
February 24, 2012
A "Lesson Learned"--But This Time, Thankfully, Not the Hard Way
Failure to maintain equipment properly has apparently resulted in another academic lab safety incident, but one that, fortunately, caused no injuries, reports Jyllian Kemsley at Chemical & Engineering News. On 23 January, undergraduates in a physical chemistry class at the University of California, Davis, were working with a piece of equipment called a bomb calorimeter when it exploded. (Despite its name, that is not supposed to happen.) The lid of the metal instrument was "forcibly propelled upward" until it hit the ceiling and other metal fragments and pieces of a mercury thermometer were sprayed into the room, according to a report on the event by a university chemical hygiene officer.
Entitled "Lesson Learned, UC Davis Chemistry Event, Oxygen Bomb Calorimeter Failure," the report attributes the explosion most probably to the failure of a valve seat within the calorimeter. The manufacturer, the report states, "recommends that all O-rings and valve seats be replaced annually or after 5000 firings....With proper maintenance, these particular calorimeters can operate safely and accurately for decades." The machine's serial number "indicates that it was manufactured in 1985," but "there are no records of routine maintenance" of the device however.
A 1985 manufacture date does make the calorimeter 23 years younger than the lathe that killed undergraduate physics student Michele Dufault at Yale University in April 2011, which had also apparently gone decades without servicing. Of course it's possible, perhaps even likely, that the O-rings and valve seats may have been replaced at some point during the now-defunct calorimeter's 27-year life. The lack of records, however, makes a proper maintenance schedule highly unlikely.
The "lesson" that those responsible for labs at UC Davis and many other universities need to learn from this incident--or re-learn after the unnecessary death of Dufault--is that servicing equipment in a timely manner is a potentially life-and-death responsibility. The fact that the academic science world doesn't have once again to express shock and sorrow over yet another needless death or injury following this incident is pretty much a matter of luck rather than anything the university did to assure safety.
Entitled "Lesson Learned, UC Davis Chemistry Event, Oxygen Bomb Calorimeter Failure," the report attributes the explosion most probably to the failure of a valve seat within the calorimeter. The manufacturer, the report states, "recommends that all O-rings and valve seats be replaced annually or after 5000 firings....With proper maintenance, these particular calorimeters can operate safely and accurately for decades." The machine's serial number "indicates that it was manufactured in 1985," but "there are no records of routine maintenance" of the device however.
A 1985 manufacture date does make the calorimeter 23 years younger than the lathe that killed undergraduate physics student Michele Dufault at Yale University in April 2011, which had also apparently gone decades without servicing. Of course it's possible, perhaps even likely, that the O-rings and valve seats may have been replaced at some point during the now-defunct calorimeter's 27-year life. The lack of records, however, makes a proper maintenance schedule highly unlikely.
The "lesson" that those responsible for labs at UC Davis and many other universities need to learn from this incident--or re-learn after the unnecessary death of Dufault--is that servicing equipment in a timely manner is a potentially life-and-death responsibility. The fact that the academic science world doesn't have once again to express shock and sorrow over yet another needless death or injury following this incident is pretty much a matter of luck rather than anything the university did to assure safety.
February 21, 2012
Using Job Interviews to Your Advantage
As the academic job interview season approaches, two hiring committee veterans offer good advice for making the campus visit work for rather than against you. Common mistakes that applicants make, these faculty members explain, can not only lose them a specific opportunity but also damage their career prospects later on.
Continue reading: Using Job Interviews to Your Advantage.
February 17, 2012
A Portal to Scientific Careers in the Federal Government
Looking for a science or technology career that (according to the employer, at least) offers challenging work, good pay and fringe benefits, long-term security, and the chance to make a real difference? If so, you might want to consider working for the U.S. federal government, which employs scientists, engineers, and technologists of every kind as researchers, science administrators, and in other roles in dozens of agencies across the nation and around the world. U.S. citizenship is generally required, though non-citizens can be hired in certain circumstances.
For many job seekers, the complexity and apparent opacity of the federal hiring process can pose a challenge. To help orient scientists to the often unfamiliar federal job market, a number of agencies have joined forces in a Web site called INSPIRE that is aimed specifically at answering scientists' questions about whether and how to seek a position with the feds. Its features include interviews with federally employed scientists, engineers, and technologists working in a number of fields as well as links that explain how federal hiring works, what federal employment offers, how to find agencies that want your skills, and where to get additional information.
For many job seekers, the complexity and apparent opacity of the federal hiring process can pose a challenge. To help orient scientists to the often unfamiliar federal job market, a number of agencies have joined forces in a Web site called INSPIRE that is aimed specifically at answering scientists' questions about whether and how to seek a position with the feds. Its features include interviews with federally employed scientists, engineers, and technologists working in a number of fields as well as links that explain how federal hiring works, what federal employment offers, how to find agencies that want your skills, and where to get additional information.
In August 2010, postdocs at the University of California's ten campuses ratified their union's first 5-year contract. Now, after its first full calendar year under the pact, the union known as UAW Local 5810 is looking back with satisfaction at its accomplishments. These include the "first-ever guaranteed experience-based raises upon reappointment" and a 2% increase in the overall wage scale for 2012, according to the union's website.
The union also helped individual postdocs resolve issues involving back pay, vacation time, attempts to terminate postdoc appointments because of pregnancy, and other instances of unwarranted termination, the website continues. Advocacy efforts included pressing the California Congressional delegation to oppose cuts to research funding and to support comprehensive immigration reform.
The union also helped individual postdocs resolve issues involving back pay, vacation time, attempts to terminate postdoc appointments because of pregnancy, and other instances of unwarranted termination, the website continues. Advocacy efforts included pressing the California Congressional delegation to oppose cuts to research funding and to support comprehensive immigration reform.
February 15, 2012
University of Sydney Student's Injuries Less Severe than Reported
We're happy to report that the graduate student injured in a laboratory explosion at the University of Sydney suffered injuries "not as serious as initially reported in the news media" in Australia, according to University of Sydney chemistry professor Gregory Warr. "The student has advised me that he is happy to share that he is recovering well, has spoken to a number of colleagues and has been out of bed and walking around," Warr tells Science Careers by e-mail. "He will have a skin graft on one area later this week, and expects to be discharged after the weekend." No one else was injured in the blast, which "occurred in a small research laboratory," Warr writes.
An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway, Warr continues, and should "be finalized in a few days." Warr offered to provide additional information after the investigation is complete.
An investigation into the cause of the incident is underway, Warr continues, and should "be finalized in a few days." Warr offered to provide additional information after the investigation is complete.
February 13, 2012
Student Seriously Injured in University of Sydney Lab Explosion
A laboratory explosion in the chemistry building of the University of Sydney, Australia, severely injured a 29-year-old research student (equivalent to a graduate student), reported the Sydney Daily Telegraph on 11 February. Emergency personnel brought the man by helicopter to a burn unit with burns over 40 percent of his body. A search of the websites of Australian news media and the university yielded no further information on either his condition or the cause of the incident.
Burns over 40 percent of the victim's body sounds eerily reminiscent of the lab fire injuries that killed Sheri Sangji in 2009. Here's hoping that this student makes a good recovery.
Burns over 40 percent of the victim's body sounds eerily reminiscent of the lab fire injuries that killed Sheri Sangji in 2009. Here's hoping that this student makes a good recovery.
February 13, 2012
Getting the Best Letters of Recommendations
Few things count as much in landing an academic job or fellowship as terrific letters of recommendation from professors or lab supervisors who love you and your work. Maximizing your chances of getting someone to compose such an encomium requires an understanding of both strategy and etiquette, writes Yale professor Chris Blattman in an essay on Inside Higher Ed.
The key strategic issue is selecting the right people to ask to write your letters, a task Blattman suggests you approach with "seriousness and care." "Strong letters usually come from long and close relationships with faculty," he explains. But writing them is far from trivial from the faculty member's point of view. "Since we often write these letters to our colleagues in the same pool of colleges and employers," professors "take [writing] these letters seriously." After all, "our reputations are at stake."
The essay covers such points as the criteria faculty members use to decide whom to write letters for, the number of writers an applicant should seek, and the etiquette of making the task as easy as possible for the faculty member and of providing the information he or she will need to give the most favorable possible account of your qualifications. You can find Blattman's thoughtful advice here.
The key strategic issue is selecting the right people to ask to write your letters, a task Blattman suggests you approach with "seriousness and care." "Strong letters usually come from long and close relationships with faculty," he explains. But writing them is far from trivial from the faculty member's point of view. "Since we often write these letters to our colleagues in the same pool of colleges and employers," professors "take [writing] these letters seriously." After all, "our reputations are at stake."
The essay covers such points as the criteria faculty members use to decide whom to write letters for, the number of writers an applicant should seek, and the etiquette of making the task as easy as possible for the faculty member and of providing the information he or she will need to give the most favorable possible account of your qualifications. You can find Blattman's thoughtful advice here.
February 8, 2012
Senator Grassley Writes to President Obama About Mrs. Wedel
As we have noted several times, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is a leading critic of the H-1B visa and the co-sponsor, along with Senator Dick Durban (D-Illinois), of a bill to reform and tighten the rules governing the high-skill temporary visa. Grassley is also the Ranking Member -- the senior member of the minority party -- of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. On 7 February he sent a letter to President Obama about the response the president gave last week to the plight of Mrs. Jennifer Wedel, the wife of an unemployed Texas engineer, during an online town meeting.
Continue reading: Senator Grassley Writes to President Obama About Mrs. Wedel.
A while back, we reported on how lucrative patents boost the incomes of some inventive faculty members. Highly profitable discoveries, of course, can also mean major paydays for the universities where the research took place.
Now the New York Times reports that the potential payoff of "groundbreaking research" has sparked a lawsuit by a University of Pennsylvania cancer institute against the president of the Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Penn's Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute alleges that Craig B. Thompson "chose to abscond with the fruits" of work he did while at Penn. Thompson denies the accusation.
The article calls the tangle between the prestigious institution and the major researcher a "billion-dollar dispute" and gives other examples of the big bucks at stake in certain struggles over the ownership of research.
Now the New York Times reports that the potential payoff of "groundbreaking research" has sparked a lawsuit by a University of Pennsylvania cancer institute against the president of the Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Penn's Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute alleges that Craig B. Thompson "chose to abscond with the fruits" of work he did while at Penn. Thompson denies the accusation.
The article calls the tangle between the prestigious institution and the major researcher a "billion-dollar dispute" and gives other examples of the big bucks at stake in certain struggles over the ownership of research.
Continue reading: Penn Institute Sues Prestigious Researcher Over Work It Claims Was Taken.
February 6, 2012
Even More on the President and Mrs. Wedel
We recently reported on an article in Salon, a site well know for its liberal, pro-Democratic views, that discusses the politics of President Obama's conversation with Jennifer Wedel, who is currently the nation's most famous wife of an unemployed engineer. In the interests of journalistic even-handedness, we'd also like to draw your attention to a piece by Mark Krikorian that appears on the conservative, pro-Republican National Review Online (NRO).
Though it's said here in Washington that the two ends of the political spectrum can't agree on what day of the week it is, these two articles have a lot in common. Where Salon speaks of "Obama's high-tech labor lies," NRO cites the "phony 'missile-gap' style panic about U.S. competitiveness created by lobbyists for tech companies that desire cheap labor."
Right and left seeing nearly eye-to-eye on an important issue? You heard it here first!
Though it's said here in Washington that the two ends of the political spectrum can't agree on what day of the week it is, these two articles have a lot in common. Where Salon speaks of "Obama's high-tech labor lies," NRO cites the "phony 'missile-gap' style panic about U.S. competitiveness created by lobbyists for tech companies that desire cheap labor."
Right and left seeing nearly eye-to-eye on an important issue? You heard it here first!
Continue reading: Even More on the President and Mrs. Wedel.
In its October 2011 report on the 2010 lab explosion at Texas Tech University (TTU) that maimed a graduate student, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board leveled blistering criticisms against the the university's lab-safety culture. According to pair of front-page articles on 5 January in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the experience has led TTU and some other Texas universities to make changes in how they think about and deal with safety.
Continue reading: After Explosion, Texas Tech Committee Aims to Make Safety "Automatic".
February 6, 2012
More on the President and Mrs. Wedel
Ever since President Obama's spoke with Jennifer Wedel, the Texas woman whose engineer husband has been unemployed for 3 years, during an online "town hall" last week, the internet has been alive with comments about the president's apparently puzzled reaction to her husband's plight. Over at Salon today, in an article titled "Obama's high-tech labor lies," David Sirota offers an explanation of the politics the situation. To wit: Why would a president who proclaims himself devoted to American technological and scientific progress and prides himself on his policy prowess appear ignorant of some pretty basic economic realities? And why would his press secretary, who had time to check the fact, repeat the same line?
(PS. I, like a number of other writers, have misspelled the Wedel's name. My apologies.)
(PS. I, like a number of other writers, have misspelled the Wedel's name. My apologies.)
Continue reading: More on the President and Mrs. Wedel.
February 3, 2012
Looks Like We Were Overly Optimistic About President Obama
Yesterday, this blog discussed what appeared to be promising developments in the national discussion of the scientific and engineering labor market. A new report from the National Institutes of Health indicates that the agency is getting the picture that oversupply rather than shortage is the big problem. But President Obama, not so much. His online encounter on 30 January with Jennifer Weddell, the wife of an unemployed microprocessor engineer, appeared to create an opportunity for him to take in this idea.
A subsequent briefing by White House press secretary Jay Carney reveals, however, that this apparently did not come to pass. Answering a reporter's question, Carney indicates that the White House regards Ms. Weddell's out-of-work husband as an anomalous individual case and not an indicator of any larger phenomenon possibly related to the number of H-1B visas awarded. "Business leaders," he says, tell the White House that shortages exist, and the White House apparently believes them.
Ms. Weddell did her spunky best to bring her message to the president. Why don't other hard-pressed engineers and scientists try to do the same?
February 2, 2012
Arraignment of Harran, UCLA in Sangji Case Delayed Until March
The arraignment of Patrick Harran and the regents of the University of California on criminal charges arising from the death of lab assistant Sheri Sangji, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed until March 7. After a brief discussion in Los Angeles County Superior Court this morning, a judge announced the delay, which "will allow plea negotiations to continue between prosecutors and the defendants," according to the Los Angeles Times.
February 1, 2012
President Obama Encounters High-Tech Unemployment
Amazing things have been happening in recent days in the national discussion of the scientific and technical labor force. As Science Careers has reported, the National Institutes of Health issued a report stating that oversupply of scientists is a chief concern among those working in the biomedical job market, and even suggesting that supporting fewer students and postdocs could help alleviate the problem.
Perhaps even more more significantly, President Obama, a staunch advocate of the view that America produces too few scientists and engineers, came face to face -- apparently for the first time -- with the reality of highly trained but out-of-work Americans.
Obama began to tell Mrs. Weddell that, although there is generally a great demand for engineers across the country, some specialties, such as civil engineering, are less in demand due to the depressed construction industry. When she told him that her unemployed husband is a specialist in semiconductors, the President appeared puzzled. "The word we're getting is that somebody like this should be getting work right away," he said.
The key to the condundrum, as Unversity of California-Davis computer professor Norman Matloff suggests, is that Mrs. Weddell's husband is not one of the young, cheap, newly minted graduates who get the great bulk of the H-1B visas. Instead, he is a professional with 10 years of experience, and therefore an expectation of higher pay. Mr. Weddell (assuming he shares a surname with his wife) has probably reached the crucial mid-to-late 30s, when high-tech companies begin sloughing workers off.
Obama did not seem to get the big picture during his brief interchange with Mrs. Weddell, who showed real gumption in standing her ground when the President spoke of the purported technical skills shortage and the supposedly vigorous demand for technically trained personnel. Obama appeared to see the questioner's husband as a special case and asked Ms. Weddell to send her husband's resume so that White House staff could look into what was wrong.
So here's the really crucial question: Will they look beyond this single fruitless job search? Will they see only a lone individual whom they can help get hired through industry connections? Or will they begin to appreciate Mr. Weddell for what he really is, a victim of a serious national problem that Obama simply does not seem to understand?
"The word we're getting" most likely comes from the employers who benefit from policies that glut the scientific and technical labor markets, and not from the many struggling scientific and technical workers like Mr. Weddell, or from scholars like Ron Hira of the Rochester Institute of Technology, who know the effects of these policies on many American workers. As Matloff observes, industry figures will probably race to find a good position for Mr. Weddell so that the White House need not probe deeper and discover what is really going on. The President's staff needs to look not only at Mr. Weddell's credentials, but at the voluminous literature on the disastrous state of the scientific and technical labor market.
So, hats off to the gutsy Mrs. Weddell, not only for what she did for her lucky husband but for what she tried to do for people like him across the country. Because of her, there's at least a chance that the views of the scientists and engineers caught in the glut may get through to the White House. Here's hoping that Obama gets the full picture, and not just the impression that the Weddells alone need special help. What he would learn will contradict many of his own statements on the dearth of scientific and technical expertise in this country. But the President is a highly intelligent man with an inquiring mind, and this really isn't rocket science. On this issue, he and the nation need him to hear the whole truth.
February 1, 2012
NIH Wants Your Ideas About How to Increase Diversity in Science
Yesterday, Science Careers reported on the new National Institutes of Health (NIH) report on the career issues that most concern biomedical scientists. (Topping the list--no surprise to Science Careers--is one we have been highlighting for years: the "imbalance between supply and demand", which the report calls "vast.") The report summarizes the comments sent by hundreds of scientists working inside and outside NIH.
There's also an additional chance for scientists to tell what they think. In January, NIH announced that it wants to hear from scientists on another topic: increasing the diversity of the biomedical research workforce. A Request for Information invites scientists to share their opinions and ideas on how to "cultivate diversity" throughout the educational process and early stages of a career, the role of mentors and roles models, ways to encourage more scientists from underrepresented minorities to compete for NIH funding, and more.
The comment period closes on February 24. Full details on how to convey your views on this topic to NIH are here.
Asking scientists for their throughts and insights on the important issues that affect their careers and then publishing the results is a great idea. But even more significant will be what NIH actually does about the opinions and suggestions the scientists have sent. As Michael Price and Jim Austin have already noted on this blog, the report on the concerns of biomedical scientists includes a recommendation to "[r]educe the number of students and post-doctoral fellows supported," presumably to help slow the production of career-seeking scientists in the future. Will they actually follow up on this? Will something really be done about the current mess? We'll be watching.
January 31, 2012
Science and the 1%
Anger at the top 1% of earners has become a well-established theme across the country, but it's still good to report that the vilified ranks of the very rich include some scientists and technology professionals. That's according to a recent paper by Jon Bakija of Williams College, Adam Cole of the U.S. Treasury Department, and Bradley T. Heim of Indiana University that analyzes income tax returns to determine the occupations and incomes of those enjoying the biggest paydays.
In 2005, the authors reveal, you'd have needed to make at least $94,000, measured in 2007 dollars and excluding capital gains, to squeak into the top 10% of earners, $129,00 to qualify for the top 5%, $295,000 for the top 1%, and $1,246,000 to count among the top 0.1%. This may, of course, present a distorted picture of the nation's income distribution because, as Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's recently released tax return shows, excluding capital gains cuts out some very major incomes.
So where do science and tech types fit into this picture? At every level of affluence, the authors found. Using 2005 figures, and still excluding capital gains, they note that "computer, math, engineering and technical people" (excluding Wall Street "quants," or quantitative financial experts) constituted 4.6% of the top 1% and 2.9% of the top 0.1%. If capital gains are counted in, those figures are 4.2% and 3.1%, respectively.
In that same year, "professors and scientists" accounted for 1.8% of the top 1%, if capital gains were excluded. At this income level, they narrowly edge out "arts, media and sports" figures, who weighed in at 1.6%. In the top 0.1% that year, however, again excluding capital gains, the scientists and professors constituted only 0.9%, trailing far behind athletes, actors, and rock stars, who constituted 3%. With capital gains counted in, professors and scientists were 1.8% of the top 1% and 1.2% of the top 0.1%, again way behind the assorted sports and entertainment celebrities.
So who are these ultra-affluent geeks? The paper doesn't say. It does note, however, that "the incomes of managers, executives, financial professionals, and technical professionals who are in the top 0.1%...are...very sensitive to stock market fluctuations," suggesting that they own many shares in companies.
As to the professors and scientists, the paper gives no clue. In her recent book, How Economics Shapes Science, however, economist Paula Stephan discusses the effect of "blockbuster" patents on the incomes of a small number of inventive faculty members. She estimates that in 2004, some 400 professors at about 50 U.S.institutions divided up $650 million in royalties from "megapatents" that each produce a million dollars a year or more. "Indeed, on more than half of the research-intensive compuses in the United States," she writes, "there are a handful of faculty who earn more than than their salaries each year from royalties"--and some, obviously, considerably more.
January 30, 2012
Creating Your Interview Persona
American culture places a high value on "just being yourself." But, according to Karen Kelsky, an academic consultant who was formerly a tenured professor and department chair, "'yourself' is the very last person you want to be" during interviews for tenure-track faculty jobs.
Continue reading: Creating Your Interview Persona.
For several weeks now, the smart money has been against the criminal case of UCLA and professor Patrick Harran in the death of Lab worker Sheri Sangji ever getting to trial. Informed sources close to the case who spoke with Science Careers on the condition of anonymity have said that the university's clout and a pressing state court mandate to reduce the number of prisoners in California state prisons make it likely that a resolution short of a trial will occur.
That was before a state report highly critical of UCLA and Harran became public this past week. It's unclear whether the new revelations will have an effect on the district attorney's decision of how to proceed.
A new party has now entered the discussion. Sheri Sangi's labor union at UCLA, University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), which is Local 9119 of the Communications Workers of America, a national union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, today issued a statement "urging the Los Angeles County District Attorney to prosecute the case to the fullest extent of the law."
That was before a state report highly critical of UCLA and Harran became public this past week. It's unclear whether the new revelations will have an effect on the district attorney's decision of how to proceed.
A new party has now entered the discussion. Sheri Sangi's labor union at UCLA, University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), which is Local 9119 of the Communications Workers of America, a national union affiliated with the AFL-CIO, today issued a statement "urging the Los Angeles County District Attorney to prosecute the case to the fullest extent of the law."
Continue reading: Labor Union Statement Urges Prosecution "To Fullest Extent" In UCLA Case.
January 25, 2012
Ghostwriting: Lending One's Name Could Lead to Legal Liability
Signing on as an author of a journal article actually written by a ghostwriter can get a scientist a lot more than a publication to list on a CV without doing any work. If the purported author is a medical researcher and physicians use of the article to make treatment decisions, the result could be lawsuits or even criminal charges, according the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Continue reading: Ghostwriting: Lending One's Name Could Lead to Legal Liability.
January 24, 2012
California Investigation Report Explains What Went Wrong for Sangji
Yesterday we published an item about the 2009 report on the investigation by California's Division of Occupational Safety and Health into the death of Sheri Sangji. I suspect that some readers were frustrated that we didn't describe what went wrong during Sangji's fatal attempt to transfer a quantity of tert-Butyl lithium. The report's author, Senior Special Investigator Brian Baudendistel, provides an account that goes on for pages. The basic issues come down to missing training and inappropriate equipment. Of course, these issues are related because a properly trained worker would know to use the right gear.
Here's a summary of what the investigation found.
Here's a summary of what the investigation found.
Continue reading: California Investigation Report Explains What Went Wrong for Sangji.
January 23, 2012
Scientific Cheating Is Ancient History
Though much in the news today, scientific misconduct goes back at least as far as the ancient Greeks, according to an essay in The Nation by Charles Gross. The astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria, Gross reports, may have pinched unacknowledged work by an earlier researcher, Hipparchus of Rhodes, who did likewise with discoveries made by even earlier Babylonians. Other miscreants may include Isaac Newton and Gregor Mendel, both apparently guilty of fiddling their data to produce more elegant results. In 1830, Charles Babbage went so far as to categorize the scientific wrongdoing he saw around him into "several species" including "hoaxing, forging, trimming and cooking," as quoted by Gross.
The essay concentrates on the much more recent case of disgraced cognitive researcher Marc Hauser, formerly of Harvard, but along the way traces the interesting history of the development of modern concepts of scientific integrity and misconduct. You can read it here.
January 23, 2012
California State Report: "UCLA Wholly Neglected Its Legal Obligations to Provide a Safe Working Environment"" in Sangji Case
On 21 January, Kim Christensen of the Los Angeles Times broke the story detailing the investigative report issued on 23 December 2009 by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health into the circumstances leading to Sheri Sangji's death. Science Careers has also obtained the 95-document, which made for a harrowing weekend of reading.
Through page after page of detailed interviews with UCLA officials, present and former members of Patrick Harran's lab, Harran himself, Sangji's college chemistry adviser, and her former employer, the investigator -- Senior Special Investigator Brian Baudendistel -- presents a nightmarish picture in the dispassionate language of bureaucracy. Reading it, one senses fury straining against the limits set by his official capacity. In the report's detailed, 3-page conclusion, his anger flashes hot.
January 20, 2012
A "Very Fulfilling" Life in Science
Some day we will no longer have the opportunity to mark the passing of distinguished women who were the first at what they did. That time has not yet come, however, and the encomiums published after the 4 December death of physician and medical researcher Mary Ellen Avery at the age of 84 note that she was the first female physician-in-chief at prestigious Children's Hospital Boston, the first female head of a Harvard Medical School clinical department as the Thomas Morgan Rotch Professor of Pediatrics, and the first female president of the Society for Pediatric Research.
Yet, the true glory of Avery's life was not those positions but what, according to the New York Times, she called "one moment of insight." That moment came in the course of years of research to find why premature babies died in horrifyingly large numbers. The fact that fewer than a thousand a year now die in the United States of an inability to breathe -- as opposed to 15,000 annually several decades ago -- is a direct result of her discovery that the lungs of those who perished lacked a surfactant present in the lungs of healthy babies born at term. The development of substitute surfactant is credited with making the difference, reports the Washington Post.
Yet, the true glory of Avery's life was not those positions but what, according to the New York Times, she called "one moment of insight." That moment came in the course of years of research to find why premature babies died in horrifyingly large numbers. The fact that fewer than a thousand a year now die in the United States of an inability to breathe -- as opposed to 15,000 annually several decades ago -- is a direct result of her discovery that the lungs of those who perished lacked a surfactant present in the lungs of healthy babies born at term. The development of substitute surfactant is credited with making the difference, reports the Washington Post.
Continue reading: A "Very Fulfilling" Life in Science.
January 20, 2012
Grad Student Unionizing Efforts Roil Two Campuses
Two major midwestern public campuses have seen efforts by graduate student employees to unionize that have made headlines in recent days.
At the University of Michigan, graduate student Jennifer Dibbern alleges that working on a campaign to organize her fellow graduate research assistants led to her dismissal from a post in the lab of materials science and engineering professor Rachel Goldman, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education.
At the University of Michigan, graduate student Jennifer Dibbern alleges that working on a campaign to organize her fellow graduate research assistants led to her dismissal from a post in the lab of materials science and engineering professor Rachel Goldman, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education.
At the University of Minnesota, meanwhile, graduate students belonging to Graduate Student Workers United (GSWU/UAW), a union affiliated with the national United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), claim success in their own unionizing effort. They hand-delivered a letter to university president Eric Kaler informing him that "a majority of graduate assistants have signed cards to form a union" and asking that he join them in "filing...a joint petition for union certification with the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services." A joint petition would eliminate the need for an election to determine whether a majority of the graduate assistants want the union certified as their respresentative. In case Kaler declines that suggestion, the letter continues, GSWU/UAW is also filing a petition for a certification election.
Continue reading: Grad Student Unionizing Efforts Roil Two Campuses.
The numbers of students applying to, attending and graduating from professional science master's (PSM) degree programs continue to grow, according to a report released today by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS). Programs offering the innovative two-year degrees -- which combine science studies with business, regulatory or other real-world training -- received more than 6300 applications for fall 2011 enrollment and accepted 44% of them. Nearly 1700 new students entered PSM programs in 2011, bringing total enrollment to almost 5500. PSM programs granted 1573 degrees in the academic year which ended this past June -- up from 1102 the previous year.
Because changes were made in the demographics surveyed, however, direct comparisons with last year's overall performance are not possible, the report notes. Programs that responded in both 2011 and 2010 experienced a 13% rise in applications, a 4% gain in new enrollments, and a 27% jump in degrees awarded.
The current PSM student population is about 55% male and 45% female, the report shows, and about 80% are U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Almost 20% of the 2011 graduates are members of underrepresented minorities.
"We know from student outcome data that PSM graduates are highly successful in finding employment in their field," adds CGS president Debra Stewart in a statement, but the survey presents no evidence on this question. Just last week, however, Science Careers reported reported on industry interest in scientists with master's degrees.
Drug and medical device companies will soon have to report to the federal government all payments they make to physicians who are not their employees, reports the New York Times. Under requirements likely to go into effect after a public comment period ends on 17 February, every company selling products approved for use under Medicare or Medicaid will have to disclose everything they pay to non-employee physicians, ranging from research grants and consultancy and lecture fees to snacks for meetings.
Reports must include payments for royalties and to teaching hospitals, and also all "ownership or investment interest" apart from "publicly traded stock" held by physicians or their close relatives. Information from the reports will be available to the public on a website.
The new regulations don't attempt to define what makes a payment proper or improper, the article states. Penalties for incorrect reporting start at $10,000 per payment missed and could reach $1 million per year per company. Each companies' top officials will have to certify that their reports are complete and accurate. The Times article is here.
January 16, 2012
A Pair of Explosions in the Same University of Florida Lab
What could possibly be good about not one but two explosions in 3 months, both with injuries, in the same academic lab? What could be good is the apparent progress the laboratory made between the two incidents.
In the more recent of two explosions in Alan Katritzky's lab in the chemistry department at the University of Florida (UF), on 12 January, "Preliminary investigation determined that appropriate safety procedures and protective equipment were in use, likely significantly mitigating the effects of the explosion," says UF chemistry department chair Daniel Talham, quoted by Jyllian Kemsley at Chemical & Engineering News.
In the more recent of two explosions in Alan Katritzky's lab in the chemistry department at the University of Florida (UF), on 12 January, "Preliminary investigation determined that appropriate safety procedures and protective equipment were in use, likely significantly mitigating the effects of the explosion," says UF chemistry department chair Daniel Talham, quoted by Jyllian Kemsley at Chemical & Engineering News.
Continue reading: A Pair of Explosions in the Same University of Florida Lab.
January 16, 2012
The Advantages of Volunteering in Grad School
Kaitlin Gallagher, a self-described introvert and serious grad student in kinesiology, had always shunned campus clubs to save herself both time and what she viewed as the awkwardness of putting herself forward. But, when applying for a fellowship, she reports in an essay on Inside Higher Ed, she noticed a big empty space on her application: leadership experience. So, out of fear that this "obvious gap on [her] CV" would "affect [her] negatively in the future," she volunteered for a position on the executive committee of the departmental graduate student association.
To her surprise, she gained a lot more than a line on her CV. The advantages include important new skills and contacts as well as a big boost in confidence, which she sees as necessary for future career success in academe or elsewhere. Her bottom-line advice to fellow grad students: "Don't pass up the opportunity to learn invaluable lessons that will help make the student-to-career transition a less rocky one." It's well worth the time, she believes. But better yet, let her tell you in her own words here.
January 13, 2012
Dads on the Tenure Track Feel Work-Family Conflict, Too.
The literature addressing the conflicts that women face trying to build academic careers and raise families is vast and has inspired a wide range of policies aimed at making faculty life more "family friendly." But what about tenure-seeking dads with young kids? How do they balance the needs of family and career?
"Research on male academics with young children is limited," write Richard Reddick and co-authors from the University of Texas-Austin in the current issue of the journal Psychology of Men & Masculinity. Turns out that fathers, too -- or at least those "trying to play an active, meaningful role" in their kids' lives while also striving to impress the tenure committee -- also feel "pervasive conflict and strain," says a feature article from the University of Texas that describes Reddick and colleagues' study of young faculty fathers.
Some of the ways that faculty fathers deal with these stresses will sound familiar to their female counterparts: "overextending themselves in work and family responsibilities" and "significant time management," according to the journal article. But, just as men and women often express problems such as depression differently, their ways of dealing with career-family conflicts may also differ. Men, for example, appear to share less about their family issues with colleagues, and limit such discussions to fellow faculty dads of young kids, according to the feature piece.
The "progressive" fathers whom the researchers studied believe in equal sharing of home responsibilities and feel misunderstood in the workplace, the article continues. Adding to their stress is the fact that they appear to have little awareness of and make little use of university policies or services intended to help ease the conflict between home and work.
Yale University's physics department has announced the establishment of the Michele Dufault Summer Research Fellowship and Conference Fund in memory of the undergraduate physics student who died in April 2011 in a university machine shop. Dufualt was working on her senior project late at night, apparently alone, when her hair became entangled in a lathe that, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, lacked required safety features. The department hopes to raise $100,000 to support summer fellowships for Yale female physics students and also conferences "that encourage young women to pursue the physical sciences," according to a statement by the department.
January 10, 2012
The Graying of NIH Grantees
As everyone who has every read anything about the history of science knows, brilliant new ideas generally come from brilliant young people. But as many familiar with the funding practices of the National Institutes of Health are also probably aware, the scientists it supports have been getting older and older. In 1980, the average NIH-funded investigator was 39 years old, according to a paper in PLoS One. In 2008, the typical NIH grant recipient was 51. In 1980, researchers got a first NIH grant at an average age of 36, but in 2008, that milestone came at 42.
Does the graying of the research community "impact innovative ideas and research"? ask Kirstin R.W. Matthews of Rice University and co-authors. Indeed it might, they conclude from a statistical comparison of several bodies of scientists. The average age when researchers who won Nobel Prizes over the last thirty years did their "groundbreaking research" was 41; more than three quarters had done it by age 51. This suggests, the authors write, that the trend toward seniority can "inhibit research potential and novel projects, and could impact biomedicine and the next generation scientists in the United States."
As it happened, Zerhouni made the remark at the press conference that announced the National Research Council study of the crisis for young biomedical researchers, Bridges to Independence. That document detailed the rising age of first NIH grantees and suggested some methods of aiding young researchers. The committee that wrote the study, as we reported at the time, was chaired by Thomas Cech, whose own Nobel had come at the same age as Einstein's.
