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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Short Term Gains at NIH (USA)

 
Alex Palazzo highlights the shortsightedness of the stimulus package when it comes to NIH funded projects [NIH & the Stimulus in the NY Times].

I agree with him 100%. Science doesn't work that way. We once had that problem in Canada. A temporary increase in funding of the granting agencies lead to compounding the pain of the inevitable budget cut a few years later.

At least Alex won't have to deal with that problem when he arrives in Canada this summer. This time our government avoided the problem by starting with the budget cuts! What a relief not to have to worry about how to spent all those extra dollars....

Thank-you Stephen Harper. And thanks also to our Minister of State (Science and Technology), Gary Goodyear. Dr. (sic) Goodyear (above) is a chiropractor. It's nice to know our science policy is in such good hands.


2 comments :

Mike said...

Larry,

I'm so, so glad to hear you say that you agree with Alex when he writes:

"It would be insane to shuttle a whole generation into academia with no future plan. What we need is to create good stable long term careers not another boom-bust cycle that will reinforce everything that is wrong with how we train our up-and-coming scientists."

It WOULD be insane to lack a future plan when training up-and-coming scientists, wouldn't it?

Devin said...

I'm really hoping that I'll be able to get out of Canada this year.