3 ms·

It was a point of comparison. The NIH pool is large but spread very thin and, we can both agree, less efficiently than YCR is likely to be. Twice? Infinite?

It was a point of comparison. The NIH pool is large but spread very thin and, we can both agree, less efficiently than YCR is likely to be. Twice? Infinite? No of course note, but it's a point of interest in the "$10 million isn't so much" discussion. And no, researcher's salaries (postdocs, tech, grad students, etc.) are not included. The indirect costs go to the university to pay for department/college-level utilities, facilities, infrastructure, and administrator salaries (which, admittedly, the lab does benefit from).

jrochkind1 11y ago
Well, salaries obviously WOULD have to be included in the YC case, there's no other pool of money for them to come from! So that would actually be a significant cost that the NIH grants _don't_ have to include (if it's not included in the overhead), but the YC Research seed money WOULD have to. But I understand that research faculty in science and biomed are increasingly expected to bring in grant funding as a condition of employment/tenure. It sounds to me like the institution expects to help pay their salaries with it. And with institutions hiring faculty _to_ do research, not caring about teaching really, evaluated solely on research, they are basically there to do research... it actually doesn't sound that unreasonable to consider a portion of their salary overhead. The research couldn't get done if they weren't getting the salary, after all. But anyway, yeah, like I said, I do agree with your original point that this is real money that is enough to fund real research.
- Amorymeltzer 11y ago
  Point of clarification: Researcher salaries aren't included in the indirect costs aka overhead, they come out of the lab's funding. So 50% indirect costs of a $300k project means $100k to overhead/indirect costs, and $200k to research; researcher salaries, grad student stipends, healthcare, etc. all come out of that $200k. Then what's left of that $200k funds the lab.

jrochkind1 11y ago

Well, salaries obviously WOULD have to be included in the YC case, there's no other pool of money for them to come from! So that would actually be a significant cost that the NIH grants _don't_ have to include (if it's not included in the overhead), but the YC Research seed money WOULD have to. But I understand that research faculty in science and biomed are increasingly expected to bring in grant funding as a condition of employment/tenure. It sounds to me like the institution expects to help pay their salaries with it. And with institutions hiring faculty _to_ do research, not caring about teaching really, evaluated solely on research, they are basically there to do research... it actually doesn't sound that unreasonable to consider a portion of their salary overhead. The research couldn't get done if they weren't getting the salary, after all. But anyway, yeah, like I said, I do agree with your original point that this is real money that is enough to fund real research.

Amorymeltzer 11y ago
Point of clarification: Researcher salaries aren't included in the indirect costs aka overhead, they come out of the lab's funding. So 50% indirect costs of a $300k project means $100k to overhead/indirect costs, and $200k to research; researcher salaries, grad student stipends, healthcare, etc. all come out of that $200k. Then what's left of that $200k funds the lab.