tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post7805111213410900478..comments2024-02-05T05:15:04.759-08:00Comments on Wandering Scientist: Innovation, Growth, and Hackable Pacemakers (among Other Things)Cloudhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-18742445845759268452013-08-22T20:54:38.437-07:002013-08-22T20:54:38.437-07:00The idea that a PhD could be wasted has always puz...The idea that a PhD could be wasted has always puzzled me- although as I say above, I'm very sympathetic to the deep frustration young scientists feel right now trying to navigate this job market.Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-71921517947434115422013-08-22T20:53:12.855-07:002013-08-22T20:53:12.855-07:00A very, very liberal family member of mine once ha...A very, very liberal family member of mine once had as a quote on her Christmas cards: "A good idea can come from anywhere, even a Republican." I like that sentiment. So if the George W. Bush foundation puts out a publication with good ideas, that's great. I am not sure I think shale gas is worth the risk, though! I'm still on the fence about that one and wish we'd focus more on less environmentally risky energy sources, even if they are more financially risky. <br /><br />I like your idea of making it easier for people who don't want full time work to participate in the labor force. Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-89196778028716228962013-08-22T19:53:05.997-07:002013-08-22T19:53:05.997-07:00Haha, too true, except that's not my grandma, ...Haha, too true, except that's not my grandma, it's my mom, and the fridge was probably bought in 1969 as that was the year my parents moved into the house my mother (and the fridge) still live in. I know it's about my age, as I would apparently hold its door to balance as a not-yet-walking baby and then swing my arm to make a point (as I babbled on about something, a lifelong trend it seems), at which the door would swing open and I would crash down.<br /><br />Whereas our new fridge, now 6 years old, has required two service calls...Alexicographernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-69779093201739875902013-08-21T09:12:51.636-07:002013-08-21T09:12:51.636-07:00Yeah, I googled him. And I've studied many pr...Yeah, I googled him. And I've studied many professors at Northwestern, but this one doesn't seem to have made the core curriculum.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-30789774839975587142013-08-21T08:38:53.659-07:002013-08-21T08:38:53.659-07:00Regarding 'wasting' time getting a PhD onl...Regarding 'wasting' time getting a PhD only to then leave academia - I've done it once and was able to leverage my research skills with the many soft-skills I accumulated during my extra-curriculars in grad school. I jumped to a very technology-rich company and the first jump was hard, but now I'm considering a second jump that is even less related to my PhD, and since there were so many arguments around 'oh no, but all those years spent on a PhD' the first time, the second time it's a little less daunting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-36577113370164853782013-08-21T07:48:34.746-07:002013-08-21T07:48:34.746-07:00I'm fascinated by the topic of growth and prod...I'm fascinated by the topic of growth and productivity. Last summer I read The 4% Solution, which was a very wonky book put out by the George W. Bush Institute (I know, I know) that discussed various things that might boost US GDP growth into the 4% annual range. Educational improvements figure in, of course, as well as new sources of energy (mostly the whole shale gas thing), better immigration policy that rewards education and skills and entrepreneurship, etc. I'd add that ways of making it easier for marginal workers to participate in the labor force (senior citizens, moms who want to work part-time from home, etc.) could also help growth. Laura Vanderkamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06385504652419979583noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-2781876362746060362013-08-21T06:44:59.675-07:002013-08-21T06:44:59.675-07:00It has been my experience that engineers are more ...It has been my experience that engineers are more likely to embrace IT solutions than scientists, but it isn't really that the scientists I work with aren't willing to use IT solutions. It is that they don't always recognize when one will help. And then even if they do, I've got a backlog of projects that is 20-30 projects deep. Even a wealthy company like mine does not have the budget to do as much as we could. If you go look at smaller, scrappier start ups, they often spend almost nothing on IT- there just isn't budget for it.Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-59254609488604530282013-08-21T06:42:57.886-07:002013-08-21T06:42:57.886-07:00According to the article he has a named chair at N...According to the article he has a named chair at Northwestern. Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-9019145282540706222013-08-21T06:40:22.614-07:002013-08-21T06:40:22.614-07:00Oops! Thanks for catching the typo. It is fixed no...Oops! Thanks for catching the typo. It is fixed now.<br /><br />I'm hugely sympathetic to the individual scientists who find themselves unable to get a job in their first choice career path- but I'm a lot less sympathetic to the scientific culture we've built up that makes those people feel like failures if they go do something different. Cloudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09317847285050447789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-63471629777383214422013-08-21T05:02:26.202-07:002013-08-21T05:02:26.202-07:00I'm on the STEM board in town and a female eng...I'm on the STEM board in town and a female engineer, so much of what you say resonates with me. In fact, I just organized a science street festival in town that had thousands of people. Everyone thought it was cool. Even the goth, punk, hip hop punk kids got into it. Every age group and socioeconomic demographic was enthralled. My mantra is to show people science is fun and exciting and all around you so that the next gen realizes it's the funnest profession out there. <br /><br />On a side note, I do think technology is used extensively in the tech world (maybe not in life sciences but certainly in design). The world of predictive engineering has transformed product development, and not always in good ways. <br /><br />Back in the days of graph paper and the #2 pencil, engineers built in huge fudge factors into their product designs. That's why your grandmas fridge from 1967 is still going strong but your brandy new stainless one will last on average about 7 years. In fact, my neighbor and I both bought washing machines at the same time and they broke within 2 months of each other. Things break a lot quicker because they are optimized for cost and will only be designed to be bare minimum the market with tolerate. The one thing I hate about the technology revolution is it enables engineers to design in obsolescence down to the hour. <br /><br />Engineers want to make good products, not crappy ones, but managers make decisions based on optimizing profit margins at all costs and too much engineering time is spent on cost out vs innovation. I don't think adoption in my field is the problem. I think companies get greedy and don't spend enough money on innovation and R+D. Certainly some industries need innovative game changing ways to take cost out to succeed (like LED lighting), but for more mature products, someone spends the time to innovate ho does will eventually leapfrog your company because of it. Consumers are partly to blame too. If they buy solely on cost, then the trend will continue in this direction indefinitely.<br /> First Gen Americanhttp://firstgenamerican.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-31123861703273076512013-08-21T04:45:35.622-07:002013-08-21T04:45:35.622-07:00Hm, I am an economist and, um, despite having had ...Hm, I am an economist and, um, despite having had a ton of classes on productivity and growth (in history, macro, and labor)... I've never heard of Robert Gordon. <br /><br />My professors have either tended to be more bullish on productivity growth (although some of my current colleagues are famous for their believe that the US hegemony is over), or they've argued for more education for high skilled jobs. It is true that we're unlikely to see the kind of productivity growth we saw after WWII (or that the Asian tigers saw a few decades back, or China is seeing now), but only because we're already developed. Catch-up growth is faster. Also current monetary policy is to smooth out business cycles so we don't have huge bubbles and bursts, not that that's necessarily been working as well as some would like.nicoleandmaggiehttp://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29235839.post-11609659763002929262013-08-21T01:46:41.528-07:002013-08-21T01:46:41.528-07:00Great post! There's a lot to think about here....Great post! There's a lot to think about here. I like to think of myself as a classically-trained scientist who's just becoming code-literate enough to really understand what kinds of problems computers are good at solving and to start thinking about how to use them to solve questions that interest me... and it's a really fun (and challenging) process!<br /><br />I also really agree with your thoughts about PhDs and career expectations. There's so much opportunity that comes out of getting a PhD in STEM ... and yet we spend so much time whining about how few tenure-track faculty jobs there are. <br /><br />One note - I think you're missing a big "NO" in the phrase "there is reason to think that white and Asian men are uniquely suited for understanding STEM"! :)Sarah (@SarahHCarl)noreply@blogger.com