But even if the point has been made before -- although Zerhouni hadn't made a statistical study and the proposals in Bridges have done little to improve the situation -- it is well worth making again. Young people are likelier to make transformative discoveries than older people. If you want to encourage those ideas, you have to make it possible for young people to develop them. The current structure of scientific funding, which encourages long postdoctoral appointments and overproduction of Ph.D.s and provides scanty opportunities for them to establish independent research careers, continues to do exactly the opposite.
January 9, 2012
Getting a Grasp of the Country Cap Issue
As debate rages over what to do about high-skill immigration to the United States, the vast complexity of U.S. immigration law can make issues difficult for non-experts to understand. A report from the Congressional Research Service helps clarify one option that, it says, "has become increasingly popular": eliminating the ceilings that currently limit the number of individuals from a given country who can be admitted on the basis of work skills. This would not change the total number of persons admitted on this basis. A bill to this effect passed the House of Representatives in November.
Continue reading: Getting a Grasp of the Country Cap Issue.
As University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) chemistry professor Patrick Harran faces arraignment on February 2 on felony charges for willful violation of safety requirements in the death of Sheri Sangji, the university will "provide for his defense," says UCLA Chancellor Gene Block in a January 6 statement. "Dr. Harran, a talented and dedicated organic chemistry professor who is making great strides in the global effort to cure cancer, has my full support," he continues. Harran is free on his own recognizance following a court appearance.
The young lab assistant's death was a "tragic accident," Block maintains, and the charges are "unwarranted" because "exhaustive investigation by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health [Cal/OSHA] found no willful violations of safety rules." Cal/OSHA, did, however, cite the university for "serious" violations in Sangji's death, resulting in the university paying fines of more than $30,000.
Block's use of the words "accident" and "willful" is significant because a core issue in the criminal case is the technical, legal definition of what they mean, which does not correspond exactly to the everyday understanding of the words. At a trial, guilt or innocence could well hinge on which interpretation prevails. Block's statement, not surprisingly, stakes out one that would work strongly in the defense's favor.
With the Iowa caucuses over and the New Hampshire primary looming, incessant media attention to the GOP presidential nomination race will (groan!) be well-nigh inescapable from here on out. In the nick of time, the Scientific American Geek Guide comes to the rescue of the perplexed sciece-oriented non-news junkie. It rates the contenders on their orientation to science including their personal geekiness and the more serious criteria of their "associations" -- each candidate's ties to "causes and people in science and technology" -- and their "policies" or their stands on science-related issues.
Published on January 3, the list still includes now-former candidate Michele Bachmann, who ranks last. Among the remaining contenders, last place now goes to Rick Santorum. Narrowly leading the pack, according to author Christopher Mims, is tech buff "Newt Skywalker" Gingrich, whose strong "geek cred" allows him to pull ahead of sci-fi fan and evolution and global warming (though not necessarily human causation) believer Mitt Romney, who holds second place, and physician Ron Paul, who comes in third.
January 4, 2012
Another Scientist Arrested in Research-Related Case
Is it just my imagination, or is this blog beginning to resemble a police blotter? In the past 2 weeks, we have reported on felony cases involving three different researchers, Yves Benhomou sentenced for insider trading, Kexue Huang sentenced for stealing trade secrets, and Patrick Harran accused of criminal violations of safety regulations in the death of Sheri Sangji.
On December 27, the very same day that the unprecedented charges were brought against Harran, yet another researcher, Vincent Dammai, an assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, was arrested for unauthorized distribution of stem cells to be used in unapproved treatments, Nature reports. He is one of three people arrested on federal charges in the case; a fourth has also been charged but not yet arrested, according to Nature.
Maybe I've been watching too many "Law & Order" reruns -- I admit to a mild addiction -- but I'm hoping that this is all a coincidence and not the beginning of some nasty trend toward increasing geek criminality. On the other hand, since science offers so many opportunities to break laws--either for illicit gain, as in three of these cases, or through apparent negligence, as is charged in the Sangji case -- perhaps four cases in two weeks is not a high number. It's much higher than we're used to, however, and that makes it scary.
January 4, 2012
Harran Has First Court Appearance on Charges in Sangji Death
The Los Angeles County Superior Court yesterday released University of California-Los Angeles professor Patrick Harran on his own recognizance after he returned from a trip and surrendered to authorities, reports the Los Angeles Times. The district attorney for Los Angeles County brought charges against Harran late last month. Arraignment is set for February 2 on the felony charges issued last week in the 2009 death of UCLA lab assistant Sheri Sangji. Conviction could carry a sentence of up to 4 1/2 years in prison.
December 28, 2011
How To Wow a Potential Lab Chief
Struggling to write an application letter that's sure to make a strong impression on a scientist whose lab you'd like to work in? University of California-Davis professor Jonathan Eisen blogs about some true-life application letters that really got his attention -- though not, alas, in the way the applicants had hoped. Check the comments, too. They provide additional examples of applicants who showed a real knack for career-killing prose. (E.g., "
Address me as 'Dear Sir'. This shows that you're not making sexist distinctions between men and women.")
Thanks to journalist David Dobbs for bringing this to my attention.
December 28, 2011
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the H-1B Debate
The controversy over the H-1B high-skill visa is the subject of today's Debate Club, a daily feature of U.S. News & World Report. Eight prominent commentators on the subject -- Jason Dzubow, John Feinblatt, Ron Hira, Tamar Jacoby, Norman Matloff, John Miano, Bruce Morrison, and Daniel Stein -- offer short essays on the question of whether the visas should be easier to obtain. They represent a range of viewpoints, pro and con, and their comments cover a number of aspects of the issues.
December 28, 2011
Professor and UCLA Criminally Charged in the Death of Sheri Sangji
The Los Angeles Times reported on December 27 the district attorney for Los Angeles County has brought felony charges against University of California-Los Angeles professor Patrick Harran and the regents of the University of California for willful violations of safety rules that resulted in the 2009 death of 23-year-old Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji.
Nearly 3 years ago, on December 29, 2008, the young lab assistant suffered burns in a preventable laboratory fire that took her life 18 days later. The district's attorney's office has issued an arrest warrant for Harran, who could face up to 4 1/2 years in prison if convicted. The university, if convicted, could be fined $1.5 milllion for each of 3 separate counts.
UCLA has termed the charges "outrageous" and plans a "vigorous defense," the Times reports.
UCLA has termed the charges "outrageous" and plans a "vigorous defense," the Times reports.
Sangji's sister Naveen Sangji, who has long expressed the hope that criminal charges would be brought in the case, says she hopes that the charges may "help keep other young people safe," according to the Times.
Sangji's death sharply raised attention to the lax safety standards in academic labs across the United States, playing a major role, for example, in encouraging the U.S. Chemical Safety Board to undertake a groundbreaking report highlighting the issue. Safety expert Neal Langerman told Science Careers in May that when the day comes when adequate safety standards are universal in U.S. academic labs, Sheri Sangji's death will be recognized as the "turning point" that made the change inevitable.
The action of the Los Angeles County district attorney clearly move this long-running and pivotal case to a new level. We will await developments with the greatest interest.
December 22, 2011
Scientists Sentenced for Misusing Information
Lots of scientists want to very badly to get ahead in their careers -- or, as the slang expression has it, they want it "in the worst way." In an odd coincidence, on December 21 two researchers who had taken that expression way too literally were sentenced in separate federal courts for crimes involving the misuse of scientific information. In unrelated cases, each had taken advantage of their expertise in fields of major commercial value to put information to illegal uses.
Continue reading: Scientists Sentenced for Misusing Information.
December 21, 2011
MIT for Everyone?
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, perhaps the world's most celebrated and prestigious scientific and technological university, is also among the hardest to get into. But now, according to an announcement made on 19 December, anyone anywhere in the world who has an Internet connection, the requisite intellectual ability and determination, and enough money to pay a "modest fee" can earn credentials showing "mastery" of coursework bearing the nonpareil imprimatur of MIT.
This new program, known for the time being at least as MITx, will expand on MIT's existing OpenCourseWare initiative, which for a decade has made "virtually all MIT course content," including syllabi, notes, exams, and more freely available online.
Continue reading: MIT for Everyone?.
December 19, 2011
Surrey with a Campus On Top
Cliché has it that academe is an ivory tower. But at the Simon Fraser University campus in suburban Surrey, British Columbia, (one of three campuses the university maintains) the tower is built of glass and steel and rises from a shopping mall. Yes, you read that right: Built atop the Surrey Central City shopping center, the new academic facility serves 5000 students enrolled in a range of undergraduate and graduate programs in liberal arts, science, technology, and business.
A big advantage of the location is accessibility, writes architecture critic and University of Pennsylvania professor Witold Rybczinski in Slate. The location allows the university to share all the retail facilities of a major shopping center, including plentiful free parking, and it abuts Vancouver's nifty SkyTrain mass transit system, which zips riders around the city in high-tech, computer-controlled rail cars and makes for easy car-free commuting. The mall's food court serves as a cafeteria for students and faculty. The university at the mall provides all the usual academic accoutrements, including study areas and an indoor atrium that serves as the campus center. You can see photos of the clever new campus and read Rybczinski's account of how it came to be, here.
Continue reading: Surrey with a Campus On Top.
December 16, 2011
A New Kind of Graduate School to Train Dr. Atomic
What is the lesson of the Fukushima nuclear disaster? For some people, it's that nuclear power plants are unsafe and should be closed. For others, reports Corinna Wu in Prism, the magazine of the American Society for Engineering Education, it's that the people running the plants need much better training.
In South Korea, which is in the process of increasing its nuclear power plants from 20 to 28, that need appears particularly great. In response to that need, Wu writes, a facility that already houses 5 working reactors will add something completely new: the world's first graduate school devoted entirely to the practicalities of producing nuclear energy.
In South Korea, which is in the process of increasing its nuclear power plants from 20 to 28, that need appears particularly great. In response to that need, Wu writes, a facility that already houses 5 working reactors will add something completely new: the world's first graduate school devoted entirely to the practicalities of producing nuclear energy.
Slated to open in March, 2012, the Korea Electric Power Company (KEPCO) International Nuclear Graduate School (K-INGS), located at the Kori nuclear facility, will offer two degrees: master of nuclear engineering and doctor of technology. As the doctorate's title indicates, "this is not a traditional doctoral degree program," says KunMo Chung, chairman of the new school's founding board, as quoted by Wu. Rather than preparing students for research or traditional engineering work, the curriculum will focus entirely on the systems involved in running, building, and improving nuclear power plants. The combination of industry participation and practical orientation bears a resemblance to the Professional Science Masters programs gaining popularity in the United States, although those programs are based at and run by universities. The K-INGS program was developed with the cooperation of a U.S. institution, George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
The first class is projected to consist of 50 Koreans and 50 students from other countries around the world. People with this training are "in demand to the point where nuclear power companies, including KEPCO, are expected to cover the cost of students' tuition," Wu writes. "If his 'experiment' succeeds," she adds, "Chung envisions a similar nuclear graduate school springing up in the United States."
December 13, 2011
How Much Did the Stimulus Stimulate Science?
In March, 2009, shortly after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (popularly known as the stimulus) was signed into law, we wondered what the resulting huge 2-year windfall would mean for science and scientists. More than $21 billion of the largesse, all of which had to be obligated (but not necessarily spent) by the end September 2010, was slated for science. The National Institutes of Health came in for $8.2 billion of the special funding, much of it going, ultimately, to some 21,500 short-term research grants to university-based principal investigators.
On December 12, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided a partial answer to our question with a report entitled Employment and Other Impacts Reported by NIH Recovery Act Grantees.
On December 12, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) provided a partial answer to our question with a report entitled Employment and Other Impacts Reported by NIH Recovery Act Grantees.
Continue reading: How Much Did the Stimulus Stimulate Science?.
December 9, 2011
Decoding the Grassley Hold
A couple of days ago we reported that Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has placed a hold on a bill that would remove the caps on how many green cards could be issued to persons from particular countries. The bill had passed the House of Representatives by a huge margin, but the move by the powerful Senator Grassley kills its chances of coming up for a vote in the Senate, at least for now.
This turn of events has apparently mystified many foreign nationals hoping to receive green cards, according to Norman Matloff, the University of California-Davis computer professor who is one of the most astute and informed commentators on high-skilled immigration. He has written a clear and comprehensive explanation of the issues that motivate Grassley's drive for reform of U.S. policy toward high-skilled immigration.
I won't try to paraphrase Matloff's precise and penetrating analysis, except to say that he ties Grassley's move directly to the "internal brain drain" about which Matloff spoke (and we reported) at a Georgetown University event in March. Matloff is hoping that "Grassley can push through some real reform" of the system that now benefits employers and those foreign workers permitted to enter the United States, but at the expense of America's abundant supply home-grown high-skilled workers, who are suffering high rates of unemployment even as employers claim a shortage of skilled people.
December 9, 2011
Advancing Scientific Integrity
Two interesting publications concerning scientific integrity appeared recently. Felicia LeClere, a principal research scientist at the University of Chicago, suggests, in an essay on Inside Higher Ed published on December 8, that requirements for data sharing now in place at some granting bodies and journals should be broadly extended because they could serve as a "cure for scientific misconduct." And on December 7, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a policy on scientific integrity that asserts scientists' right to speak freely with the media. Over a number of years, journalists have criticized the practice by many government agencies of requiring requests to speak with scientists to go through public relations offices. The policy also protects both whistleblowers and scientists wrongly accused of misconduct, limits conflicts of interest, and requires policy decisions by the agency to reflect "the best available science." Critics have argued that policy decisions by public agencies sometimes place political considerations above scientific findings.
Requiring all researchers to reveal their data "in a timely and accessible manner," as some journals and funders now do, "will change incentives and behavior," LeClere asserts. Other scientists can "immediately" begin trying to replicate results, which will promptly reveal any flaws, she believes. In addition, the prospect of close scrutiny will discourage anyone from "fraudulent data [or] fraudulent findings."
The NOAA document, meanwhile, states that, "consistent with their official duties, NOAA scientists may speak freely to the media and the public about scientific and technical findings based on their official work, including scientific and technical ideas, approaches, findings and conclusions," states the NOAA policy. They are also "free to present viewpoints, for example about policy and management matters, that extend beyond their scientific findings to incorporate their expert or personal opinions," so long as they make clear that those opinions are their own and not the agency's. "In no circumstance may any NOAA official ask or direct Federal scientists or other NOAA employees to suppress or alter scientific findings," it also says.
In addition, the agency will inform employees about and "abide by existing whistleblower protections," which are designed to prevent harm to the careers of people who raise issues in good faith. The Code of Scientific Conduct included in the NOAA policy requires honesty and accountability in handling research and results, and encourages people "immediately to report any observed, suspected or apparent Scientific and Research Misconduct."
This all sounds great. But experience teaches that few systems, no matter how excellent they appear, are automatically self-enforcing. Making data public will only serve as a safeguard of integrity, as LeClere suggests, if other people have an incentive to spend the time to examine and work with it. But as indicated in last week's special section of Science devoted to replication, the issues involved can be far from simple.
The same certainly goes for working, as some NOAA and other government scientists do, on potentially controversial topics in a highly charged political environment. And enunciated organizational policies may be, as Shakespeare's put it, "more honor'd in the breach than the observance." Still, progress requires high aspirations. Here's hoping that these come to fruition.
December 6, 2011
"Hold" by Senator Grassley Holds Up Green Card Bill
Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the powerful ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee and a longstanding advocate of reform of the H-1B temporary visa and other aspects of U.S. high-skill immigration policy, has placed a hold on the "Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants" bill, reports Computerworld. This legislative tactic is considered tantamount to announcing an intention to filibuster.
The bill, which passed the House of Representatives with a lopsided vote of 389 to 15, would abolish caps on the number of employer-sponsored green cards that can be granted to citizens of any given country, but would not increase the total number of green cards. A similar bill has been introduced in the Senate.
Grassley's action makes it highly unlikely that the bill can advance toward a Senate vote, at least for now. He opposes it because it does not "better protect Americans who seek high-skill jobs during this time of record unemployment," he stated in the Senate, according to Computerworld. Grassley and his committee colleague Dick Durban (D-Illinois) have long fought to improve protections for high-skilled American workers.
December 5, 2011
'Tis The Season To Be Not Too Jolly
Lights are twinkling in the neighborhood, Christmas music is playing in the supermarket, and the notice about the departmental holiday party has already gone out. But, as you prepare to share a festive cup with your colleagues and superiors, beware. "Situations wherein alcohol and academics are turned loose together are fraught with the potential for disaster," Nate Kreuter sagely observes in an essay on Inside Higher Ed. Lured by the pseudo camaraderie of Yuletide celebrations, not to mention the free booze, many an unwary young (and not-so-young) grad student, postdoc, or professor has blown the chance to be taken seriously ever again by overindulgence in the sauce.
Continue reading: 'Tis The Season To Be Not Too Jolly.
December 2, 2011
"A Purposeful and Passionate PhD"
Former postdoc Selina Wang offers an illuminating peek into her post-postdoc job search and her search for the meaning of her work, in a short, sweet essay entitled "The Quest for a Purposeful and Passionate PhD" at Chemical & Engineering News. An egregious lunch with faculty members during a "failed" job interview at a prestigious university ends up teaching her a profound life lesson: "It's not so much about what I do, but it's about how it makes me feel when I do it -- how it makes me come alive."
Wang wisely concludes that these apparently unfeeling, self-absorbed people, "despite how this department looks on paper," are not the ones she wants to spend her time with. But it's better for her to tell you in her own words. You can read her essay here.
Continue reading: "A Purposeful and Passionate PhD".
November 29, 2011
"A Life That Saved Many Lives"
I learned from my friend Valeria Roman, science reporter at the Buenos Aires newspaper Clarin, of the death on November 27, at the age of 101, of the physician and virology researcher Eugenia Sacerdote de Lustig. I hadn't previously heard of the woman whom Clarin called a "pioneering and passionate physician," but I immediately knew that a woman doctor and medical researcher of her age just had to have a remarkable story.
When I started reading about her, I found that it was even more remarkable and inspiring than I had expected. (Unfortunately for some readers who might want to know more, all the information I found about her was in Spanish.)
Continue reading: "A Life That Saved Many Lives".
November 28, 2011
Kauffman Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Award Entry Deadline Extended
The deadline for entering the Kauffman Foundation Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Awards competition has been extended by two weeks, to December 12, the National Postdoctoral Association has announced. The original deadline was November 28.
Open to persons who have done a postdoc in the US, the competition will award $10,000 to a founder of an established company based on the person's research and $2500 to someone in the process of starting a company. Information on entering is here.
"It's not humanly possible to be a good wife, a good mother and a first-class scientist. No one can do it--something has to go." That discouraging statement, contrary to what you may suppose, comes not from a snobbish misogynist but from Lynn Margulis. At the time of her death on November 22 at the age of 73, Margulis was Distinguished University Professor of Geosciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
A prominent biologist, Margulis's accomplishments earned her, among other honors, the National Medal of Science and membership in the National Academy of Sciences. But Margulis apparently considered herself a failure in at least one important area in life, according to the Washington Post (the source of the previous quotation). "I quit my job as wife twice," it quotes her as saying. Margulis's marriages to the celebrated astronomer, best-selling author, and TV presenter Carl Sagan and to the chemist and lawyer Thomas N. Margulis, which produced a total of four children, both ended in divorce.
Continue reading: Two Eminent Scientists Come to Different Conclusions on Work-Life Balance.
November 28, 2011
Suggestions for Science-Oriented Santas
Okay, so Black Friday's come and gone and you haven't made a dent in your holiday shopping. No need to despair. If your gift list is heavy on physics nerds, chemistry geeks, or, generally, lab rats of the humanoid variety, the online science and science fiction publication io9 has put together a roundup of items perfect for science-oriented recipients (especially those with a sense of humor). I particularly like the soft stuffed subatomic particles for that super-precocious toddler and the designer lab coat for that always-hard-to-shop-for nerdo-fashionista.
Ho ho ho and happy gifting.
November 23, 2011
How Accelerators (AKA Incubators) Help Launch Start-ups
As just about everyone knows by now, new companies are responsible for a great many of the new jobs in the United States. What most people (including many scientists who have a good idea that could possibly form the basis of a new company) don't know is how to go about joining the ranks of entrepreneurs. Some investors who want to be in on the ground floor of the Next Big Thing are helping fill that knowledge gap by sponsoring organizations known as technology accelerators (also known as incubators). Such organizations provide access to potential funds and crash courses in business and finance for would-be company founders who lack connections or training in those crucial skills.
So how exactly do accelerators work, and whom and how much can they help? An informative segment that aired on the PBS Newshour, public television's flagship news show, aims at beginning to answer those questions. It and several other related videos are available on the show's Web site, offering a painless introduction to a potentially very promising opportunity for would-be entrepreneurs.
November 22, 2011
Why Do Grad Students Think They Can Beat the Odds?
By the time people get to graduate school, they generally have acquired some familiarity with the principles of probability. So why, asks Nate Kreuter in an essay in Inside Higher Ed entitled "You Aren't the Exception," do so many fail to grasp the simple concept that those laws also apply to themselves? Kreuter describes how, early in his his graduate school program, a professor marched the new students into an auditorium and explained to them in detail just how dismal were their prospects of achieving the academic career they aspired to. (This incident called to mind the famous set piece in Sinclair Lewis's novel Arrowsmith. In this former staple of high school English classes, as young Martin Arrowsmith enters medical school, a professor assembles the class and issues a similarly dire prediction about their odds of success.)
The reason for the widespread failure to believe that such warnings apply to oneself, Kreuter suggests, is that graduate students were, "almost by definition, exceptional students as undergraduates...,exceptionally bright [and] hardworking." Their experience of outstanding success in their studies has made them "very good at disregarding warnings" and conditioned them "to seem themselves as exceptions, as exceptional." So they're likely to think that the same will hold in the next stages of their careers.
Continue reading: Why Do Grad Students Think They Can Beat the Odds?.
November 18, 2011
Census Bureau Releases Report on Foreign-Born Holders of Science and Engineering Degrees
Nearly half of foreign-born people in the United States who have bachelor's degrees earned them in science or engineering fields, as opposed to a third of native-born degree holders. Nearly a third of all bachelors degrees in engineering in the United States are held by non-native individuals. The majority of those people are from Asia. The place with the highest percentage of S&E degree holders among its foreign born population is Pittsburgh.
These are only a few of interesting facts about foreign-born holders of science and engineering degrees that you can find in a just-released Census Bureau report on this population based on data from the 2010 census.
I'm a bit late to the party, but I only just became aware of an illuminating Wall Street Journal article published in October that explains why so many employers claim they can't find skilled workers (and may need to import them from abroad) while so many highly educated people can't find jobs. "I believe that the real culprits are the employers themselves," writes Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at the University of Pennsylvania's prestigious Wharton School, one of the nation's leading business schools.
"The perceptions about a lack of skilled workers are pervasive," he continues. " The staffing company ManpowerGroup, for instance, reports that 52% of U.S. employers surveyed say they have difficulty filling positions because of talent shortages." he continues. "But the problem is an illusion."
Continue reading: Employers to Blame for "Illusion" of Skills Shortage, Says Business Expert.
November 16, 2011
Medical Students Call for Stronger Policies and More Education Concerning Conflict of Interest
You may not have realized that this is National PharmFree Week, but the American Medical Student Association and students on various campuses nationwide are celebrating by calling on medical schools and medical centers to strengthen their conflict of interest policies, educate students more effectively about the issues involved in pharmaceutical marketing, and help make medicines more widely available throughout the world.
The effort aims to "change the culture of medicine from relying on the convenience of marketing and the luxury of free gifts to a culture which puts patients first by prioritizing evidence-based medicine," said Tim Anderson, a fourth-year medical student at Case-Western Reserve University, who heads the ASM PharmFree campaign, in a statement. Key to accomplishing these goals, the association argues, is more awareness of the issues, and more transparency, among both students and faculty.
ASMA's PharmFree activities include a scorecard rating the conflict of interest policies of medical schools and medical centers across the country and curricular materials for teaching students about drug development, pharmaceutical companies' marketing practices, and conflict of interest issues.
November 15, 2011
New Report Casts Doubt on Skilled Labor Shortage Claims
A new report entitled Jobs Americans Can't Do? The Myth of a Skilled Labor Shortage examines the claim that employers cannot find sufficient numbers of Americans trained for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) jobs. Issued by the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a non-partisan policy group in Washington, DC, the study finds "no evidence that there is, or will exist in the foreseeable future, a shortage of qualified native-born scientists or engineers in the United States."
In fact, within 2 years of earning science and engineering degrees, "65 percent are either employed or training for a career in another field," the report states. Why? One reason for the outflow of talent, it suggests, is that because of large influxes of foreign workers on temporary visas, "wages in [STEM] occupations have not kept pace with those of other college graduates, and in some occupations have actually decreased." Between 2000 and 2009, it notes, 94% of applications for H-1B temporary visas nonetheless received approval.
The U.S. immigration system, the report concludes, "encourages foreigners to enter the U.S. and gives employers strong reasons to prefer them over natives. With up to 12 million more S&E [science and engineering] graduates than job openings in these fields, it is simply untrue that there is a shortage of available candidates already in the United States, yet almost 675,000 H-1 and L-1 workers were approved in 2009. Tech firms promote the myth of manpower and skill shortages because it results in public policies that help them cut wages and exploit workers."
November 15, 2011
A Meeting to Stem the "Arab Brain Drain"
A while back we reported on the efforts of the minute, mega-rich Arabian oil state of Qatar to develop world-class science. Among Qatar's goals is to encourage Arab scientists who have left the Middle East for study or work to come back and do their research in their home region. The nation's major research funder, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, has now announced that it will be hosting an Arab Expatriate Scientists Symposium (AESS) from November 19 to 23 in Qatar's capital city of Doha. The initiative is "yet another move to reverse [this] brain drain," the Foundation said in a statement
AESS, which is held in conjunction with the foundation's annual research symposium and was organized by the foundation's Arab Expatriate Scientists Network, is expected to attract more than 80 expatriate Arab scientists and "provide ample opportunities for [them] to network and contribute to scientific enhancement in Qatar and the region," said the foundation's vice president for research, Abdel Haoudi, in the statement.
AESS, which is held in conjunction with the foundation's annual research symposium and was organized by the foundation's Arab Expatriate Scientists Network, is expected to attract more than 80 expatriate Arab scientists and "provide ample opportunities for [them] to network and contribute to scientific enhancement in Qatar and the region," said the foundation's vice president for research, Abdel Haoudi, in the statement.
The meeting is just one aspect of Qatar's rich, long-term commitment to research. Scientists from the Middle East who have a hankering to return home should investigate the opportunities that these efforts could make available to them.
November 11, 2011
For Safety, Put It In Writing
Investigators looking into the lab incidents that killed Sheri Sangji and maimed Preston Brown have identified poor communication and lack of training as the major factors in both disasters. Texas Tech University grad student Brown, for example, was working with far more of an explosive material than his professor, Louisa Hope-Weeks, allowed. She thought that Brown was aware of the size limit. He obviously was not.
Since the explosion that cost Brown three fingers and inflicted eye damage and burns, Hope-Weeks has instituted new policies to ensure that everyone working in her lab is clear on what they are doing and what is permitted. In an interview with Jyllian Kemsley at Chemical & Engineering News, she explains that the new procedures require students to write up protocols describing in their own words what they intend to do. "After the accident what became clear to me was that oral communication with students was never enough to ensure that they understood," Hope-Weeks says.
Having to explain their planned actions in writing helps students to think clearly about acts and consequences; it also reveals holes in their understanding and knowledge, Hope-Weeks adds. But the new system also raises the issue of how to weigh allowing students the independence to explore against the risk of micromanagement. And reading the students' writing takes time. But, she advises her professorial colleagues, "If you think you're providing enough vigilence and oversight, double it, because it is amazing what students will do when your back it turned."
Continue reading: For Safety, Put It In Writing.
November 11, 2011
How Headhunters Can Help Job Seekers
To build a successful career in industry, scientists must master the folkways of the industrial job market, which differ from those of academe. People who already have industrial experience often find corporate recruiters to be valuable allies in this endeavor. Popularly known as headhunters, these recruiters are hired by employers to find the right person for a specific job. They generally concentrate their efforts prospective employees who have strong industrial resumes.
But, says Susan J. Ainsworth in a very informative article called "Recruiter Rapport" in Chemical & Engineering News, learning how to work with headhunters can also benefit early career scientists, if not in the immediate future, then possibly later on as their careers mature. People just getting their industrial careers underway would therefore probably find it worth an investment of time and effort to learn how headhunters work and to make connections with some who are active in the branch of industry they want to enter. "You never know where that relationship will lead -- if not today, it could pay off in the future," Ainsworth quotes a recruiter as saying.
In addition to knowing about specific job openings, headhunters "provide [job seekers] a wealth of benefits and services, including job search advice and access to positions a candidate might not otherwise find or consider," Ainsworth writes. These assets can include demystifying the processes of succeeding at interviews and negotiating a salary.
"To tap these benefits, however, candidates need to know how to successfully start and nurture relationships with headhunters, who are," she emphasizes, "ultimately working to serve their employer clients rather than the job seeker."
Ainsworth's article offers a range of helpful suggestions for how enterprising scientists can establish these relationships. Because headhunters' stock in trade is deep and detailed knowledge of and connections in particular industries, getting to know the right one could give a career a matchless boost.
Though unlikely to pay immediate benefits for those very early in their careers, learning about headhunters appears to be a wise long-term investment. You can find Ainsworth's article here.
November 8, 2011
A National Park Honoring Industrial Innovation
With industrial innovation a major issue these days, on Monday the National Park Service dedicated the nation's newest national park on the spot where the Industrial Revolution first began in America. The Paterson Great Falls National Park in Paterson, New Jersey, stands where the Passaic River drops 77 feet in the second-largest waterfall east of the Mississippi (second to Niagara). The two billion gallons of water that crash over the falls each day inspired American founding father Alexander Hamilton and fellow investors in the Society for Useful Manufacture to finance, in the 1790s, the infant country's first purpose-built industrial town, kick-starting the rise of the great urban manufacturing centers and the tradition of industrial innovation that, as we recently noted, has for more than two centuries made New Jersey one of the research and invention hubs of the nation.
In planning your visit to the new park, don't miss another Park Service monument to Garden State ingenuity, the Thomas Edison National Historical Park, in nearby West Orange. There, you can see the labs and workshops where the sage of Menlo Park perfected the countless inventions that helped create the modern age. As this old Jersey girl can testify, the first phonograph recordings, motion pictures, and such have impressed generations of school children (and adults, too).
November 8, 2011
A Graduate Grant That IS Rocket Science
Present and potential master's or doctoral students in fields relevant to advancing space technology are invited to apply for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Technology Research Fellowships. Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents studying at accredited U.S. institutions, the competitive awards can last up to 4 years and will support work at both the student's home campus and at a NASA lab or other R&D facility. Each fellow will also receive guidance both from their academic supervisor at the home institution and from a "technically relevant and community engaged researcher" chosen by NASA to serve as the student's "professional mentor."
NASA plans to award "100 or more" new fellowships a year, with "the typical award being for approximately $250,000." The application deadline for this year's awards is January 11 2012. Information on the program and the application process is here.
November 8, 2011
Protecting Your Bright Idea Under the New Patent Law
Starting in March, 2013, the new America Invents Act, which President Obama signed in September, will change the ground rules that govern filing for patents on inventions. The changeover will create a number of issues for researchers, including student researchers, and for the universities where they work, writes John Villasenor in the Chronicle of Higher Education. While the issues involved are beyond the competence of this reporter, Villasenor's essay offers an introduction to what they are. This can help you decide what to ask about how to protect that brainstorm that, you hope, will make you rich.
Continue reading: Protecting Your Bright Idea Under the New Patent Law.
November 1, 2011
Avoiding the Turbo-Jargon Syndrome
For years now, career experts have emphasized the importance of clear communication to a scientist's advancement, whether in the academic world, industry, government, or the non-profit sector. Science journalist Chris Mooney, who writes the Intersection blog at the Center for American Progess, has called to our attention a very illuminating (not to mention hilarious) video illustrating why this is true. Try to avoid the Hyper-Risibility Syndrome while viewing it.
October 31, 2011
Halloween Help for Job Seekers
Just in time for the annual celebration of synthetic spookiness, Cheryl Reed and Dawn M. Formo, two professors who've written a book about the academic job search, offer advice on dealing with something truly scary: the academic job interview. In an essay at Inside Higher Ed, they expand an observation by Stephen King, the, well, king of the creepy, into a sensible strategy for preparing for that deeply desired--but also dreaded--day when a job seeker may have to face a search committee in person.
People like horror because it lets them "dare the nightmare," the two authors quote King as saying. In just the same way, job seekers ought to use the months between the Halloween season--by which time their applications may have been sent out--and the period when actual invitations to interviews may begin to arrive, to consider the most horrifying things that could happen at an interview--and prepare to deal with them.
Continue reading: Halloween Help for Job Seekers.
Are you a student (graduate or undergraduate) with an idea for an experiment that really should take place in space? If so, the opportunity to fly your research to the "edge of space" may just have arrived. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced a competition for research slots on its balloon-borne High Altitude Student Platform. Open to graduate and undergraduate students, the competition has an entry deadline of 12 December. NASA will be answering questions about it during a teleconference on 11 November.
You can get more information on the project, the teleconference, and the application procedures here.
Continue reading: Got an Idea for an Experiment That's Out of this World (or Should Be)?.
October 26, 2011
Competition Opens for 2012 Kauffman Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Awards
Again this year, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the National Postdoctoral Association have teamed up to offer the Kauffman Foundation Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Awards with prizes totaling $12,500.
Present or former postdocs at U.S. institutions who have founded or are in the process of founding a company to commercialize research results are eligible to apply for one of the two awards. The $10,000 Outstanding Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Award honors the founder or co-founder of a U.S. firm that is at least 3 years old. Applicants for the $2,500 Emerging Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Award must be working toward commercialization.
Continue reading: Competition Opens for 2012 Kauffman Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Awards.
October 25, 2011
Lab Fire at UCLA Extinguished After 50 Minutes
Almost 150 firefighters spent 50 minutes on Tuesday bringing under control a fire in a lab at the Center for Health Sciences of the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), reports the Los Angeles Times. The blaze, which apparently caused no injuries, reportedly occurred in a lab containing hazardous materials.
Since the 2009 death of Sheri Sangji from burns she sustained in a lab fire, UCLA has instituted reforms of safety policies and procedures and become the home of the University of California Center for Laboratory Safety.
Stay tuned for further details.
