Topolomancer

14 ms·

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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---I mean the term 'asset' in a positive way, but I am also not a native English speaker, so maybe something gets lost in translation. Sorry about that!
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> It would definitely be cheaper for my research group to outsource this work onto non-research staff. Author here! I realise that my point is a little bit misunderstood. I am not saying 'Ah, let the PhD students do it.' I am s
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> Also, pure research work is often repetitive and drudgery, so being able to come up with cool logo or working on "uninteresting and unexceptional" tools that can be shared with other researchers can maintain the motivation. A
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> The reason T-shaped individuals are sought after in industry is that they are effective leaders. They understand enough about the problem domain(s) to identify meaningful problems and enough about the solution domain to help map out th
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> PhD students should not be recruited with the expectation that they will do devops, software engineering, and graphic design work. Or, if that's the labor they're doing, universities should maybe start paying them a fair wage
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---my point is not to exploit cheap labour, but rather to consider more than `$num_papers` when evaluating a CV. Getting a student that can, for instance, foster a culture of 'clean code' can benefit a lab as well. My p
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---I am not exactly doing mathematics research any more, but have shifted to CS/ML. It was my impression that the pace in that field is a little faster than in pure mathematics (whether that's a good thing or not is deb
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> Your attitude seems to be "Well - ML, web design, graphics, original research, it's all computers so why not?" > > There's a reason Peter Higgs didn't operate a concrete mixer, and that's because it
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> What’s worse, I have seen very progressive young PIs become complacent and conservative once they had tenure. That's what I am worried about in myself, having seen this in others as well. I'll try to be more introspective. &g
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Certainly what I will try---I am building up some networks to provide them with more opportunities (e.g. internships).
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Your comment is spot on. > But I totally agree that academia fails at rewarding people who facilitate the work of others. There is some perversion to this, since the key part of academia is precisely to spread and exchange knowledge. Yes
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---I agree with you in that interdisciplinary research is not rewarded. I want to stress that I am not proposing to exploit PhDs by making them do support work. If anything, I am saying: when hiring them, consider rewarding the s
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Yes, I wonder what would be the best course of action. Pointing out the dangers to them early on, maybe?
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> The thing is, there are enough people at the fringes of both those systems who genuinely believe in the ideals of those systems. I think those people, working together, can build better institutions that exist in parallel to the corrup
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Yes, that's an excellent metaphor! Maybe this would be more apt than 'I' and 'T'.
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> It's great for the PI if they have T-shaped students on their team, but they must make it clear to those highly talented people that academia is most likely not for them. Which puts in question whether it makes sense for them to d
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
That's a good point---if they are not easy to find, maybe it is possible to instil some values into a group's culture to _create them_?
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Thank you. I come from a non-academic background myself (although being born in Europe certainly simplified things...I am mentoring students from India, for instance, and was shocked to learn about the high cost of even applying somewhere
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
> Your answers feel like you are engaging in cognitive dissonance. I am not sure where you are getting this from. My intent is only to point out that there is more to consider than publication output. I will try to make this position mor
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
I only partially agree with you there---as a PI, I also have an option to reward these sort of activities. I understand that it is not a good idea to employ someone for the wrong role, so any 'non-core work' activities need to be
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Thanks for outlining these positions! > 1. The grant system overly rewards proposals that grant givers can understand to have a high chance of success. This creates an echo chamber of what kind of research gets funded. This is indeed som
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Ah, I think I see the distinction now! :-) I was thinking more in terms of skills that translate between different projects, such as the large degree of software engineering skills that help in every ML project. I realise that this is a rel
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Yes, precisely! And I should stress that the students I hire as PhD students are hired as exactly that. No strings attached, no additional duties, etc. They are free to focus on their research. My point in the article was more to put a fi
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---I love the term 'non-core work.' It encompasses a lot of the things that irk me in academia (and it's a little bit hypocritical because in the end, academic projects also benefit quite a lot from this non-core
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---maybe you find my response to the parent post interesting. What you are describing is something I also experienced: a good name can open a lot of doors for you, and academia is certainly not as meritocratic as people might thi
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---I agree with the silliness of these categories, but I found no better way of phrasing this in an abstract manner. In the teams I mentioned in the article, it was super helpful to have that one colleague who knew a bit about so
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---fully agree with you and alluded to that in the footnotes. Of course, a single letter is insufficient to capture human variation. The 'T' is taken to mean researchers that are not only willing to become an expert in
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here; thanks for this interesting take! What makes you arrive at the conclusion that the research funding is garbage? I am seeing this more as a problem in terms of providing hires with the wrong incentives. The replacements you ment
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---that's exactly one of the issues I encountered. I am making a conscious effort to move beyond this state of affairs, but it takes more than one person to enact change.
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by Topolomancer 5y ago
Author here---I was thinking about actual design work or working on the 'presentation' aspects of a publication. For me, the development of new experimental techniques and new ML models is more or less the same. Could you elaborat

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