About 'graduate programs in computer science'|The Importance of Engineering in Undergraduate Computer Science Programs
"Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it." - Albert Einstein. Spurred on by a dearth of people entering the sciences, schools across America are participating in what may be called "Science is Fun" days. Science fairs, trips to national labs, and scientific demonstrations are all the rage at various elementary and high schools, where youngsters are encouraged to enter the biological, chemical, and physical science fields. Unfortunately, what no one bothers to address is the dearth of funding and real job opportunities for these youngsters should they decide to embark upon a scientific career. Whereas 30 years ago one could expect to achieve a tenured (permanent) academic position at a respected university a few years after earning a Ph.D. (or even master's) degree, nowadays, that possibility is but a faint glimmer of hope. At government institutions (like the N.I.H.) and even in industry, the likelihood of a scientist earning an income commensurate with their education and experience is also nil. Add to that the high number of work hours required in the field, the lack of benefits such as 401(k), vacation/sick/personal days, stock options, and profit sharing, along with the constant job insecurity, and it is little wonder that fewer and fewer individuals are deciding to become physicists, chemists, or biologists. One of the major changes in the scientific arena has been the role of the postdoctoral scientist. The postdoctoral fellowship was a position once considered an option for a few scientists following their graduation with a Ph.D., whereupon the research they performed in their graduate years was either wrapped up or expanded upon for (at most) a year. Payment during this time came from the mentor's grant, and the "postdoc" was under the mentor's, not the university's, direct employment. After that time, the postdoc was either hired outright by his/her respective school (usually as an associate professor), or had found steady employment elsewhere. This is certainly not the case today. Now, postdoctoral fellowships might last 4, 5, or even 10 years. Most graduating scientists will do at least one, if not more, postdoctoral appointments. Unfortunately, the pay rates for postdocs, as well as the benefits (or lack thereof) awarded to them, are quite small. Because the postdoctoral position was never designed to be a "steady" job, but rather an apprenticeship program, there are few resources available to such scientists. Postdocs are usually paid from private grants, and are not considered official employees of their school or institution. Therefore, they cannot take advantage of the retirement, life insurance, and other benefits available to regular employees. The mentor can choose to fire them at any time, for almost any reason, with there being little recourse to legal action or unemployment compensation. As such, the postdoctoral scientist quickly becomes a "slave" of his/her mentor, working long hours for little pay, and living in constant fear of being let go for the slightest mistake or unsuccessful experiment. Even when postdocs are successful, obtaining good data from their experiments, most mentors will eventually require that they write for and obtain grant money of their own. In that way, the mentor can hire another postdoc. Scientists incapable of obtaining their own grant money are quickly relegated to the ranks of the unemployed. This is not only the case with postdocs, but associate (and tenured) professors as well. No one gets away with simply showing up to work and performing ground-breaking experiments. One must also sell one's research, attracting funding in the form of grants. The scramble for research money becomes a downward spiral into insanity: professors will spend a majority of their time writing grant proposals, which takes them away from their own experiments, as well as lab duties such as the mentoring of postdocs and students. As a result, postdocs are expected to mentor students and technicians and to supervise the lab. They are also expected to write their own grants. However, in order for mentors to receive the bigger grants, hard data need to be supplied for the proposals. This means that postdocs need to work long hours to supply such data in addition to performing their other duties. The results are as follows: postdocs work 70-80 hours per week at a pay rate of around $36,996/year (according to the N.I.H. pay scale advisory, starting 2/22/2007)1, with no benefits aside from (maybe) health insurance. That calculates out to less than $10/hour, given a "light" 70-hour work week. And the final insult? Despite not being considered "real" employees, postdoc stipends are still taxed by the federal and state government. Why have postdoctoral appointments, and their length of time, increased so dramatically? Part of the blame can be placed on the universities themselves, which take on many more graduate and pre-doctoral students than can be reasonably placed post-graduation. Between 1987 and 1996, the National Research Council reports that there has been a 42% increase in the number of Ph.D.s awarded2. Unfortunately, that increase has not been met by an increase in the number of available jobs. Instead, between 1975 and 1995, the percentage of Ph.D.