In February 2010, we reported that the United States Chemical Safety Board (CSB) was undertaking its first-ever look at the safety situation in academic labs after one explosion critically injured and maimed a graduate student at Texas Tech University (TTU) and another, not long before, killed a technician at the University of California-Los Angeles. The following May, the lead investigator on that study, Cheryl McKenzie, told us that the TTU incident appeared to reveal "widely applicable" safety issues "that need to be explored."
On Wednesday, the CSB proved itself as good as its word by issuing an incisive, detailed, and wide-ranging report entitled Texas Tech University Laboratory Explosion. This groundbreaking document lays out what went wrong at TTU; what it means for that institution -- and, by extension, for thousands of other institutions across the nation; and what needs to be done about the situation right away.
Continue reading: New Chemical Safety Board Report Could Be the Lab-Safety Turning Point.
October 18, 2011
Ph.D. Not Needed for Success in Science Writing
Among the non-academic careers open to people with scientific training, science writing offers a wide variety of opportunities. Science writers explain science to readers ranging from school children and subscribers of popular magazines all the way to officials of granting agencies and researchers seeking summaries of conferences they missed.
Is a Ph.D. a requirement for a successful science writing career? Definitely not, says Robert Irion, director of the prestigious science writing graduate program at the University of California-Santa Cruz. Speaking at the ScienceWriters2011 conference held in Flagstaff, Arizona, 14-18 October, Irion shared results of a survey of graduates of the program who held Ph.D.s when they entered, A background in science, but not at graduate degree, is a requirement for admission to the program.
The Ph.D. science writing alumni Irion reported on have all established credible careers, and all believe that holding the terminal scientific degree confers advantages in establishing credibility, especially with publications aimed at scientists; at getting higher starting pay; and at understanding and interpreting the process and results of research, But, though useful, the Ph.D. is in no way "essential for someone going into science writing, particularly given the amount of time and effort it takes," says 2011 UCSC graduate Sandeep Ravindran, a microbiologist currently working at Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, as quoted by Irion.
Years in the lab do give a "valuable perspective on the culture of science," according to 2001 grad, neuroscientist and Science staff writer Greg Miller, as quoted by Irion, But, Miller adds, staying "too long" creates the "risk of developing too much reverence for the influential people and ideas in your field," an attitude at odds with the skepticism required for effective reporting.
Irion's advice to aspiring science writers: pursue a Ph.D. only if you so love doing that work that you have to -- or, by extension, if you're so close to the degree that the time to finish is relatively small. But don't start or slog through to the end because you think you need the degree to succeed as a science writer. Having a Ph.D. "is by no means the only way one can geek out on something" and gain the knowledge needed for success, says 2004 grad and mathematician Davide Casstelvecchi, who blogs for Scientific American and freelances in his native Italy.
If you already know that science writing is the career you want, Irion advises moving ahead on it "no matter your degree level." A good way to start learning about opportunities the field offers is checking out the resources at www.nasw.org. the web site of the National Association of Science Writers (full disclosure: this reporter is NASW's secretary.)
October 7, 2011
The "Indispensable" Work of Campus Safety Officers
This month's "Taken for Granted" (TFG) column discusses the importance -- but the often low prestige -- of the work that safety officers do on the nation's campuses. In an essay in today's Chronicle of Higher Education, Gary A. Olson also clarifies the role of an "indispensable" job that is widely misunderstood. As safety expert Nathan Watson tells TFG this month, the role of campus safety offices is not filling out forms but minimizing risk.
"it's amazing how many fires and safety hazards faculty and staff will create if left unchecked," Olson quotes a safety officer as saying. Although the reportage on safety in Science Careers tends to concentrate on the risks to life and limb common in research laboratories, carelessness about such ordinary matters as storing supplies and plugging in appliances by faculty and staff members in all the disciplines and offices can also lead to serious harm, Olson notes. "The most successful safety officer is one who continually focuses on accident prevention and regulatory compliance rather than reacting to safety crises," he continues.
Accomplishing this ever-challenging task requires the cooperation of all members of the campus community, even though many people are unaware of what safety officers are trying to do, Olson writes. It's not only scientists who have a stake in safe working conditions. "The rest of us, too, can take steps to improve the safety climate on our campuses," he adds. A major may to contribute, he advises, is consulting and cooperating with the safety officials on one's campus.
October 7, 2011
Self-governing association to represent postdocs at MIT
A new, independent postdoctoral association will take over from a university-established advisory council as the representative of the 1100 postdocs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, reports The Tech, an independent student publication at MIT. Individuals serving on the Postdoctoral Advisory Council, which currently represents postdocs and operates out of the office of MIT's vice president for research, worked on creating the postdoc-run Postdoctoral Association (PDA) over the past year. The association, currently run by a group of volunteers, will be electing officials in the near future according to a member of the group. The PDA is also reportedly looking into a number of issues to improve opportunities for postdocs both on the campus and in the labor market. More information is available at the PDA website.
Continue reading: Self-governing association to represent postdocs at MIT.
The contentious issue of high-skill immigration returned to Capitol Hill again today at a hearing of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement. Unlike the Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on immigration held in July, which covered a range of topics, this one focused on a single question: "STEM the Tide: Should America Try to Prevent an Exodus of Foreign Graduates of U.S. Universities with Advanced Science Degrees?"
The idea of "stapling a green card" to the diploma of every foreign science and engineering graduate has gotten a lot of influential support lately. This hearing, however, highlighted a number of weaknesses with such a policy.
Continue reading: "Staple a Green Card" to Every Diploma? Not So Fast, House Hearing Says..
October 5, 2011
NASA Seeks Scientists and Engineers for Next Astronaut Class
Always longed to travel in space? Well, if you have the "right stuff" (which can include graduate study or a work history in science or engineering), the opportunity you dream of may be ready to launch. American citizens who have "significant qualifications in engineering or science," excellent academic backgrounds, good eyesight, and, perhaps most importantly, a desire to participate in space flight, are invited to apply for the next class of astronauts. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that the application period will open early next month, with the incoming class slated to "support missions to the [space] station" and to "have the opportunity to participate...in missions beyond low Earth orbit."
You can find information here and here on the qualifications, pay and benefits, application process and more.
(Speaking of astronauts, we encourage you to read these recent Science Careers articles on astronautic careers:
How Many Astronauts Do We Need, by Michael Price,
Space Cadet, by Vijee Venkatraman,
and
A Rare Opportunity Into Space, by Elisabeth Pain)
(Speaking of astronauts, we encourage you to read these recent Science Careers articles on astronautic careers:
How Many Astronauts Do We Need, by Michael Price,
Space Cadet, by Vijee Venkatraman,
and
A Rare Opportunity Into Space, by Elisabeth Pain)
Continue reading: NASA Seeks Scientists and Engineers for Next Astronaut Class.
October 3, 2011
How Big a Help is an Ig?
Winning an important scientific prize doesn't just acknowledge outstanding work. Often, it also gives a matchless boost to the recipient's career and reputation. This week, for example, the world's attention is riveted on the announcement of the Nobel Prizes, the incomparable honors that propel scientists to the top rung of prestige and recognition.
Last week, on the other hand, media around the world (including our sister blog, Science Insider) covered the awarding of a rather less coveted -- but much more comical -- set of prizes, the IgNobels, which annually honor -- if that's the word -- science "that makes people laugh, and then makes them think."
Well, they got us thinking, too. Specifically, since we're Science Careers, we wondered what winning a spoof award does to the career prospects of recipients, a number of whom, we noticed, are quite early in their careers. Do tenure and promotion committees look with favor on a publication that garnered the authors and their institution world-wide attention for being, well, downright laughable? Or do they recoil in horror from a piece of work that might be taken, at first at least, as, er, exceptionally frivolous? Or do they just take the dignified approach of ignoring the whole thing? To find out, we asked Marc Abrahams, editor of the Annals of Improbable Research, which sponsors the annual IgNobels.
Continue reading: How Big a Help is an Ig?.
October 1, 2011
More on Technical Education and Extremism
Anwar al-Awlaki, the charismatic cleric and leader of Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula who was killed by an American drone on Friday, received a degree in civil engineering from Colorado State University in 1994. His excellent computer skills, fluent English, and familiarity with American culture made him a potent recruiter of disaffected young men in English-speaking countries, most famously Nidal Hasan, the military doctor charged with the 2009 Fort Hood shooting; Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab, the so-called "underwear bomber" accused of attempting to blow up a plane over Detroit 6 weeks later, on Christmas Day; and Faisal Shahzad, who allegedly tried to bomb Times Square in New York in 2010.
So is Razzaque -- himself a trained in the technical field of medicine -- saying that there's something about science or technical studies that makes people terrorists? By no means. But he does think that certain individuals have characteristics that attract them to both that type of subject and to extremism. You can read about Razzaque's work here.
September 28, 2011
How to Help Graduates Move into Careers
Finding a suitable and sustainable career is a major challenge for new Ph.D.s not only in the United States but in nations around the world. Thirty-five leading academic figures representing 16 countries, including such major Ph.D. producers as the U.S., China, India, Canada and Korea, have been looking for answers at the Fifth Annual Strategic Leaders Global Summit, sponsored by the Council of Graduate Schools and the University of Hong Kong.
Today they issued a statement of "Principles and Practices for Building Pathways from Graduate Schools to Careers." Among the recommendations: graduate schools and professors should play a "key role in ensuring that students are aware of, and prepared for, a wide array of careers in the academic, public and private sectors." To accomplish this, universities should provide students "the opportunity to develop essential transferable skills."
Continue reading: How to Help Graduates Move into Careers.
September 28, 2011
Be Careful What You Wish For
Only months ago, Felisa Wolfe-Simon was probably the most famous postdoc in the world, the lead author of perhaps the most talked about scientific paper in years. Her work appeared liable to revise some long-understood facts about life on earth, if it was confirmed. The bacterium she and collaborators had humorously named GFAJ-1 -- short for "give Felisa a job" -- had hurled her into an epic media and scientific maelstrom. The combination of a dramatically publicized press conference and an immediate storm of criticism, both scientific and personal, made the young scientist the center of intense -- and generally far from friendly -- interest in both the media and scientific worlds.
But now, "it's quite possible that my career is over," she says in an engrossing profile by Tom Clynes in the current Popular Science. Quite apart from the validity of her research claims -- which I am utterly unqualified to evaluate -- the story of an unknown and apparently rather naïve young researcher's brutal initiation into the realities of high-profile scientific controversy is both poignant and illuminating.
For a while it seemed that Wolfe-Simon might have captured, at an astonishingly early stage of a scientific career, the great prize that all scientists seek: a brilliant and transformative finding that appeared capable of opening vast new realms of possibility. But soon some fellow scientists were acting toward her in ways that were "unprofessional, and at times became downright shameful," admits one of her work's early critics.
The story isn't over yet, but what it reveals about politics and emotion in the world of high-stakes science is far from pretty. You can read the article here.
September 27, 2011
94 Early-Career Scientists Receive Presidential Honor
Yesterday was definitely early-career scientists day at the White House. In addition to the announcement of new policies at the National Science Foundation aimed at helping researchers with young families and a program to attract women to science that included a talk by First Lady Michelle Obama, President Barack Obama named the 94 winners of this year's Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers.
Termed in a White House statement the "highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers," the awards go annually to scientists distinguished for their "innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology and their commitment to community service as demonstrated through scientific leadership, public education, or community outreach." Significantly, though most of the winners are affiliated with universities, a sizable number work at other research organizations, such as national laboratories.
Sixteen federal agencies collaborate with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to compile each year's list. Congratulations to all the winners on their outstanding achievements!
September 26, 2011
New NSF Policy Aims to Make Grants More Family-Friendly
Today the White House and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new effort, called the "NSF Career-Life Balance Initiative," to make research careers mesh more easily with the family lives of grant recipients -- particularly female ones.
This appears to be very good news for women seeking to pursue academic scientific careers during their peak childbearing years. Under the plan, researchers of both sexes will be able to delay the beginning of grants for up to a year because of the birth or adoption of a child and to suspend grants while they take parental leave. They may also apply for funds to pay technicians to keep projects running during these leave periods. NSF will "expressly promote these benefits" in its announcements and other publicity, according the the announcement.
Of course, the new opportunities to spend time with family while advancing a scientific career will only work if universities also slow the tenure clock by comparable amounts of time -- and if delays don't count against people in personnel decisions. Research has found some academics, especially at the most competitive institutions, unwilling to avail themselves of such family benefits for fear of appearing "not serious" about their careers. It will be interesting to see whether the official NSF impirmatur for parental leave makes a difference in such attitudes.
Announcement of the initiative is part of an larger effort, which includes an event hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama, to encourage girls to pursue scientific and technical careers.
September 26, 2011
Updated Guide for Establishing Professional Science Master's Programs Now Available
The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) announced on September 20 a newly rewritten and updated version of its 2006 handbook for establishing Professional Science Master's Degree programs. Entitled Professional Science Master's: the A Council of Graduate School Guide to Establishing Programs, the new publication provides to institutions considering establishing PSM degrees the benefit of over a decade of experience with the 2-year programs that prepare students for science- and technology-based careers in industry, government, and the nonprofit sector. The volume includes best practices based on successful programs and explains how to assess a proposed program's feasibility, how to develop and operate a program, how to seek formal affiliation with the national PSM movement, and more.
Over the past decade, over 110 universities in 31 US states and the District of Columbia, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom have founded a total of nearly 240 programs that together graduated more than 1,100 students in 2010. Increasing numbers of institutions have expressed interest in starting programs of their own. Information on ordering the manual is available here.
September 20, 2011
Lab Safety Scholarships for Science Teachers
The Laboratory Safety Institute, a non-profit organization that gives a variety of training courses in various parts of the country, is offering scholarships to school science teachers to receive lab safety training. The awards are part of a gift from the Dow Chemical Company and the Dow Education Foundation that will also support an online LSI reference library of lab safety materials, which is projected to go live in November. The application deadline for the scholarship is December 31. Application information is here.
Continue reading: Lab Safety Scholarships for Science Teachers.
September 20, 2011
Scientific Chutzpah
Innocent graduate students and a postdoc may once again have become "collateral damage" of professorial fraud, this time in what Margaret Munro of Postmedia News terms an "unusually creative case of academic misconduct." The Canadian scientist in question went far beyond the usual enhancement of experimental data or massaging of conclusions. He listed entirely fictitious publications on the CV he used in an application that won a research grant from the National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada's major federal granting agency.
Continue reading: Scientific Chutzpah.
September 19, 2011
Teaching Abroad Means Learning Students' Culture
With academic openings scarce in some countries but plentiful in others, would-be faculty members may consider pursuing careers abroad. For those who decide to teach in foreign lands, says Zen Parry, an Australian teaching in South Korea, the "biggest cultural surprise" may well be the students.
In an intriguing article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, he explains how the Korean education system, testing methods, family practices and means of financing college produce students with expectations, experiences, pressures, and study habits quite different from those familiar to teachers in English-speaking countries. This can lead to puzzling and disconcerting classroom interactions for the expatriate teacher. His Korean students, for example, "are very good under close supervision," Parry writes, "but they have few skills for...managing time and resources efficiently, or asking their professors questions outside of what pages to read and what questions will be asked in a quiz." Requests to professors to change grades are common and generally granted, and students "will leave" a course that "emphasizes teamwork and collaboration," Parry adds.
The "nature of the students" is an "important factor impossible to put in ... contracts," Parry notes. That's why he advises that "professors should ask many questions about students and keep their eyes wide open before taking on an expatriate job."
Continue reading: Teaching Abroad Means Learning Students' Culture.
September 16, 2011
Changing Campus Culture?
The Association of American Universities,
whose 61 members include the major research universities of the United
States and Canada, has undertaken a "five year initiative to improve the
quality of undergraduate teaching and learning in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields at its member institutions,"
the group announced yesterday.
According to a 15-page so called "discussion draft"
released at the same time, 90 percent of the undergraduates who changed
their intended major from STEM to non-STEM subjects "cited poor
teaching as a concern." Because the majority make the change between
their freshman and sophomore years, keeping them in science will require
attention to the very earliest undergraduate courses -- hardly the ones
that generally rivet the attention of prominent faculty members. A good
deal is known about methods that work well for undergraduate learners,
the document notes, but, it frankly admits (in italics for emphasis), "Improving teaching will require cultural change" on campuses.
Continue reading: Changing Campus Culture?.
September 12, 2011
September 11 and Scientific Integrity
The 2001 terror attack on the World Trade Center caused more than unprecedented loss of life and physical destruction on a single, terrible day. It also became a long-running public health catastrophe for the New York region, forcing countless people to breathe a toxic mix of pulverized asbestos, concrete, plastic, metals, and many other harmful substances. Just days after the towers collapsed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), however, confidently told the public that New York's air was safe -- an idea belied by the stench that lay over the region long afterward. A decade later, it is tragically obvious that many of those who breathed that severely polluted air have paid a heavy toll in lung disease and other illnesses.
The EPA claim had no basis in scientific fact and actually contradicted information the agency then possessed, according to the blog of Francesa Grifo, senior scientist and director of scientific integrity at the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). But EPA announcements, like other federal communications on scientific topics, were subject to political concerns.
"Ten years later," Grifo writes, "federal agencies" including EPA, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "are now in the process of developing scientific integrity policies ... aimed at preventing similar violations of science ... in the future." Given what we now know about the health problems that followed the EPA announcement, it is "ever more essential that we hold our federal agencies accountable," she writes. Tens of thousands of citizens have commented on the proposed policies and UCS has done line-by-line analysis of the proposed policies and their drawbacks. The deadlines for public comment have passed, but you can read the policies and the analyses here.
September 8, 2011
Germany Works to Lure Its Postdocs Home
In the early decades of the twentieth century, Americans aspiring to scientific careers flocked to study at the great universities of Germany, then the world leaders in research. More recently, young scientific talent has flowed in the opposite direction, with the German government encouraging its best graduate students to come to the United States for a postdoctoral experience.
Germany wants its new Ph.D.s to go abroad to broaden their scientific knowledge. But once they're all trained up, Germany wants them to come home -- and many of them do. About 85% of U.S. postdocs with German Ph.D.s, and about 50% of German scientists who earned American Ph.D.s, return to Germany eventually, reports Scott Jaschik in Inside Higher Ed. But Germany, Jaschik says, hopes to do even better.
Continue reading: Germany Works to Lure Its Postdocs Home.
September 7, 2011
American Chemical Society Meeting Focuses Attention on Campus Lab Safety
At the recent annual convention of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Denver, the group's deliberative council devoted a portion of its meeting to hearing suggestions for what ACS can do to improve laboratory safety culture on the nation's campuses. The session grew out of efforts and proposals by groups within the ACS that have been working on safety issues for years. In a typically astute and informative blog post on Chemical & Engineering News, Jyllian Kemsley reports that the half hour devoted to the issue produced a wide range of ideas, from tying "faculty and adminstrator raises and contract renewal to safety performance" to encouraging TV shows and movies to show correct protective apparel and gear.
Significantly, Kemsley writes, "no one stood up either to defend academic laboratory culture or to say that ACS shouldn't get involved." One council member in fact declared that "[t]here is no college laboratory I want to work in because they're all so unsafe."
A number of suggestions involved increasing training for students, including possibly creating certification programs. Kemsley, however, sees "too much emphasis on training students and not enough on the role of faculty and administration" in taking responsibility for fostering and maintaining a strong and continuous focus on safety as a crucial element of daily life in the lab. You can read the post, including the list of more than 20 suggestions, here.
September 5, 2011
Ron Hira Provides Answers to Senator Grassley that Strengthen His Testimony Refuting Shortage Claims
During the Senate subcommittee hearing on high-skilled immigration reported in this month's "Taken for Granted" column, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked witness Ron Hira, professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, to explain in writing for the record why his testimony differed from that of the other witnesses, especially Microsoft's general council Brad Smith. Smith had argued that the United States suffers a shortage of technical talent. Hira denied that claim, stating instead that the current unemployment rate among holders of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degrees is unusually high.
Hira now has made available to Science Careers the 8-page written reply that he sent to Grassley, which considerably strengthens his testimony at the hearing. Smith's argument, Hira wrote, depends on his assumption that economic "full-employment occurs with an unemployment rate of 5%." Since college graduates currently have an unemployment rate of 4.4%, Smith "concludes that there's a shortage" of such workers.
September 5, 2011
What Engineer Shortage?
On 1 September this blog reported on comments by Paul Ottelini, a member of the President's Council on Jobs and Competitveness, that the United States lacks sufficient numbers of engineers. That same day, in an article entitled 'Mr. President, There Is No Engineer Shortage', The Washington Post "Innovations" columnist Vivek Wadhwa, director of research at Duke University's Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization in Durham, laid out reasons why that claim is not true.
Wadhwa's main argument will be familiar to regular readers of Science Careers: There is a conspicuous lack of what economists say is a major sign of shortage: wage rise. Except in a few specific fields, such as petroleum engineering, "salaries have not increased more than inflation over the past two decades," Wadhwa writes.
He goes on to consider the large numbers of engineers supposedly being produced in India and China, who are often cited as a major threat to American competitiveness requiring an increase in graduates here at home. Many of these people are engineers in name only and have nothing close to the skills or intellectual preparation possessed by the products of U.S. engineering programs, Wadhwa writes. Often included in the touted figures are "auto mechanics or technicians," he continues. And in any case, only a minority of China's engineers even end up working in the profession, most becoming "bureaucrats or factory workers."
Read the full article here.
This has been a tough year for new graduates seeking jobs. But the newest class to earn Professional Science Masters (PSM) degrees are landing well-paying positions in a generally dismal economy.
That, at least, is the conclusion of a report about the class of 2011 from the Council of Graduate Schools (CSG). The report found that 82% of the PSM alumni were working "soon after receiving their degrees," 88% of them in positions "closely or somewhat related to their field of study," said CGS president Debra Stewart in a statement. About half are working in industry, a quarter in government, and the rest in academic or non-profit organizations, and 38% of those who have new jobs found them through the internships they took as part of their degree work. More than half are earning over $55,000. Not suprisingly, 82% of the alumni expressed satisfaction with the programs they had just completed. As we have noted earlier in this space, the programs are attracting plenty of students.
August 22, 2011
The Science of Radicalization
With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks only weeks away, the disproportionate representation of technically and scientifically trained young men among violent extremists -- from the engineers who flew the planes into the Twin Towers to the army doctor who shot up Fort Hood in 2009 -- has a tragic relevance. According to the book 'Human Being to Human Bomb: Inside the Mind of a Terrorist' by London psychiatrist Russell Razzaque, for example, "every one of the bombers [involved in the 2005 London bombings] earned any academic success mainly in literalist, logic-based subjects [such as] science, mathematics and engineering."
Razzaque studies the process by which educated young people (overwhelmingly male) are recruited and radicalized and has uncovered factors that appear to make the technically minded especially susceptible. A British-born Muslim, practicing clinician, independent researcher, and advisor to British government agencies, Razzaque discussed his findings at a conference entitled "After 9/11" being held in Cambridge, England, and sponsored by the Templeton-Cambridge Journalism Fellowships program. (This reporter received a fellowship to attend the conference.)
Continue reading: The Science of Radicalization.
Reuters reports that Yale University finds "significant inaccuracies" in the letter sent by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration concerning safety deficiencies in the university machine shop where student Michele Dufault died in April. In a statement issued yesterday, Yale claims that the lathe was up to national standards, contrary to OSHA's finding that it lacked required safety features. Yale also stated that it provides extensive safety training to students using the equipment and also did regular inspections of the machine.
Because Dufault was not an employee, OSHA lacks jurisdiction to impose fines in the case.
Continue reading: Yale Claims "Inaccuracies" in OSHA Letter Regarding Safety Deficiencies.
August 16, 2011
OSHA Finds Numerous Safety Deficiencies in Yale Machine Shop Where Michele Dufault Died
The Associated Press is reporting that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has found that the lathe that killed Yale University student Michele Dufault in April lacked necessary safety features and that the university's safety policies were deficient.
AP used the Freedom of Information Act to get a copy of a letter sent by OSHA to Yale. The lathe, which dates from 1962, had neither an emergency shut-off switch nor a part known as a guard that shields the person working at the machine. Both are required and considered basic elements of using the device safely. Dufault's hair became fatally entangled in the lathe. In addition, OSHA noted numerous other safety deficiencies in the machine shop where she died, such as missing warning signs and inadequate record keeping.
Safety experts, furthermore, consider working alone, as Dufault apparently was doing when she died, to violate a fundamental safety rule.
AP reports that Yale had not responded to a request for comment.
[[Please click here for an update to this story.]]
[[Please click here for an update to this story.]]
August 16, 2011
Big Questions in the Sezen-Semes Cases
Winston Churchill called Russia a "riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." The same could be said of the notorious and appalling Bengu Sezen fraud case at Columbia University. In a detailed report in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), William G. Schulz lays out the facts of the elaborate deception, and they lead to a series of difficult questions. The first big piece of the puzzle: why did Sezen, an apparently accomplished chemist, even make up her research in the first place? "Details of the case make clear," Schulz writes, "that Sezen, at the very least, has a sophisticated understanding of chemical principles. The effort she put into faking it and covering her tracks, say many people who have reviewed the case, easily match that required for legitimate doctoral work in science."
And then there is the even more disturbing question of how she got away with it. Several members of the lab where Sezen worked attempted to alert their professor, Dalibor Semes, to problems they had perceived in her work. Three of them, graduate students who failed--not surprisingly, it is now obvious--to reproduce Sezen's results, were dismissed from the lab for their efforts, their hopes of scientific careers presumably wrecked in the process.
Continue reading: Big Questions in the Sezen-Semes Cases.
August 12, 2011
The Dark Side of Science
An apparently growing number of high-profile retractions of published papers has caught the scientific community's attention lately. Such admissions of serious flaws, it turns out, are more likely to happen when a paper is published in a high-impact journal than in one of lesser prestige. That is the conclusion of an article by two scientists who edit journals, Ferric Fang, editor-in-chief of Infection and Immunity, and Arturo Casadevall, editor-in-chief of mBio. They write in their article that "the frequency of retraction varies among journals and shows a strong correlation with the journal impact factor." They also believe that the number of such incidents is rising.
"Maybe the pressures to try to get papers in prestigious journals was a driving force in encouraging people to engage in misconduct" such as faking data to get spectacular results, Fang speculates in an interview with The Scientist. What he and Casadevall call in their article "the dark side of the hyper-competitive environment of contemporary science" seems to arise, Fang suggests, out of the intense need some scientists feel to publish in a top journal in order to gain funding, keep their jobs, and, in some cases, avoid losing visas and facing deportation.
But Fang does not excuse such practices, nor does he know of a system for assuring the honesty of scientific publications that would work better the present one, he says in the interview. With luck, Fang and Casadevall's exploration of this important and disturbing problem will open a wide-ranging discussion and a search for solutions. You can download their article here.
August 10, 2011
Professional Science Masters Degrees Catching On With Students
Here's more evidence that American students of all kinds will seek science careers when they perceive real opportunity and that there's not a "shortage" of qualified applicants.
"Through the PSM, U.S. citizens, minorities and women are being drawn to advanced study in STEM fields," said CGS president Debra Stewart in a statement. "Clearly this helps meet U.S. workforce needs."
August 10, 2011
A Shortage of Pro Athletes?
"When was the last time we saw a shortage of investment bankers, lawyers, brain surgeons, or pro athletes?" That intriguing question was posed on the blog of David Finegold, Dean of the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations. "Our young people are lining up to compete for these positions," he writes, because "we're prepared to pay top dollar in these professions."
Quoting data presented by labor force expert Hal Salzman at a recent conference, Finegold notes that the same is true for scientific and technical fields when the pay is also good enough. Shortages of petroleum engineers (a real shortage this time!) have caused starting salaries to shoot up from $56,000 to $86,000 in the last few years. And guess what those supposedly science-averse American students have been doing about it? Why, flocking to enroll in petroleum engineering programs, which have seen the number of US students more than double in four years.
"The supply of graduates in the US is very responsive to changing wage-levels," Finegold writes. Of course, you don't need to be dean of a management school to suspect that that may be true. Economics 101 ought to be enough to let you know that the law of supply and demand works when it is allowed to. In fields where there are actual shortages, wages rise, and when they do, more people are attracted to enter those fields. American students are, as this case shows -- and as labor market experts been saying for years -- staying away from scientific careers not because they can't do science, but because they don't see that it leads to promising opportunities. When they do see that, as Finegold says, they'll "stand in line" for the chance. You can read the blog post here.
When Bernadine Healy entered Harvard Medical School, her class included 9 other women and more than 100 men. When she joined the Johns Hopkins cardiology faculty, she was the first women named to a full-time position. When President George H.W. Bush appointed her director of the National Institutes of Health in 1991, she was the first woman to hold that post. Healy's pioneering career ended on Saturday with her death, at age 67, of brain cancer.
The posts cited above are only a few of the distinguished positions that crowded the resume of a woman who began by earning both her college (summa cum laude at Vassar) and medical degrees on full academic scholarships. She also served as president of the American Heart Association, president and CEO of the American Red Cross, chair of the Cleveland Clinic Research Institute, and dean of the Ohio State University medical school. In addition, she practiced cardiology, did research of her own, and even ran for the United States Senate.
Continue reading: Bernadine Healy's Career Blazed a Path for Women and for Women's Health.
August 7, 2011
Non-Progress Report
When the start of the last academic year brought a spate of books examining the the state of American academia, we offered a round-up of several with particular relevance to science. These volumes offered a range of diagnoses and possible cures for fiscal, administrative and career ills on the nation's campuses (Ending or reforming tenure to provide greater funds and flexibility for hiring younger scholars was the single most commonly proposed solution.)
The authors of these volumes obviously hoped and expected that America's professoriate, with its universally proclaimed devotion to analysis, innovation, empiricism, criticism of the status quo outside academe, and dedication to the welfare of the academic enterprise, would take these examinations to heart. Perhaps, the authors hoped, academics would even start thinking about reforms aimed at solving problems like the difficult financial situation of many students, the dismal career prospects of young Ph.D. scholars, the precarious work lives of contingent faculty, and other festering inequities in academe.
So how, to paraphrase a certain politician, has this hopey-changey stuff been working out?
The authors of these volumes obviously hoped and expected that America's professoriate, with its universally proclaimed devotion to analysis, innovation, empiricism, criticism of the status quo outside academe, and dedication to the welfare of the academic enterprise, would take these examinations to heart. Perhaps, the authors hoped, academics would even start thinking about reforms aimed at solving problems like the difficult financial situation of many students, the dismal career prospects of young Ph.D. scholars, the precarious work lives of contingent faculty, and other festering inequities in academe.
So how, to paraphrase a certain politician, has this hopey-changey stuff been working out?
Continue reading: Non-Progress Report.
August 4, 2011
Why Do Women Work For Less?
A new U.S. Department of Commerce report on women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields shows that, though they earn less than men, the wage gap is smaller than in comparable non-STEM fields. On our sister blog, our colleague Jeffrey Mervis quotes Rebecca Blank, the economics PhD who is Acting Secretary of Commerce, as wondering why the smaller income discrepancy fails to draw more women into STEM jobs. "It adds to the puzzle of what we are doing in our schools or our families that makes STEM jobs seemingly less attractive to girls," she says. Though constituting half of all college-educated workers in the economy at large, women are only a quarter of STEM workers, the report found.
The report goes on to suggest a number of the usual explanations for women's lower propensity to work in STEM, including stereotyping, family conflicts and scarce role models, and Blank calls the income discrepancy "one of the big research questions in economics." The report fails to note, however, that economics is not the only discipline looking into the question of how people choose careers.
As we have previously reported, research by psychologist Amanda Diekman of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and associates found that academically able men and women, on average, expressed different value orientations regarding their careers. Women appeared less motivated than men by economics and more by a desire to help others and serve the larger community. We noted at that time that a STEM field with that explicit goal, biomedical engineering, has the highest proportion of women students of all engineering. fields. The Commerce Department report, in fact, even notes that women who earn STEM degrees are likelier than comparable men to pursue carers in education or healthcare, but appears to consider that a problem to be corrected.
So what our schools and families may be doing to girls is teaching them to value other goals, such as service and helping, perhaps more highly than income. Whether that's a good thing or not is certainly beyond the purview of economics.
Continue reading: Why Do Women Work For Less?.
The Journal of Postdoctoral Affairs, aka the Postdoc Journal, has launched on the Web. Run by a group of postdocs based mostly in California, the new peer-reviewed online publication aims to be an "international platform for addressing conceptual and practical issues that pertain to the foundations and contexts of the postdoctoral experience," declares a mission statement fully worthy of the academic enterprise to which its founders aspire. Volume 1, Number 1 lists the range of materials the journal expects to carry, including scholarly articles on postdocs and their working lives and video presentations of postdocs' research.
"Anyone can write articles [for] this journal provided they are related to postdoc affairs," says editorial board member and first-issue contributor Hady Felfly of the University of California-San Francisco, by e-mail. The journal gives instructions for submitting articles and videos for consideration for future issues. In addition, it has a job-announcement section, which already carries an opening in Germany. Besides scholarly papers, which will undergo "a rigorous peer-review process conducted by an expert editorial team," according to the mission statement, the journal also seeks opinion articles, letters, and comments and hopes to reach a wide range of readers and contributors, including "current and former postdoctoral scholars, their faculty advisors, postdoctoral policy analysts, administrators and labor affair specialists."
Continue reading: New International Journal By and About Postdocs Publishes First Issue.
July 27, 2011
Where Can Postdocs Learn to Teach?
For Ph.D.s who aspire to academic careers that include a lot of
teaching, the challenge of learning how to conduct courses and organize
lab work appropriate to undergraduates can be a considerable challenge.
Most grad schools and postdoc positions ignore pedagogy entirely,
viewing time spent away from research as time wasted. Nonetheless,
several types of postdoctoral opportunities include structured
experience standing in front of a classroom, plus mentoring in how to do
it well, according to an article in the August HHMI Bulletin. These
range from so-called teaching postdocs at liberal arts colleges that
emphasize instructing undergraduates to programs that add an element of
teaching experience to postdoc positions heavy on research.
"If
people want to go into academic positions, a pure teaching postdoc can
be fatal," says Joe Handelsman of Yale University, quoted in the
article. Even scientists aiming for careers on undergraduate faculties
need a solid research record because, the article warns, "schools at all
levels -- liberal arts colleges, regional public universities, and
major research universities -- look first at research" when they hire.
But the data also appear to indicate that participants in combined
research and teaching programs can do well at landing faculty jobs. For
a consideration of these program's pros and cons, check out the article
here.
