DaveWalk

23 ms·

181.
by DaveWalk 12y ago
Data for the curious: http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/N...
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I respectfully disagree, and think "because it's fun" is a dangerous precedent to set. When I was in grad school there was an informational poster in the lobby that said something to this effect: "Why are you in lab at 1
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
>It's not an easy road (what is?) I think we could work on the road, actually. For as long as a PhD is, there are ways to make it less of a slog, I believe. Early career development and more relevant classes come to mind from my ins
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I would also welcome anyone with concerns to join us at ScienceCareers, where we tackle this problem head on. There is a wealth of information in the articles, and many hidden gems at the forum: http://scforum.sciencecareers.org&
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
If you truly have your expectations properly set, then my hat is off to you. The difficulty, I believe, comes as time goes on and problems such as a family, prompt student debt repayment and savings come into play. (That's why I love t
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I don't know about that; I think perhaps it is the opposite. Psychologically, at least: if you got another degree, shouldn't you be worth more than you were previously? Aren't two degrees better than one? (I know that sounds
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
> and then have a small safety net to fall back on if we're wrong I think it's the years that really hurt. A student is delaying entering the workforce for a lousy paying job, for 5-8 additional years, and now a postdoc or two?
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I think I disagree with you and OP, but for different reasons. In R&D, it's a matter of career path. A PhD is expected to become a lead, someone to guide a research program. A Master's degree holder will be closer to the actio
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
> there's effectively no accountability, it's ripe to be gamed with fraud and cronyism Are you talking about NIH funding here, or crowdfunding? The accountability for government funds is vigilant (some may even say restrictive)
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
>This is nothing new. Thank you for bringing up this point (and speaking to it personally from 20+ years ago!). I have been beating this drum for years since I've read Paula Stephan's research[1] on "How Economics Shapes S
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
This is a HUGE point. It was once thought that being a chemistry PhD was a shoe-in for industry work, and you could skip being a postdoc entirely. I met a very respected chemist at AACR last year who said all of his postdocs were scrambli
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
It's always low, with a strict limit set by the NIH, and schools have a tiny bit of wiggle room. For example, a stipend in NYC is the biggest nationwide[1], but that's mostly cost of living. 1500-1800 was common at the schools in
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
Do you see yourself in that later tenure-track position? As a bioninformaticist I'm sure your skills will be in demand. I have seen such offers on the lab research side of things but I've been told it's deceptive: very few &q
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
>Where do you begin? Whether to even stay in academia or leave is a question that seems to be discussed a lot The best thing you can do for your career is decide, right this minute, what you want to do. Do it as soon as humanly psosible.
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
Aside from philanthropy, the best solution is a systemic change of the system, and the NIH has been aware of this problem for many years (even before being codified in the Tilghman reports). Funding, in particular, is a sacroscant concept i
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
That's awesome -- this story comes up more than you'd think. I'm glad that Tsien did this, and without fanfare. Academics can also be a place where integrity shines, too.
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
In the biotech / pharmaceutical sciences, a starting salary is always greater than GP's "professorial" range: easily $75-$125K. Though these jobs are very competitive. And, as the article states: > If Margaret had lef
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I'm not so sure you should default to assume prejudice, because every bit of advice has some benefit (even if it's just an insight into what the other person thinks is importnat). You bring up a great tactic, however: discovering
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I wonder what contents of a senior executive's inbox are worth. I admire how thorough the hacking seems to be: executives, legal counsel, regulatory, and even scientists. It seems to me like they are out for as much information as poss
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
Thank you for bringing this up -- this is a HUGE point. Publishers getting 12 months exclusivity really hurts in our connected era. The fact that this provision exists suggests to me that publishers have all their value crammed into the fir
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I have tried to port my IMAP email accounts into the new GMail. As far as I can tell, there's still no support for IDLE and the phone constantly suggests a "sync time" for my accounts. I guess my phone checking for mail every
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
Nicely said. It might just be my USA-centric views on poverty, but I find the idea of turning homelessness into a story with a contributed artistic element--typography--refreshing in a sense. Maybe it's just because all the people are
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I think it's great that you have found your version of success. I'm not sure I would say there are "a great many people" behind your cause, but if it works then I think that's fantastic. But realistically, I'm
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
In my field (life sciences), postdocs get paid about 40% more than grad students, and are required to pay into their benefits as they become official "employees" and not students. This, at least initially, puts them back close to
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
And that Krebs finds his way into many criminal forums, one of which the accused was running.
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
This is what I thought, too -- its "ugliness" looks to me similar to seating/service apps one might see in bars and restaurants everywhere. Black screen, white text, red/yellow/green indicators... I do admire the ut
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
If I understand your analogy correctly, Walmart is Medicare, and the manufacturer is a drug company? If so, then said QA testing is not a guarantee; you cannot design a drug that will extend the lives of patients with end-stage cancer like
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
You've got a good concern, just backwards: the virus is cleared from the patient, but the body becomes immune to the virus. Thus, it can only be used one time, which may limit the therapy's effectiveness.
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
I don't believe public funds pay for any large-scale, randomized Phase 3 trials in oncology -- the cost can rise above $100 million per trial! The overhead in terms of patient registration and follow up require the staffing, technolo
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by DaveWalk 12y ago
A solid point -- though the therapy is interesting on a novelty scale, the funding is decidedly vanilla. Grants fund the early research, patents are filed for novel findings, and if the therapy holds up eventually a large pharmaceutical fir

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