The Academic Pipeline Stall: Why Industry Must Stand for Academia

I don’t have a problem with DEI. Heck, I’ve seen a research paper that ended up with a different perspective and analysis, simply because it had to make a global south to global north comparison.

I am also sure people here can relate to learning about how skin care research is improving for other skin types, now.

Does this mean I think DEI is a magic bullet? no. It isn’t a bogey man to be afraid of either.

From that list, things like “ George Mason University Quantum Education Research Postdoctoral Fellowship” have been nuked.

Having conference posters removed because they use the word “diversity” when discussing human auditory systems, is a level of anti-intellectualism that has torpedoed America’s credibility.

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Girls go from being bright, to losing that spark in their eyes around high school.

Amazingly, things aren’t all rosy for men either. Nihilism is the emotion of the era.

These are just infuriating losses of inspiration, talent and motivation in the populace.

ON HN, we’ve talked about UBI. Giving education grants to increase diversity, and to increase the variance of random career walks US children can visualize, is a huge boon. It’s what we expect people to spend their time on if they had the freedom to do so.

I support the argument that more people should go into the trades. They should!

But you are gutting investment into science, and education. You are killing off your future pipeline of experts, and the pain will be felt in 5-10 years, and constantly compound.

Europe is already rolling out the red carpet for experts. They have better labor laws, which will make it even more attractive to set up shop there and have a great life to lead.

American firms will have to find reasons to attract people back, and with a gutted bureaucracy - the US state wont be an attractive factor, it would be something that has to be worked around.

Look at the abstract for that George Mason one and you'll see it's not real science. It doesn't even seem to be science at all but some sort of financial aid for the careers of 3 individuals. Do you really think "convergence approach to quantum education and workforce development research" means something or is just complicated words to hide fraud?

I checked - it’s a fellowship application, here’s some things that you may have missed.

Responsibilities:

- Develops and executes a research program, in collaboration with other fellows; and

- Builds research knowledge and skills through coursework, self-study, and work on existing projects in quantum education research.

Required Qualifications:

- Terminal degree in a related field;

- Must have a PhD & experience with education and/or workforce development programs;

- Must be a US citizen, national, or permanent resident

- Knowledge of data analysis techniques in at least one discipline;

- Excellent written and oral communication skills;

- Ability to work in a collaborative team environment; and

- Ability to work independently.

Preferred Qualifications:

- PhDs can be in STEM disciplines, education, or a field of social science with application to increasing equity and inclusion in STEM education and workforce development;

- Knowledge of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods data analysis as applies to education research data; and

- Knowledge of social science and/or STEM education research methods and how they apply to understanding barriers to success for underrepresented groups in STEM disciplines.

Google: George Mason University is known for its strong programs in economics, computer science, law, public policy, and business.

This is not financial aid, it’s a PHD fellowship. Good lord. On the one side people bemoan the lack of people getting into the hard sciences and the research being done abroad. On the other efforts to increase and understand the issues at home and create actual solutions that bridge exactly these types of conversations, is DEI.

OK, so a fellowship is the government pays you to learn. I didn't know about that system before but it sounds like financial aid with a fancy title. Furthermore, it's not science - the field is education. These fellows weren't part of a pipeline of experts. America isn't in danger of running out of the education part of developing experts, it has no shortage of degreed people.

America is able to nurture experts in education to solve the issue of a pipeline of experts.

That’s how advanced an economy it is.

And this is being thrown away.

Role models blaze pathways for others to follow. The create alternatives to ‘traditional’ examples of roles and jobs.

PhD programs are not "being paid to learn." You are paid to perform useful and novel labor whose output is shared with the rest of society.

I'm not sure experts in education are really doing anything important. Even when they do discover effective ways of educating students, they're rarely implemented. It's getting further from the core issue. If you go even further still, you could say we need to fund, say, car salesmen, because they're enabling experts to drive to work or some other very indirect benefit. Sure car salesmen are useful but, like education researchers, only a tiny portion of their work goes towards creating top scientists.

It literally says "coursework and self-study", so paying them to learn is part of it.