4 ms·
The writer of this letter now has a research group named after himself (http://www.carreira.ethz.ch/ http://www.carreira.ethz.ch/) so lets go with uncurable ego
by Robin_Message 16y ago
The writer of this letter now has a research group named after himself (http://www.carreira.ethz.ch/ http://www.carreira.ethz.ch/) so lets go with uncurable egomania combined with dangerous levels of political skill and charisma, all co-presenting with a callous disregard for one's fellows, justified by the argument that "people want to work for me." Frankly, we're lucky he's only a scientist and didn't study economics, politics or law instead of chemistry.
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If naming groups after yourself is normal, then it's not a bad apple, it's a bad barrel! It sounds like academia could only be more feudal if you had to call your professor "my liege."
- yummyfajitas 16y agoLots of research groups are named after the PI, this is nothing unusual. For example: http://dft.uci.edu/ http://dft.uci.edu/ http://www.princeton.edu/~cargroup/ http://www.princeton.edu/~cargroup/
- _delirium 16y agoAt my university, it's more common to give your research group a grandiose name that implies it's got a bunch of profs in it, when it's actually just you. Not sure if that's better or worse...
- ramchip 16y agoAt my university every single lab/research group is named after the professor directing it. It's the standard in Japan. The name simply changes when a new professor joins or takes over. I find the practice a bit in bad taste, but it's not exceptional.
- nandemo 16y agoBut since it's the norm it doesn't sound grandiose at all (at least to me).
- kwyjibo 16y agoI finished my studies at the ETH a few years ago, and heard at that time that this was the normal case for chemistry students here as well (at least I was being told) doing a phd. I guess these students must have been from his group as well :-)
- DannoHung 16y agoAND he decided that Comic Sans was a good font; so he also has really poor taste.