Glomski's problem was that he could only get funding to do very predictable, unexciting research. When money gets tight, often only the most risk-averse ideas get funded, he and others say. "You're focusing basically on one idea you already have and making it as presentable as possible," he says. "You're not spending time making new ideas. And it's making new ideas, for me personally, that I found rewarding. That's what my passion was about." Historically, payoffs in science come from out of the blue — oddball ideas or unexpected byways.
Instead of helping society improve its defenses against deadly anthrax, he's starting a liquor distillery, Vitae Spirits.
"The country has invested, in me alone, $5 million or $6 million, easily," Patterson says, thinking back on the funding he received for his education and his research. And he's just one of many feeling the brunt of the funding crunch. "We're taking all this money as a country we've invested ... and we're saying we don't care about it," Patterson says.
There are no national statistics about how many people are giving up on academic science, but an NPR analysis of NIH data found that 3,400 scientists lost their sustaining grants between 2012 and 2013. Some will eventually get new funding, others will retire; but others, like Glomski and Patterson, will just give up.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/09/09/345289127/when-scientists-give-up?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=science&refresh=true
Instead of helping society improve its defenses against deadly anthrax, he's starting a liquor distillery, Vitae Spirits.
"The country has invested, in me alone, $5 million or $6 million, easily," Patterson says, thinking back on the funding he received for his education and his research. And he's just one of many feeling the brunt of the funding crunch. "We're taking all this money as a country we've invested ... and we're saying we don't care about it," Patterson says.
There are no national statistics about how many people are giving up on academic science, but an NPR analysis of NIH data found that 3,400 scientists lost their sustaining grants between 2012 and 2013. Some will eventually get new funding, others will retire; but others, like Glomski and Patterson, will just give up.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/09/09/345289127/when-scientists-give-up?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=science&refresh=true
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