Training Scientists to Manage

Abstract

The News Focus story “Reshuffling graduate training” (J. Mervis, 31 July, p. [528][1]) details Roald Hoffmann's proposal to improve the U.S. science system by making students more independent and empowered through an increase in government fellowships granted directly to students. Responses to this story included suggestions to increase funding for fellowships (“Increase grants, too,” M. J. Castellano and K. E. Mueller, Letters, 18 September, p. [1498][2]) and to provide more stable funding for students (“Stable funding is key,” R. J. Butera, Letters, 18 September, p. [1499][3]). These suggestions are all related to the theme of financially supporting and maintaining the most important resource to modern scientific research: graduate students. However, although academic culture recognizes the importance of graduate students, it currently does almost nothing to train current and future principal investigators (PIs) to effectively manage this resource. Few Ph.D.s have substantial hands-on experience managing others before they land a faculty position, and even fewer have any formal training in management. Faculty are left to learn this skill on the job at the expense of productivity and the well-being of the people they are managing. Furthermore, there is an emphasis on student independence in this discussion, which is natural; independence is an essential quality in a career researcher. The unfortunate implication is that ideal students are independent from the start. In fact, independence is a skill that can be taught and nurtured, just like the other skills that are explicitly taught in graduate school. To improve the efficiency of the science industry, I suggest improving the management of its most important resource. Unproductive students are a consequence of student inexperience and poor advising. Better management of students can be achieved through a range of mechanisms that involve both faculty and students (such as regular mutual evaluations and human resources training for current and future PIs). Such efforts may cost time initially, but will certainly pay off in the long run. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.325_528 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.325_1498 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.325_1499a