5 ms·

It depends, the compensation is highly skewed. The PI in question is likely compensated over $1M/year, while other investigators involved (assistant and associ

It depends, the compensation is highly skewed. The PI in question is likely compensated over $1M/year, while other investigators involved (assistant and associate professors) have compensation comparable to entry-level programmers. To confirm these things, you can explore this database (only public CA universities though): https://www.sacbee.com/news/databases/state-pay/ https://www.sacbee.com/news/databases/state-pay/

jampekka 3y ago
$1M/year sounds insane. In Finland at least top salaries for professors is about tenth of that. And I don't think any of the professors I know make much more, in Europe or North America. Admin people like the principal may get obscene salaries (like 4 times the max professor salary) though. As an academic, I think academics (including me) are paid too much. We need people who are interested in the science, not those who (pretend to) do it for money.
- SoftTalker 3y ago
  It's rare for an academic to make over $1M in salary, but mid-high six figures is not uncommon for a highly published, well known name with a track record of winning large grants.
- floor2 3y ago
  > We need people who are interested in the science, not those who (pretend to) do it for money. In the US, the problem is mostly the opposite. Lots of people would rather do science, but it's hard to choose using your skills for real science when some company will pay you 2x-10x to instead optimize ad clicks on their website or algorithmic trading or whatever. In some of the humanities, liberal arts, social sciences etc academia may pay better than other options for those people. But for most STEM folks, it's a tradeoff between "low-paid meaningful work" vs "high-paid meaningless work". Medicine and AI research may be the only two areas where people can simultaneously do cutting edge research and make high salaries.
  - jampekka 3y ago
    Maybe a bit harsh, but I'm not sure science would get more trustworthy if we'd get more people who choose to optimize clicks just because it pays better. It's really easy to do "shortcuts" in academia that gets one better salary if that's what they want. As seen in this post.
- pcrh 3y ago
  $1M/yr for clinical scientists is not uncommon. Take a look at this public list of senior researchers in the U Cal. system. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/university-of-california/ https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/university-of-cal...
  - jampekka 3y ago
    What is their pay structure? The top earning prof gets $0.3M "regular pay" and $3M "other pay". Offtopic: At least for an european it's totally absurd that the top 10 or so on that list are sports coaches. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/university-of-california/jason-roostaeian/ https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/university-o...
    - pcrh 3y ago
      The person you linked to is a plastic surgeon at UCLA. So I presume they get $300k for their role as an academic, and the $3M through clinical work.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

jampekka 3y ago

$1M/year sounds insane. In Finland at least top salaries for professors is about tenth of that. And I don't think any of the professors I know make much more, in Europe or North America. Admin people like the principal may get obscene salaries (like 4 times the max professor salary) though. As an academic, I think academics (including me) are paid too much. We need people who are interested in the science, not those who (pretend to) do it for money.

SoftTalker 3y ago
It's rare for an academic to make over $1M in salary, but mid-high six figures is not uncommon for a highly published, well known name with a track record of winning large grants.
floor2 3y ago
> We need people who are interested in the science, not those who (pretend to) do it for money. In the US, the problem is mostly the opposite. Lots of people would rather do science, but it's hard to choose using your skills for real science when some company will pay you 2x-10x to instead optimize ad clicks on their website or algorithmic trading or whatever. In some of the humanities, liberal arts, social sciences etc academia may pay better than other options for those people. But for most STEM folks, it's a tradeoff between "low-paid meaningful work" vs "high-paid meaningless work". Medicine and AI research may be the only two areas where people can simultaneously do cutting edge research and make high salaries.
- jampekka 3y ago
  Maybe a bit harsh, but I'm not sure science would get more trustworthy if we'd get more people who choose to optimize clicks just because it pays better. It's really easy to do "shortcuts" in academia that gets one better salary if that's what they want. As seen in this post.
pcrh 3y ago
$1M/yr for clinical scientists is not uncommon. Take a look at this public list of senior researchers in the U Cal. system. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/university-of-california/ https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/university-of-cal...
- jampekka 3y ago
  What is their pay structure? The top earning prof gets $0.3M "regular pay" and $3M "other pay". Offtopic: At least for an european it's totally absurd that the top 10 or so on that list are sports coaches. https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/university-of-california/jason-roostaeian/ https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2022/university-o...
  - pcrh 3y ago
    The person you linked to is a plastic surgeon at UCLA. So I presume they get $300k for their role as an academic, and the $3M through clinical work.
deleted 3y ago
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