-level scientists able to obtain permanent positions in academia, industry, and government within 5-6 years following graduation decreased from 89% to 61%. Those scientists stuck in the 39% non-permanent job group are generally employed as postdocs. Some of these scientists are on their second, third, or even fourth postdoctoral appointment, with no end in sight. The N.R.C. recommends that universities limit their number of incoming graduate students, as well as the development of new graduate programs, in order to help reverse this trend. Still, the temptation is simply too great when universities consider taking on cheap student labor. For the price of one steadily-employed scientist, a university can award 4-5 student stipends. Professors that retire are often not replaced, and their courses are taught by teaching assistants. Other professors use those extra students to drive their own research, enabling them to finally obtain tenure. Another reason why the amount of postdocs has increased is because of immigration. Bright young people in Asia, Africa, South America, and even Europe encounter employment conditions much worse than those found here. As a result, many future scientists immigrate to the United States, where they willingly put up with lower pay and Machiavellian mentors, simply because conditions back home are even worse. As a result, native (as well as immigrant) scientists stand little chance at obtaining a living wage or decent work hours. They also stand little chance of escaping their own postdoctoral appointments, because immigrant postdocs will beat them to those elusive associate professorships and funding opportunities. After all, when one willingly puts in 80 hour work weeks, one can't help but obtain more data and publications than one's colleagues. More data, and a higher number of published papers, are the keys to scientific advancement. Finally, the government itself carries some of the blame. Back in the 1990's, Congress regularly increased its monetary allocation to N.I.H. every fiscal year3. Starting in 2006, despite promises by the Bush administration to the contrary, N.I.H. budget increases went flat. Because the cost of goods is always increasing, the N.I.H. "flatline" meant that the amount of money awarded became less than that of prior years. Total N.I.H. grant funding rates, once at 30%, were reduced to 20%. Certain institutions within N.I.H. only fund 15% of all grants submitted to them4. As a result, labs were forced to either reduce expenses or shut their doors. "Buckling down" implied staff eliminations and hiring freezes, with only low-paid postdocs and graduate students surviving the downsizing. It also implied that survivors of the downsizings would work even harder to ensure continued data output, despite the reductions in staff and other lab resources. What about scientists in industry? Certainly they fare better than their academic colleagues, right? To some extent, the answer is yes. The money at corporations like Johnson & Johnson, Invitrogen, and Pfizer is much more plentiful than at universities. Also, industry scientists need only to focus on their research, not on writing and obtaining grants. The downside to corporate life is that the scientists are expected to "hit the ground running" and not waste much time optimizing their experiments. Even once a project is set up and underway, the marketing department may decide that R&D needs to focus on a different project altogether, taking the scientist back to the drawing board. Too many project switches lead to no product being generated, making the scientist appear to be of no benefit to the company. Furthermore, any ideas generated by the scientist regarding future products need to first obtain approval by sales and marketing departments, leaving little potential for satisfaction of personal curiosity or intellectual growth. There are some advantages to working in industry, however. A Ph.D., when combined with a business, law, or computer science degree, makes a scientist a valuable commodity in the corporate world. Many companies will subsidize coursework leading up to the M.B.A., J.D., or other "real world" degree. Ideally, in order to obtain the maximal amount of employment opportunity and earning potential, coupled with the least amount of educational investment, one should first earn a bachelor's (or at most, a master's) degree in a basic science, find employment with a company that will pay for continued education, and then earn that second "real world" degree. Upon graduation with this additional degree, one will have a good chance at rising to management level, whether it be in the R&D, legal, IT, sales, or marketing department. A Ph.D. in not necessary for most management-level jobs. It certainly won't hurt the candidate, since the extra research experience will prove valuable to companies that require technical expertise. However, in some cases, a doctoral degree may actually make it harder to find an entry-level position, due to the candidate being considered over-qualified. Most would-be scientists are not informed that, unless they wish to perform academic research only, earning a Ph.D. is overkill. However, when one is surrounded by other Ph.D.-level professors, who are hoping for a graduate student (or three) to perform lab research for 4-7 years, what can one expect? It is better to go out into the "real" world, interview several corporate recruiters, and understand what the market needs are for today's scientists. Even if one is hoping to obtain that elusive tenure-track academic post, it doesn't hurt to know one's options. With funding rates for research grants continually decreasing, a hopeful young academic may not last long at a university. A scientist with no exit strategy in place may end up bartending rather than finding a cure for cancer! Sources: Postdoctoral Research/Fellow Salary http://www.grad.uiowa.edu/Postdoc/Salary.asp American Institute of Biological Sciences: AIBS News December 1998 http://www.aibs.org/aibs-news/aibs_news_1998_12.html AARP Bulletin. Flatlining NIH's budget freeze could stall crucial studies of disease. Is a slowdown in medical research avoidable? http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/prescription/nih_budget.html How doubling the NIH's budget created a funding crisishttp://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2007/04/20/how-doubling-the-nihs-budget-created-a-funding-crisis |
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