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The sequester is serious business in science. A scientific workforce and the equipment they need must be maintained; it's not easy to ramp up or down capacity
by jurassic 14y ago
The sequester is serious business in science. A scientific workforce and the equipment they need must be maintained; it's not easy to ramp up or down capacity as demand and funding levels shift. The pipeline for an individual into a high-level science career is measured in DECADES. If you screw with funding levels for a few years you're blowing a gigantic hole into the side of your already-leaky pipeline.
Science was a pretty lousy career choice before all this started, but these budget shenanigans will only drive the smartest and most capable young people out of science for better paid, less uncertain vocations.
- toufka 14y agoAbsolutely. As a grad student about to graduate from a prestegious biomedical institution I'm looking at no new grants for the next (few?) years. The NIH is likely zeroing any new grants in order to maintain current grants. Guess what industry I cannot graduate into! The upside I guess is that I will likely attempt to create my own company instead. A far riskier proposition. But I'm on the far end of the spectrum - few of my peers are doing that though - they're finding jobs in other industries.
- digitist 14y agoMust be pretty prestegious