[strangeloops85]

I have to wonder what DOGE (including the alleged wunderkind Farritor that all the SV VCs were hailing) is planning for NSF. It’s amazing the arrogance of these people, to walk in and just do “hulk smash” on decades of hard work, infrastructure and institutional capacity.

[warkdarrior]

It's fairly straightforward really. Academics will work on whatever grant topics are available, most will do anything for money, so expect lots of grants on topics directly benefiting X.ai, Tesla, Neuralink, or SpaceX.

[Ar-Curunir]

There's multiple reasons why what you said is just wrong.

First, if academics wanted to work on topics mandated by somebody else, they would go work in industry for that somebody, and earn much more money than they earn right now.

Second, most academic scientists do not do anything relevant to Musk's companies. Do you expect a chemist to pivot to self-driving cars? Or a pure mathematician to whatever X.ai is doing?

The only thing this will lead to is a destruction of American capacity to carry out independent scientific research.

[timschmidt]

> First, if academics wanted to work on topics mandated by somebody else, they would go work in industry for that somebody, and earn much more money than they earn right now.

Very few academics become principle investigators. Most every academic who's not a PI is working on something for that PI.

[jltsiren]

The vast majority of those working for a PI are students and postdocs, which are inherently trainee positions. Though, depending on the field and the PI, trainees may also have plenty of freedom to work on their own topics. If you want an actual career in the academia, the main options are becoming a PI or choosing a teaching-focused position. There are some staff scientists and similar, but such positions are rarer than tenured professors.

[timschmidt]

> postdocs

> inherently trainee positions

Do we live on the same planet? I understand that the point of being an academic is to always be learning, but there's no place on earth I know of that thinks of someone with a PhD as a trainee.

> the main options are becoming a PI or choosing a teaching-focused position. There are some staff scientists and similar, but such positions are rarer than tenured professors.

Implying that one gets a choice is bold. My understanding is that there's a job for about 1 in 10 postdocs in academia these days.

[jltsiren]

A postdoc is a training position, where the individual further develops their skills and tries to build an independent profile while being mentored by a more senior academic. PhDs who work in someone else's projects without focusing as much on personal development typically have other job titles, such as project scientist or staff scientist.

Receiving a doctorate does not mean that you have finished your training. Some countries have habilitations or higher doctorates, which can be understood as more formal versions of postdoctoral training. Medical doctors are expected to specialize and receive more training as residents. Other fields have similar arrangements, some more and others less formal. If a full career is 50 years and the job requires a high degree of specialization, it can make sense to use the first ~15 years for training.

[cozzyd]

It's true that serial postdocs exist (though schools tend to have term limits and even limits on years since PhD on postdocs), but it is certainly intended to be a trainee role. Even postdocs with fancy fellowships generally have sponsors.

[Ar-Curunir]

Sure, but PhD students are still working on topics that they (at least partially) choose. As a PhD student in the USA, you have choice over your advisor, and hence choice over your research niche. Within that niche, you don't necessarily have full control over your project, but it is in everyone's interest to align the project with the student's interests; nobody wants a project that was half-assed because the student hated working on it.

[eli_gottlieb]

If you cut the grant-funding available by half, we will not, in fact, work on topics benefiting your company.

[pseudalopex]

Half won't at least.

[codezero]

having received NSF grants, this isn't how it works.