Michelle Dufault, the 22-year-old Yale University undergraduate physics student who died on April 12 while working on a physics project, has become the namesake of an asteroid. Her hair became fatally entangled in a lathe she was using, apparently alone and late at night, in the university's Sterling Chemical Laboratory. The Yale physics department yesterday announced the astronomical memorial, formally known as Asteroid Dufault. The citation, composed by department chair C. Megan Urry, called Michelle an "outstanding astronomy and physics student" who was "passionate about science and about encouraging others, especially young women, to pursue science careers."
Investigations of the circumstances of Dufault's death are apparently still pending.
Continue reading: Asteroid Named for Deceased Yale Student Michelle Dufault.
July 26, 2011
How to Run the Safest Possible Lab
Though it was published months ago, I just recently came across a revealing interview by Jyllian Kemsley of Chemical & Engineering News on the subject of lab safety. Timothy Gallagher is chair of the chemistry department at the University of Bristol in England and a real stickler for safety procedures in his labs. Admitting that he is a reformed offender who as a postdoc suffered two research-related hospitalizations, Gallagher considers safety rules so important that he routinely -- and instantly -- bans from his labs any student or postdoc who doesn't comply.
No one is permitted to work alone or out of the sight of another person at any time. Period. Everyone must carry out a risk assessment every time they undertake a procedure. But, Gallagher admits, even such consistent vigilance cannot prevent every mishap. Unexpected events can -- and have -- caused injuries in his lab. Making people feel constantly responsible for their own and their colleagues' safety is key to a lab that's as accident-free as possible, he believes. Safe practices, he adds, don't hamper but rather "enhance" scientific work.
July 25, 2011
Gearing Up for the Job Search
So, you think that a stellar academic record, terrific publications, a brilliant presentation, and enthusiastic recommendations will be enough to land you that faculty job? Not so, says University of Utah computer scientist Matt Might in an essay in Inside Higher Ed. Any number of unexpected screwups can derail your plans and degrade your performance on that all-important campus visit. In addition to the obvious intellectual wherewithall, he suggests you bring an array of gadgets that he says can help prevent disaster and improve your outcome.
Want to make sure that your presentation slides are available no matter what and that they work in conjunction with the school's equipment? That you appear dynamic and in control during your talk? That you can find your away around to explore the strange city where the campus is located--and that might be your home if you get the job? That you can maximize your work time while you wait to change planes? Might knows just the gizmo that can fill the bill.
Continue reading: Gearing Up for the Job Search.
July 20, 2011
Science in the Movies
Writing a blog post the other day, about the reaction of British scientist and filmmaker Christopher Riley to the last American space shuttle flight, got me thinking more generally about pop culture representations of science and scientists during the heyday of the space program. As I mentioned in that item, the image of space flight was very positive and the astronauts were portrayed in the media as handsome, virile, virtuous, all-American boys who also just happened to be experts at science and engineering. John Glenn, the photogenic Midwestern small-town boy who was the first American to orbit the earth, became an instant national celebrity in 1962. Twelve years later, after he retired from NASA, he won a seat in to the United States Senate from his native Ohio, which he kept for the next 25 years.
Beyond the exploits of the real astronauts, "Star Trek" and the TV epic of the starship Enterprise began in September 1966, almost three years ahead of the first manned moon landing in July, 1969. The landing, which "won" the space race with the Russians, was broadcast to astonished hundreds of millions around the world and brought the space program incalculable prestige and admiration. Millions of Americans (this reporter included) stayed up all night to catch the event "live from the surface of the moon," and many millions more in foreign countries saw it live in their respective time zones.
Beyond the exploits of the real astronauts, "Star Trek" and the TV epic of the starship Enterprise began in September 1966, almost three years ahead of the first manned moon landing in July, 1969. The landing, which "won" the space race with the Russians, was broadcast to astonished hundreds of millions around the world and brought the space program incalculable prestige and admiration. Millions of Americans (this reporter included) stayed up all night to catch the event "live from the surface of the moon," and many millions more in foreign countries saw it live in their respective time zones.
Continue reading: Science in the Movies.
July 19, 2011
How to Promote Your Work (And Your Career)
It used to be that mothers counseled their kids not to brag. But in academe, as in the rest of our Facebook- and Twitter-obsessed society, the days of genteel modesty are over. In an essay in Inside Higher Ed, Rachel Connelly and Kristen Ghodsee of Bowdoin College advise that "one of the most important things" a young would-be faculty member can do to advance a career is to get the word about publications out to influential senior members of his or her field.
Letting aspring academics think that mere merit, hard work, excellence, and achievement will bring the advancement they seek is a "cruel disservice," write Connelly and Ghodsee, who recommend much more focused and strategic efforts toward this end. As evidence, they mention an economics study that found that gender did not affect the ratings or acceptances of submitted manuscripts, but "'mutual affiliation' of author and journal editors and co-editors" did. In other words, you'll have a better chance of being published if the people making the decisions know you and your work.
Continue reading: How to Promote Your Work (And Your Career).
July 13, 2011
Health Insurance Available For Non-Tenure-Track Faculty
With graduate employees and temporary, part-time, or non-tenure-track faculty now reportedly constituting 73 percent of those teaching in America's colleges and universities, obtaining affordable health insurance--or, often, any insurance at all--can be a challenge for many in academia. Now, however, reports Inside Higher Ed, a nation-wide organization for adjuncts and contingent faculty known as the New Faculty Majority (NFM) is making health insurance available to its members in 37 states and the District of Columbia. Membership in NFM is open to everyone who wishes to join and costs $15 a year. Though the coverage is "limited" and "less than that offered with traditional employer-sponsored group benefits, it's a step in the right direction," says the NFM website.
You can learn the details here.
July 9, 2011
The Damage that Cheaters Do
The notorious scientific fraud of former Columbia University chemist Bengü Sezen harmed a lot more than scientific knowledge, reports William G. Schulz in Chemical & Engineering News on July 7. The graduate work and Ph.D. prospects of three other young would-be scientists working along with Sezen in the lab of their mutual mentor became collateral damage in Sezen's spectacular deceit.
Two "lengthy reports" by the university and the U.S Department of Health and Human Services reveal Sezen's "massive and sustained effort...over the course of more than a decade to dope experiments, manipulate and falsify NMR and elemental analysis research data, and create fictitious people and organizations to vouch for the reproducibility of her results," Schulz reports. The elaborate and skillful deception, for which she was ultimately found guilty of 21 counts of research misconduct, goes all the way back to the work for her Ph.D., which Columbia University is seeking to withdraw.
Continue reading: The Damage that Cheaters Do.
July 8, 2011
A Giant Leap for PhDs?
In an open letter to President Obama published in The Guardian, scientist-filmmaker Christopher Riley of London University mourns the passage of the United States manned space-flight program and notes the positive effect that the once-glamorous effort had on young Americans' propensity to pursue Ph.D.s in the physical sciences.
Whether having astronauts aboard would contribute more to science than sending out unmanned vehicles is something I can't judge, but Riley is right about something else: In the heyday of the space program, those at the cutting edge of technology were viewed not as bespectacled geeks but as the hunky ideal of every red-blooded American boy.
Continue reading: A Giant Leap for PhDs?.
June 17, 2011
How Are Women Doing In Science?
The Phi Beta Kappa Society's Key Reporter presents a wrap-up of recent reports discussing the situation of women in science, one of which we previously covered on this blog. Pomona College biologist Laura L. Mays Hoopes concludes that "although women have come a long way as incipient or actual scientists, more work remains to be done for them to feel like full-fledged members of the scientific community."
The article includes links to the reports and also to an interesting self-test for implicit bias (which is often cited as a factor discouraging girls and women from advancing in science). In addition, befitting a society of top college students, it gives full bibliographic citations. (One of these, however, contains a spelling error -- not quite A-plus work, Phi Bet!)
Continue reading: How Are Women Doing In Science?.
June 16, 2011
Is This a "Sputnik Moment"?
Eight computer science experts discuss, in the New York Times "Room for Debate" feature, the meaning of a new boom in interest in the subject that appears to be happening on American campuses. What does growing enrollment in the field mean for students, the economic outlook, and the field itself? Contributors include such stalwarts of the science labor force debates as Vivek Wadhwa, who has gigs at University of California, Berkeley, and at Harvard and Duke Universities, and computer science professor Norman Matloff of the University of California, Davis. Numerous knowledgeable readers add astute comments.
"If we want a real Sputnik moment, we need to create the same demand -- and excitement -- we had for engineers and scientists in the 60s, when it seemed the nation's survival was at stake," Wadhwa writes. That's only one of illuminating points the contributors make about what differentiates the days of "The Right Stuff" from those of "The Social Network" -- and what those differences may mean for the future.
Continue reading: Is This a "Sputnik Moment"?.
Science students and postdocs from China are a significant presence in university labs and graduate and undergraduate programs across North America and Europe. Would fewer of China's excellent aspiring scientists go abroad to study if more of the universities at home met international standards of research and, especially, undergraduate and graduate teaching?
Qingshi Zhu, a prominent chemist, education reform advocate and president of South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC), the country's newest university, believes that the answer is yes, according to an intriguing article in Chemical & Engineering News. Keeping highly talented students and postdocs in China's academic labs would, he notes, help boost the country's overall research effort. The institution Zhu heads, which currently is seeking accreditation, is based on a different model from China's older institutions and is designed to aim for world standards.
Qingshi Zhu, a prominent chemist, education reform advocate and president of South University of Science and Technology of China (SUSTC), the country's newest university, believes that the answer is yes, according to an intriguing article in Chemical & Engineering News. Keeping highly talented students and postdocs in China's academic labs would, he notes, help boost the country's overall research effort. The institution Zhu heads, which currently is seeking accreditation, is based on a different model from China's older institutions and is designed to aim for world standards.
Bureaucracy, politics, and pressure to publish have stifled previous improvement efforts, including some by Zhu himself, reports Shawna Williams from Chengdu, China. Can SUSTC succeed in demonstrating a new model that could provide more Chinese students with world-class education without leaving home? It's too soon to tell, Williams notes, although Zhu is optimistic. The outcome of this effort, and the influence it may have on other institutions in China, could affect decisions by talented Chinese students and postdocs about where to seek their educations -- which would affect universities around the world.
Continue reading: Can Education Reform Keep Chinese Science Students at Home?.
June 8, 2011
Good Advice for Succeeding in Graduate School
A pair of essays in Inside Higher Ed by Yale University biology professor Stephen C. Stearns offers clear-eyed and sometimes counter-intuitive advice on how to succeed in graduate school. The first essay emphasizes the importance of knowing one's own mind and taking responsibility for one's graduate career. "Nobody cares about you" -- in the sense that no one is constantly looking out for you -- and "psychological problems are the biggest barrier" are two central messages; Stearns also suggests ways of coping. [Editor's Note: It's not online yet, but look for our article "Mind Matters: Resilience," which will be posted Thursday afternoon. When it's posted you'll be able to access it at http://scim.ag/mm_resilience.]
Stearns adds that one should stay alert for and open to opportunities other than sticking it out all the way to the PhD. Some such possibilities may work out much better for you in the long run. "There are a lot of interesting things to do in life besides being a scientist," he notes, "and in some the job market is a lot better."
Stearns adds that one should stay alert for and open to opportunities other than sticking it out all the way to the PhD. Some such possibilities may work out much better for you in the long run. "There are a lot of interesting things to do in life besides being a scientist," he notes, "and in some the job market is a lot better."
But as long as you are in grad school, his second essay offers a straightforward approach to meeting one of the real challenges of building a scientific career: learning to write effectively. First, he suggests that to hone your skills you "write a proposal and get it criticized." He explains why and how to do this, and how it will help to advance both your education and your career. He also suggests that you "start publishing early" because unless you are an author of "substantial articles in internationally recognized, refereed journals,...you can forget a career in science." Harsh words, perhaps, but sound advice. For learning how to do this, Stearns again lays out some very useful suggestions.
June 7, 2011
A Nobel Laureate's Advice to Women Scientists
When Rosalyn Yalow was young, her mother often expressed gratitude that the girl "chose to do acceptable things," Yalow recalled many years later. Yalow was such "stubborn, determined" girl that, she continued, "if I had chosen otherwise, no one could have deflected me from my path." Fortunately Yalow, who died on May 30 at the age of 89, chose the acceptable -- if, at the time, highly unconventional -- path of science. But, as she recounted in her Nobel Prize autobiography, it took all the stubbornness and determination she could muster, plus the aid of some very supportive teachers and the good luck of the World War II draft, for her to achieve the career that made her, in 1977, only the second female laureate in medicine or physiology.
She also achieved the life she wanted beyond science. She felt a "duty to speak to young women, to encourage them to have careers, and particularly careers in science," according to the Washington Post. But she also advised that "all women scientists should marry, rear children, cook and clean in order to achieve fulfillment, to be a complete woman." Live-in hired help supplemented her own domestic efforts while her two children were small. Her daughter, the Post reported, considered her "a pretty wonderful mother."
Continue reading: A Nobel Laureate's Advice to Women Scientists.
June 7, 2011
The Basic Cause of Safety Disasters
What is the common element in many catastrophic safety failures, ranging from the explosion that destroyed the Challenger space shuttle in 1986 to the needless deaths of Sheri Sangji at UCLA in 2009 and Michele Dufault at Yale in April of this year?
A penetrating analysis in chapter 12 of the independent experts' report on last year's Upper Big Branch mine disaster, in which 29 miners perished, suggests an illuminating answer: the "normalization of deviance." (I learned of this chapter, by the way, from the blog of Jillian Kemsley at Chemical & Engineering News.) This interpretation derives from research into the Challenger disaster presented by Columbia University sociologist Diane Vaughan in her 1996 book The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture and Deviance at NASA.It is important because it goes beyond the usual explanations of academic laboratory safety incidents, which often blame the lack of a safety culture. Rather, it suggests something more pernicious: the presence of cultures not only indifferent but actually inimical to good safety practices.
A penetrating analysis in chapter 12 of the independent experts' report on last year's Upper Big Branch mine disaster, in which 29 miners perished, suggests an illuminating answer: the "normalization of deviance." (I learned of this chapter, by the way, from the blog of Jillian Kemsley at Chemical & Engineering News.) This interpretation derives from research into the Challenger disaster presented by Columbia University sociologist Diane Vaughan in her 1996 book The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture and Deviance at NASA.It is important because it goes beyond the usual explanations of academic laboratory safety incidents, which often blame the lack of a safety culture. Rather, it suggests something more pernicious: the presence of cultures not only indifferent but actually inimical to good safety practices.
Continue reading: The Basic Cause of Safety Disasters.
June 1, 2011
Deciding on a Physical Science Postdoc
It probably shouldn't come as a surprise to physical scientists finishing up their Ph.D. that choosing a postdoc position requires doing more of same thing one did in graduate school: research. That's the basic message Rice University physics and astronomy professor Douglas Natelson imparts in an article on "Picking a Postdoc Post" in Inside Higher Ed. Careful investigation of the opportunities and practices in different fields is crucial to finding a suitable spot. So are "word of mouth and self-motivation," Natelson says.
Among the issues a would-be postdoc should investigate: the structure of funding within a given field (because it can differ across disciplines) and the possible existence of "hidden" opportunities that may not have been advertised. Natelson advises taking the initiative and writing to scientists whose work appears exciting, even if they haven't announced a vacancy.
Beyond scoping out the market, getting a clear picture of one's own goals and preferences is also vital to finding a good fit. Do you want to stay close to your dissertation subject or move toward another field? Are you aiming for academe or industry? And, perhaps most important, what is it you want out of a postdoc experience?
For more advice on choosing a postdoc, in physical science or any other scientific field, read our own take in "A Perfect Postdoc: A Primer".
For more advice on choosing a postdoc, in physical science or any other scientific field, read our own take in "A Perfect Postdoc: A Primer".
May 24, 2011
Engineering Majors Earn the Most, but Physical and Life Science Majors also Do Well, a New Report Shows
A debate has lately been brewing in educational circles about whether a college or graduate education is really worth the price, given the ever-rising cost of tuition. If those loans and savings are bankrolling college degrees in science and, especially, in engineering, the answer is decidedly yes. That's according to a fascinating new report, based on census data, from Georgetown University's Center for Education and the Workforce. What's It Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors, by Anthony Carnevale and co-authors, shows that it matters a great deal to future earnings what a college student majors in. The undisputed winner in the financial return department is a petroleum engineering. Thanks to a current boom in the field, the median income for those with bachelor's degrees in petroleum engineering is a whopping $120,000.
Matthew Stremlau, a postdoc at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass., also has experience doing research in China, at the National Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology and Peking University. Writing on the op-ed page of the Washington Post, he advises fellow young scientists unable to achieve academic science careers in the United States to seek opportunity abroad. Countries that also include Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore are currently quite hospitable to foreign scientific talent, he notes. That's not bad given that in the United States, "Only a handful of my friends will go on to run their own labs, though many more would like to," he writes. "Some go into industry or consulting or law. Others leave science altogether."
Stremlau's description of the current prospects for young scientists in the United States is certainly accurate, but he misconstrues the cause for their plight. "Twenty years ago, most molecular-science PhD graduates in the United States went on to start up their own labs at universities across the country," he claims. He then blames recent cuts in "public funding for science and technology" for the current desperately tight academic job market.
In fact, it has been been many more than 20 years since the majority of young American biomedical scientists have routinely had the opportunity to start labs of their own. According to Bridges to Independence, published by the National Academies Press in 2005, in the early 1990s there were already almost 12,000 biomed PhDs aged 35 or younger in the United States, but fewer than 2000 of the tenure-track positions that allow scientists to launch secure, independent academic research careers. (That's fewer than 2000 positions altogether, not 2000 openings at any one time. Only a much smaller number of openings became available each year.) By 2001, the young PhDs numbered almost 18,000, but the number of suitable tenure-track positions had barely budged. Even twenty years ago, therefore, many fewer than "most" young biomedical scientists got to fulfill their dream of a lab of their own.
Inside Higher Ed blogs that an exposé of ethical infractions by medical faculty that was published by ProPublica has prodded medical schools to tighten their enforcement of conflict-of-interest rules. Stanford University, for example, has disciplined 5 faculty members who, despite university policies to the contrary, took money from drug companies for giving talks.
ProPublica had reported in December that medical schools' stated ethical policies often were going unenforced. Among the schools mentioned in that report, and now reportedly examining or strengthening their policies, are the Universities of Colorado, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh and California-San Francisco.
May 20, 2011
Seeking Opportunities Abroad
With the academic job market in United States overcrowded, and this year's American hiring season nearing its end, the aptly named Katrina Gulliver suggests that aspirants to faculty positions can expand their pool of opportunities by seeking openings in other countries. Gulliver, who has held posts in Europe, Asia, and Australia, has never been imprisoned by tiny people or kept as a pet by gargantuan farmers. But she has encountered cultural differences that matter in an international job search. Gulliver offers enlightening advice on how to do this in an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Continue reading: Seeking Opportunities Abroad.
May 19, 2011
A Bonus for Hiring Foreign Scientists?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is making it possible for more foreign students to extend their visas and stay in the United States for "optional practical training." By doing so, it is also giving companies an economic reason to hire them in place of comparable Americans, says David North of the Center for Immigration Studies, a non-profit research institute in Washington, DC. Because neither the holders of these extensions nor those who employ them will have to make Social Security or Medicare contributions, "companies would get a 7.56 percent discount by hiring a foreign student under this program, something that creates an 'unequal playing field' for other college grads," reports Fox News.
This "gives the employer a bonus for hiring the foreign worker," which will make "some people very attractive," says North in the article.
"The Immigration and Customs Enforcement [part of DHS] statement announcing the expansion said the change is meant to 'address shortages in certain high tech sectors of talented scientists,'" the article continues. For those talented scientists who don't pay Social Security taxes because they can't find work in a brutal job market, the existence of this talent shortage may also come as news.
Continue reading: A Bonus for Hiring Foreign Scientists?.
May 16, 2011
They Often Serve Who Never Win Awards
With apologies to the great poet John Milton for butchering his immortal words (those who followed Dan Albert's recent advice to include humanities in their education may recognize my paraphrase of Milton's majestic "On His Blindness"), I'd like to call attention to an intriguing set of charts issued by the Association for Women in Science as part of their project on Recognition of Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. (I learned of this from Inside Higher Ed.)
One chart shows that among the 72 people it elected to membership this year, the National Academy of Sciences deemed only 9 women worthy of the honor. A second chart reveals that when women do win recognition from major scientific societies, they are much more likely to get prizes for service than for scholarship. "In many societies," AWIS observes, "the proportion of female scholarly award winners is smaller than the proportion of female Ph.D.s awarded 20-40 years ago [and] female full professors in the field...."
Now, why does the fact that women are doing the work but not getting the honors somehow not surprise me? And what, if anything, does this tell about, er, blindness?
May 16, 2011
Is the H-1B Good for America?
President Obama's May 10 speech in El Paso moved immigration reform back into the political spotlight, and with it the perennial debate about the H-1B visa, which is heavily used both in academe to recruit postdocs and in the IT industry to import workers and for outsourcing. Though many argue that admitting technically trained foreigners on temporary work permits benefits the United States, Ron Hira, associate professor of public policy at Rochester Institute of Technology, says that just the opposite is true. "Instead of providing foreign workers who complement the American workforce, employers are bringing in workers who substitute for Americans," he told the Economic Times, a leading Indian publication.
Echoing remarks he made in March 31 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement, Hira said, "It is wrong to equate the profits of U.S.-based companies with America's national interest." In the Economic Times interview he also quoted former U.S. Rep. Bruce Morrison (D-CT), one of the creators of the H-1B, as saying "If I knew in 1990 what I know today about the use of [the H-1B] for outsourcing, I wouldn't have drafted it so that staffing companies of that sort could have used it."
Incidentally, I happened to hear about Hira's comments from an American engineer with many years of experience who was recently laid off from his long-term job. "Profits are at record levels," Hira noted in the interview, "but the labour market is still not creating enough jobs."
For many young scientists aspiring to academic careers, learning to be an effective teacher can present a considerable challenge. For many, developing that ability takes years of practice.
Now, a study published in Science (links to free summary; subscription required for full text) finds that postdocs without significant teaching experience can outperform experienced and well-regarded senior professors at teaching physics to undergraduates.
Louis Deslauriers of the University of British Columbia and coauthors compared what two groups of engineering students learned when the groups were taught the same physics material through different instructional methods.
Now, a study published in Science (links to free summary; subscription required for full text) finds that postdocs without significant teaching experience can outperform experienced and well-regarded senior professors at teaching physics to undergraduates.
Louis Deslauriers of the University of British Columbia and coauthors compared what two groups of engineering students learned when the groups were taught the same physics material through different instructional methods.
Continue reading: Postdocs Trained to Teach Can Outshine Senior Professors, Study Finds.
May 9, 2011
Virtual Memorial Wall Honors Lab Fatalities
The Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI) has established an online Lab Safety Memorial Wall to preserve the memory of individuals killed while working on scientific research. At present the Wall lists some 70 incidents over the past 8 decades that have claimed more than 200 lives.
"The real problem is that we forget that these are real people, real lives, real families, real situations," says Christina Dillard, assistant director of the nonprofit institute based in Natick, Massachusetts, in an interview with Science Careers. LSI aims to raise awareness of the need for lab safety by restoring the humanity to the victims, many of whose names appear to have been lost to the historic record.
"The real problem is that we forget that these are real people, real lives, real families, real situations," says Christina Dillard, assistant director of the nonprofit institute based in Natick, Massachusetts, in an interview with Science Careers. LSI aims to raise awareness of the need for lab safety by restoring the humanity to the victims, many of whose names appear to have been lost to the historic record.
LSI hopes the project will help to expand the record of those who have died in laboratory incidents. Dillard encourages anyone who has information that can "fill in the blanks" in the existing list of events or "tell us about ones that we have missed" to write to memorialwall@labsafetyinstitute.org with names or details of an any lab incident that "resulted in someone losing their life."
Continue reading: Virtual Memorial Wall Honors Lab Fatalities.
The last time this blog mentioned the role of religion in an academic career, it was to consider the case of astronomer Martin Gaskell, whom the University of Kentucky did not hire, reportedly because of his religious beliefs. But what of the opposite situation, becoming a faculty member who does not share the faith commitment of a college or university that has explicit religious ties?
Continue reading: Taking a Job at a Religiously-Affiliated Institution.
May 4, 2011
Ex-Postdoc Not Going to Parliament This Time
With all the votes in Canada's federal election now counted, former postdoc Peter Ferguson, whom Science Careers profiled last month, did not win the Parliamentary seat for the southern Ontario riding (electoral district) of London West. He did, however, make a pretty impressive showing for a candidate whose campaign, he told us by e-mail, consisted of "all volunteers (not a single paid staff member) and...spent about 1/3 of what the other two leading parties did locally."
According to CBC News, Peter Ferguson, candidate of the New Democratic Party (NDP) got 25.9% of the vote in a five-way race, coming in third behind Ed Holder, the incumbent and candidate of the Conservative Party, who got 44.5%, and Doug Ferguson (no relation), the candidate of the Liberal Party, who got 26.78%, or 543 more votes than Peter Ferguson. The Conservatives swept southern Ontario and the province at large, taking 73 of its 106 seats with 44.4% of the vote as against 25.6% for the second-place NDP. The Conservatives also won a convincing majority of seats nationwide --167 of the total of 308 -- with NDP coming in second with 102, the party's "best electoral result ever," Peter Ferguson says.
Peter Ferguson is far from the only former academic to run (or, as Canadians say, stand) for office this year. Both Jack Layton, leader of the NDP and now of the Parliamentary opposition, and Michael Ignatieff, who led the badly defeated Liberals, are Ph.D.s and former professors, Layton of political science and Ignatieff of history. Stephen Harper, Canada's Prime Minister and leader of the victorious Conservatives, has a masters degree in economics and has also given university lectures.
After Peter Ferguson winds down his campaign -- including, he told us, donning his orange rain parka (the NDP's official color) to 'help gather up election signs and meet up with my team for the post-mortem" -- we hope to get some observations from him about his experiences as scientist in politics.
EDIT: We've added a link to the interview with Shirley Tighman in the HHMI Bulletin, which is now public.
Princeton University president Shirley Tilghman is in a position to make a major impact on the lives and prospects of many young scientists. As chair of the newly announced National Institutes of Health panel that will look into the future of the US biomedical workforce, she believes that "changes must be made if we are to sustain the vibrancy of the U.S. biomedical workforce," according to an interview in the May HHMI Bulletin. (The issue is now publicly available.)
Princeton University president Shirley Tilghman is in a position to make a major impact on the lives and prospects of many young scientists. As chair of the newly announced National Institutes of Health panel that will look into the future of the US biomedical workforce, she believes that "changes must be made if we are to sustain the vibrancy of the U.S. biomedical workforce," according to an interview in the May HHMI Bulletin. (The issue is now publicly available.)
"The root of the problem" is overproduction of Ph.D.s, she continues, and, if nothing changes, the situation stands to worsen in the years to come. But, she adds, helpful "changes could be made to the structure of the typical biomedical research laboratory." Specifically, she suggests reducing the number of trainees, who currently outnumber technicians 10 to 1, and increasing the number of "permanent employees.... We need to explore such options."
One issue that will need careful examination is how to make any such change stick. Using grad students and postdocs is much cheaper than paying the salaries that would give permanent employees a decent career ladder as well as career-style benefits. Cost, of course, is why PIs use grad students and postdocs in such numbers, turning ostensible trainees into cheap labor. Will the NIH panel bite the bullet and favor paying permanent employees an appropriate wage? Will it consider ways to get budget-conscious PIs to adopt this more expensive approach?
The answers to these questions lie in the future. For now, Tilghman's comments are encouraging, implying as they do not only some new thinking but, potentially, some new career opportunities for scientists.
A panel held on Thursday at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), site of the 2009 death of lab worker Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji, observed Workers Memorial Day in part by tying lab safety to the larger issue of worker safety, according to the UCLA Daily Bruin. The program, sponsored by UCLA's Labor Occupational Health and Safety Program, also discussed the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911, a pivotal event that killed 146 workers and sparked a movement for safer working conditions, along with more recent workplace catastrophes such as last summer's Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and the Fukashima nuclear power plan crisis.
April 28, 2011
NIH Panel to Examine What's Ahead for the Biomed Labor Force
Inside Higher Ed reports that the National Institutes of Health yesterday announced a new panel to study the "future of the biomedical research workforce." The group appears to be looking at some of the right questions, such as the size of the workforce and the types of positions that would allow people to advance their careers as they advance science. As Inside Higher Ed notes, however, it is "dominated by academic researchers and administrators," who may, consciously or unconcsiously, have vested interests in the current pyramid system of training. It includes one expert in careers and technology, but none of the researchers who have long studied the arrangements that have created the current career crisis for young scientists.
To see what a difference the composition of a panel can make, check out two reports on science workforce originally published in the same year (2005), the highly publicized Rising Above the Gathering Storm, which popularized the idea of a scientist shortage, and the much more realistic and lesser known Bridges to Independence, which objectively examined the causes of the glut.
Anyway, here's hoping that this new panel digs deep and thinks hard.
April 27, 2011
Journal Editor Offers Advice for Newbies
Few processes are more crucial to a scientist's success or more mysterious to the uninitiated than peer review. How do journals choose reviewers? What does a good reviewer do? What should a scientist do if it appears that the peer reviewers erred in evaluating one's paper?
A journal editor elucidates these and other mysteries of the scientific publication process in an essay in Chronicle of Higher Education. Writing as Female Science Professor, this pseudonymous physical scientist offers insights that will help both people hoping to get their work published and those invited for the first time to be a peer reviewer.
April 22, 2011
Research Center Opts to Refuse Pharmaceutical Funding
The Pain & Policy Studies Group of the University of Wisconsin Medical School in Madison has announced that it will not longer accept funding from pharmaceutical companies that sell opioid drugs. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal, which had previously investigated PPSG, a recipient of $2.5 million from producers of opioid pain medications, reported the decision on 20 April.
The bulk of the money, $1.6 million, came from Purdue Pharma, which makes the widely abused drug OxyContin. After charges that the company falsely claimed that the drug is safer and less addictive than competing medications, Purdue and several of its officials took guilty pleas. The court imposed fines and restitution amounting to $635 million, according to the Journal-Sentinal. Some observers accused PPSG of furthering the company's agenda despite an inadequate basis in research and therefore contributing to overuse of the drug.
PSSG, a World Health Organization collaborating center, "decided to meet WHO's new conflict of interest standard and will no longer accept funding from industry involved in the sale and marketing of opiods," the Journal-Sentinal quotes medical school dean Robert Golden. Golden also said in a statement that funds received by PPSG from pharmaceutical industry sources had met university standards.
Announcement of the decision, incidentally, happened close to the release of a National Institutes of Health report critical of over-prescription of opiods and the announcement of a White House-backed plan to curb abuse of prescription drugs.
April 17, 2011
Is the End of India's Low-Cost High-Tech Boom in Sight?
No Westerner who visits India can fail to be impressed by the influence of the dazzling boom in information technology, pharmaceuticals, and other technical businesses on the country's economy and culture, or by the blazing ambition of the country's tech-savvy young people and their parents. That certainly goes for the Washington Post's excellent business columnist, Steven Pearlstein, who, like this reporter, has recently made a shortish visit to the rising South Asian giant.
Perlstein's business expertise gives him an interesting take on the present and future of India's technological economy. In a perceptive article, he sees obstacles ahead for the continuing expansion. "India's succes," he writes, "has come at the expense of some Americans whose livelihoods are being hurt by the low-cost competition." But those cut-rate competitors may not be selling their services at bargain-basement prices that much longer, he predicts. Rising salaries for the most able and talented Indian scientists, programmers, and engineers are already fast eroding the country's cost advantage, Pearlstein writes, especially because India's educational system graduates many people not up to international standards.
Pearlstein quotes an Indian executive who fears that some firms' cost advantage over American counterparts may be gone within 5 years. Change is coming so quickly that the level of savings that some American companies expect to realize by outsourcing to India are, another says, already "unrealistic."
April 15, 2011
Like Breaking Up, Leaving Academe Can Be Hard to Do
What is the right time for a Ph.D. or Ph.D. student to leave academe? What if a person has put down roots while living for years in a college town and doesn't want to move away? What if a person can see that the program of study stretching ahead most likely won't lead to a reasonable career, but no good alternatives to continuing are apparent?
Julie Miller Vick, senior associate director of career services at the University of Pennsylvania, and Jennifer S. Furlong, associate director of New York University's Office of Faculty Resources, offer guidance to dealing with these quandaries in a thoughtful article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The key to resolving both situations, they advise, is being honest about one's own values and desires and realistic about opportunities, which requires strategic thinking and information gathering as early as possible in one's educational program.
Furlong, for example, writes that she "moved into an administrative position, rather than continue to pursue a tenure-track position in my field, because I really loved living in Philadelphia." No matter when it happens, "a career transition takes time and energy," Vick adds, but it can be especially "tough to build a solid non-academic career in a place where your university is the only game in town." Too few people take this "obvious" fact into account in picking where to study or postdoc, she suggests.
People "who assess their own feelings periodically are better able" to decide whether to stay or to go, Vick adds. "Such assessments may sound like a chore, but they are an effective way to regain a sense of control when so many things feel like they are out of your hands."
April 13, 2011
OSHA Reportedly Investigating Yale Student's Death
The New Haven Independent is reporting that an official at the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration has stated that the agency will investigate the death of Yale student Michele Dufault, whose hair became entangled in a lathe she was operating in the university's Sterling Chemistry Laboratory. Although the OSHA law technically covers only employees and not students, "OSHA has determined that it can launch an investigation, since the lab does employ technicians and faculty members [who] also work there," the article continues.
This unusually broad interpretation is very good news for students everywhere. In numerous previous cases -- generally at lower-profile institutions -- universities, colleges, and schools have escaped the scrutiny of trained safety investigators after serious safety incidents. Many safety experts believe that this has contributed to the lax safety and safety-training standards in force at many academic labs.
Though the needless loss of a young life is an unconscionably high price to pay to bring academic research institutions under the same standards that apply to other employers, perhaps this interpretation by OSHA can prevent other similar catastrophes in the future.
I had hoped never again to have to write about a needless death at a university research facility. But only two years after Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji succumbed to burns sustained at UCLA in the lab of Prof. Patrick Harran comes the hideous news that Michele Dufault, a Yale senior, died when, according to the New Haven Register, "her hair got caught in a lathe" while she was working on the machine at the university's Sterling Chemical Laboratory.
