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I ran into a basic science faculty member at Au Bon Pain while I was buying lunch yesterday. He mentors a lot of MD-PhDs in my program. He asked me what I was up to, so I told him I was working on a grant that is due April 8th.
"Oh! What agency?"
"The [agency where he commonly applies], in fact."
"Oh! Who's lab are you in, again?"
"Um, I'm an EPIDEMIOLOGY student. I have a cubicle. Not a lab."
Looks skeptical. "Oh. What's the grant on?"
So I started telling him what it was about. After about 15 seconds he cuts me off.
"What kind of grant is this?"
"An F30."
Raises eyebrows, snorts, starts turning away, "Yeah? Well good luck with THAT." Walks quickly away.
So, I understand the skepticism to a degree, since pretty much all basic science researchers I know think that anything other than basic science research is bullshit.* But if these basic science people ever actually read a) the program announcement that their funding agencies put out, or b) the mission statement of the funding agency, they would see that they welcome grants in Epidemiology, Population Sciences, and Health Services. They say they WANT applications from people who are doing qualitative methods, analyses of big databases, etc.
Replaying this interaction in my head, I imagine the conversation ending with me "accidentally" spilling my hot soup all over his
So, basic science person, why must you behave like a giant jerk? I don't give a crap about the kind of research you do, but I still pretend to be interested when YOU tell ME.
*Actual word used by a faculty member regarding my research when I was interviewing here.
6 Pearls of Wisdom:
I seriously doubt the exchange was a hit to your field. More likely, basic science faculty have been rejected, threated, pressured, etc. with their jobs, tenure, reputation etc. Maybe he'd been rejected from that specific grant and it was a sore spot. Still, not really reason to be an asshole though, I agree. You should have gone for the coffee trick :)
Fair enough, perhaps I misinterpreted the exchange. He still wasn't very nice though. :-P
FYI - He can't apply for F30s since they are for MD-PhD students. I think he was skeptical about my application however, because very few (like probably less than 3) applications for F30s have ever come from non-basic science applicants.
As a fellow MD/PhD in a non-basic science field (health services research), I have to agree with you about many of our basic science colleagues. And, frankly, the lack of support extends to the institution that I'm in, which gives a whole honk of a lot more funding and support to those students, not that I'm complaining. Ok, yes I am.
Regardless, hello fellow student!
Unscrambled -- So totally true. All the special funding opportunities, guest speakers, mini-retreats, etc. are ALL geared to basic science people. It's so irritating!
They'll say something like, "Well, why don't you suggest a speaker in YOUR field to invite." I'm like, really? Do you think I want to subject someone I respect in my field to your DISrespect? I don't think so.
Ugh. So true. The other thing that gets my goad is how easy people think non basic science research is... the other day a classmate said to me 'oh I had such a hard day in the lab, i just want to do something easy... clinical research here I come'... and since clinical research is what I do I was like 'mmmm' and in my head thinking 'you are a no-nothing assholette who i will now avoid'.
Haha, I think all of us (especially non-trads) are collecting lists of our classmates:
1. You're good right now, I would send people to you (the few)
2. You'll be ok once you've lived a bit (let's check back in a decade)
3. No, never, nunca, jamais. You are the reason why we have such a bad rap. (far too many)
Maybe we should have a way for all of us to talk to each other? I'm in my first year, and even though there's quite a large MD/PhD track at my school in a non-physical science discipline, I still feel like a polar bear on an island frequently enough.
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