Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Golden Ticket
Three months ago I submitted a grant to the NIH for funding that would cover a few more years of training and give me eligibility to apply for funding to take to a new institution as a Primary Investigator of my own lab. In other words, it would make me a really strong candidate for Professorships because it would prove that I could successfully apply for funding. Although I have no news to report today, I did find out today what day my grant will be reviewed (nope, not sharing that here) and exactly who is reviewing it (don't even ask).
Lately it has occurred to me that trying to successfully begin a career as an independent scientific investigator requires two battles. The first battle is for the academic position itself and the second is for grants. The battle for the position itself is often based on whether the hiring committee thinks you are capable of winning the second battle. So I had a thought; why not just combine the two battles? in other words, why not create a national young investigator grant and anyone who wants to be a PI would apply for it and once you obtained such a grant you entered a pool of qualified candidates for Professorships. Universities could treat it like med schools treat residency programs and do a 'match' for research and geographical priorities. Universities would know that they were hiring people who could get funding because they would be showing up with their own money already.
If grant writing is the biggest hurdle, why not clear it up front?
Lately it has occurred to me that trying to successfully begin a career as an independent scientific investigator requires two battles. The first battle is for the academic position itself and the second is for grants. The battle for the position itself is often based on whether the hiring committee thinks you are capable of winning the second battle. So I had a thought; why not just combine the two battles? in other words, why not create a national young investigator grant and anyone who wants to be a PI would apply for it and once you obtained such a grant you entered a pool of qualified candidates for Professorships. Universities could treat it like med schools treat residency programs and do a 'match' for research and geographical priorities. Universities would know that they were hiring people who could get funding because they would be showing up with their own money already.
If grant writing is the biggest hurdle, why not clear it up front?
# posted by Sarah : 10:37 PM