"Her hair got caught in a lathe"?!!? Did I possibly read that right? The smiling young woman in the photo accompanying this horrifying article does have wavy tresses that fall below her shoulders. The clear implication of the article is that she either did not have her hair securely tied up over covered by a cap while she worked on a piece of potentially lethal industrial machinery or, if she did, that it came undone. Working on a lathe with anything loose about the body would certainly seem to violate the basic safety standards that would be enforced by any organization aiming to provide a safe workplace.
Sheri Sangji died because of elementary safety and training violations that caused the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety (Cal/OSHA) to cite and fine UCLA. That university has since improved safety standards and even begun a center to study lab safety. Did the same horrible, totally unnecessary fate -- death by lax safety and training standards -- also befall Michele Dufault? It seems likely. And did this catastrophe arise from the same root cause, the careless disregard for the dangers of research procedures that safety experts say is extremely widespread in academic science? I wouldn't be surprised.
And here is something else that is appalling: "A spokesman for the Bridgeport office of the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration said they have no jurisdiction over the incident as it is not a workplace incident involving a paid employee," the Register reports. Yes, you read that right, too: By law, OSHA only protects people who collect a paycheck, not those who pay tuition. Sheri was an employee, which at least gave Cal/OSHA jurisdiction to get to the bottom of what happened. Michele Dufault, as a student, had no such protection. What's more, the Register continues, "city officials do not inspect laboratories and workplace safety at Yale, which has its own occupational safety division." If so, what kind of standards does it enunciate, and how are they enforced?
So, what agency is going to investigate this catastrophe? Will anyone pay a price? We will try to find out. This reporter had nightmares while working on the Sheri Sangji case. It appears that she can expect more reporting this one.
April 11, 2011
Is the Time Right for Entrepreneurship?
The financial crash and resulting deep recession have convinced many people that the outlook for startup companies is bleak. But just the opposite is true, according to an article in Today's Engineer, a Web-based publication of IEEE-USA.
"Angel funding is readily available compared to a few years ago. Startup founders are keeping more ownership than they used to. Startups are frequent acquisition targets. And the service economy is creating more and more opportunities for new small companies" that can fill very particular needs," writes John R. Platt.
True, often -- including now -- entrepreneurial activity can be motivated by a lack of good employment opportunities, Platt writes, so in that sense entrepreneurship can be associated with marginal economies. But a weak employment market doesn't mean the timing isn't good for the success of a new venture. Depending on the nature and quality of the idea, the strength of the business plan, and the skill and determination of the would-be business founders, today's objective conditions can be very favorable to taking the entrepreneurial plunge, he writes.
April 11, 2011
Acing the Interviews
On the way to landing an academic job, few steps are as crucial, as challenging, or as (justifiably) anxiety provoking as the interviews, whether an introductory one at a scholarly association meeting or, for those who have the skill and luck to excel in the first round, the final series of interviews and job talks during the campus visit.
But, explains hiring committee veteran Alain-Phillippe Durand in a pair of invaluable articles on Inside Higher Education, doing well requires discipline, determination, and, above all, preparation. The first article dissects the convention interview and the second the campus visit. Durand's advice covers everything, including matters that applicants might not think of: how to reply to an invitation delivered by phone, how to order during a restaurant meal with potential employers, and of course, what to wear and how to greet interviewers.
Durand repeatedly emphasizes the importance of diligently applying those well-honed research skills to the institution and its representatives well before arrival, and trying to foresee possible difficulties. And he hammers home the point that small things can matter a great deal, so keeping one's head is key.
Be sure to read the comments, too, which provide additional helpful advice.
April 11, 2011
Learn About Biomedical Entrepreneurship
Biomedical and bioengineering researchers who want to learn how to commercialize an idea are invited to apply for the inaugural Biomedical Engineering Entrepreneurship Academy at the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of California-Davis. The one-week course, held June 27 to July 1, provides seminars plus opportunities to network with venture capitalists, angel investors, and established entrepreneurs.
The fee for students, postdocs and faculty members is $150 and includes a shared room, board and class materials. Participants pay their own travel. Applications are due May 20.
April 8, 2011
ACS Webinars Offer Valuable Job-Hunting Tips
Do you need to find a scientific job but don't know where to start? Are you flummoxed about how to write an effective resume? Do you dread having to do interviews? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you can benefit from informative, hour-long presentations on these subjects available free and online from the American Chemical Society.
Though the sessions in the ACS Job Search Webinar Series understandably focus on the chemical industry, the principles they present are applicable to any scientist looking for work, whether a first job or the next step in an established career. Just scroll down to the screen with the topic of your choice, then click to begin the webinar.
(By the way, in case you've been living under a rock, Science Careers offers it's own career-related Webinars.)
(By the way, in case you've been living under a rock, Science Careers offers it's own career-related Webinars.)
April 7, 2011
Female Faculty Earning Less, Study Finds
Just when we thought that women faculty were making "stunning progress" and that outright discrimination is on its way out in academe, Inside Higher Ed reports on a study finding an "enduring gender gap" in faculty pay. In a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Education Research Association, University of Washington doctoral student Laura Meyers found an average 6.9% discrepancy between male and female faculty pay that could not be explained fully by such commonly cited factors as institution type, emphasis on teaching versus research, length of the career, or academic field.
Meyers also found a "significant and negative connection" between a field becoming more female and the salaries its members earn. Meyers found, furthermore, that women who are active in service or disciplinary affairs outside their home campuses suffer a salary penalty while men who render similar service do not. Meyer finds the situation "problematic" and in need of further attention.
The six teams who enter the "most innovative ideas that drive green technology commercialization and entrepreneurship" will divide $12 million in this year's i6 Green Challenge competition, sponsored by the United States Economic Development Administration. Teams from universities and private organizations as well as entrepreneurs are among those eligible to compete. Projects can focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, green manufacturing, reuse and recycling, green buildings, or ecosystem restoration. Each group must submit a letter of intent by May 2 and a final proposal by May 26. More information is here.
March 31, 2011
UCLA Establishes Center to Study Lab Safety
On January 16, 2009, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) lab technician Sherharbano "Sheri" Sangji died of burns she had sustained over 2 weeks earlier from a fire in the lab of Prof. Patrick Harran. Yesterday, UCLA announced the creation of the University of California Center for Laboratory Safety. "Believed to be the first of its kind in the country," the center will do research on ways to improve safety in laboratories, at universities and other organizations, says the UCLA press release.
In 2009, the California Division of Occupational Health and Safety cited and fined UCLA for "serious" safety violations in the fatal incident, including failing to provide appropriate training and protective attire. Since then, UCLA has reformed its safety practices.
The new center "fills an important gap" in knowledge about what safety regulations work, says Nancy Wayne, UCLA's associate vice chancellor for research, in a video that accompanies the release. The center's goals, she says, are to support research in lab safety, develop best practices based that knowledge that can be applied at UCLA and the other University of California campuses, and provide information to help other universities and organizations improve their safety practices.
The press release, which alludes to Sangji's death but mentions neither her name nor the circumstances that led to the needless fatality, cites the importance of empirical data in improving standards. Wayne, in the video, also mentions the importance of getting principal investigators to understand why lab-safety standards are important.
For lab chiefs in industry, that question does not arise. They generally know from the outset of their employment that a serious safety incident will mean major harm to their careers. This is not the case in academe, where powerful PIs who bring their universities large grants generally operate with much impunity.
For lab chiefs in industry, that question does not arise. They generally know from the outset of their employment that a serious safety incident will mean major harm to their careers. This is not the case in academe, where powerful PIs who bring their universities large grants generally operate with much impunity.
With $400,000 in initial funding from offices of UCLA's chancellor and the University of California's president, the center will seek grant funding to support research. But will it be able to bring real change to what many safety experts believe is a deep-seated cultural problem on campuses?
Without doubt, the center will endeavor to produce and publish findings with the potential to increase safety. But real change will not come unless the academic culture also changes to make protection of the people working in labs a truly top priority, alongside publications and grants. Accomplishing that will require new incentives and serious buy-in from university administrators and research funders. If the new center can help encourage that, it will be valuable indeed.
March 30, 2011
A Potentially Life-Saving (And Long Overdue) Recommendation
It's gratifying indeed when people who really know what they're talking about agree with what one has been saying for a long time. So it is with a commentary by Rudy Baum, editor-in-chief of Chemical & Engineering News, that underscores points that Science Careers has mentioned a lot more than once. Commenting on the summary of a workshop held by the Council for Chemical Research, he highlights the four recommendations that emerged from the program. Two echo favorite Science Careers themes.
One of them, that graduate schools should "require or at least strongly encourage internships as part of the Ph.D. program," seems fairly obvious and unexceptional in light of the widespread current interest in scientists developing "soft skills."
But the other recommendation is much less expected, long overdue, and, potentially, of the utmost -- indeed, of literally vital -- importance. It advises graduate programs to "share industry/government lab nonproprietary training curricula on intellectual property, ethics, safety, etc." In plain English, this means that graduate students should be taught the safety standards required in industrial and government labs, which, as Science Careers has repeatedly reported, are far stricter than those prevalent in academic labs. As the former chair of the United States Chemical Safety Board, John Bresland, told Science Careers a year ago, this discrepancy is an issue needs systematic attention.
Indeed, Baum writes, "The difference between the safety culture of academia and that of industry and government labs is apparent in the workshop report." One reason that industrial employers prefer to hire chemists who have done industry internships, the report notes, is that they have already been taught the safety standards routinely enforced in industrial labs.
Given the horrific incidents that have maimed or killed people working in university labs in recent years -- including the totally needless 2009 death of 23-year-old Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji from burns sustained while working in the lab of Prof. Patrick Harran at the University of California, Los Angeles -- this recommendation would doubtlessly save lives and prevent future suffering. Hooray for the Council for Chemical Research panel for making it! Graduate schools everywhere should implement it immediately, not only in their chemistry labs, but everywhere scientists work.
March 28, 2011
Med School Admission Plan on the Hot Seat
Criticism is mounting of the plan by the medical school of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to sell to 10 seats in each year's entering class to Saudi Arabia at $75,000 each. As previously reported on this blog, Dean Tom Marrie argued that there were "no downsides" to admitting English-speaking Saudi students with North American bachelor's degrees in exchange for cold cash to make up for funding cuts by the provincial government.
Among those who disagree is Dr. Noura Hassan, vice president of the Federation of Canadian Medical Students, according to the Telegraph-Journal of Fredericton in the nearby province of New Brunswick. "We think it's important that all new seats be dedicated to improving the health Care system for Canadians," she said. Under the plan announced by Marrie, the Saudi students would return to their home country after receiving their medical degrees.
The main reasons cited by politicians and doctors skeptical of the plan are shortages of both doctors to serve rural areas of Atlantic Canada and places in medical schools where more such doctors can be trained, the paper notes. Marrie has argued that the 10 seats the Saudis would occupy are not otherwise needed because of expansion of the Dalhousie medical school. In most places, of course, the suggestion that there are more medical school places than are needed to train doctors for domestic service would be met with skepticism. Stay tuned for further developments.
March 28, 2011
A New Science-Based Occupation Is Emerging
Scientists who know how to put together successful grant proposals now have a new career option. Rather than doing the research themselves, they can use their analyzing, organizing, communicating and persuading skills to help other scientists win funding. In other words, writes Jacob E. Levin, assistant vice chancellor for research at the University of California-Irvine in the Chronicle of Higher Education, they can become research-development professionals.
As the incoming president of the newly organized National Organization of Research Development Professionals, Levin notes that, though only months old, the "fledgling" professional association has already enrolled more than 200 dues-paying members. Scientists who, like himself, enjoy "the discussion and communication of science perhaps even more than the practice of bench science itself," or than the complications of managing a lab, may instead want to consider joining him in spending their careers "helping people formulate and finance their research and doing what we can to make things a success. It's a good feeling," he writes.
March 25, 2011
"Stunning Progress" for Women Faculty at MIT
As America's and the world's pre-eminent scientific and technological university, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has long projected an image of geeky masculinity inhospitable to women. Fifteen years ago, a mere 15 of its more than 200 tenured science professors were women, as were only 2 of its tenured engineering professors. So, for a current female faculty member to state that "I feel supported, included, and protected from gross inequities by the network of tenured women faculty and by the now many more enlightened male administrators and colleagues who are aware of these issues" signals "stunning progress" in improving the position of women at the school, according to a recently issued Report on the Status of Women Faculty in the Schools of Science and Engineering at MIT, 2011.
With an introduction by MIT President Susan Hockfield, herself an emblem of the change described, the document updates reports on women faculty in the science and engineering schools issued in 1999 and 2002, respectively. Those earlier reports highlighted the feelings of marginalization and the instances of outright discrimination experienced by the relatively few women who had then attained senior faculty status at MIT.
The current report details such successes as increasing the percentage of women science faculty from 8% in 1995 to 19% today, and of engineering faculty from 7% in 1995 to the current 16%; "removal of the stigma of women bearing children" while on the faculty; "making the use of family leave policies standard practice for female (and male) faculty throughout MIT;" "more equitable distribution of resources and rewards," including appointment of women to leadership positions including deanships and department chairs; and "change in attitudes among some male faculty."
As that "some" indicates, however, the report found that various issues troublesome to women persist. What many women see as removal of bias, for example, appears to at least some men as special allowances for a privileged minority. And many women still feel excluded from various professional circles dominated by men.
Some also find that stereotyping endures, "especially among older male faculty." And, with the empirical acuity so characteristic of a great scientific institution, one faculty member observed that "the biological constraint of pregnancy and childbirth is gender specific" -- an inequity that even MIT's improved family policies cannot wholly erase. Furthermore, the desire to have a female viewpoint represented on most or all faculty committees can impose a serious burden of service on female faculty members, who still constitute only a relatively small percentage of MIT's professors, some women complained.
The report includes a discussion of issues that still need work as well as recommendations for further changes. But as to the progress thus far accomplished, the overall message echoes a comment reportedly made by several senior women (and, by the way, endorsed by this reporter), "Who would have thought it possible in our lifetime?"
March 21, 2011
Uncle Sam Wants You (If You Are a Scientist or Engineer)
Much like the famous poster by James Montgomery Flagg, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano has issued a call for Americans to help meet some of the nation's most critical defense needs. But unlike the iconic image of Uncle Sam, she is calling for scientists and engineers, not soldiers. The nation must "engage our best scientific talent in support of our common security," she writes in an essay in Inside Higher Education. In it, she also provides specific information on research and employment opportunities available to scientists and engineers in a variety of fields and at a variety of career stages.
"Three areas, in particular,...stand out" as currently needing scientific and engineering expertise: aviation and airport security, the challenge of gleaning useful information in real time from the "millions-- billions- of data points" now available, and "securing our cyber networks and critical infrastructure," she writes. "I believe there are many scientists and engineers interested in working on scientific issues for the public benefit who, perhaps, have never considered the idea of government service." Now, Napolitano suggests, is an excellent time for them to explore the possibility.
March 18, 2011
"An Internal Brain Drain"
The United States is suffering from a serious scientific and technological workforce problem that harms innovation, according to Norman Matloff of the University of California-Davis computer science department. But it is not the supposed shortage of American scientists and engineers widely bemoaned by politicians and industry representatives.
Rather, because of "an internal brain drain" of able Americans out of scientific and technical fields, "we are wasting our talent," he told he told an audience of legal and immigration experts, IT workers, and scientists at a March 18 policy briefing held at the Georgetown University Law School. This loss of talent largely results from the nation's policy of admitting large number of scientists, IT workers, and computer engineers, he said.
Entitled "Are they they best and brightest? Analysis of employer-sponsored tech immigrants," the talk was arranged by the Institute for the Study of International Migration of Georgetown's school of foreign service. Matloff's answer to that question is a resounding No. Despite widely publicized claims that foreign tech workers and scientists represent exceptional ability and are thus vital to American innovation, Matloff called that argument merely "a good sound byte for lobbyists" supporting industry proposals for higher visa caps. The data, on the other hand, indicate that those admitted are no more able, productive, or innovative than America's homegrown talent, he said.
In fact, Matloff went on, the nation is "wasting the innovation" that Americans could create because they are being driven from technical and scientific fields by the influx of foreigners. "There are a lot of good people who are displaced," he said. In the tech field, this does not occur because of talent, education, productivity or ability but with age, and ultimately with pay, he stated. Employers prefer to bring in young foreign workers who are cheaper in preference to employing experienced Americans who are more expensive. In a number of tech companies, a majority of workers are foreign-born while many Americans being displaced "are of good quality." Over 20 years ago, he noted, experts predicted that encouraging immigration would discourage citizens from entering these fields.
"It's an issue of money....It's all due to an oversupply of people" created by immigration policies, he said. The issues applies to both the IT industry and scientific research, he added. One result is that young American "would have to be crazy to go into lab science today," he said. "No study except for industry studies has ever shown a shortage" of scientific or technical workers, he said. One indication of non-shortage is that "salaries are flat," whereas in a shortage situation they should rise.
Continue reading: "An Internal Brain Drain".
March 16, 2011
FASEB Offers Minority Postdoc Awards
Advanced postdocs or new assistant professors who belong to underrepresented minorities and have "demonstrated research productivity" are invited to apply for one of the 6 Postdoctoral Professional Development and Enrichment Awards presented annually by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). Each winner receives $3000 in unrestricted career development funds plus $2500 in travel funds.
Applicants must be US citizens or permanent residents and members of one of the FASEB constituent societies. The deadline is May 31. Application information is here.
March 15, 2011
Seats for Sale
With universities across North America facing grim economic times, one Canadian institution has come up with a novel -- if controversial -- approach to filling its fiscal hole, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has announced a plan to sell places in its medical school to Saudi Arabia for $75,000 each.
In exchange for the money, ten Saudi students will enroll at Dalhousie each year "for the foreseeable future," the Chronicle quotes medical school dean Tom Marrie. They will, he said, meet the same standards as other applicants, speak fluent English, hold North American college degrees, and return home to do their residencies. "There are no downsides," Marrie continued. "We are confident they will fit in well with our student bodies." Although the infusion of Saudi cash would undoubtedly help the Dalhousie deal with financial problems, some Nova Scotia politicians reportedly a lot less enamored with the proposed deal.
March 14, 2011
The Chemistry of Recession
The recession is taking a toll on both the employment prospects and the starting salaries of newly minted chemists, according to a sobering article in Chemical & Engineering News. Just-reported results from the 2009 edition of the American Chemical Society's annual survey of new graduates reveal higher unemployment rates than a year earlier, at all degree levels. Among bachelor's degree holders, joblessness rose a percentage point over the previous year, to 15%. Ph.D. unemployment rose 2 percentage points to 9%. But unemployment among master's degree graduates nearly doubled, from 10% to 18%, in a single year.
Meanwhile, the percentage of the employed holding full-time and permanent positions fell. Overall,C&E noted, "survey respondents of all degree levels [were] significantly less employed than the national average" of workers. These national unemployment figures mask large numbers of workers so discouraged that they have given up the hunt for work; it could be that the recent graduates surveyed by C&EN have not yet had enough time to give up hope.
Given these conditions, C&EN expressed "relief" that starting salaries for new bachelor's and doctoral graduates fell only 5%, while those of new master's degree graduates, counterintuitively, rose 15%. The article also details the sectors where employed graduates have found jobs -- at all degree levels, about half in academe -- and the areas of chemistry in which they specialized. Since universities and colleges are hiring very few faculty members, one can only surmise that many of those jobs are for postdoc, other soft-money research positions, or non-tenure-track teaching posts. Because of the dire financial position of many academic institutions as well as continuing "layoffs of scientists in the pharmaceutical industry," it's obvious, as the article predicts, that future surveys will most likely reveal further "downward trends" in both pay and employment.
March 11, 2011
To Stay in America or Return to India?
India has ambitious plans for expanding its higher education system. But to reach its goal of making higher education available to one in five young Indians by 2020, the country needs a million qualified college teachers -- far more than its own universities can produce. "The most promising way" the country can "fill this gap is to recruit back" some of the thousands of its citizens who are now doing or have done graduate study in the United States, says a report issued Monday by Rutgers University, Penn State University, and the Tata Institute of Social Studies in Mumbai. Entitled "Will They Return?", the report concludes that for the overwhelming majority of the 100,000 Indians now doing graduate study in the United States, the short answer is "Yes." Over 90% of those the report surveyed indicated they are willing, and in some cases eager, to return home to pursue their careers.
The report's authors, David Finegold, dean of the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations; B. Venkatesh Kumar, a professor at the Tata Institute currently visiting at Penn State; and Rutgers doctoral student Anne-Laure Winkler surveyed a sample of Indians who have done graduate work in the US and are currently either grad students, postdocs, or employees of various concerns in the United States and India. Most are scientists or engineers and nearly all came to the United States seeking high-quality teaching and involvement in cutting-edge research.
The study's "most striking finding," the report states, is the "openness" of the "vast majority" of respondents to pursuing their careers in their homeland. Under 10% expressed a strong desire not to return, although most wished to stay in the United States for at least a few years. Family ties and "a desire to give back to the motherland" were the strongest attractions of returning to India, while "corruption, red tape and the academic work environment" in India -- especially inadequately attractive research opportunities -- were the most often cited reasons to stay in the U.S.
From the standpoint of educational planners in India, therefore, "a great opportunity exists to attract this group back to India," states the report. It also discusses other factors motivating decisions to stay or return and offers suggestions for making India a more attractive place for these highly educated individuals to choose to pursue their careers.
March 9, 2011
Talking Turkey with Grad Students
Lennard J. Davis sounds like the kind of professor every graduate student should wish to have. "An important part of my job is to make sure that my graduate students get their own jobs," he writes in a frank and eye-opening essay in Chronicle of HIgher Education. He puts his all-too-rare attitude into practice right from the get-go, he reports, by "talking the turkey of job placement as soon as they walk in door and tell me they want to do a Ph.D."
"First I inform them of the current job situation, whatever it is at the time." he explains. "I don't sugarcoat the dismal nature of, say, today's academic market." And then Davis, who claims to "have had very good success in placing my graduate students," starts to prepare the newcomer to map a strategy for finding that job. "I make it clear that the first thing that they need to do is start thinking about the minimum requirements for going on the job market."
Every major decision about one's graduate study should have the ultimate goal of qualifying for that potential job, he says, including selection of the dissertation topic and the members of one's committee. A number of the specific points that he makes about publication and other milestones of the academic life apply primarily to the humanities. His general approach, however, which includes seeking out contacts and sizing up opportunities in terms of the ultimate goal, would benefit any graduate student in any field.
And in addition to plotting grand strategy, he explains how he helps his students sweat the potentially all-important small stuff, such as writing letters of application that are neither too "shy about pushing their unique qualities" nor "too brash." His attitude about the real responsibilities involved in mentoring graduate students should be, as he put it earlier, among the "minimum requirements" for any faculty member coming into contact with aspiring academics.
But then it's probably no surprise that Davis has a broad, comprehensive, and rather original view of the professorial role. The Chronicle describes him as a "professor of English, medical education, and human development and disability at the University of Illinois at Chicago." He is clearly a man who thinks for himself -- and about his students. Every grad student and professor in every field would benefit from reading this essay, the former to see what sort of guidance they ought to be receiving and the latter to examine honestly whether they are doing right by the young people who entrust their hopes and future to their professors' care.
March 3, 2011
Gee, We Wish We'd Said That.
Well, actually, we have--repeatedly and over quite an number of years.
For quite a long time now, Science Careers has been pushing the ideas that Jennifer Rohn advocates in an essay in Nature News. We've done this as recently as two weeks ago and in January, and on other occasions too numerous to list.
Following Harvard economist Richard Freeman and collaborators, we have noted, ad nauseum, it seems to me, that the scientific labor market has a tournament structure.
Following numerous prominent figures, most recently Stanford University president John Hennessy, we have observed with humdrum regularity that a career ladder that provides security, standing, and appropriate compensation to academic researchers who are not faculty members is desperately needed to do justice by young scientists -- and to take advantage of their expensively acquired skills. This reporter has also on occasion been among those expressing these views elsewhere.
In doing so, we are echoing a substantial chorus of informed experts who, for reasons we have also endeavored to explain, get far too little general publicity. Still, these are very important issues that are insufficiently understood both inside and outside the scientific world, and especially among policy makers. It's always nice, therefore, when new voices join the chorus.
March 3, 2011
The Interview Reality Show
When John F. Kennedy narrowly beat Richard M. Nixon for the presidency in 1960, many observers said that the suave and photogenic Kennedy's mastery of the medium during the nation's first televised presidential debate gave him the winning edge. With Skype now widely replacing the telephone in first interviews for faculty positions, academic applicants face the same challenge of making a favorable professional impression on the screen. In an essay in Chronicle of Higher Education, communications professor Stephen Winzenburg describes his experience as a televised-interview novice and offers useful hints. He did well enough, by the way, to land face-to-face interviews on two of his first three tries. Check out the readers' comments, too, for other good advice.
March 2, 2011
Becoming a Foreign Faculty Member
Faculty positions may be scarce in the United States, but a number of countries with rapidly rising economies and academic aspirations are energetically hiring professors from abroad. South Korea, for example, has a World Class University Project, funded by the government to the tune of $725 million last year alone, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education. Chief among the project's goals is hiring foreign faculty. Last year 59 of foreigners joined the faculty of Seoul National University and thousands now teach in the country.
The salaries for foreign professors newly hired in Korea now match what they would make in similar jobs at home, or about twice what their Korean colleagues earn, the Chronicle reports. Programs, and even whole campuses, that teach in English help the new arrivals to fit in and help their students to prepare to compete in the global economy. Nevertheless, professors from abroad may "experience deep culture shock as they try to acclimatize to life in a still overwhelmingly homogeneous and hierarchical academic culture," writes reporter David McNeill. Korean society, furthermore, has little experience with foreigners. One university has developed robots to teach English in order to overcome the "problems" involved in using teachers who are native speakers of the language.
Still, says one Korean university president quoted in article, "As long as our professors do good work, there is no discrimination. We welcome everyone, including foreigners." And if the country's ambitious plans to develop world-class universities do come to pass, Koreans will become accustomed to having many more foreign faculty on their campuses.
March 1, 2011
A White-Guy Hiring Effect?
The lack of role models who resemble themselves has long been cited as a factor that can hamper minority students' success in the academic world. But, according to a new study reported in Inside Higher Ed, when it comes to landing those coveted faculty jobs at research universities, just the opposite appears to be true. Having a white male graduate school mentor, it turns out, greatly improves the chances that a minority PhD will get one of those plum posts.
Researchers at the American Sociological Association studied the participants in its Minority Fellowship Program, who are topflight grad students in sociology, the great majority of them black or Latino and a smaller number Asian. Over 60% are female.
Of the fellowship holders whose dissertation advisers were white men, a whopping 37% got hired as faculty members at research universities, as opposed to only 7% of those whose advisers were either female or non-white or both. These results, which the ASA finds "a bit sensitive," the article says, appear to reflect the fact that the upper reaches of academe, where the best-connected professors reside, are still disproportionately populated by white males.
These results, of course, apply only to sociology. Given the demographic structure of the academic world, however, it wouldn't be at all surprising if the same pattern also held for other disciplines and for grad students of other ethniticies. "We don't want people to think it's bad to have a minority mentor," the article quotes lead researcher Roberta Spalter-Roth, ASA's director of research, as saying. Still, she notes, it appears to be white guys who are helping minority scholars get ahead in academe.
February 28, 2011
Researcher Killed By What He Didn't Know, CDC Reports
Today NIH celebrates the 4th annual Rare Disease Day, which makes it the perfect time to remember the sudden and totally unexpected death, on 13 September 2009, of Malcolm Casadaban, a 60-year-old associate professor of molecular genetics and cell biology and microbiology at the University of Chicago. On Friday, a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that the researcher died from the bizarre intersection of not one but two rare diseases.
A specialist on researching Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, Casadaban fell ill on 10 September with symptoms a doctor diagnosed as the flu. Casabadan sought no further medical care at that point. Three days later, however, he was rushed to a hospital by ambulance with symptoms that included severe shortness of breath. Doctors first treated him for heart failure and then, after tests, for infection. Twelve hours after arriving at the emergency room, he received a breathing tube. An hour later, he died.
To the shock and horror of Casabadan's colleagues, tests soon revealed that he had perished from the bacterium he had devoted years to studying. But this did not appear to be a death caused by careless or sloppy technique, such as those on which Science Careers has repeatedly reported in the past. The bacterium Casabadan worked with had been carefully altered to make it harmless to humans. Standards of safety in the lab were high, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and records revealed no other cases of work-related illness or accident among workers there. Although the route of infection was a mystery, over 90 of Casabadan's co-workers, relatives, and other associates received prophylactic treatment in the week following his death, and no one else has shown any sign of the disease. Tests showed that the bacterium had not mutated to become virulent.
Continue reading: Researcher Killed By What He Didn't Know, CDC Reports.
February 22, 2011
More on Culture and Misconduct
Some months back, Science Careers looked into research exploring the relationship between academic misconduct and social structure. Studies by Andrew Schrank of the University of New Mexico and Cheol-Sung Lee of the University of Chicago had identified structural features of universities in some East Asian countries that they say contribute to higher rates of dishonesty in research.
Now an article in the journal Human Organization amplifies the discussion. "Stereotypes of Asian students as being more prone to plagiarize are frequently found in the literature," write Daniel E. Martin and Asha Rao of California State University-East Bay and co-author LLoyd Sloan, whose affiliation was not mentioned. Their research examined plagiarism among students to find any cultural connection. The results do reveal "significant differences" among students in the likelihood to plagiarize, but these did not relate to students' ethnic backgrounds, they report. Rather, the key factor is acculturation to American standards. The authors therefore see "significant implications for training and managing international students and workers."
February 21, 2011
Researchers Are Not Rock Stars
Researchers have a lot in common with punk rockers, claims Alison McCook in The Scientist. "Creativity, do-it-yourself individualism, anti-establismentarianism, and attitude" are not only "the central tenets of punk music," she writes, but "should sound very familiar" to "many scientists."
Punk is "about the freedom to express what you want to express," McCook quotes Milo Aukerman, whom she describes as "a plant researcher at DuPont and lead singer with of legendary punk band The Descendents. In many ways, research is the same," she continues. "More so than in other professions, scientists can set their own schedules and decide what they want to study."
Well, maybe the relative handful of today's scientists with secure, well-paid academic research positions. But for many more researchers -- for example, the scores of thousands of postdocs toiling on their lab chiefs' projects -- the ability to exercise such decisions probably seems like a distant rumor rather than a feature of their work lives.
In one important respect, however -- though not any that McCook mentions -- scientists do strongly resemble musicians in popular genres. Both groups compete in what economists call tournament fields. As noted a few months back in Science Careers, such professions afford huge rewards, often including fame, wealth, and stardom, to a very small number of people. They also relegate the rest, including many whose abilities and accomplishments come close to matching those of the big winners, to obscurity and inferior opportunities.
In other words, the few researchers able boldly to pursue their own ideas are, to the many scientists now struggling to start or get on with independent research careers, as such punk idols as the Ramones or Sex Pistols are to the countless would-be rock stars playing in their garages or at local venues. Only a small percentage of these hopefuls will ever hit the big time. The rest, know matter how talented or hard working they may be, will never get the big break that leads to stardom.
February 21, 2011
What Could That Hiring Committee Have Been Thinking?
From the standpoint of the disappointed candidate, the process of hiring new faculty members is not only frustrating but also opaque and mysterious. "Why did they not even consider my application?," ask some also-ran applicants. "Why did they string me along for so long and put me through all that if I didn't have any real shot at the job?," moan others.
In a thoughtful and informative essay in Inside Higher Ed, a search committee veteran, Timothy Larsen of Wheaton College in Illinois, attempts to clarify the thought processes and actions of the people on the receiving end of those huge stacks of applications. To the most basic question, "What did I do wrong?", he offers a compassionate answer: "Probably nothing. Candidates sometimes do make mistakes. Most of the time, however, your application and indeed your entire educational and career path looks admirable, even highly impressive to us. In fact, you often exacerbate our impostor's syndrome.... Believe me, we know we could not get our current jobs now with the CVs we had then."
After discussing a number of considerations that weigh in decisions, he adds, "None of this, of course, is any real help or comfort." But maybe it does help just a bit to know how things look from the other side.
February 21, 2011
Turning Green Technology into Green in Your Pocket
Do you have a green technology that you want to commercialize but don't know how? The Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of California-Davis may have the answer you seek. Its Green Technology Entrepreneurship Academy, scheduled for June 13 through 17, is designed to teach students, postdocs, faculty members, and other researchers the ins and outs of moving a technologies from the lab to market.
The program costs $150 for for those with university affiliations, which covers a shared room and most meals in addition to instruction. Participants must pay their own travel to Davis. Applications are due by May 13. You'll find application information here.
February 18, 2011
Guiding Ph.D.s Toward Non-Academic Careers
It has become something of a cliche that professors and PIs ought to
encourage their grad students and postdocs to consider careers outside
of academe and even to help ease the transition. But how can academics
who has spent all of their working lives on campus be helpful in a
process they have not themselves experienced?
An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by
Julie Miller Vick of the University of Pennsylvania's Office of Career
Services and Jennifer S. Furlong of New York University's Office of
Faculty Resources offers some practical advice. "Letting students know
that it's OK" to think about careers outside of academe is the key, they
say. To do that, departments can take such steps as posting
information about alumni in off-campus careers on bulletin boards and
inviting some of these people to give talks about their work. "It helps
if the department strongly encourages, or even requires" attendance at
these events, Vick and Furlong note. "Having the department play a role
in organizing or publicizing the events can go a long way in
legitimizing nonacademic career possibilities."
Other
things faculty members can do, according to the authors: Help students
and postdocs analyze how their skills can be applied in non-academic
settings, and refer them to information and resources about careers and
job-hunting techniques. (To do so, of course, the professors first have
to take the time to learn about such resources themselves.) The
article mentions books and Web sites where this search can begin.
February 16, 2011
Opportunity for Present or Aspiring Entrepreneurship Researchers
The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is seeking applicants for its Entrepreneurship Research Boot Camp (ERBC) to be held in Cambridge, MA, from July 28 through 31. Supported by the Ewing Marion Kauffmann Foundation, the all-expenses-paid program will present "intensive" instruction by prominent professors from a variety of American and Canadian universities. "Meant to promote research interest" in entrepreneurship, ERBC is especially suited to grad students, postdocs and "early-career assistant professors," according to an NBER statement. Participants are expected "to read a syllabus of over 50 papers" before arriving. Application information is available here. The deadline is March 26.
