Posted on 07/08/2012 2:26:24 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Michelle Amaral wanted to be a brain scientist to help cure diseases. She planned a traditional academic science career: PhD, university professorship and, eventually, her own lab.
But three years after earning a doctorate in neuroscience, she gave up trying to find a permanent job...she took an administrative position at her university, experiencing firsthand an economic reality that, at first look, is counterintuitive: There are too many laboratory scientists for too few jobs.
That reality runs counter to messages sent by President Obama and the National Science Foundation and other influential groups, who in recent years have called for U.S. universities to churn out more scientists.
Obama has made science education a priority, launching a White House science fair to get young people interested in the field.
But it’s questionable whether those youths will be able to find work when they get a PhD. Although jobs in some high-tech areas, especially computer and petroleum engineering, seem to be booming, the market is much tighter for lab-bound scientists — those seeking new discoveries in biology, chemistry and medicine.
.....Although the injection of $10 billion in federal stimulus funds to the NIH from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 “created or retained” 50,000 science jobs, according to the NIH, that money is running dry, putting those positions at risk....
....“I’ve listened to this stuff on the news about how we need more scientists and engineers,” she said. “I’m thinking, ‘What are you talking about?’ We’re here. We need something to do besides manual labor for another academic person.”
[Kim] Haas, the former drug company chemist, has even harsher words.....Haas said of her daughter. “She loves chemistry, loves math. I tell her, ‘Don’t go into science.’ I’ve made that very clear to her.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“I believe law firms hire and send scientists and engineers to law school to help beef up their in-house knowledge and court expertise.”
Many companies encourage scientists and engineers to go to law school to then practice patent law for the company. Many patent attorneys are dual degreed. I have worked with company patent attorneys on patent applications of my own inventions.
Even more so now: look at the ads from proprietary trading companies-- they all want physics and engineering grads to do financial calculations.
If we hadn't farmed out all manufacturing and a lot of high tech work overseas because of idiotic macro economic policies, perhaps they could work in more productive fields.
The Left complains that the US has 'favored' the financial industry. In fact, it's just that the financial industry is the only one that hasn't been completely mauled by out of control taxes (corporate, state and local) and strangled by an exploding regulatory system.
Yup if you are over forty you are in serious trouble. That’s when you hope that you have a serious specialty that someone desperately needs (lasers,electro-optics,mixed signal IC design) or you try and figure out a business you can start for yourself
The article was about folks who want to spend their careers in academia. I have no sympathy for them. You most definitely do NOT need a PhD to get a good engineering job. In fact of you have more than a bachelor’s some places are not even going to talk to you.
The truth is that jobs like her dream job are too expensive. She wants a tenured position and a lab to tinker around in?
Get serious. There are plenty of jobs in industry, but you have to work and do what is valuable. Not play for pay.
Credentialism and politics both work hard to undermine merit.
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