And I hope, oh how I hope, that the positions eliminated in the US are administrative positions. That researchers, teaching assistants, lab technicians will keep their jobs.
Full Title: Johns Hopkins University slashes 2,000 jobs after Trump administration grant cut
> … 247 domestic U.S. workers for the academic institution and another 1,975 positions outside the U.S. in 44 countries.
> The job cuts impact the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health, its medical school and affiliated non-profit for international health, Jhpiego.
While "John Hopkins U" gets the clicks, it sounds like this is mostly about a non-profit doing international public health stuff.
The scientific research community is torn asunder right now. I have never seen moods this bad. It is weird to see one of the US's greatest strengths thrown away for little gain.
Every single economic analysis of NSF and NIH research funding that I have seen has shown economic return on investment from $2.5-$10 for every dollar of science spending.
Cutting off the future of science feels a lot like "saving money" by eliminating retirement savings. Sure, the money isn't going into the retirement account and now you can buy more beer, but it's just sacrificing far more future gains for a short term gain.
Indiscriminately hobbling your best institutions is like setting your middle-aged self up for recovery after falling off the workout wagon. I know because I'm an expert on falling off that wagon… One month off requires three or four months to just get back to the previous baseline. Three months off, and I need a year.
Hopefully enough of the culture of curiosity and open-minded inventiveness stays so that they have a fighting chance of making a comeback.
Otherwise, the US of A stands to experience net-brain-drain at a scale rivalling only India since Y2K to present day, and the former USSR after its heyday.
Now would be a fantastic time for governments worldwide to fund universities to hire folks away from the US.
When I was on the academic job market in 2018, I had offers in both the US and Canada. Ultimately, a combination of politics and grant funding led me to choose Canada. I saw how little disregard the Rs had for science funding, and how hard it already was to get grant funding in the US. I was worried that another R administration could slash research funding, but I never imagined it would be this bad.
Private companies already fund a ton of research in my area, but such funding usually comes with restrictions and demands that often conflict with the core goals of open academic research. So, NSF grants and the like are still crucial for funding basic scientific research that, while not immediately of commercial value (and thus not usually funded by private interests), often becomes commercially important years after being published.
My heart goes out to all of my colleagues and connections in the US who are likely going to be impacted by cuts in the next few years. It’s going to be a really brutal few years, and I hope our community can come out of this in one piece.
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10 Comments
virgildotcodes
[flagged]
dh2022
And I hope, oh how I hope, that the positions eliminated in the US are administrative positions. That researchers, teaching assistants, lab technicians will keep their jobs.
neuronexmachina
I wonder how many deaths the USAID cuts will cause in the next decade. Congrats again to everyone who voted for this.
bell-cot
Full Title: Johns Hopkins University slashes 2,000 jobs after Trump administration grant cut
> … 247 domestic U.S. workers for the academic institution and another 1,975 positions outside the U.S. in 44 countries.
> The job cuts impact the university's Bloomberg School of Public Health, its medical school and affiliated non-profit for international health, Jhpiego.
While "John Hopkins U" gets the clicks, it sounds like this is mostly about a non-profit doing international public health stuff.
epistasis
The scientific research community is torn asunder right now. I have never seen moods this bad. It is weird to see one of the US's greatest strengths thrown away for little gain.
Every single economic analysis of NSF and NIH research funding that I have seen has shown economic return on investment from $2.5-$10 for every dollar of science spending.
Cutting off the future of science feels a lot like "saving money" by eliminating retirement savings. Sure, the money isn't going into the retirement account and now you can buy more beer, but it's just sacrificing far more future gains for a short term gain.
Foolish at best, and traitorous at worst.
michaelhoney
The US government has opened the top of the body politic's skull and it's hacking out chunks of the soft matter inside.
adityaathalye
Indiscriminately hobbling your best institutions is like setting your middle-aged self up for recovery after falling off the workout wagon. I know because I'm an expert on falling off that wagon… One month off requires three or four months to just get back to the previous baseline. Three months off, and I need a year.
Hopefully enough of the culture of curiosity and open-minded inventiveness stays so that they have a fighting chance of making a comeback.
Otherwise, the US of A stands to experience net-brain-drain at a scale rivalling only India since Y2K to present day, and the former USSR after its heyday.
whatever1
They can always protest! Oh wait they will be stripped of their rights, thrown to jail and / or get deported.
nneonneo
Now would be a fantastic time for governments worldwide to fund universities to hire folks away from the US.
When I was on the academic job market in 2018, I had offers in both the US and Canada. Ultimately, a combination of politics and grant funding led me to choose Canada. I saw how little disregard the Rs had for science funding, and how hard it already was to get grant funding in the US. I was worried that another R administration could slash research funding, but I never imagined it would be this bad.
Private companies already fund a ton of research in my area, but such funding usually comes with restrictions and demands that often conflict with the core goals of open academic research. So, NSF grants and the like are still crucial for funding basic scientific research that, while not immediately of commercial value (and thus not usually funded by private interests), often becomes commercially important years after being published.
My heart goes out to all of my colleagues and connections in the US who are likely going to be impacted by cuts in the next few years. It’s going to be a really brutal few years, and I hope our community can come out of this in one piece.
GuestFAUniverse
$800.000.000 / 2000 Positons = $400.000 / Position
Wow. Even with expenses apart from income, that is a lot of money. Most companies I receive job offers from do not make so much _revenue_ per person.
I not a fan of DT and EM, but boy… there seems to be an unsustainable spending issue in the US.