February 11, 2011
More on the Postdoctoral Professional Masters Degree
Since we posted an article on the Postdoctoral Professional Masters program of the Keck Graduate Institute (KGI) last week, Science Careers has spoken with the two remaining scientists who have obtained the degree thus far. With 100% coverage of the program's graduates to date, we can report that all have found it very useful for making the transition from biomedical bench research to applied areas such as product development and regulatory affairs. All, furthermore, recommend it to other scientists seeking to make that switch.
"I'd always had the idea in mind that I didn't want to do research and discovery work for the rest of my life," says molecular neuroscientist Linda Soo Hoo, who is now development and technical manager at the pharmaceutical firm Gilead Sciences. Instead, she hoped to use her science to help produce treatments that would aid patients in the real world. "I saw myself personally transitioning my career but I didn't have anything on my resume to give people confidence that I'm not just a lab rat," says Soo Hoo, who pursued the PPM program part-time while working as a postdoc at UCLA. "The stereotype [in industry] is that [a postdoc is] a lab rat,...you don't have social skills."
The program's "biggest selling point" is the opportunity to "immerse yourself" in the culture of industry, which is very different from that of academe, and to "start talking differently." Most postdocs attempting to move over to industry do so through the "very narrow window" of bench research, she continues. PPM training, however, allows one to "change the resume to transition from bench research to something more managerial." For Soo Hoo, the real downside of her KGI experience was her long commute from one end of Los Angeles to the other.
The program gives students a broad perspective on the complex process of turning science into treatments, she adds. This allows them to understand how the particular job functions they may choose contribute to the larger goal of "helping patients" -- knowledge she believes gives work much greater meaning.
Molecular biologist Yvonne Klaue, the first person to receive the PPM degree, shares these goals with Soo Hoo and the other PPM alumni. She is the only graduate not employed in industry. Instead, she accepted a position as research associate in the lab of KGI professor Angelika Niemz.
Even so, Klaue sees her PPM training as crucial to her work. "In industry this would be called research and development," she says. She is working on developing a prototype of a low-cost device that health care personnel in developing countries can use at point of care to diagnose tuberculosis, herpes simplex, and other infections.
Despite the academic setting, the patent issues that Klaue studied during her PPM training are fundamental to the project's ultimate success. Patent law is not something that Ph.D.s learn in graduate school, or that academic scientists generally think about because "you're not thinking of commercializing," she says. But in product development it plays a central role. "The product we're developing is supposed to be cheap. If you have to pay [licensing] fees [for use of patented technology]. it brings the price up enormously."
Despite the academic setting, the patent issues that Klaue studied during her PPM training are fundamental to the project's ultimate success. Patent law is not something that Ph.D.s learn in graduate school, or that academic scientists generally think about because "you're not thinking of commercializing," she says. But in product development it plays a central role. "The product we're developing is supposed to be cheap. If you have to pay [licensing] fees [for use of patented technology]. it brings the price up enormously."
Learning about budgeting and accounting has great utility for her future career, she says. Many academic scientists "do not know how to manage their group when it comes to money."
For Klaue, both the academic world, with the intellectual freedom it offers, and the commercial world, with its ability to tranform discoveries into products, have attractions. She does not plan to return to basic research, however. "I really want to get a product," she says. In the type of work she does now, "you actually see your product becoming a real thing."
Still, she notes, it can be "hard to make the step" from the bench to the PPM program. But for scientists interested in moving into more applied areas, she thinks the degree is worthwhile. "I'd definitely do it again," she says.
Still, it's not for everyone," Klaue says. And anyone considering the PPM should inquire about "the strengths of the program and see if it's a fit," Soo Hoo advises. But all the graduates so far have told us that for scientists who share its goals, the program, which Soo Hoo calls a "speciality boutique business-oriented school for the biosciences," can open up valuable opportunities.
February 9, 2011
The Real Causes of Women's Underrepresentation in Science
What accounts for women's intensively studied "underrepresentation in math-intensive fields of science"? Not "sex discrimination in grant and manuscript reviewing, interviewing and hiring," write Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams of Cornell University in the current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Claims about such practices, though once spot-on, are "no longer valid," they state. Women, in fact, now fare slightly better than men in the competition for tenure-track positions. Efforts to root out a problem that no longer exists therefore waste resources that could far more profitably be focused on the real sources of underrepresentation, the authors argue.
Strategies based on "current, as opposed to historical findings" about causes need to focus not on ending overt discrimination but on making institutions "responsive to differing biological realities of the sexes," especially those related to childbearing and family life, Ceci and Williams believe.
They also note scientifically talented women's tendency to prefer careers that emphasize "people as opposed to things" and therefore to enter such fields as medicine and biology rather than computer science or physics. "To the extent that women's choices are freely made and women are satisfied with the outcomes, then we have no problem," they write. "However, to the extent that these choices are constrained by biology and/or society, and women are dissatisfied with the outcomes, or women's talent is not actualized, then we most emphatically have a problem." If it exists, they say, solving it will require directing resources toward the real causes in effect today, not toward those that existed in the past.
Strategies based on "current, as opposed to historical findings" about causes need to focus not on ending overt discrimination but on making institutions "responsive to differing biological realities of the sexes," especially those related to childbearing and family life, Ceci and Williams believe.
They also note scientifically talented women's tendency to prefer careers that emphasize "people as opposed to things" and therefore to enter such fields as medicine and biology rather than computer science or physics. "To the extent that women's choices are freely made and women are satisfied with the outcomes, then we have no problem," they write. "However, to the extent that these choices are constrained by biology and/or society, and women are dissatisfied with the outcomes, or women's talent is not actualized, then we most emphatically have a problem." If it exists, they say, solving it will require directing resources toward the real causes in effect today, not toward those that existed in the past.
February 2, 2011
Too Many Chemists?
It's been clear for years that the labor market for biomedical scientists is glutted with more Ph.D.s than can find decent jobs. Is the same now happening to chemists? In a thoughtful article in Chemical & Engineering News, Bethany Halford finds in the affirmative. With the number of new Ph.D.s rising, despite "record levels" of unemployment among chemists, "the view from the trenches looks fairly dire," she writes.
"Assessing the demand for PhD chemists is trickier than pegging supply," Halford observes, as she evaluates the utility of the statistical means used to measure and predict the chemistry workforce. Indications are, though, that "demand for all chemical professionals will be sluggish in the decade to come." Whether and how the academic chemistry community will respond to this situation is an open question, she continues. Though some professors have begun to raise issue, for many others the discussion has yet to begin. Halford's examination could help get it underway.
February 1, 2011
How Do PIs Pick Postdocs?
For a young scientist hoping eventually get a faculty job, landing a postdoc appointment in the lab of a prestigious, well-connected principal investigator (PI) is a crucial first step. For insights into how some lab chiefs who meet those criteria select the aspiring researchers who work for them, check out an article in the current HHMI Bulletin (published by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute). Author Kendall Powell spoke with a number of HHMI investigators about their (widely varying) approaches to interviewing, hiring, and supervising postdocs.
Not surprisingly, having prestigious publications, doing brilliantly in interviews, and being personable, flexible, and enterprising rank high for many of the PIs. Personal referrals from former advisers well known and respected by the hiring PI carry great weight, but standard reference letters -- which tend, in the words of one source, to be "interpretively ambiguous" rather than informative -- do not. Sweating the small stuff -- such as writing a notably careful and creative cover letter -- can reportedly also help swing a decision.
Not surprisingly, having prestigious publications, doing brilliantly in interviews, and being personable, flexible, and enterprising rank high for many of the PIs. Personal referrals from former advisers well known and respected by the hiring PI carry great weight, but standard reference letters -- which tend, in the words of one source, to be "interpretively ambiguous" rather than informative -- do not. Sweating the small stuff -- such as writing a notably careful and creative cover letter -- can reportedly also help swing a decision.
January 31, 2011
Freeing Tunisian Science
The images of vast popular uprisings in Arab capitals that have riveted the world's attention in recent days appear to have little to do with science. But, reports Nature's Declan Butler, the overthrow of Tunisian dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his replacement with a transitional government promises a new era of intellectual and scientific freedom. Tunisian scientists he spoke with are jubilant at the prospect of new-found liberty and the end of stultifying, government-imposed nepotism in universities and research institutions.
Thanks to the policies of Ben Ali's predecessor, Tunisia has one of the Arab world's stronger scientific establishments, Nature notes. And the transitional government's newly appointed secretary of state for higher education, Fouzia Charfi, foresees continued support for scientific research as well as university reforms to emphasize creativity and entrepreneurship and better prepare graduates for the job market. "There is no point in having degrees that lead nowhere," she told Nature. Change will take time, she notes, but, given her own background as both a teacher of physics and the widow of an education minister who was also a leader of the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, she already seems to embody the vision of a promising future that animates many in Tunisia's scientific scene.
That's the well-argued and well-documented opinion of Norman Matloff, the University of California-Davis computer science professor who is also a widely respected, very astute, Chinese-speaking scholar of technical workforce issues. President Obama "and his advisers don't have a clue" as to the real source of the jobs problem facing America, he states in the latest issue of the occasional e-newsletter that he writes on issues surrounding offshoring.
All the science fairs and incentives to math teachers in the world won't have the slightest effect on jobs, Matloff explains, because the quality of American education has nothing to do with the loss of technical work to cheaper competitors. It is, he believes, "unconscionable/tragic" to imply that they do. "The basic problem [is] the willingness of American firms to locate all, or large sections, of their operations elsewhere in the world, and to hire foreign workers for those jobs they choose to keep in the U.S" -- as well as policies that do not discourage them from doing so. And Obama's proposed remedies will do absolutely nothing about either.
But why settle for my rehash of Matloff's illuminating observations when you can read the original article here?
January 24, 2011
Inspiring Tomorrow's Scientists
Having just returned from India, I can certainly vouch for the fact, asserted by retired Lockheed chairman Norm Augustine in Forbes, that Indians, among citizens of certain other foreign countries, share "a belief that the path to success is paved with science and engineering." Middle class Indian parents, in fact, seem obsessed with the idea that their children should study engineering. Countless institutions, from dingy storefronts in small rural towns to major urban universities, claim to offer that precious opportunity. A myriad of cram schools, in addition, litter the country's highways and byways with signs claiming to prepare students to ace the exams that, as these ads assure nervous moms and dads, will indubitably pave the way to upward mobility.
The same, Augustine laments, is not the case in the United States. "Part of the problem," he argues, is American parents' apparent "lack of priority...on core education [as well as] problems inherent in our public education system." Having spent a number of years as a middle class American parent, however, and also having known others of the breed, I have not observed any lack of desire to provide children the tools for career advancement in adult life. To the contrary, middle class Americans are every bit as interested as their Indian counterparts in giving their children the best possible opportunities.
But here's the difference: In India, a degree in science or engineering really can be a ticket to serious upward mobility, the difference between one's child spending life in a broken-down country town or in a sleek office and beautiful home in a classy urban neighborhood, the parents enjoying major, lifelong bragging rights, potentially large dowry payments, and -- because of the still widely prevalent joint family system -- a far better standard of living.
In the United States, none of this is true. Indians obsess about science and engineering, and they're frank about this, not because they have an inherent love of the subjects (though some may, of course). Rather, these courses of study are the absolute best routes to the pinnacle of many people's career aspirations: a lucrative job with one of the prestigious multinational corporations that have filled Bangalore with flashy high-rises and traffic jams of late-model private cars and are now doing likewise for the nearby, lower-rent garden city of Mysore.
American kids also used to flock to science and engineering -- say, back in the early days of the space program. Then, the field provided glamor, challenge, security, prestige, and good pay. The same phenomenon occurred for journalism careers in the 1970s, during the blaze of publicity enjoyed by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of Watergate fame. Who wouldn't want to earn good money in a career portrayed on the big screen by Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman (in the case of reporters) or by Tom Hanks and Sam Shepard (in the case of rocket engineers)? Indian movies and TV, incidentally, glamorize young techies in just the same way.
But today, a science degree is no longer an American's path to glamor and fortune. Instead, it is often a ticket to low-paid, 70 hour weeks as a postdoc in somebody elses university lab. An engineering degree appears to many to be an invitation to spend a relatively short career worrying about when your job will be shipped to India, or when a younger person with more recent training (who can afford to work cheaper) will take your place. The "negative impression" of science careers that Augustine laments as widespread among American youth is richly deserved. Why should an American smart enough to master those difficult disciplines invest his or her youth and promise in such a chancy undertaking?
For an Indian student, of course, the calculus, as it were, is entirely different. A topflight science or engineering graduate has a good chance of landing a very good job, as well as a very good marital match negotiated by his or her status-crazed parents. A degree from a top program may even lead to a temporary -- or maybe even permanent -- visa to the United States. (It's worth noting, though, that some spoilsports in India are starting to suggest that even this job market -- the Indian one -- is becoming glutted by a combination of homegrown holders of mediocre degrees and of expired temporary visas returning from the US).
What is the cause of the imbalance between the US and Indian aspirations? Many in the US (who get less publicity than Mr. Augustine) argue that it is the policies of Mr. Augustine's own fellow business executives, who have for years been outsourcing work from America and suppressing technical pay here almost as energetically as Indian students have been cramming for their tests. The recent Gathering Storm, Revisted, report of the National Academies frankly admits as much.
If Augustine wants talented young Americans once again to become scientists and engineers, rather than, say, neurosurgeons or investment analysts or intellectual property lawyers, these critics suggest, he could take a more realistic course than defaming their increasingly anxious parents. He could, for example, devote some of his formidable energy and influence to restoring the incentives -- real incentives; career opportunities worthy of many years of study -- that will once again attract America's best into those careers. Storm, Revisted, helpfully suggests that tax and visa policies that now favor corporations at the expense of American technical jobs might be a good place to start.
January 19, 2011
Is an "Indian Crab Syndrome" Impeding Indian Science?
The award of the 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine to Robert G. Edwards honors an achievement that was world famous the minute it happened and remains so to this day. With Patrick Steptoe, his late collaborator, Edwards did the pioneering work that resulted in the birth, on July 25, 1978, at Oldham General Hospital in England, of Louise Brown, history's first "test tube" baby. Her Ceasarean delivery was both a scientific triumph and a worldwide, stop-the-presses, headline story.
Few Westerners -- including this reporter -- realized that less than 3 months after that epoch-making event, on October 3, 1978, the world's second test-tube birth took place in Calcutta, India. A team headed by physician Subhas Mukherjee (often also spelled Subhash Mukhopadhyay) conceived in vitro and delivered a baby girl they identified by the pseudonym "Durga," after a Hindu goddess who embodies the female creative force, but whose actual name is Kanupriya Agarwal. Mukherjee had devised a method different from -- and, in the opinion of some, superior to -- that used by the English team.
But unlike Steptoe and Edwards, Mukherjee's countrymen did not acclaim his achievement. Instead, the Indian scientific establishment doubted his claims. He was investigated by an official scientific committee that included no one qualified to evaluate his work. Then he was vilified for fraud and prevented from presenting his work to the international scientific community. Humiliated and dispirited, he committed suicide in 1981. Not until a quarter century after "Durga's" birth did the Indian scientific world recognize his achievement, largely through the efforts of the man previously credited with India's first test-tube birth, T C Anand Kumar. The tragic tale was popularized in an Indian movie.
Mukherjee always claimed that, had he received the support rather than the opposition of India's scientific establishment, he could have beaten the British team to the first IVF birth. And even today, writes journalist Shobha John in the Sunday Times of India for January 16, 2011, an "Indian crab syndrome" -- the tendency to pull down to the common level anyone trying to follow an innovative course -- explains why, in the words of G P Talwar, founder-director of India's National Institute of Immunology, "research at Indian universities rarely comes up with path-breaking work." John adds, "doctors admit the going is tough in the Indian universe of scientific and medical research."
"Heads of department (HoDs) put up opposition to anything unconventional and are part of expert groups which one can't fight against," Talwar observes. "Staff selection maybe biased and meritorious students may find it hard to survive and prosper unless they have a godfather, [Talwar] says," John writes. John further quotes Anoop Misra, director and head of the department of diabetes and metabolic diseases at Fortis Hospitals in Delhi, to the effect that bureaucratic foot dragging and infighting can delay research for months.
How widespread the "crab syndrome" is in India is not clear. It is clear, however, that the phenomenon is not unique to that country. Unconventional discoveries by Western scientists have also met with disbelief and even scorn. The prion and the connection of Heliobacter pylori to stomach ulcers are just two prominent examples of advances that met strong initial resistance. Steptoe and Edwards also faced skepticism, and worse, before they succeeded.
But if John's interpretation is correct, India would need, as John puts it, "institutional reforms and a process to keep department heads in check" if it wants to unleash the full talents of its scientists.
Few Westerners -- including this reporter -- realized that less than 3 months after that epoch-making event, on October 3, 1978, the world's second test-tube birth took place in Calcutta, India. A team headed by physician Subhas Mukherjee (often also spelled Subhash Mukhopadhyay) conceived in vitro and delivered a baby girl they identified by the pseudonym "Durga," after a Hindu goddess who embodies the female creative force, but whose actual name is Kanupriya Agarwal. Mukherjee had devised a method different from -- and, in the opinion of some, superior to -- that used by the English team.
But unlike Steptoe and Edwards, Mukherjee's countrymen did not acclaim his achievement. Instead, the Indian scientific establishment doubted his claims. He was investigated by an official scientific committee that included no one qualified to evaluate his work. Then he was vilified for fraud and prevented from presenting his work to the international scientific community. Humiliated and dispirited, he committed suicide in 1981. Not until a quarter century after "Durga's" birth did the Indian scientific world recognize his achievement, largely through the efforts of the man previously credited with India's first test-tube birth, T C Anand Kumar. The tragic tale was popularized in an Indian movie.
Mukherjee always claimed that, had he received the support rather than the opposition of India's scientific establishment, he could have beaten the British team to the first IVF birth. And even today, writes journalist Shobha John in the Sunday Times of India for January 16, 2011, an "Indian crab syndrome" -- the tendency to pull down to the common level anyone trying to follow an innovative course -- explains why, in the words of G P Talwar, founder-director of India's National Institute of Immunology, "research at Indian universities rarely comes up with path-breaking work." John adds, "doctors admit the going is tough in the Indian universe of scientific and medical research."
"Heads of department (HoDs) put up opposition to anything unconventional and are part of expert groups which one can't fight against," Talwar observes. "Staff selection maybe biased and meritorious students may find it hard to survive and prosper unless they have a godfather, [Talwar] says," John writes. John further quotes Anoop Misra, director and head of the department of diabetes and metabolic diseases at Fortis Hospitals in Delhi, to the effect that bureaucratic foot dragging and infighting can delay research for months.
How widespread the "crab syndrome" is in India is not clear. It is clear, however, that the phenomenon is not unique to that country. Unconventional discoveries by Western scientists have also met with disbelief and even scorn. The prion and the connection of Heliobacter pylori to stomach ulcers are just two prominent examples of advances that met strong initial resistance. Steptoe and Edwards also faced skepticism, and worse, before they succeeded.
But if John's interpretation is correct, India would need, as John puts it, "institutional reforms and a process to keep department heads in check" if it wants to unleash the full talents of its scientists.
January 19, 2011
Patently Courageous
The death of Gertrude Neumark Rothschild on November 11 at the age of 83 ended a remarkable, though at times insufficiently recognized, scientific career and an equally remarkable campaign to obtain the recognition and economic remuneration that her accomplishments deserved. Professor emerita of materials science and engineering at Columbia University at the time of her death, Rothschild had made essential contributions to the development of the LED screens that are now so ubiquitous as to go all but unnoticed.
Also unnoticed by many for many years were the patents that Rothschild held on her work. Like most women scientists of her own and earlier generations, who generally worked in fields overwhelmingly dominated by men, she long failed to get credit equal to that of men with commensurate attainments -- a pattern most famously played out in the life of Rosalind Franklin. Franklin's now-famous "photograph 51" was an important basis for the formulation of the structure of DNA that earned the 1962 Nobel Prize for James Watson and Francis Crick. Franklin died of cancer at the age of 37, several years before the Nobel was awarded, without receiving the recognition she deserved.
Rothschild, however, lived to vindicate her contributions. She sued, and prevailed over, major corporations that had infringed her patents, receiving millions of dollars in settlements. "People thought that because she was a woman" -- and one who stood only 5 feet tall -- "they could just walk all over her. She would say, 'They're being unfair and I'm not going to let them get away with that,'" said her Columbia colleague I. Cevdet Noyan, quoted in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Money, however, was never the main motivation for her lawsuits, friends say; rather, she was motivated by a drive for justice. In both her pathbreaking scientific work and her unshakable determination to defend her right to recognition, Gertrude Neumark Rothschild blazed a trail for other women scientists to follow.
January 18, 2011
A Spiritual Break for Techies
January is pilgrimage season in southern India. Across the region, one sees bands of people dressed in specially colored traditional garments making their way toward holy places on foot or in buses and vans festooned with banners and flower garlands. The most popular of these sites -- in fact, one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in the world -- is the mountaintop temple at Sabarimala in the state of Kerala, which is devoted to the Hindu god Ayyappa, son of the god Vishnu and an avatar (manifestation) of the god Shiva. Tens of millions visit each year -- more than the state's population of 30 million -- and their number has increased rapidly in recent years because of the deity's growing popularity with young people. Last Friday, tens of thousands of black-clad devotees were climbing the forested route to the temple when an as yet undetermined traffic incident sparked a stampede that killed 102.
Some of the bands of black-clad pilgrims trekking toward Sabarimala, with religious articles on their heads, are organized groups of technology workers from Bangalore, about 400 miles away. The Sunday Times of India reports that colleagues from IBM, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and other high-tech firms band together each year band to make the pilgrimage. These international companies recruit technically trained employees regardless
of caste, religion or place of origin. Their offices consist of mixed work
groups who often use English as the common language. Although women of reproductive age are not allowed to participate, the rites at Sabarimala are open to men of all castes and religions, unlike most other places of worship in India, making the Sabarimala trek especially suitable to Bangalore's high-tech pilgrims.
Embarking on the journey properly requires 41 days of spiritual preparation, including regular worship at temple and abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, fish, meat, shaving, haircuts and sexual relations. Business trips reportedly prevent some prospective pilgrims from adhering to the full regimen, but many undertake the pilgrimage anyway. That's because, as one Oracle executive and regular Sabarimala devotee told the Sunday Times of India, it is precisely the stress of high-pressure technical work that makes the spiritual respite of the pilgrimage so valuable and appreciated.
January 18, 2011
University of Kentucky Settles Religious Discrimination Suit
The University of Kentucky has settled the religious discrimination suit brought by astronomer Martin Gaskell, who claimed he was denied a job for which he was highly qualified because of his Christian beliefs. One search committee member, for example, had described him as "potentially evangelical." Gaskell accepted a settlement of $125,000. The university did not admit wrongdoing. The issue, which has attracted national attention, had been scheduled to come to trial in federal court on February 8.
According to Gaskell's attorney, Francis Manion, as quoted in the Louisville Courier-Journal, the sum compensates Gaskell for the income he would have earned as founding director of the university's new observatory. Manion declared Gaskell "happy with the settlement" because he was "not looking for anything other than to to cover his financial losses." Gaskell has meanwhile accepted a position at the University of Valparaiso in Chile. The university defended its hiring process as "fundamentally sound" and noted that the "lengthy trial" that would have occurred "would not have served anybody's best interests." One suspects it especially would not have served the interests of the university's reputation.
January 12, 2011
Bangalored
The minute you get off a plane at Bangalore (or, more correctly, Bangaluru), you know you're someplace different from the general run of Indian cities. The terminal is sleek, immaculate, and elegant, devoid of the mild chaos that generally seems to characterize Indian public places. The drivers and guides waiting to pick up their expected arriving passengers hold signs not for tour companies but for international corporations. The expressway out of the airport is up-to-date and full of private passenger cars and modern taxicabs rather than the motorbikes and tiny motorcycle based vehicles that serve as taxis in other places. There's not a cow or an elephant (not usual sights on Indian streets and roads) to be seen.
Your correspondent did not get to spend much time in the city that Indians proudly call their Silicon Valley, but the high-tech prosperity of this digital boom town was obvious in the plush high rises and modern office buildings, not to mention the heavy traffic and billboards advertising lavish residential properties. The influence of this influx of good jobs is obvious throughout the country, in the countless schools and colleges, ranging from fine universities to small places in country towns, that claim to provide education in the arcane arts of high tech. In addition, ubiquitous billboards promise academic success for graduates of these institutions..
Holders of engineering, medical, and other technical degrees, especially those "well-settled" with "MNCs" (multinational corporations), also dominate the matrimonial ads that are a standard feature of Indian newspapers. In these ads, the parents of both men and women tout their eligible children's undergraduate and graduate degrees. Families demand nothing less of the prospective spouses who answer their ads. In addition to the traditional proper caste standing and horoscope, some even specify a desired medical specialty.
The tech-based wealth of Bangalore is so great that the city has begun to suffer from the ills that eventually affect all boom towns. Bangalore has grown from about 2 million people to an estimated 5.7 million in just the past decade. Crowding, traffic, and high costs, especially for real estate, are daily realities. The high cost of living is forcing companies to raise salaries in order to continue attracting desirable employees to Bangalore.
American technical workers whose jobs have been "Bangalored," -- outsourced to India -- may enjoy the irony that increasing pay is already causing some Bangalore-based jobs to be "Phillipined" or "Vietnamed." Those countries have educated populations that in the former case generally know English and in the latter have a language that uses the Roman alphabet, which makes it much easier for them to learn the language than their Far Eastern competitors. A couple of years ago, an engineering professor in Vietnam told me of plans to create a "mini-Bangalore" in Saigon.
Some Indian observers note, however, that the jobs moving from nation to nation are generally filled by lower-level scientific and tech workers. The heavy-duty research, they say, remains in the United States.
January 4, 2011
Impressions from India
This correspondent is currently touring South India. Even here, amid the splendor of the temples and monuments, the hubbub of the bazaars, and the razzle-dazzle of 21st century cities, there seems to be no getting away from issues surrounding early science careers. On the plane from New York to New Delhi, for example, I encountered a young chemist I'll call Ashok, on his way home from 2 years as a postdoc in a mid-tier university in the Northeastern United States.
Ashok earned his Ph.D. in his native India. He would have preferred to stay in the United States when his postdoc ended (his PI lost a grant). The end of Ashok's postdoc meant the end of his his visa, and without a new position he could not remain in the United States. He had hoped to find a job with an American company but did not succeed. He doesn't have a job lined up in India, either; he will start looking soon after he arrives. He's not sure how good his prospects are of landing a desirable position.
Ashok's impression from friends at home (that is, in India) is that the job market for scientists there has gotten worse of late. He reports that Chinese postdoc friends in the States were saying the same thing about conditions at home. In Ashok's opinion, the American young-scientist glut is spilling over into the big supplier countries, China and India, as postdocs return home after their time in the United States.
I have no way of knowing whether Ashoks' impression is correct or why he did not get the American job he hoped for. Of course, the Great Recession has made finding jobs harder for nearly everyone, scientists -- foreign and domestic -- included. Beyond that are the usual questions: Does he have a good publication record? Is his field in demand? Does his PI have good connections in relevant industries? These questions did not get answered during a chance conversation across the aisle in the economy section of a jam-packed commercial jet. But I suspect that Ashok, who seemed serious and intelligent, is not alone in his view of life in the middle reaches of the American postdoc scene. His opinions are not definitive -- as he surely would admit -- or based in rigorous research, but they should not be ignored, either.
P. Thrihurthy, president of the Computer Society of India (CSI), is more sanguine on the subject of scientific employment in India. There are "plenty" of jobs for computer scientists and IT graduates, he is quoted as saying in the education supplement of The Hindu, South India's leading newspaper. But in his opinion, the article states, to be "100 percent employable" technically trained people need exposure to a broader range of subjects, especially management, with an emphasis on "real-life scenarios." CSI offers a range of educational opportunities including "industry-oriented professional development for new graduates" and continuing education for mid-career workers. Thrimurthy's opinion echoes that of American proponents of broader
training for technical and scientific graduates seeking opportunities in
industry.
Ashok told me he spent his American sojourn at the laboratory bench, not learning management skills. Perhaps if he'd had an opportunity to familiarize himself with some of the practical aspects of industry, his job search would have been more successful.
December 28, 2010
Snow Job
Actually, no job may be more like it -- or so it must seem to many would-be faculty members who had job interviews scheduled at the annual meeting of the American Philosophical Society's Eastern division. This gathering, which serves as the discipline's main annual employment market, began Monday in snow-crippled Boston. Inside Higher Education reports that the national airline snarl caused by the weekend's huge blizzard is keeping many job candidates and search committee members from holding scheduled interviews. Many who planned to present papers or posters are also disappointed.
APA executive director David Schrader tried to resassure panicky applicants by noting that since "departments aren't scheduling interviews with people they don't think are very good," they would probably arrange another method of holding an interview. The Eastern division's secretary-treasurer Richard Bett, however, termed the situation "a nightmare basically." Apparently APA has no Plan B for the eventuality of a winter storm in wintry New England and no systematic way of letting people know what is going on.
One hopes that their advanced training may allow frantic job seekers to view the situation philosophically, but for some the damage may indeed be serious. The situation remains fluid and chaotic, as people struggle to make new travel plans or re-schedule events. Bett, at least, sees signs of improvement today. (He, however, already has a job, as a professor of philosophy at Johns Hopkins).
Inside Higher Education notes that APA is the only major academic society that holds its main job-interview confab during the snow-vulnerable and chronically overbooked Christmas holiday season.
Other scholarly groups perhaps should avoid feeling smug about their clever planning, however, unless they have contingency plans for inclement weather. AAAS, for example -- the publisher of Science Careers -- will meet in Washington, DC, in February, the month when, last year, the city was engulfed by one of the two historic storms that supposedly blizzard-hardened former Chicagoan and new Washingtonian Barack Obama dubbed "Snowmageddon."
December 19, 2010
What Is the Value of a Ph.D.?
Not much more, and often less, than a master's degree, at least when counted in cold cash. That's the conclusion of an unsigned article in The Economist that takes a trans-Atlantic view of what it calls "the disposable academic."
"Many of those who embark on a PhD are the smartest in their class and will have been the best at everything they have done," the article perceptively notes. "They will have amassed awards and prizes. As this year's new crop of graduate students bounce into their research, few will be willing to accept that the system they are entering could be designed for the benefit of others, that even hard work and brilliance may well not be enough to succeed, and that they would be better off doing something else. They might use their research skills to look harder at the lot of the disposable academic. Someone should write a thesis about that."
These strong and insightful words from a "correspondent" who "slogged through a largely pointless PhD in theoretical ecology" appear as part of the magazine's "Christmas specials" package. Though some may see them as a journalistic lump of coal in the Yuletide stocking, they offer the heartfelt gifts of analysis and experience.
December 18, 2010
New Guidelines to Shield Government Scientists from Political Pressure
In a step that attempts to differentiate the purportedly science-friendly Obama administration from its predecessor, on Friday the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, John Holdren, issued guidelines intended to shield government scientists from political influence. He was complying, somewhat belatedly in the opinion of many, with a March 2009 memorandum signed by President Barack Obama that ordered the OSTP director to develop a policy "for ensuring the highest level of integrity in all aspects of the executive branch's involvement with scientific and technological processes."
The new formal policy is the first of its kind in the nation's history, according the the Washington Post. Government scientists repeatedly complained during the Bush years of political pressure to shape their findings to conform with administration policies, and the Post reports that many say they had thus far seen little change under the Obama administration.
Scientists should be hired and retained only "based on [their] knowledge, credentials, experience and integrity," and each agency should have "appropriate rules and procedures to ensure the integrity of the scientific process within the agency," the memo states. It also calls for "whistleblower protections" to safeguard the integrity of the "information and process on which the agency relies in its decisionmaking,"
Agency heads must report within 120 days on their progress toward developing those rules and procedures, Holdren stated in a Friday post on the OSTP blog. Of course, the details of those rules and procedures, and the ways in which they are carried out within agencies, will determine the strength of the protections scientists will enjoy.
December 13, 2010
Unnaturally Not Selected?
Should a scientist's religious views affect his ability to land an academic post? Astronomer Martin Gaskell believes they should not, and, according to the Louisville Courier-Journal, Federal Judge Karl S. Forester agrees. That is why the judge is allowing Gaskell to go forward with a jury trial in the religious discrimination suit he has brought against the University of Kentucky.
Despite "substantial evidence that Gaskell was the leading candidate" to head the university's new observatory, the judge found, the university gave the job to someone else once the search committee learned that Gaskell had expressed doubt on the subject of evolution. With a P.h.D from the University of California, Santa Cruz [Editor's Note: Previously we wrote UC Santa Barbara; apologies for the mistake], extensive publications in his field of super-massive black holes, and successful experience founding an innovative observatory at the University of Nebraska, Gaskell has also written and lectured on the relationship between science and Biblical religion.
The University of Kentucky acknowledges that Gaskell's religious views hurt his chances for the job. It argues, however, that other issues about his academic record and personality were also involved and, furthermore, that it has a right to consider the totality of a candidate's views on science.
Notes from one of Gaskell's science and religion lectures indicate that he sees Genesis as compatible with astronomical science. He also perceives, however, "major scientific problems in evolutionary theory," although he denies that he rejects evolution overall. On this basis a search committee member e-mailed her colleagues that Gaskell, though "fascinating," was "potentially evangelical." And an astronomy department member expressed fear of potential embarrassment were the university to be viewed as hiring a "creationist," especially in a state that contains the anti-evolution Creation Museum. Gaskell counters that he is not a creationist and notes that the search committee chair believed him "superbly qualified" and thought his religous views "unrelated to astronomy."
Gaskell in fact would have served the university as "the perfect foil" to narrow anti-evolutionism because he is "an openly Christian man of science who accepts evolution," argues attorney Francis Manion, one of those representing Gaskell. Manion suggests a strategy of co-option that some observers argue would emphasize the broad compatibility that many Christian believers -- including National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins -- perceive between their personal religious faith and their acceptance of modern science.
Beyond that, Manion's use of a turn of phrase, "an openly Christian man," usually reserved for members of the gay community, carries a potentially powerful and provocative implication about discrimination and minority status within a dominant culture. Who defines what is acceptable and normal? How sweeping can that definition be? To what extent must individuals be protected from harm?
