While "huge startup package" varies wildly - epidemiologists are cheap, for example, you are by and large correct. The data center where my nodes for HPC are k

While "huge startup package" varies wildly - epidemiologists are cheap, for example, you are by and large correct. The data center where my nodes for HPC are kept? Indirects. The salary of the folks who review and submit the proposals, manage the budgets, and make sure we're complying with neat things like human subjects protections? Indirects. Journal subscriptions? Indirects. Direct costs cover remarkably few things.