I remember those nights spent prototyping nanotech in Rice University labs as a non-PhD student, feeling both the thrill and frustration of research. The biggest challenges were funding and the assumption that PhD thesis holders had priority access to costly equipment like TEM and SEM. I wished for a system that valued creating real products as much as publishing papers.
Success should be judged by solving industry challenges, not just by publications. This shift would make academia feel more like startups—focused on innovation and meaningful impact instead of bureaucratic hurdles.
That system already exists. It's called the industry. It spends an order of magnitude more on R&D than the academia, and it also pays you better. And if you are young, the career options are less risky.
Academic research is mostly about topics that don't make sense in other contexts. Maybe they are too exploratory or too unpredictable, or the applications are too far away. Or maybe there is no plausible way to extract value from the applications.
I remember those nights spent prototyping nanotech in Rice University labs as a non-PhD student, feeling both the thrill and frustration of research. The biggest challenges were funding and the assumption that PhD thesis holders had priority access to costly equipment like TEM and SEM. I wished for a system that valued creating real products as much as publishing papers.
Success should be judged by solving industry challenges, not just by publications. This shift would make academia feel more like startups—focused on innovation and meaningful impact instead of bureaucratic hurdles.
That system already exists. It's called the industry. It spends an order of magnitude more on R&D than the academia, and it also pays you better. And if you are young, the career options are less risky.
Academic research is mostly about topics that don't make sense in other contexts. Maybe they are too exploratory or too unpredictable, or the applications are too far away. Or maybe there is no plausible way to extract value from the applications.