tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079841100149848531.post2711175044309138416..comments2023-03-23T04:17:35.867-05:00Comments on ... ponderings of a fool: Confidence, joining a lab and breaking a cycle...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079841100149848531.post-83611914176398055452007-05-24T07:06:00.000-05:002007-05-24T07:06:00.000-05:00so i imagine that the changes will have to filter ...so i imagine that the changes will have to filter down from the top, like academic deans and program chairs. it will be an uphill battle, not because people aren't willing to adapt but because i don't think (and this might be an overreaching generalization, but i'm going with it) that most deans/chairs got to their current position by anything less than a stellar publication record, productive lab, and consistent funding.<BR/>**************************************<BR/>I actually think the change will have to come from the bottom. Those on the top are those that have been positively selected for in the system. They are the scientists we became least fed up with it all. Their mindset on average is very different from the general scientific population. They don't make the same rational economic decisions as most people. If they did, they wouldn't be doing what they are doing (neither would any of us in the sciences really). <BR/><BR/>The thing is the entire system works because grad students and post-docs are willing to put up with it. We organized to oppose it, the whole thing would collapse like a house of cards. The problem is organizing people who are independent and each thinking he/she might be one who makes it. Throw on top of that the type of organizing being done by the current groups trying will do more harm than good IMHO.PonderingFoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10767758746935185528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079841100149848531.post-26583547603266214522007-05-17T10:24:00.000-05:002007-05-17T10:24:00.000-05:00not healthy, but hard to change midstream. especia...not healthy, but hard to change midstream. especially when you're dealing with the ingrained and entrenched world of science.<BR/><BR/>so i imagine that the changes will have to filter down from the top, like academic deans and program chairs. it will be an uphill battle, not because people aren't willing to adapt but because i don't think (and this might be an overreaching generalization, but i'm going with it) that most deans/chairs got to their current position by anything less than a stellar publication record, productive lab, and consistent funding.<BR/><BR/>seeing the issues you mention, like communication/teaching/etc, will require a lot of people to step back and recognize where science is, where it needs to go, and what type(s) of scientists will get it there...and then be unafraid to change the way things are done.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079841100149848531.post-90378599396961177392007-05-16T16:47:00.000-05:002007-05-16T16:47:00.000-05:00It is tough. We are asking a lot out of professor...It is tough. We are asking a lot out of professors. We expect them to be talented scientists, managers, grant writers, editors, teachers, mentors, communicators to the general populace, administrators, peer reviewers, etc. The only training they really get is to be a scientist. A little with regards to editing but is not their primary training. Those are a lot of skills. Ideally there should be a greater division of labor. How many professors really can do it all? Given the high number of PhDs really we should be able to divide things up better. Some people would happily serve as research scientists for awhile. Others teaching, etc. The scary thing is more and more is being pushed onto faculty members and in turn on those in their labs. Compared to 10-15 years ago,the lab I am now handles far more of the ordering and finding the best prices for goods. Journals have cut back and those burdens have been placed on those submitting papers. It is not a healthy situation.PonderingFoolhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10767758746935185528noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079841100149848531.post-55030374253543681422007-05-16T16:18:00.000-05:002007-05-16T16:18:00.000-05:00"Most PIs are exceptionally busy people. Most of t..."Most PIs are exceptionally busy people. Most of them are not spending the time they should to be great mentors for their own students & post-docs and definitely the time to be good teachers in the classroom."<BR/><BR/>how very true. and you hit the issue on the head - if there's no incentive to be a good educator, mentor, committee member, or science advocate/communicator in the public sphere, why stretch your already-packed schedule?<BR/><BR/>what we need is a revamped system that rewards those roles. sadly you're quite right that scientific survival can't be based soley on publish-or-perish anymore - our world has become MUCH too flat, and science has assumed too many dynamic roles in society, for that to be remotely appropriate anymore.<BR/><BR/>which, from a lowly grad student's perspective, makes fighting for a tenure-track position even more daunting.<BR/><BR/>sigh.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7079841100149848531.post-34180111247648931122007-05-14T10:01:00.000-05:002007-05-14T10:01:00.000-05:00"a poor graduate school advisor who slowly eats aw..."a poor graduate school advisor who slowly eats away at your confidence? An advisor who makes your feel like you barely are getting by and are not working hard enough"<BR/>"incentive is to 'work hard' as measured by hours spent in lab"<BR/>"Their isn't a selection against poor mentors and teachers."<BR/><BR/>Have you perhaps met my advisor???? (As my friends say: the same problems everywhere, because the sane ones are selected against). I must say I agree entirely with you, but alas, I discovered it all by bitter experience!Jenny F. Scientisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07072624674603337551noreply@blogger.com