Currently a research associate at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, Gaskell states on his personal homepage that he has "accepted a professorship in Chile.., where a large fraction of the world's largest telescopes are." He nonetheless hopes to recover financial damages from the University of Kentucky to compensate for lost income and emotional pain.
Stay tuned for a courtroom battle over what constitutes unlawful discrimination and legitimate science -- a battle that, like Gaskell himself, could prove "fascinating."
[Editor's Note: For an excellent account of a scientist with a strong religious faith, read Elisabeth Pain's Testimony of a Young Christian Scientist.]
[Editor's Note: For an excellent account of a scientist with a strong religious faith, read Elisabeth Pain's Testimony of a Young Christian Scientist.]
December 10, 2010
To Stay or to Leave?
Salon.com's "Since You Asked" advice column generally publishes pleas for help with commitment-phobic lovers, unreasonable in-laws, ornery bosses, or impossible-to-please parents. Today's plaintive writer, however, expresses a form of anguish more relevant to Science Careers: "Grad school is suddenly meaningless," writes a student at a "top-ranked" department who, after "purring along" for years suddenly finds him- (or, from the internal evidence, probably her-) self struggling with doubt over whether to continue. The student, who uses the nom de 'Net of "Lost in graduate school," is "ashamed" of these feelings because "my identity has been wrapped up in my studies." Now, "the whole premise of my efforts has crumbled."
The major precipitating event, "Lost" relates, probably was the decision of a "close friend and colleague [to] quit a professorship that had taken over and ruined her life." What's more, "post-docs are now telling me that they have no job prospects and that they wish they had known earlier. I feel like I've been duped...." Not surprisingly, "Lost"'s "advisor keeps acting like pursuing his profession is the only way to be happy." "Lost" does not say what field this is, but, because it apparently has plenty of postdocs, one surmises that it must be some kind of science.
Cary Tennis, the column's hipper Anne Landers, advises "Lost" that "reclaiming your passion for this work" is the way through her crisis of confidence. Based on what I know about graduate school and where it often leads, however, I must respectfully disagree -- as do many thoughtful comments from the more than fifty people who wrote letters in reply. What "Lost" should do, I (and a number of the letter writers) think, is take a careful look at the warning lights flashing all around, consider deeply what they indicate, determine how this new information fits into "Lost"'s' values and goals, and then take appropriate action, including the possibility of leaving graduate school.
What warning lights? First, there's the life-eating professorship. One guesses from the context (top-rated school, intense pressure) that this friend has achieved what others strive for: a tenure-track post at a prestigious institution. The years leading up to the tenure decision are known to be brutal for many young scholars trying to make the grade in a major department, and, as the data unfortunately indicate, those years are especially hard on women who want or have children. Statistically, single and childless women fare better in high-level academe than colleagues who marry and/or become mothers. (Intriguingly, married fathers do very well, too.) One surmises that it's the conflict between the tenure clock and the biological clock, both ticking deafeningly, that may have "ruined" the young professor's life. Or perhaps the insatiable demands of doing enough research, writing enough grants, and publishing enough papers to get tenure consumed a romantic relationship that was dear to the young professor's heart.
Then there are the premonitory postdocs giving "Lost" the benefit of their own disappointment and sense of betrayal. If "Lost" was counting on the degree to produce a certain kind of career, she really ought to heed their counsel before investing more years and possibly more debt-financed money in a possibly fruitless quest.
So, what's needed is not a search for a lost passion but an evaluation -- as dispassionate and searching as possible, but still taking feelings into account -- of motives, goals, and the available objective information.
The first thing to go must be her crippling sense of shame. There is nothing dishonorable about re-evaluating decisions in light of experience and information. It is, indeed, the definition of intelligence and the essence of the scientific method.
The first thing to go must be her crippling sense of shame. There is nothing dishonorable about re-evaluating decisions in light of experience and information. It is, indeed, the definition of intelligence and the essence of the scientific method.
Why did "Lost" enter grad school in the first place? Where did she hope it would lead? How likely is this hope to be realized? Does she still want to go there, assuming it is possible at this point? Friends and colleagues have provided fair warning of what likely lies ahead. (The advisor may be thinking of the situation that existed decades ago, when he was young.)
If the original destination is not one that "Lost" still desires, then, as many of the letter writers indicate, there is no shame deciding to leave -- a decision that at least some of the postdocs apparently wish that they had made. (But, of course, one must also wonder what is keeping those postdocs from also evaluating other options available to smart, highly educated people. Is it perhaps because they have lost faith in themselves?)
If the original destination is not one that "Lost" still desires, then, as many of the letter writers indicate, there is no shame deciding to leave -- a decision that at least some of the postdocs apparently wish that they had made. (But, of course, one must also wonder what is keeping those postdocs from also evaluating other options available to smart, highly educated people. Is it perhaps because they have lost faith in themselves?)
Such self-evaluation can be emotionally wrenching. It may indeed require upending an identity, abandoning the dreams of a lifetime, and coming to terms with a not-totally-unjustified sense of having been hoodwinked. In the end, it may result in new dedication to those original goals. It may result in a new goal that can also be reached via staying in graduate school, such as an industrial rather than an academic career. Or it may indicate an entirely new direction. As a number of the thoughtful letter writers note, this process of self-assessment is a hallmark of adulthood.
One hopes that "Lost" soon embarks on such an effort and that it leads in the end to a satisfying conclusion.
December 8, 2010
How Not to Write a Grant
What happens when six scientists working in five separate fields serve on a number of grant committees? Apparently they see a great many truly terrible proposals full of lame-brained and sloppy mistakes -- and they remember the very worst of these goofs.
The exasperated band has now compiled actual examples of applicants' ineptitude into a tongue-in-cheek list of "proven techniques" for not getting funded and published it in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Some of their tips are simple enough: "Don't use spell-check." Or : "Use very few subheadings. Grant reviewers are smart enough to figure out where subheadings should be. A single multipage paragraph is fine."
Some are more global: "Focus your grant entirely on your own study species and/or area of focus. Knowledge for knowledge's sake, right? Dealing with problem of general interest is a waste of time. A good panelist will be able to discern the global impacts of the research without being led by the hand."
Others are all-encompassing: "Always assume that the panel and the program director will give you the benefit of every doubt."
But especially importantly, none appears to have much bearing on the quality or significance of the actual research being proposed; instead they have to do with careless writing, slovenly formatting and thoughtless preparation. And together they constitute an amazing catalog of how just how dumb and self-defeating smart people can be.
December 7, 2010
Capitol Hill Opportunity
The American Institute of Physics is accepting applications for its annual Congressional Science Fellowship program, which permits people with Ph.D.s in physics and related fields to spend a year on the staff of a member of Congress or a science-related Congressional committee. The Fellowship includes a salary of $70,000, a relocation allowance, health insurance, and an orientation program in Washington, DC.
For many former fellows, the program has opened the way to career opportunities in science policy or government. Applicants must be US citizens and members of at least one of the AIP's member societies at the time they apply. The deadline for applications is January 15.
For many former fellows, the program has opened the way to career opportunities in science policy or government. Applicants must be US citizens and members of at least one of the AIP's member societies at the time they apply. The deadline for applications is January 15.
December 4, 2010
It pays to advertise
So, you think you've done everything you possibly can to land a secure academic research post? Well, how about making a stunning, paradigm-changing discovery, becoming an instant, worldwide scientific celebrity, and naming the thing you discovered "Give [Me] A Job"? That, writes Paul Davies of Arizona State University in the Wall Street Journal, is exactly the strategy followed by Felisa Wolfe-Simon, discoverer of the now world-famous arsenic-based microbe. The organism's name, GFAJ-1, he reports, actually stands for "Give Felisa a Job." Wolfe-Simon, for whom future employment opportunities probably won't be a big problem, was an ASU postdoc when she had her great idea and has, according to Davies, since then been patching together short-term gigs that let her chase her hunch.
December 3, 2010
Keeping track of graduate alumni
Now here's a concept that could catch on if given a chance. Or maybe not: Graduate schools should keep track of what happens to their alumni and even offer them formal opportunities to prepare for careers outside academe. Two graduate deans, Patricia Calarco of the University of California, San Francisco, and Lynne Pepall of Tufts University, suggested this last week at a meeting of the Council of Graduate Schools, according to today's Chronicle of Higher Education.
The deans further suggested that if universities collected information about which careers alumni entered, and took the additional step of finding out what careers other than academe students might be interested in, they could serve their students better than they do now.
Dean Calarco said that faculty members often don't want to know when Ph.D. students want to work outside of academe. When UCSF asked its graduate students in 2008 about their first-choice careers, a third named non-academic pursuits. The University has since established a program of formal 3-month internships in government and industry for doctoral students from its basic-science departments.
Dean Calarco said that faculty members often don't want to know when Ph.D. students want to work outside of academe. When UCSF asked its graduate students in 2008 about their first-choice careers, a third named non-academic pursuits. The University has since established a program of formal 3-month internships in government and industry for doctoral students from its basic-science departments.
Dean Pepall asked the representatives of 34 universities whether their institutions kept systematic alumni records for former graduate students. Twenty said no. For institutions supposedly dedicated to both research and the welfare of students, this seems a stunning oversight, especially in light of how meticulously professional and undergraduate schools tend to track their alumni. These schools use that data to boast about the success of their graduates and to hit up those who achieve success for money.
Could it be that graduate deans already suspect that Ph.D. students are unlikely to rank among the grateful future graduates who fork over handsome donations?
Could it be that graduate deans already suspect that Ph.D. students are unlikely to rank among the grateful future graduates who fork over handsome donations?
December 3, 2010
Truly Taken for Granted
The name of Beryl Benderly's monthly column -- Taken for Granted -- is always appropriate, since every month she writes about scientific workers who are exploited or under-appreciated by the scientific establishment. This includes, notably, postdocs, the scientists at the nexus of contemporary science. They, more than any other group, combine the intellectual insight that science depends on with the hands-on skill -- the actual bench work (or the theoretical or computational equivalent) -- behind most of our scientific output. (Of course, there's a pun hidden in there as well, since these scientists are usually on soft money: "grant"-supported.)
But for this week's column, "taken for granted" is an especially apt phrase, in at least two ways. First is the article's placement on Science Careers: Despite being an important piece of writing, it's listed fourth this week, pretty far down the page. This is partly because the top two articles describe such an exciting, and rare, career opportunity for people with the right skills -- including scientists. But whatever the reason, Beryl's article deserves much higher billing. It's important. So this month it may seem as though we're taking Beryl's art for granted.
The name -- "Taken for Granted" -- is also appropriate in a different sense: Established scientists take it for granted that any clear-thinking woman or member of an under-represented minority group (or any white male for that matter) would choose a career in science if given the opportunity, so all we have to do is remove barriers. That assumption is false and leads, I believe, to faulty policy on issues such as scientific-workforce diversity. Such assumptions also affect perceptions of a different kind of diversity: the diversity of career options. Some traditional scientists disparage non-traditional careers -- even careers like research in industry. It's remarkable how much space there is between common (among established scientists) assumptions about science's desirability and young peoples' perceptions.
Drawing on a recent study by Amanda Diekman and colleagues, this week's Taken for Granted column challenges the assumption that anyone in her right mind would study science, suggesting that that women often don't choose science because they don't think it's consistent with their values. Specifically, Amanda Diekman and coauthors determined that women embrace values of community and caring more often than men, and that people (men and women) who embrace those values most strongly are likely to pursue alternatives instead of the fields in which women are poorly represented.
This idea -- which, like a lot of important ideas, seems obvious once it has been pointed out -- has exciting implications. In recent years, many fields of science have, famously, become more communal. And in some areas -- basic biomedical research is an excellent example -- perspectives have started to shift away from intellectual mastery and penetrating insights and towards the more practical and therapeutic (think CTSciNet and translational research). If the ideas Benderly discusses in this month's column are valid -- and I think they are -- we should expect these changes to lead to improvements in the representation of women in the affected fields.
But there's a point underlying Beryl's column that has even broader significance. It is that good people, who could even be excellent scientists, often have real alternatives and sometimes choose them. It follows that, as I wrote in my commentary on the occasion of Science Careers's 15th anniversary, if you want to make science better, you have to make science a better career. Policy makers have to put themselves into the shoes of science trainees -- and bright young people considering a career in science but who have other appealing choices -- and think hard about how the science career path looks, and how to change it for the better.
Partly this is about perception: Some of the assumptions underlying women's career choices (as determined by the Diekman study) seem wrong. Yet, other unflattering assumptions about science careers -- the prospect of earning $30,000 a year with no retirement well into your 30s after 10 years or more of training, for example, with questionable long-term job prospects -- are accurate. So it's not just a matter of changing perceptions; realities must change as well. Changing perceptions is hard, and changing realities is much harder, but it's something that has to happen if science is to continue to thrive. The status quo is already failing.
But for this week's column, "taken for granted" is an especially apt phrase, in at least two ways. First is the article's placement on Science Careers: Despite being an important piece of writing, it's listed fourth this week, pretty far down the page. This is partly because the top two articles describe such an exciting, and rare, career opportunity for people with the right skills -- including scientists. But whatever the reason, Beryl's article deserves much higher billing. It's important. So this month it may seem as though we're taking Beryl's art for granted.
The name -- "Taken for Granted" -- is also appropriate in a different sense: Established scientists take it for granted that any clear-thinking woman or member of an under-represented minority group (or any white male for that matter) would choose a career in science if given the opportunity, so all we have to do is remove barriers. That assumption is false and leads, I believe, to faulty policy on issues such as scientific-workforce diversity. Such assumptions also affect perceptions of a different kind of diversity: the diversity of career options. Some traditional scientists disparage non-traditional careers -- even careers like research in industry. It's remarkable how much space there is between common (among established scientists) assumptions about science's desirability and young peoples' perceptions.
Drawing on a recent study by Amanda Diekman and colleagues, this week's Taken for Granted column challenges the assumption that anyone in her right mind would study science, suggesting that that women often don't choose science because they don't think it's consistent with their values. Specifically, Amanda Diekman and coauthors determined that women embrace values of community and caring more often than men, and that people (men and women) who embrace those values most strongly are likely to pursue alternatives instead of the fields in which women are poorly represented.
This idea -- which, like a lot of important ideas, seems obvious once it has been pointed out -- has exciting implications. In recent years, many fields of science have, famously, become more communal. And in some areas -- basic biomedical research is an excellent example -- perspectives have started to shift away from intellectual mastery and penetrating insights and towards the more practical and therapeutic (think CTSciNet and translational research). If the ideas Benderly discusses in this month's column are valid -- and I think they are -- we should expect these changes to lead to improvements in the representation of women in the affected fields.
But there's a point underlying Beryl's column that has even broader significance. It is that good people, who could even be excellent scientists, often have real alternatives and sometimes choose them. It follows that, as I wrote in my commentary on the occasion of Science Careers's 15th anniversary, if you want to make science better, you have to make science a better career. Policy makers have to put themselves into the shoes of science trainees -- and bright young people considering a career in science but who have other appealing choices -- and think hard about how the science career path looks, and how to change it for the better.
Partly this is about perception: Some of the assumptions underlying women's career choices (as determined by the Diekman study) seem wrong. Yet, other unflattering assumptions about science careers -- the prospect of earning $30,000 a year with no retirement well into your 30s after 10 years or more of training, for example, with questionable long-term job prospects -- are accurate. So it's not just a matter of changing perceptions; realities must change as well. Changing perceptions is hard, and changing realities is much harder, but it's something that has to happen if science is to continue to thrive. The status quo is already failing.
December 2, 2010
A Batty Case of Harassment
Academic scientists need no longer fear that sharing a scientific paper with a colleague will lead to major career damage. That at least appears to be the implication of a decision handed down by an Irish court quashing the punishment of Dylan Evans, a behavioral sciences lecturer in the medical school of University College Cork, as reported by the Independent newspaper. In November 2009, Evans showed a colleague, Rossana Salerno Kennedy, an article published the previous month in PLoS One entitled "Fellatio by Fruit Bats Prolongs Copulation Time." At the time, he claimed in court, he believed Kennedy was amused.
She, however, complained to the university, which determined that, although Evans had not intended to offend, his act fell within the technical definition of sexual harassment. It punished him by requiring counseling and two years of monitoring. He also was not recommended for a promotion. He took the case to court.
The judge termed the punishment "grossly" disproportionate and observed that the article, written in the dense and densely footnoted style appropriate to a reputable scientific journal and illustrated with graphs of statistical observations from what the authors termed 20 "completed copulations," was neither suggestive nor obscene. The judge further noted that the article had won a 2010 Ig Nobel Prize, which, states the institute that gives the prize, is awarded for "research that makes people laugh then makes them think." Or, in this case, maybe not so much the latter.
November 24, 2010
Getting started in entrepreneurship
For academic scientists with an idea they think might have commercial potential, figuring out whether and how to move it from the university lab to the marketplace is a formidable challenge. Andrew Hargadon, the Charles J. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Davis, and director of the university's Center for Entrepreneurship, offers insight into the process in a series of entries on his blog. Intended for university researchers, the series began on November 16 with the essay "Getting Started." This and succeeding entries focus on "the first of three critical moments in the life of a new venture -- entrepreneurial leap...when the original entrepreneurs make the decision to start a new venture or not," Hargadon writes. The series is "intended to help aspiring entrepreneurs...see and make the right decisions at the right time."
November 19, 2010
Making proposals shine
Of all the career skills that a scientist needs, the ability to construct winning grant proposals is among the most crucial. Having served as rapporteur (the person who writes the reports sent back to grant applicants) at meetings of high-powered federal study sections, this reporter has observed how relatively small matters of style and presentation can help move a proposal toward the top or the bottom of the pile.
That's because the researchers tasked with digesting and judging hundreds of pages of dense, information-packed prose in a matter of days often (though they usually don't admit it) appear to succumb to simple brain fatigue. To get through that huge stack of often dry details, they may find themselves relying on surrogate markers of quality having to do not with the science itself but with the way it's presented.
That's because the researchers tasked with digesting and judging hundreds of pages of dense, information-packed prose in a matter of days often (though they usually don't admit it) appear to succumb to simple brain fatigue. To get through that huge stack of often dry details, they may find themselves relying on surrogate markers of quality having to do not with the science itself but with the way it's presented.
In Friday's Inside Higher Education, an anonymous scientist fresh from service on a study section comes clean with would-be grantees. Writing as the Prodigal Academic, she or he offers ten tips that any applicant can use to lighten the reviewer's burden and make a proposal stand out from the verbose and disorganized dross. These pointers all have to do with making it easy for reviewers to figure out what you've done and what you want to do. You already know your science is great. Your goal in writing your proposal is to help reviewers stay on task long enough to see exactly why that's true. From conversations I've heard in the privacy of the study section, the Prodigal Academic's ten tips could certainly help.
For more advice on the same topic, this time from an NSF panel member, also read NSF Grant Reviewer Tells All, by Science Careers' own Pam L. Member. Yes, that's a pseudonym.
For more advice on the same topic, this time from an NSF panel member, also read NSF Grant Reviewer Tells All, by Science Careers' own Pam L. Member. Yes, that's a pseudonym.
November 17, 2010
Food for thought--and entrepreneurship
Does your research in nutrition, biochemistry, plant science, or other food-related field suggest a product with commercial potential? Do you wish you could find out how to move your idea from the lab to the market? Or do you want to move yourself from academe to industry?
If any of these things describes you or your research, the Food + Health Entrepreneurship Academy, sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Davis, may provide the opportunity you seek.
If any of these things describes you or your research, the Food + Health Entrepreneurship Academy, sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Davis, may provide the opportunity you seek.
The five-day academy, which begins January 31 at the UC Davis campus, will provide "focused lectures, practical exercises, networking sessions, and hands-on experiences" for grad students, postdocs and faculty members seeking either to turn research results into commercial opportunities or to prepare for a move to industry, according the the Center's website. Applications are due January 1. Cost for university-affiliated individuals is $150 with meals but without lodging, or $250 with meals and a shared room in a hotel near the program.
October 28, 2010
National Labor Relations Board signals possible change in ban on grad student unions at private universities
In a 2004 ruling affecting Brown University, the National Labor Relations Board voted not to permit unions for graduate assistants at the universities under its authority -- that is, the nation's private campuses. On Monday, a 2-to-1 majority of NLRB members dominated by Democrats -- the 2004 board had a Republican majority -- voted to grant a hearing to graduate assistants attempting to unionize at New York University (NYU). The hearing will determine whether their unionization drive can go forward. The majority cited differences in the circumstances at Brown and NYU, reports Inside Higher Education. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, the authors of majority opinion wrote that there were "compelling reasons" to reconsider the 2004 decision.
The so-called Brown University decision of 2004 covered private universities across the nation and found that graduate assistants are primarily students, not employees, and therefore ineligible for unionization. Public universities are governed not by the federal NLRB but by state laws covering public employees. Some states permit graduate students to organize unions.
Union proponents consider Monday's vote a promising sign of a possible change ahead. The decision was praised by the UAW, the national union that is working to organize the NYU graduate assistants, and the American Federal of Teachers, which is also active in campus organizing. Of course, NYU, which opposes unionization of its grad assistants, disagreed with the decision. Stay tuned for what could be a long legal battle resulting in a decision that, anyway, some future board could later overturn.
October 24, 2010
Doctoring admissions standards
How can we get more members of the underrepresented gender into selective science-based educational programs? One Canadian medical school re-adjusted its admission criteria to de-emphasize the area where the underrepresented gender does not perform as well. Correcting a former "over-emphasis on grade point average," admissions committee chair Harold Reiter of McMaster University medical school told the Toronto Globe and Mail, made it possible to admit more men.
Yes, more men. North of the border, where the majority of medical students and of doctors under 35 are women, female med school applicants outnumber males by more than a third. But because medical schools seem to want to maintain a gender balance in enrollment, men reportedly have an easier time getting in despite apparently lower grades.
After all the decades of studies explaining the neurological, endocrinological and evolutionary roots of females' natural inferiority in science and math studies, women applicants' inconvenient propensity to outperform their male counterparts in pre-med courses has galvanized the attention of Canada's educational leaders, according to the newspaper. Medical planners reportedly worry about a looming labor shortage caused by women doctors' tendency to work fewer hours than men, at least during the child-rearing years. Education experts also fear that female majorities will make the medical profession unattractive to men. "If it looks like a woman's program, you'll have trouble attracting both men and women," says Paul Cappon, president of the Canadian Council on Learning, quoted in the Globe and Mail.
Here's an alternative proposal: Men could assume more household responsibilities so that female physicians with families could work longer days. Another: Encourage young people to disregard the gender makeup of professions in making their career choices. No word yet on whether educational authorities will push for these solutions, too
October 20, 2010
Not what he had bargained for
It's often said that people with IT degrees can really clean up in the job market, but few do so quite as literally as Sam Fanning. Earning his bachelors last year in network and IT administration from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, yesterday's Chronicle of Higher Education reports, Fanning unsuccessfully sought work is his field. Finally, he accepted the only thing he could find, a position with his alma mater as a custodian--not of a computer network, as he had hoped, but the kind that cleans the campus buildings.
The benefits provided by his unionized full-time night-shift janitor job include free tuition, which Fanning is reportedly considering using to pursue graduate work. His greatest frustration, he tells the Chronicle, is that he is not using his technical skills and potential, which he believes may be hurting his applications for jobs in his field. He hopes to get further education to improve his chances.
Fanning's situation is so iconic of these times that it seems that if reporter Don Troop hadn't found him, someone would have had to make him up. It may be, of course, that Michigan's exceptionally bad economy is responsible for Fanning's inability to find more suitable work. But across the country these days, large numbers of technically trained Americans, both recent graduates and older people with years of experience, lack opportunities to use the skills and abilities they developed at considerable cost in time, work and tuition. For Fanning, making the $500 monthly payments on his $35,000 student debt takes a sizable chunk of his hourly $13.01.
Despite the continuing drumbeat from many political and educational figures that technically trained people have highly marketable skills, and, indeed, that the country needs many more such workers, that clearly is untrue not only for Fanning but even for many who have credentials far more prestigious than his. To take just one admittedly anecdotal example, this reporter recently attended a small funeral for a very elderly emeritus professor at which the 30 or so mourners included two men with science degrees from top-tier universities--one of them a high school math teacher recently laid off because of budget cuts and the other a university lab worker let go when a grant was not renewed. Neither lives in an area with especially high unemployment.
The bottom line for policy makers: getting people to train in science and technology is not enough. Those who follow that educational route must realize that they have no guarantee of employment that uses their skills. Ant the nation needs to give real, serious attention to seeing that more of them can translate their training and education into viable careers that use that hard-earned knowledge.
October 18, 2010
Following a "crooked line" to achievement
In an era when many scientists find it difficult to follow the straight career path they once envisioned, the life of mathematics great Benoit Mandelbrot, who died last week at 85, offers proof that there's more than one road to success. Following a route as unconventional as his intellect, he achieved renown as the developer of fractal geometry, an important figure in chaos theory, and a contributor to physics, finance, and other fields.
He did so largely outside of the academic world and, as the Washington Post reports, lived a life strongly touched by chaos. Reportedly, he was once turned down for an academic post because he would not confine himself to a single subject. His career, he said, quoted in the New York Times, followed "a very crooked line." In this respect, it provides an example for others trying to find their way.
He did so largely outside of the academic world and, as the Washington Post reports, lived a life strongly touched by chaos. Reportedly, he was once turned down for an academic post because he would not confine himself to a single subject. His career, he said, quoted in the New York Times, followed "a very crooked line." In this respect, it provides an example for others trying to find their way.
Born Jewish in Poland in 1924, he moved as a child with his family to Paris to escape Nazi persecution, but spent much of his adolescence evading capture after the Germans invaded France. Despite a checkered secondary education, in his twenties he earned a masters degree in aeronautics and a doctorate in mathematics and did a postdoctoral fellowship under John von Neumann. For the bulk of his career, Mandelbrot worked at IBM. Decades later, in his sixties, he joined the Yale faculty, becoming, he joked, the oldest person to get academic tenure, which he attained in his 70s.
Though few can match Mandelbrot in brilliance, his life and career offer a lesson for today's early-career scientists, few of whom are likely to find their route to success wide, straight, and well paved.
October 11, 2010
Nice work if you can get it
Today's announcement of the Nobel Prize in economics may have a particular resonance for the many young scientists trying to move to the next step in their careers. Peter Diamond of MIT, Dale Mortensen of Northwestern, and Christopher Pissarides of London School of Economics shared the honor for models that mathematically explicate something countless job seekers--or, for that matter, would-be employers--already know. Finding the right position or the right worker is not something that happens automatically, but instead itself involves a lot of work, or, as the economists put it, "friction."
Before the laureate trios' research, economic theory apparently assumed that the market for workers functions rather like the ones for wheat or oil you learned about in Economics 101, where buyers and sellers easily find each other and agree on a price based on supply and demand.
Before the laureate trios' research, economic theory apparently assumed that the market for workers functions rather like the ones for wheat or oil you learned about in Economics 101, where buyers and sellers easily find each other and agree on a price based on supply and demand.
But, of course, as anyone who has sent out futile resumes could have told them, landing a suitable job involves, first and foremost, finding out where appropriate vacancies may lurk and crafting an application that fits the employer's needs. This takes information that can be difficult or impossible to obtain, especially if no means exist for the two sides of the employment equation to exchange information effectively and efficiently.
This is certainly the case for many non-academic positions in scientific and technical fields. And it may in part account for the oft-noted discrepancy between the perception of job seekers, who see a glutted market, and those employers who complain that they cannot find the workers they need. (Other observers of course argue that the "shortages" companies suffer are not of qualified people, but of qualified people willing to work for what they want to pay.) Still, a good deal of information "friction" undoubtedly exists and if it could be reduced, quite a number of people on both sides would probably be a lot happier.
Professor Diamond has lately been experiencing considerable friction in a job search of his own. Nominated by President Obama in April to the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, he has been blocked Senate Republicans. But, as thousands of young scientists could have told him, getting a good job isn't easy.
October 4, 2010
"A decision and not a failing"
A friend of mine who has an important non-academic job in the world of science once told me with gratitude how her wonderful mentor helped her leave academe. My friend was struggling with the unwelcome discovery that, after investing a substantial portion of her young life in preparing to be a researcher, she actually did not enjoy bench work. Finally, after observing her for a while, the lab chief took her aside and confided, "You know, dear, there's more to life than this." Liberated from guilt and a sense of failure, my friend sought out and found the career she loves.
Decades later, she still recognizes her huge debt to the wise professor who thought the young person more important than the project. But taking this attitude, writes Leonard Cassuto of Fordham University in a perceptive essay in today's Chronicle of Higher Education, is the responsibility of every faculty member. "If you love them, let them go freely," he advises his fellow professors. "Our job is to lead students toward the finish line, but it's also to let them choose their own finish line."
Cassuto is writing specifically about graduate students who do not finish their dissertations, but the points he makes apply equally to people who do finish their doctorates and then decide, perhaps during a postdoc appointment, that staying on the conventional academic track is not for them. "Erasing the stigma...starts with us," Cassuto continues."...If we teach ...that leaving...is a decision and not a failing, we can start to erase the stigma that so wrongly attends withdrawal" from academe.
October 4, 2010
Deadline for Kauffman Foundation Postdoc Entrepreneur Award nominations extended to October 11
If you've been kicking yourself for missing the deadline for nominating yourself or someone else for the Kauffman Foundation's Postdoctoral Entrepreneur awards, you've got a second chance. The nomination deadline has been extended from the original drop-dead date of September 27 until next Monday, 11 October. The deadline for submitting completed applications has been extended from today until October 18.
In cooperation with the National Postdoctoral Association, the Kauffman Foundation gives two annual prizes, $10,000 for an established entrepreneur who has created a company and $2,500 for an emerging entrepreneur in the process of doing so. All contestants must have been postdocs in the United States and must be working on commercializing intellectual property from their research. Details and nomination and application materials are available here.
September 30, 2010
Dr. Grant Swinger
Do you know Dr. Grant Swinger? Sure you do -- everybody knows Dr. Grant Swinger of the Center for the Absorption of Federal Funds. Or, anyway, they did in the mid-1960s.
In this week's Taken for Granted column, which will be published online this afternoon (I'll post a link here when one is available), Beryl Lieff Benderly reminds the world of Dr. Swinger, the (presumably) fictional creation of Dan S. Greenberg, who wrote for science back then and has since written several important books skewering the world of academic science.
Also, in his first contribution to Science, he seems to have predicted, in 1964, the Internet, the World Wide Web, Google, PubMed, and who knows what else:
Let's Hold a Conference: Herewith, an Imaginary Dialogue Between the Collector and his Quarry
This is amazing stuff, most of it just as relevant today as it was when it was published more than 40 years ago.
Herewith, a guide to Dr. Grant Swinger's appearances in Science Magazine. You may need a Science subscription, or an institutional site license, to access these articles:
1965: Herewith, a Conversation with the Mythical Grant Swinger, Head of Breakthrough Institute
Questions and Answers with Grant Swinger
Grant Swinger: Reflections on Six Years of Progress
Atlantic Community: G. Swinger Takes Part in Discussions
Academic Protocol: From the G. Swinger Manual
In this week's Taken for Granted column, which will be published online this afternoon (I'll post a link here when one is available), Beryl Lieff Benderly reminds the world of Dr. Swinger, the (presumably) fictional creation of Dan S. Greenberg, who wrote for science back then and has since written several important books skewering the world of academic science.
Also, in his first contribution to Science, he seems to have predicted, in 1964, the Internet, the World Wide Web, Google, PubMed, and who knows what else:
Let's Hold a Conference: Herewith, an Imaginary Dialogue Between the Collector and his Quarry
This is amazing stuff, most of it just as relevant today as it was when it was published more than 40 years ago.
Herewith, a guide to Dr. Grant Swinger's appearances in Science Magazine. You may need a Science subscription, or an institutional site license, to access these articles:
1965: Herewith, a Conversation with the Mythical Grant Swinger, Head of Breakthrough Institute
Questions and Answers with Grant Swinger
Grant Swinger: Reflections on Six Years of Progress
Atlantic Community: G. Swinger Takes Part in Discussions
Academic Protocol: From the G. Swinger Manual
September 29, 2010
Talk about an "alternative" career!
Young scientists are always being told that they should explore career opportunities beyond the academic bench. Well, someone who seems to have taken that idea to the outer limits has just been named one of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius" awards for her work in that second career. Novelist and short story writer Yiyun Li was born in China and earned her bachelor's degree in cell biology at Peking University in 1996. She then came to the US to pursue graduate work in immunology at the University of Iowa, receiving an MS in that field in 2000
Li, however, says that she had always wanted to be a writer rather than a researcher, despite being a self-described "math genius" in her youth. Her parents, though, strongly discouraged her literary aspirations as too dangerous in the political atmosphere of China. Her opportunity came in America, at University of Iowa, which, in addition to its science departments, is home to perhaps the nation's most celebrated creative writing program. In 2005, Li received her Masters of Fine Arts in writing. Now an assistant professor of English at the University of California, Davis, and writing in her second language, she has published in New Yorker (the prestige equivalent of, say, a single-author article in Science) other major literary publications and authored several books.
Li certainly has looked much farther afield for opportunities than most scientists will. She must have enormous talent and drive to have achieved such astonishing success in so short a period. But the lesson incessantly repeated by career advisers applies nonetheless. Keeping eyes open for opportunities, even unusual ones, and paying attention to your own values and inclinations, even if they don't exactly match other people's, can lead to excellent outcomes.
September 24, 2010
US House recognizes National Postdoc Appreciation Week
In the nick of time, at 4:30 PM on Thursday, the United States House of Representatives officially recognized National Postdoc Appreciation Week, which began on Monday and occurs during the week of the third Monday in September. The National Postdoctoral Association led the successful drive for passage of House Resolution 1545, which salutes the "accomplishments and contributions" of postdocs to the nation's research effort, notes "the career development and other professional needs of postdocs in every field of study," and "encourages the improvement of [their] career and training opportunities."
Such high-level attention surely raises the profile, respect, and morale of postdocs. Now, if only someone would propose and Congress would propose and pass legislation to raise postdocs' incomes and actual career prospects!
September 22, 2010
The real purpose of tenure?
We often hear that the tenure system is essential to defend academic freedom. But, as an article in yesterday's Harvard Crimson reveals, the inalienable right of faculty members (or at least those officially recognized as having produced the requisite number of adequately impactful publications within a 6-year period) to advance knowledge by uttering opinions contrary to prevailing scholarly or political orthodoxy is not the only thing being protected.
