Having worked in a USDA/ARS lab as just a tech, I can note a few things that might be of interest (my observations only of course). 1. Industry connections are

Having worked in a USDA/ARS lab as just a tech, I can note a few things that might be of interest (my observations only of course). 1. Industry connections are very deep in USDA/ARS. 2. Managers are scientists. This is a double edged sword. Often scientists are not very good managers, but managers without deep science knowledge would cause other issues.