Some Students See Science as “Strictly Business”. What do you think?

At a recent screening of Naturally Obsessed at a southeastern medical school, a debate followed about the state of research funding today.  One junior faculty member wrote to us with the following observation about the difference in his generation’s outlook and students in training today.

The interesting (and disappointing) part of the discussion is that some of the students view science as a business. They are keenly aware of the funding problems and the need for ‘productivity.’ This is different than when I attended grad school or was a postdoc in the late 1990’s to 2006; I think it’s a little odd given that as junior faculty, both my wife and I, with independent labs, have been able to secure federal funding and are beginning to publish our lab’s first papers, all within three years. Perhaps it is the current climate, although all of us (students included) agreed that we are insulated from what’s going on in the ‘real’ world.

Do you feel it’s necessary to use a business savvy approach in your research? Does this hinder or help the process of designing experiments? Let us hear from you!

Photo by: John Dominic Barbarino