Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This week Zach and Kelly talk about National Institute of Health (NIH) funding practices, and the increasing administrative burdens placed on academic scientists.
Links
Does the NIH (National Institute of Health) support the best researchers?
Nature article: Research grants: conform and be funded
Critique (found after recording): NIH funding: thousand citation papers are outliers
Rebuttal: NIH funding: the critics respond
Increasing administrative burdens placed on academic scientists
The Chronicle of HIgher Education: Time and money are being wasted in the lab
It’s funny to see that scientists think that programmers have it figured out and things like “who is good at his/her job” is more clear cut; and programmers think the same thing about scientists.
When finding a good programmer, it is not enough if he/she sat long enough in the basement and made programs that people like. The real experience comes from being in the field, finding creative solutions and understanding the needs of the customer. Much like Kelly described her experience.
What Iain said. Programmers are a contentious bunch who are prone to holy wars (see http://catb.org/jargon/html/H/holy-wars.html). I’ve always thought that was because there aren’t hard criteria about what is “good” in the technology field. The Computer Science department where I went to college (actually part of the Engineering school, not the Science school) was embroiled in a huge Ada vs Java war. Some professors just refused to learn the other language, even if they were teaching that class, which I’m sure served the students well.