Will cuts to science funding make grad school more competitive?

[Simfish]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/business/04research.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=print

It looks fairly likely that cuts will happen.

Now, the stimulus did manage to shield universities from the recession (although some physics grad students did tell me that the recession still managed to make grad school more competitive than before). But now it appears that cuts will happen at a time when we haven't fully recovered from the recession. (and also since the stimulus expires 2 years after its inception)

Now, NSF, NOAA, and NIH don't directly fund grad students. But they do give out research grants, and these research grants might influence the funding available for professors to take grad students (and also the funding available for RA positions rather than TA ones). .

 

[twofish-quant]

Now, NSF, NOAA, and NIH don't directly fund grad students. But they do give out research grants, and these research grants might influence the funding available for professors to take grad students (and also the funding available for RA positions rather than TA ones). .

They will. How much the cuts will be, and where they will be is going to be interesting. Personally, I think the challenge at this point is to make it so that the cuts are going to be bad, rather than horrifically deadly.

 

[Andy Resnick]

Now, NSF, NOAA, and NIH don't directly fund grad students. But they do give out research grants, and these research grants might influence the funding available for professors to take grad students (and also the funding available for RA positions rather than TA ones). .

NSF, NIH and NASA most definitely directly fund graduate students- my applications all have budget lines for both salary money and tuition for graduate students, as well as a 'slush fund' for undergraduates. I went to grad school on a NASA fellowship. Postdocs are almost *always* funded from research grants. NSF applications explicitly call for a plan to get undergraduate students into the lab.

The immediate impact of decreasing the amount of science funding will most likely ratchet up the competition level for young faculty trying to establish a research program- with all the bad behavior that goes along with high-stakes career choices. It's not clear what the immediate impact will be to students- although, when NASA lost a bunch of funding for science when the Vision for Space Exploration rolled out, I know several PIs that had students dangling in the breeze, so to speak.

It's important to be adaptable- for example, funding for alternative energy research may go down, but funding for remote sensing technology may go up. Those who can effectively follow the prey will succeed.

 

[Pythagorean]

In fact, NSF graduate fellowship proposals are due this month.

 

[twofish-quant]

The immediate impact of decreasing the amount of science funding will most likely ratchet up the competition level for young faculty trying to establish a research program- with all the bad behavior that goes along with high-stakes career choices.

The next few years are going to definitely be interesting. There is a small but non-insignificant chance, that Congress will march science in the US off a cliff. One problem is that basic research is an infrastructure investment, and if you have a government and society that is hostile to these sorts of investments, then basic science is just going to wither and die.

Something that is going to be interesting is that China is building up its science infrastructure, and I've seen a few things that makes me wonder whether or not your stereotypical Chinese graduate student is going to stay home in five years, and what the implications for US research universities are going to be.

It's important to be adaptable- for example, funding for alternative energy research may go down, but funding for remote sensing technology may go up. Those who can effectively follow the prey will succeed.

There's a scene from Three Days of the Condor that I've been thinking a lot about...

Turner: You seem to understand it all so well. What would you suggest?
Joubert: Personally, I prefer Europe.
Turner: Europe?
Joubert: Yes. Well, the fact is, what I do is not a bad occupation. Someone is always willing to pay.
Turner: I would find it… tiring.
Joubert: Oh, no — it's quite restful. It's… almost peaceful. No need to believe in either side, or any side. There is no cause. There's only yourself. The belief is in your own precision.
Turner: I was born in the United States, Joubert. I miss it when I'm away too long.
Joubert: A pity.
Turner: I don't think so.