The reporters set out to determine the likelihood that psychology professor Joel Hauser will be stripped of his tenured position for research misconduct. The American Association of University Professors considers falsifying research a justified reason for revoking tenure, they note. But those who think Hauser deserves to join the ragged band of miscreants banished from their prestigious posts for violating the norms of science "should not hold their breath" until that happens, the authors write. Apparently that dire fate awaits only those not yet anointed by a tenure committee.
Their investigation of past academic scandals in Cambridge, the student reporters continue, found that "tenured Harvard faculty have kept their jobs, whereas junior faculty resigned from their positions."
Some of Harvard's "peer institutions," specifically MIT and Columbia, have axed tenured faculty for research violations, the article continues. But it appears that, at least at Harvard, tenure protects professors' right to say anything they want, even if they know it's false, and to retain their high-paid lifetime sinecures while doing so. Now, that's what I call academic freedom.
September 17, 2010
Contact Congress today to get postdocs more respect
Among the many things postdocs need more of (such as money in their paychecks and opportunities to launch their careers), respect and appreciation rank high. To this end, U.S. Representative Cliif Stearns (R-Florida) is sponsoring a House resolution granting official recognition to National Postdoc Appreciation Week, observed the third week in September. Spearheaded by the National Postdoctoral Association, the resolution needs 25 Congressional co-sponsors as soon as possible to move to the floor for a timely vote. NPA is urging everyone who supports the idea to contact their House representative right now and encourage them to become co-sponsors of House Resolution 1545. The NPA website even provides tips and resources for what to do.
Legal tender and well-paying job offers would be better than cost-free "appreciation" of postdocs' under-recognized efforts. But raising postdocs' national profile certainly can't hurt, and could conceivably help get some concrete improvement. Co-sponsoring this resolution is a painless move for legislators, as it requires no expenditure but may do some good.
So call or write your House representative right away. It will only take you a few minutes, and it could help raise awareness nationally of postdocs' important contribution.
September 16, 2010
The best expertise money -- and flattery -- can buy
How do pharmaceutical companies get reputable academic medical researchers from fine universities to flog their products to the nation's doctors? By providing the hired brains something they value even more than the high fees the companies pay for "consulting:" A feeling of importance that comes from associating with elite colleagues.
And how do the companies get the physicians who hear the paid experts' talks to accept their recommendations? By manipulating the symbols of academic expertise and authority as well as the doctors' unease at the fact that specialized medical knowledge is now too copious and complex for practitioners outside a given subfield to readily understand.
And why do universities permit faculty members to accept positions "consulting" with pharma firms that use them as glorified salesmen -- known in the trade as "key opinion leaders"? Because top officials at elite universities are also earning handsome fees and elaborate flattery from pharma companies, often on corporate boards.
These are only some of the amazing and disturbing revelations in a fascinating, eye-opening and exceedingly important essay by University of Minnesota bioethicist Carl Elliott in today's Chronicle of Higher Education. Elliott also describes an astounding 1970s study in which researchers outfitted a distinguished-looked gray-haired actor with a white coat, a prestigious fake title, an impressive fictional CV, and a lecture on a supposedly arcane medical subject that actually consisted of total gibberish. An audience of doctors bought the invented "Dr. Myron Fox" and his presentation as the real thing, and even praised it as "stimulating" and "accurate."
When it comes to manipulating the image of authority, academics' vanity and venality, and doctors' inability to keep up in detail with more than a small fraction of the medical literature, the pharma firms are still, as it were, crazy like Dr. Fox. Read Elliott's essay and weep. Or better yet, read it and demand that universities do something to stop the outrages it describes.
September 14, 2010
The Power of No
Frances Oldham Kelsey is one of the most important health scientists you've probably never heard of. Unless you're old enough to remember the Kennedy presidency, you may not know that Kelsey, a Ph.D. pharmacologist and physician, saved countless Americans (certainly tens of thousands) from atrocious, and needless, deformities and disability and helped set the modern standard for drug safety. Tomorrow, reports the Washington Post, the 96-year-old Kelsey will receive a new award in drug safety excellence, named in her honor, that from now on will be awarded annually by the Food and Drug Administration.
It was as a relatively new employee at that agency that, 50 years ago, Kelsey refused, adamantly, repeatedly and essentially singlehandedly to approve the drug thalidomide, then widely used in Europe as a sleeping pill and against morning sickness in pregnancy, for use in the United States. She refused because the science supporting the application looked fishy to her, and because she knew from earlier work that substances could cross the placental barrier in much higher amounts than was widely believed. She refused despite intense pressure from the manufacturer and despite the fact that the drug was popular in Europe.
Because she refused, the number of Americans born with the characteristic missing or severely malformed limbs numbered in the dozens rather than, as overseas, in the thousands. Because she refused, the methods used to test drugs changed forever.
Because she refused, the number of Americans born with the characteristic missing or severely malformed limbs numbered in the dozens rather than, as overseas, in the thousands. Because she refused, the methods used to test drugs changed forever.
Going staunchly against convention was nothing new to Kelsey. She had earned her bachelors and masters degrees in pharmacology at a time when, for a woman, doing such a thing verged on freakish. She was allowed to enter a Ph.D. program because the gender of her given name was ambiguous. She did not clarify the matter until after she was accepted. She was one of very few women doing medical studies. And she went on to an "alternative career" that changed history, salvaged countless lives, and cemented a whole near career path for scientists.
Kelsey also received an earlier award, in 1962, from President Kennedy, an event that made national headlines because she was only the second woman to be so honored. The Gold Medal for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service was and is the highest award a federal civil servant can receive. Today, of course, fine female scientists and civil servants are nothing unusual. But Kelsey's brand of courage and resolve remains rare.
September 8, 2010
Intriguing international opportunity for physical scientists
Looking for entree into the world of science policy? Interested in international affairs as well as science? Want to spend a year In Washington, DC, applying your physical science knowledge to the foreign policy issues facing the nation, while also making valuable career contacts?
If so, the American Institute of Physics- State Department Science Fellowship may be just the opportunity you seek. Former fellows have worked at State in a wide range of areas, including information technology, environment, trade, and nuclear security. U.S. citizens eligible for security clearance, who have a Ph.D. or equivalent experience in physics or a related field, and who, at the time of application, belong to a scientific society affiliated with AIP, are eligible to apply. The 1-year post pays $70,000 plus health insurance and allowances for relocation and professional travel. Applications are due November 1.
If so, the American Institute of Physics- State Department Science Fellowship may be just the opportunity you seek. Former fellows have worked at State in a wide range of areas, including information technology, environment, trade, and nuclear security. U.S. citizens eligible for security clearance, who have a Ph.D. or equivalent experience in physics or a related field, and who, at the time of application, belong to a scientific society affiliated with AIP, are eligible to apply. The 1-year post pays $70,000 plus health insurance and allowances for relocation and professional travel. Applications are due November 1.
"The past four decades have seen a failure of the social contract in faculty employment," states a new report issued by the American Association of University Professors. Forty years ago, the overwhelming majority of faculty members were on the tenure track, including those whose duties concentrated heavily on teaching rather than research. Today, however, "almost 70 percent of faculty are employed off the tenure track," to the detriment of themselves, their students, and career prospects in academe, the report continues. "This historic change" affects both those non-tenurable faculty members who do the great bulk of the teaching at most institutions and those who concentrate on research. "Some of these appointments, particularly in science and medicine, are research intensive or research only, and the faculty in these appointments often work under extremely troubling conditions," the report notes.
In short, in contrast to decades past, tenure "has ceased to be the norm," the report goes on. "Particularly at large research universities,...the tenure system has been warped to the purpose of creating a multitier faculty....Tenure was not designed as a merit badge for research intensive faculty or as a fence to exclude those with teaching intensive commitments," but as a protection for the academic freedom and economic stability of all college and university teachers, the report declares. These changes have "turned the professoriate into an irrational economic choice, denying the overwhelming majority of individuals the opportunity to consider college teaching as a career." This is "deeply unfair, both to teachers and their students."
The solution? "Conversion to tenure is the best way to stabilize the faculty," the report asserts. "The best practice for institutions of all types is to convert the status of contingent appointments to appointments eligible for tenure with only minor changes in job description." [Italics in original]. At a number of institutions, the process of giving contingent faculty more security and better working conditions is already underway, to at least a limited extent, the report indicates. Though not identical to traditional tenure, and often "less than ideal in one respect or another," a number of such arrangements have at least improved working conditions.
But, since institutions have long used contingent appointments to cut costs -- and have done so by exploiting the oversupply of Ph.D.s that they themselves have knowingly created -- it is unclear how far such reforms will go in an era of intense financial pressures on higher education. At least the AAUP raises the question in an articulate and informed manner. It will, one hopes, begin a vigorous discussion in academe.
September 3, 2010
American Association of University Professors issues recommendations on dual-career couple hires
Some months back, Science Careers focused on the challenges facing dual-career academic couples looking for work. On Wednesday, the American Association of University Professors issued a report, entitled Recommendations on Partner Accommodation and Dual Career Appointments (2010), that highlights the great complexity of the issues involved.
On the one hand, providing career opportunities for the partners of first hires "can be an important part any work/life balance initiatives" at universities, the report states. On the other hand, providing positions for partners in an era of crowded job markets and tight budgets "may present other difficulties that must be anticipated." These include collective bargaining agreements or anti-discrimination measures that specify particular steps that must be followed in advertising and filling positions, resentment in departments that feel pressured to accept a partner, and the unfairness of replacing "a long-serving contingent faculty member" with a trailing spouse.
A tenure-track post for the partner "is often the most satisfactory solution from the candidate's point of view," the report notes. Yet, hiring decisions -- including those made to accommodate a partner -- should all be "part of a process driven by considerations of merit," it adds. And while dealing with the needs of couples, universities should simultaneously "take every care to ensure that faculty members appointed as part of a dual-career arrangement are treated as separate individuals valuable in their own right.".
Perhaps their most significant recommendation for universities that offer to accommodate partners of faculty hires: "a clearly worded policy that covers all full-time appointments," preferably posted on a publicly accessible website.
From the applicant's standpoint, two important points emerge. The report advises that, in order to "avoid intrusive and possibly illegal inquiries" about personal life, universities should leave it to the candidate to open discussions of partner accommodations. So applicants would be wise to inform themselves in advance about each university's policies before raising the issue. Finally, the report hints at a potential danger. Universities should not use an inquiry about potential accommodation "as an excuse to eliminate the candidate from consideration for the position."
August 25, 2010
The heroes of the Hauser affair
I have been reading the copious reportage on the Hauser affair at Harvard with admiration and respect. But that respect is not for the prominent professor who is alleged to have grievously abused his position and the trust of his colleagues and subordinates, nor is it for the cautious bureaucrats at that influential university who have apparently investigated the case at something less than warp speed. Their motivations hold little mystery.
No, the people who have my unbounded approval are those the Chronicle of Higher Education terms "members of Mr. Hauser's lab" who blew the whistle on the great man's infractions. These anonymous underlings were, according to the Chronicle, research assistants and graduate students. In other words, bright, hard-working, underpaid, obscure and powerless young people at the very beginning of their own careers who had very little to gain and very much to lose by crossing an extremely powerful senior figure at one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the United States.
My own reporting and discussions with young scientists tell me that in today's intensely competitive scientific world, the pressure to give data the, shall we say, most favorable possible interpretation is often very intense -- and the rewards of doing so are often not insignificant. More people than we know have doubtlessly succumbed.
But these particular people in Hauser's lab did not. Instead, they took the bold -- some may say self-destructive -- step of reporting their suspicions of a superior's wrongdoing. As the excruciating Imanishi-Kari/Baltimore case illustrated some years back, such an action rarely benefits the career of the whistle-blower. Indeed, the Chronicle reports that at least one of those who who provided information to the university authorities in the Hauser case has since "left psychology." One hopes he or she was lured away by a brilliant and lucrative offer in some highly promising field -- but somehow one suspects that's probably not the case.
So why did they do it? An essay in yesterday's Chronicle by Michael Ruse suggests an explanation. "Seventy years ago," he writes, "the great sociologist Robert K. Merton made a number of points about science, and they seem still to hold today. Above all, he stressed that science is a community activity. Scientists may not always work together, although of course that is now very much the norm, but they do rely on each other, particularly for the ideas and theories that they use in their own research. In turn, they contribute -- and want to contribute -- to the general pool of knowledge."
The brave and upright individuals in Hauser's lab appear to have acted in the interest of everyone in science rather than of their own careers. That these benefactors choose to remain anonymous suggests, however, that they expect neither reward nor honor from the community they helped. That's a real shame, because the integrity of science depends on people like them and on acts like theirs.
Stories I've heard from a number of young researchers suggest that fear of retribution has kept, is keeping, and will continue to keep others aware of wrongdoing from telling what they know. In a just world, people who put the community's welfare above their own should be celebrated and formally thanked by the people they have aided. Maybe this will still happen for those from Hauser's lab. I'm not holding my breath, but I certainly hope it does.
Stories I've heard from a number of young researchers suggest that fear of retribution has kept, is keeping, and will continue to keep others aware of wrongdoing from telling what they know. In a just world, people who put the community's welfare above their own should be celebrated and formally thanked by the people they have aided. Maybe this will still happen for those from Hauser's lab. I'm not holding my breath, but I certainly hope it does.
August 24, 2010
Tenure-track hiring falls at U.S. medical schools
The percentage of new faculty hired on the tenure track at U.S. academic medical centers and medical schools has been falling steadily for almost a quarter of a century, according to a report out this month from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Only a quarter of new clinical faculty hired in 2009 were on the tenure track, as opposed to 46 percent in 1984.
Seven of the country's 126 accredited medical schools have no tenure at all, and eight more offer it only in basic science, rather than clinical, positions. In the rest of the schools, including recently established ones, the tenure system remains "embedded," the report finds. Even so, tenure is now available to fewer and fewer potential medical school professors. For years, the absolute number of new hires on the tenure track continued to rise despite the decline in their percentage of total new faculty because of the drastic growth of faculties overall. However, this trend plateaued in 2003.
Seven of the country's 126 accredited medical schools have no tenure at all, and eight more offer it only in basic science, rather than clinical, positions. In the rest of the schools, including recently established ones, the tenure system remains "embedded," the report finds. Even so, tenure is now available to fewer and fewer potential medical school professors. For years, the absolute number of new hires on the tenure track continued to rise despite the decline in their percentage of total new faculty because of the drastic growth of faculties overall. However, this trend plateaued in 2003.
One figure has been virtually unchanged: The number of men in tenure track positions exceeded that of tenure-track women by eight percentage points in 1984 and in 2009. "Future research could assess the personal significance of tenure to women, as tenured positions may become more scarce for this subgroup of faculty," the report's authors write.
Given current trends, the report concludes, "a continual decrease in the overall percentage of faculty in tenured or tenure-eligible positions" appears likely.
See also: the March 6, 2009, Science Careers article, Redefining Tenure at Medical Schools.
Given current trends, the report concludes, "a continual decrease in the overall percentage of faculty in tenured or tenure-eligible positions" appears likely.
See also: the March 6, 2009, Science Careers article, Redefining Tenure at Medical Schools.
August 12, 2010
University of California postdocs ratify first union contract
By a vote of 2588 in favor to 121 opposed, the postdocs of the University of California's ten campuses have approved the first contract negotiated between their union and the university. The union, PRO/UAW (formally known as Postdoctoral Researchers Organize/United Auto Workers) announced the result last night, after a week of balloting. The 5-year pact brings higher pay and greater workplace protection, plus a promise not to strike, to an estimated 10% of the nation's postdocs.
August 9, 2010
Your tax dollars at work in Sri Lanka
With millions of Americans, including many with technical and scientific qualifications, struggling to find work in a brutal job market, readers of Information Week were surprised to learn of a program by their government's US Agency for International Development that was apparently designed to train thousands of workers in Sri Lanka and Armenia for the IT outsourcing industry. That certainly would conflict with President Obama's stated desire to keep high-tech work at home. The story, which which sparked outrage in the blogosphere, does not relate directly to the job prospects of scientists. In today's jittery economy, however, with some scientists fearing that certain kinds of research work can follow IT jobs overseas, any indication of federal policy on the offshoring question is bound to attract attention.
Information Week quoted a press release from the US embassy in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo describing planned free courses in "Business Process Outsourcing, Enterpise Java and English Language Skills" that would prepare 3000 "under- and uemployed students" to "participate in on-the-job training schemes with private firms."
But according to a statement to Science Careers from USAID, U.S. workers need not fear for their jobs after all. The program, "will not displace American IT workers," says the unsigned statement. The idea that it would arose from the press release "erroneously stat[ing] that trainees would learn Enterprise Java...that is not true," the statement continues. In fact, the prospective students have "no exposure to even basic IT technology" and instead will study "basic IT competencies." The goal is to help young people of the "marginalized, economically depressed" Jaffna region, which is just recovering from decades of civil war, "find jobs in the local economy" and also to "build a basic local skills base" that hopefully will draw Sri Lankan investment to the area. "The reference to 'Enterprise Java'" in the inaccurate press release was a mere inadvertent "holdover from initial discussions," the statement continues.
August 5, 2010
Calling all postdoc entrepreneurs
The second annual competition for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation's Postdoctoral Entrepreneur Awards is now open. In conjunction with the National Postdoctoral Association, the foundation has announced two prizes-- $10,000 for a scientist who has successfully commercialized his or her research and $2500 for one who is in the process of doing so. Contestants must have held postdoctoral appointments in the United States.
Nominations for both awards can be made until September 27 and completed applications are due by October 4. Individuals can nominate themselves or be nominated by others. Nomination and application information and materials are available from the National Postdoctoral Association.
August 4, 2010
Research work is Boston-bound
Stories about technical work offshored to Asia are staples of news coverage, so it's refreshing to read about the decision of Perimeter E-Security Corporation, a Connecticut-based firm involved in protecting financial information, to move certain of its research and development efforts from overseas to a new hub in downtown Boston. To do so, the firm "cut some offshore engineering resources based in India," reported yesterday's Boston Business Journal
A dozen engineers ready for work at 60 State Street in downtown Beantown, and Perimeter plans to add eight more in the next 18 months, chief marketing officer Kurt Heinemann tells Science Careers in an interview. Is this move an outlier or some kind of a straw in the wind?
Neither, Heinemann says. Rather, it's a reflection of the realities of Perimeter's largely U.S.-based business. "A lot of our tools and services are related to the United States financial and regulatory environment," he says."We found that India was very good for what I will call time-intensive efforts, something that's a defined project that's going to span a period of time and doesn't need repeated strategic evaluation and correction." But to serve its mainly American-based market, "we wanted our development and engineering resources closer to our product development and product managers," who work to tailor products to meet clients' specific needs, Heinemann explains. "The innovation part requires all those people, product managers and engineers and developers, to communicate in real time...[So] we centralized all that effort to Boston" -- and thereby showed that clichés about sweeping trends in today's globalized research scene can't capture the fine-grained reality of real people making real business decisions.
(Hat tip: Alan Kotok.)
A dozen engineers ready for work at 60 State Street in downtown Beantown, and Perimeter plans to add eight more in the next 18 months, chief marketing officer Kurt Heinemann tells Science Careers in an interview. Is this move an outlier or some kind of a straw in the wind?
Neither, Heinemann says. Rather, it's a reflection of the realities of Perimeter's largely U.S.-based business. "A lot of our tools and services are related to the United States financial and regulatory environment," he says."We found that India was very good for what I will call time-intensive efforts, something that's a defined project that's going to span a period of time and doesn't need repeated strategic evaluation and correction." But to serve its mainly American-based market, "we wanted our development and engineering resources closer to our product development and product managers," who work to tailor products to meet clients' specific needs, Heinemann explains. "The innovation part requires all those people, product managers and engineers and developers, to communicate in real time...[So] we centralized all that effort to Boston" -- and thereby showed that clichés about sweeping trends in today's globalized research scene can't capture the fine-grained reality of real people making real business decisions.
(Hat tip: Alan Kotok.)
Perhaps the longest-running soap opera in academic science ended early Saturday morning when PRO/UAW, the union representing the more than 5000 postdocs on the University of California's ten campuses, reached a tentative agreement on a first contract with the University of California. The pact came "in the wee hours," according to union spokesman Matthew "Oki" O'Connor, almost 2 years after the union had gained certification in August, 2008, after more than a year and a half of negotiating and maneuvering by both sides, and after some 30 hours of face-to-face talks in the preceding two days. Details are confidential pending the ratification vote by the union membership, which begins later this week. If approved, the contract will bring "definite economic improvements and important gains in rights, protections, and working conditions, O'Connor said in in interview with Science Careers, adding that he is "very confident" of passage. Results of the vote are expected in about 2 weeks.
July 14, 2010
NJIT postdoc union wins state recognition
The United Council of Academics at NJIT (UCAN), the union representing postdocs at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, has won recognition from the state's Public Employee Relations Commission. The move makes UCAN the Garden State's second officially recognized postdoc union. With 450 postdoc and graduate assistant members, it is affiliated with the national American Federation of Teachers, which is in turn affiliated with the AFL-CIO. UCAN filed for recognition in May.
July 13, 2010
Most productive graduate departments least likely to offer training in teaching, study finds
Okay, it's official. Just what graduate students have always suspected appears to be true. A department's interest in training its students to be effective college teachers is inversely related to its research productivity. At least that's the case for the field of political science, according to an article in the July issue of the journal PS: Political Science and Politics by John Ishiyama, a professor at the University of North Texas in Denton, and two of his graduate students, Tom Miles and Christine Balarezo.
After examining 122 universities with PhD political science programs to see whether they offer a formal course in college teaching methods, the trio found that the more productive a department, the less likely it is to list such an offering. There are some research-powerhouse exceptions, including the University of California-Berkeley, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Ohio State University. Public universities proved seven times likelier than their private counterparts to provide training in teaching, perhaps reflecting their "public service component," the authors suggest.
Does this same inverse relationship hold for other disciplines? "Little or no systematic work" has examined whether Ph.D. programs "overtly prepare their graduates for teaching," the authors say. Here's hoping that researchers soon take a look at other fields, too, including scientific fields.
Just when you thought it was safe to think about something other than the long-running contract negotiations between the University of California and its postdoctoral union comes word of the latest move by Chairman George Miller (D-CA) of the House Education and Labor Committee and his two committee colleagues, Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey (both also D-CA).
On Friday, the three Bay area Congressional representatives faxed a letter to Gene Dodaro, acting comptroller general of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, Congress's investigative arm in matters concerning public funds. They ask the agency to look into "how universities, including the University of California, track how funds provided for laboratory research grants are spent." "Many...researchers," the letter blandly notes, "are paid by federal funds." UC has cited a purported inability to determine "the costs of proposals to increase the compensation" of postdocs as a reason for negotiating delays, the letter continues. The inexplicable difficulty of one of the world's great research institution to figure out how much it pays its own employees "raises serious questions" about UC's--and possibly other universities'--ability to track research funds in general, the letter goes on.
The mildly worded query appears to call UC's bluff on one of the tactics it has used to drag out the talks and avoid committing to the longevity-based pay raises the union has demanded. The letter pointedly and "respectfully" goes on to request that GAO look into how UC and other universities track "any 'facilities and administrative' overhead payments,...the terms and conditions governing these grants, [and] whether universities comply with these terms and conditions."
The not-very-veiled implication appears to be that UC might find it less unpleasant to settle with the postdocs than to tangle with the committee. With the next negotiating meeting scheduled for Wednesday, the next installment of the saga may be about to play out.
This reporter regrets that a vacation to Alaska prevented her from bringing readers timely news of the latest episode in the continuing drama of postdoc unionization at the University of California (UC). (Not that she regrets the wonderful trip, just the delay in reporting).
On June 9, while she was marveling at the pristine majesty of Glacier Bay National Park, the UC postdoc union, known as PRO/UAW, filed an unfair labor practices charge against UC with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) over the protracted but as yet inconclusive negotiations for a first contract. This move, according to PERB's website, initiates a multi-stage process of investigation and possible hearings and appeals. In the meantime, the next negotiation session is scheduled for June 30 and reaching an agreement could render the issue moot. Stay tuned for further developments.
May 13, 2010
House Passes America COMPETES Act Amendment to Force Public Universities to Provide Information to Unions
An amendment to the America COMPETES Act (H.R. 5116) that would force public universities with unionized research staffs and COMPETES Act funding to promptly disclose information required for contract negotiations passed the House Wednesday by a vote of 250 to 174. Proposed by George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, the amendment responds to the long delays that have stalled negotiations for a first contract between the University of California and the union representing the UC postdocs. At a hearing about the negotiations held in Berkeley on April 30, Miller probed a claim by UC vice president Dwaine Duckett that the university could not, after a year and a half of talks, provide certain needed employment information about the postdocs.
Universities that do not comply with the amendment's time limits would have to present a convincing explanation or risk losing funding for Facilities & Administration costs until they forked over the required facts. Funding for grants themselves would continue.
"These scientists are among the most highly trained, highly skilled and yet lowest paid professionals in the country," Miller said in a statement. "This amendment ensures that our federal tax dollars are well managed and that these critical investments accomplish the goal of developing the next generation of American scientists." At the hearing, Miller declared himself shocked and dismayed by what he heard about the realities of postdocs' working lives.
This amendment is the second step that Miller has taken in as many days to speed up the UC negotiations. It will take more than a union contract to make science a financially viable career for many of those working in university labs. How far Miller will go to improve conditions for early career scientists is unclear -- but the UC postdocs appear to have a friend with power and determination.
In a sharply worded letter faxed yesterday to University of California President Mark Yudof, Chairman George Miller (D-CA) of the House Committee on Education and Labor expressed his "deep concern regarding the failure" to resolve the outstanding issues in the seemingly endless negotiations for a first contract between UC and PRO/UAW, the postdoc union covering the huge system's ten campuses.
The "thoroughly disappointed" Miller described the dismay he felt during the hearing on the negotiations that his committee held in Berkeley on April 30. At the hearing Dwaine Duckett, UC's Vice President for Human Resources, asserted that the university cannot negotiate across-the-board raises because of fears that the small number of postdocs paid directly by outside funders rather than through grants to the university might "end up posing a significant burden on state general funds," Miller wrote. Yet, he added, Duckett gave "no evidence that even a single dollar of state general funds has been used for Paid Direct salaries." Resolution of the issue "remains elusive because of UC's still 'incomplete' record gathering," Miller continued.
Ensuring that "a resolution of these negotiations is not subject to unnecessary delay" is "your responsibility," Miller told Yudof. Miller also praised the frank testimony of UC postdoc Ludmila Tyler, which "was instrumental in helping the Committee understand the work of postdocs," and reminded Yudof of UC's "long history of providing testimony to Congressional hearings" and the "prohibitions against any form of retaliation as a result of testimony before Congress."
May 11, 2010
New Jersey Institute of Technology Postdocs and Graduate Assistants Form State's Second Postdoc Union
The postdocs and graduate assistants at New Jersey Institute of Technology have joined forces to form a union, the state's second representing postdocs. On May 6, the United Council of Academics at NJIT (UCAN), which represents both groups, filed for certification with the state Public Employees Relations Commission. "We teach your classes. We work in your labs. We contribute valuable research to projects across the university. We are the academic workers of NJIT, and we deserve to be treated as the professionals we are," says UCAN's mission statement.
Affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO-affiliated national union that last summer also organized the postdocs on the three campuses of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, UCAN claims on its Web site to have support from a "truly overwhelming majority" of the 450 postdocs and graduate employees at NJIT, which adjoins the Rutgers-Newark campus in the city's University Heights section. Rutgers union colleagues are in fact invited to the celebration UCAN has planned for Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, negations on a first contract continue between the Rutgers union and the university.
Affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO-affiliated national union that last summer also organized the postdocs on the three campuses of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, UCAN claims on its Web site to have support from a "truly overwhelming majority" of the 450 postdocs and graduate employees at NJIT, which adjoins the Rutgers-Newark campus in the city's University Heights section. Rutgers union colleagues are in fact invited to the celebration UCAN has planned for Thursday evening.
Meanwhile, negations on a first contract continue between the Rutgers union and the university.
PRO/UAW, the union representing postdocs on the University on
California's ten campuses, won official recognition in August 2008.
Nearly 2 years later, the two sides in the postdocs' contract negotiation remain stuck, despite regular meetings that have produced
agreement on a number of issues. Now, in a very unusual step, the
Committee on Education and Labor of the U.S. House of Representatives
has announced a hearing focused on these talks.
Entitled "Understanding Problems in First Contract Negotiations: Post-Doctoral Scholar Bargaining at the University of California," the event will take place at a not-yet-determined location in Berkeley on 30 April. Details of which committee members will attend and who will testify are not yet available, according to committee spokesperson Andra Belknap. The committee's chairman, California Democrat George Miller, whose 7th District starts minutes away (by car or subway) from the UC-Berkeley campus, will almost certainly preside.
Less clear is the specific impetus for this unusual high-level Congressional probe into a particular union negotiation. First pacts between unions and employers can, according to labor experts, be hard to fashion, and the current fiscal constraints on California's universities haven't helped speed the process. Miller may have a purely intellectual interest in an issue at the intersection of his committee's concerns. But the fact that his district, where housing is less pricey than Berkeley, probably contains many more lower-paid union members than top-echelon administrators is another likely motivation. At any rate, it's likely to be e a publicity coup for the union. Stay tuned for further developments.
Entitled "Understanding Problems in First Contract Negotiations: Post-Doctoral Scholar Bargaining at the University of California," the event will take place at a not-yet-determined location in Berkeley on 30 April. Details of which committee members will attend and who will testify are not yet available, according to committee spokesperson Andra Belknap. The committee's chairman, California Democrat George Miller, whose 7th District starts minutes away (by car or subway) from the UC-Berkeley campus, will almost certainly preside.
Less clear is the specific impetus for this unusual high-level Congressional probe into a particular union negotiation. First pacts between unions and employers can, according to labor experts, be hard to fashion, and the current fiscal constraints on California's universities haven't helped speed the process. Miller may have a purely intellectual interest in an issue at the intersection of his committee's concerns. But the fact that his district, where housing is less pricey than Berkeley, probably contains many more lower-paid union members than top-echelon administrators is another likely motivation. At any rate, it's likely to be e a publicity coup for the union. Stay tuned for further developments.
March 14, 2010
Lab Fire Went Unreported by UCLA
In my May 2009 Taken for Granted column, I wrote about the laboratory fire in a UCLA laboratory in December 2008 that caused the death of UCLA technician Sheri Sangji. On Friday, Cal/OSHA, California's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, released records related to a fire that occurred in another UCLA lab more than a year before the Sangji incident.
The university did not report the November 2007 event to state authorities, even though the graduate student employee involved in the fire sustained injuries serious enough to require admission to a burn unit, followed by a week in a hospital. The California Division of Occupational Health and Safety learned of the incident "while they were investigating other issues at the campus," lab safety expert Neal Langerman tells Science Careers in an interview. Last week, the agency fined the university $23,900 for violations related to the earlier fire, according to a news report.
Unlike the Sangji incident, which involved a "high risk" pyrophoric material, the November 2007 fire began when during a "low risk" operation when a "simple flammable liquid, ethyl alcohol" spilled onto the student's hands and clothing and was ignited by a Bunsen burner, Langerman says. Like Sangji, the student wore a synthetic shirt and no protective lab coat.
Also unlike the fire that injured Sangji, the earlier one "was put out locally" without the involvement of emergency services, Langerman says, and the victim made his own way to the university health service. A burn unit admitted him the following day. "The university has a regulatory obligation to report promptly all hospitalizations," Langerman says, adding, "Cal/OSHA considers failure to report as serious as a willful violation."
Cal/OSHA has levied additional fines of $67,720 fines on UCLA for violations alleged to have occurred since Sangji's death. The university announced on Friday that it intends to fight those citations.
After determining that inadequate training and failure to use protective clothing contributed to Sangji's injuries, Cal/OSHA cited and fined UCLA. Since then, the university has made significant changes to its lab safety practices, including providing lab coats. Whether reporting the 2007 incident might have changed the outcome for Sangji must remain forever in the realm of surmise, but it's likely, Langerman notes, that lab coats could have reduced the damage in both incidents.
Nor is it known whether the revelations about the 2007 fire "will affect the deliberations of the LA district attorney office" about possible criminal charges in the Sangji case, Langerman says.
But the situation "speaks to the fact that safety in the past had no priority at UCLA," he says. "I wish I could say that UCLA was unique in that regard, but it's not. It really is a common feature of life at academic institutions."
The university did not report the November 2007 event to state authorities, even though the graduate student employee involved in the fire sustained injuries serious enough to require admission to a burn unit, followed by a week in a hospital. The California Division of Occupational Health and Safety learned of the incident "while they were investigating other issues at the campus," lab safety expert Neal Langerman tells Science Careers in an interview. Last week, the agency fined the university $23,900 for violations related to the earlier fire, according to a news report.
Unlike the Sangji incident, which involved a "high risk" pyrophoric material, the November 2007 fire began when during a "low risk" operation when a "simple flammable liquid, ethyl alcohol" spilled onto the student's hands and clothing and was ignited by a Bunsen burner, Langerman says. Like Sangji, the student wore a synthetic shirt and no protective lab coat.
Also unlike the fire that injured Sangji, the earlier one "was put out locally" without the involvement of emergency services, Langerman says, and the victim made his own way to the university health service. A burn unit admitted him the following day. "The university has a regulatory obligation to report promptly all hospitalizations," Langerman says, adding, "Cal/OSHA considers failure to report as serious as a willful violation."
Cal/OSHA has levied additional fines of $67,720 fines on UCLA for violations alleged to have occurred since Sangji's death. The university announced on Friday that it intends to fight those citations.
After determining that inadequate training and failure to use protective clothing contributed to Sangji's injuries, Cal/OSHA cited and fined UCLA. Since then, the university has made significant changes to its lab safety practices, including providing lab coats. Whether reporting the 2007 incident might have changed the outcome for Sangji must remain forever in the realm of surmise, but it's likely, Langerman notes, that lab coats could have reduced the damage in both incidents.
Nor is it known whether the revelations about the 2007 fire "will affect the deliberations of the LA district attorney office" about possible criminal charges in the Sangji case, Langerman says.
But the situation "speaks to the fact that safety in the past had no priority at UCLA," he says. "I wish I could say that UCLA was unique in that regard, but it's not. It really is a common feature of life at academic institutions."
