Top research universities have more money, and smarter/harder working students. Neither of those are necessarily solutions to the problem of university research

Top research universities have more money, and smarter/harder working students. Neither of those are necessarily solutions to the problem of university research. Don't get me wrong: our lab makes awe-inspiring machines that can see individual atoms held in vacuum by lattices of laser light. Our research leads to incredible discoveries, but we're held back by inefficiencies. It's a rusty system, but to any mechanic, rusty = broken. Also, leaving to build a startup is rather uncommon at MIT physics, and most students (including me) absolutely love research. The academic career is just not attractive enough to spend another 4-12 years in a lab becoming increasingly good at doing exactly one thing. Peter Thiel's lecture in sama's Startup Class is relevant: http://bit.ly/1ZdOwHQ http://bit.ly/1ZdOwHQ