Maybe a partial solution would be if universities were more willing to allow post-docs or adjunct faculty to be PI's on grants. Not sure what kinds of structural changes would need to occur for this.
Mark D. -----Original Message----- From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU] On Behalf Of Aaron T. Dossey Sent: Thursday, January 19, 2012 11:34 AM To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Two items about NSF This is an intriguing choice of words... Some comments: 1) "with", really?, 2) what about postdocs/postechs/postemps? With more of am emphasis on having a lab to get a grant, more will be caught in the catch 22 most of us already are: no position, no funding; no funding, no position. Some of us are pursuing a more entrepreneurial approach to carving out our own careers, since Universities seem to be wilting and dying, providing no new fruit for developing careers. In fact, probably a majority of postdocs will end up on this track. Having a strong emphasis on "you have to have resources", especially when most Universities are reluctant to partner with you unless you are faculty or work for faculty, stifles those on this type of track. On 1/19/2012 11:42 AM, Resetarits, William wrote: > Individual PIs collaborating and working with their students Additionally, data in several reports and articles has clearly shown that scientists are older and older all the time when they achieve career benchmarks: like getting a stable position (faculty, etc.), their own lab, their first RO1, etc. One article recently actually went right out and said that - this means that professors are NOT where the newer more innovative ideas is because by the time you become a professor, and then later when you get your own funding, you are past the most intellectually productive years of the average human life. They noted how many nobel prize winning ideas/research projects were done by the lauriets when they were YOUNGER, and that they could not have even done those works now days because they wouldn't even have a position by the time they started that work. -- Aaron T. Dossey, Ph.D. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Founder/Owner: All Things Bugs Capitalizing on Low-Crawling Fruit from Insect-Based Innovation http://www.allthingsbugs.com/Curriculum_Vitae.pdf https://www.facebook.com/Allthingsbugs 1-352-281-3643
