tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post2138535094692533083..comments2023-05-27T02:05:32.912-07:00Comments on The Prodigal Academic: Recruiting in a time of uncertaintyprodigal academichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00433167641213112052noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-79999106031492111122017-05-09T19:38:04.704-07:002017-05-09T19:38:04.704-07:00Grumpy, you probably know this, but if not -- NSF ...Grumpy, you probably know this, but if not -- NSF is supposed to be moving to a new building away from Arlington (their lease ended; don't ask) and to Alexandria. I don't know if they started the move yet, but if they did, that would explain some of the weird delays. I know they held a bunch of panels this spring not at the NSF but at Hilton and other nearby hotels. <br /><br />https://www.alexandriava.gov/news_display.aspx?id=73519<br /><br />My grant that was recommended had a panel in late Feb, I heard about it in late April, but still waiting for the official notice of funding. OTOH, I have one grants where the panel was in December and I still don't know (the news probably isn't good, but still -- WFT five months?)xykademiqzhttp://xykademiqz.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-34449509428678482932017-05-08T20:36:51.713-07:002017-05-08T20:36:51.713-07:00Yeah TAs are a double edged sword. In my dept we h...Yeah TAs are a double edged sword. In my dept we have, IMO, too many guaranteed spots. 4 semesters total if students are getting good grades. So some theorists (and experimentalists without much funding) won't take on a student as RA until the summer after their second year. This our students take longer to graduate, take longer 5o find out grad school is not for them, etc.<br /><br />But do course it's nice to know that if times get tough my students will always be able to earn a salary by TA'ing.<br /><br />This NSF situation is ridiculous. I have never had to wait this long for NIH, DoD, etc. It says that the panel was beginning of Feb, what the heck are they still thinking about?!Grumpyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06238708584935877026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-18955368795313570422017-05-08T11:00:04.991-07:002017-05-08T11:00:04.991-07:00Thanks for the comments! Like xyk, I am still wait...Thanks for the comments! Like xyk, I am still waiting on 2 outstanding grants I submitted in October, and it is almost time to write again. In my department, we do have some TA support, but a TAship here does not cover a student 100%, so it is not a complete solution (and of course, there are the supplies and user fees that much be paid). The uncertainty of it all makes it really difficult to know how many to recruit. I have been graduating my students at a steady rate, so I really have to bring some in this year to make sure the knowledge transfers before people leave. I am targeting 1-2, so I don't end up with a big group that 1) all need support on the same timescale and 2) all finish at about the same time.<br /><br />Grumpy, I hear you. I think I would rather consider a no-cost extension than take on a student who I am not sure will work out. I have not yet been in your position. I am too much of a research free-spender! :-)<br /><br />pyrope, TAships have their own cost too. Some students get sucked into it, especially if they don't have much experience with time budgeting, and may as well not be doing research! At ProdigalU, the departments that have big service courses with labs have loads of TAs (for the lab classes). The departments that don't have huge labs do not. Engineering courses might be big, but the big ones don't have labs here. General biology/physics/chemistry on the other hand need 1 TA per 25ish students for the labs. prodigal academichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00433167641213112052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-74105897701378161992017-05-08T06:06:56.208-07:002017-05-08T06:06:56.208-07:00pyrope, in my understanding certain departments (m...pyrope, in my understanding certain departments (mostly in L&S), which teach large service courses for the whole university (I believe the operating word is "service"), have large TA budgets directly from the university. Other departments and colleges have small to nonexistent TA budgets from the university and are supposed to fund TAs off of faculty teaching buyout (with shrinking funding, you know how well that's going -- if I have money to buy out, I am not going to buy out, I will pay 1-2 additional RAs for my own group instead). So it's not just the size of the courses but whether your department provides service to others across the school. xykademiqzhttp://xykademiqz.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-28994824921578242192017-05-08T00:53:34.913-07:002017-05-08T00:53:34.913-07:00re: TAs
It's astonishing to me how much TA all...re: TAs<br />It's astonishing to me how much TA allocations seem to vary between departments and especially between colleges. My partner is in engineering and they have very few TAs...maybe enough to support a student for one semester every third year on average per faculty member. He also takes students through another engineering department that requires students to 'volunteer' for TAs (i.e. research funds support TAs). <br />In contrast, I feel really lucky because I take students through a program that teaches the intro Biology courses and guarantees one semester of TA support for every student for five years.<br />Intro Bio classes are large, but there are plenty of Intro Engineering classes that are large too...so I don't understand the huge disparity in TA allocation. Seems like it's a consistent theme outside of my University too. What causes the huge divide in have vs. have not departments in terms of TA allocations?pyropenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-38564406911302163192017-05-06T21:53:08.196-07:002017-05-06T21:53:08.196-07:00I was in a more iffy funding situation last year a...<i>I was in a more iffy funding situation last year and I still took a chance and hired. Students here have a lot of chances for TAships, so it's not too big of a risk to hire without funding certainty.</i><br /><br />You are very lucky. My departments has shamefully few TAships, so there's basically no safety net if grants fall through...xykademiqzhttp://xykademiqz.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-54254459816908421922017-05-06T19:39:30.609-07:002017-05-06T19:39:30.609-07:00Yeah NSF has been super slow for me this year, alr...Yeah NSF has been super slow for me this year, already at >6 months. <br /><br />My current problem: I have enough funding to hire another student, but there aren't really any strong students here in my field this year.<br /><br />I was in a more iffy funding situation last year and I still took a chance and hired. Students here have a lot of chances for TAships, so it's not too big of a risk to hire without funding certainty.Grumpyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06238708584935877026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2068615175426357203.post-1772500247368594472017-05-06T16:30:46.263-07:002017-05-06T16:30:46.263-07:00I hear ya. This is really tough.
I have three ou...I hear ya. This is really tough. <br /><br />I have three outstanding grants, one of which I will likely get (recommended for funding). They were submitted in late October. They are all supposed to start in June or September. Even if in September, these students were supposed to be recruited by April 15 in order to work on these projects. Now let's say I get more money; there is no way I can bring in the students by September. I couldn't commit to any students before knowing about grants, because there is never a guarantee of money. <br /><br />It's almost time to write a new batch of grants and I haven't even heard from last fall's. <br /><br />Nuts.<br />xykademiqzhttp://xykademiqz.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com