3 ms·

State university professors are technically "government employees." There are, of course, some absolutely brilliant academics out there.

will4274 7y ago
And yet, by many metrics (e.g. number of academic prizes), the best University professors work for private Universities like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  The best state schools are generally comparable in that regard.
  - mattkrause 7y ago
    Berkley, UCLA, Cornell (partly), UNC, Pitt, U Michigan, and the UIUC, among others, are powerhouses in certain fields.
- mattkrause 7y ago
  Those same people are also part of the massive research system run and funded by the federal government. Most medical schools, especially the ones you listed, are incredibly dependent on NIH funding and they'd be unrecognizable without it. Without that support (funding, but also the review process and infrastructure stuff like PubMed and the NCBI tools), very little of the prize-winning work would be possible.
wongarsu 7y ago
University professor is the only viable career path for basic research. Similarly anyone interested in extraterrestrial robotics can basically only find a job doing that at NASA. It's much easier to attract brilliant people if the private industry doesn't offer any jobs in the field. Still you see many great professors being hired away into private industry.
huffmsa 7y ago
Are these the same university professors and researchers who publish papers which often have dubious results and more often have results that can't be reproduced? Sounds like a brilliant, nonproductive circle jerk.
- djohnston 7y ago
  not sure if you're trolling.. there are reproducibility errors in science, but they exist outside of academia too (looking at u pharma). this "brilliant, nonproductive circle jerk" is also responsible for stupid things like the internet, GPS, and basically the foundation of any medicine you have taken
- green-eclipse 7y ago
  Don't paint all academics negatively with a broad brush due to the failings of a few.

will4274 7y ago

And yet, by many metrics (e.g. number of academic prizes), the best University professors work for private Universities like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.

saagarjha 7y ago
The best state schools are generally comparable in that regard.
- mattkrause 7y ago
  Berkley, UCLA, Cornell (partly), UNC, Pitt, U Michigan, and the UIUC, among others, are powerhouses in certain fields.
mattkrause 7y ago
Those same people are also part of the massive research system run and funded by the federal government. Most medical schools, especially the ones you listed, are incredibly dependent on NIH funding and they'd be unrecognizable without it. Without that support (funding, but also the review process and infrastructure stuff like PubMed and the NCBI tools), very little of the prize-winning work would be possible.

wongarsu 7y ago

University professor is the only viable career path for basic research. Similarly anyone interested in extraterrestrial robotics can basically only find a job doing that at NASA. It's much easier to attract brilliant people if the private industry doesn't offer any jobs in the field. Still you see many great professors being hired away into private industry.

huffmsa 7y ago

Are these the same university professors and researchers who publish papers which often have dubious results and more often have results that can't be reproduced? Sounds like a brilliant, nonproductive circle jerk.

djohnston 7y ago
not sure if you're trolling.. there are reproducibility errors in science, but they exist outside of academia too (looking at u pharma). this "brilliant, nonproductive circle jerk" is also responsible for stupid things like the internet, GPS, and basically the foundation of any medicine you have taken
green-eclipse 7y ago
Don't paint all academics negatively with a broad brush due to the failings of a few.