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Current problems with funding PhD programs
The dairy industry’s need for scientifically trained personnel is increasing while academic output of Ph.D.’s with a dairy emphasis is decreasing. This enhanced requirement for industry scientists is the obvious result of a maturing, evolving, and increasingly educated global dairy industry. Reasons for the reduction in the number of Ph.D.’s are less apparent and multifaceted. Firstly, the field of “dairy science” is becoming more geographically regionalized and thus many U.S. land-grant institutions have either de-emphasized or eliminated their dairy curriculum and dairy research capabilities. Secondly, the means by which graduate students are funded has markedly changed during the last 30 years. In the past, most faculty members were “allocated” state appropriated monies that were utilized to pay graduate student stipends and fund research projects. At most universities, these state “lines” have either experienced severe attrition or in most cases have completely been eliminated. Although variable among universities, current graduate student stipends (direct and indirect costs) range between $25,000 and $40,000 annually. Consequently, faculty are required to generate approximately $70,000 or $140,000 in stipend funds for a M.S. or Ph.D. student, respectively, in order to graduate students in a timely manner. Funds to support research are necessary in addition to the stipend; raising total training costs for a Ph.D. to well-over $300,000. Federal grants (USDA, NSF, NIH, etc.) are often monetarily large (i.e. $300,000 to 1 million), typically run for 3 to 5 years and are generally “focused” on a specific area of biology. However, the likelihood that a PI can continuously fund a research program based upon competitive funding is low, as success rates on federal grants are commonly less than 10%, and this is especially true for applied researchers. Alternate sources of research funding are commodity groups and the allied industry. However, relying upon industry funding to train a Ph.D. student requires successfully obtaining at least 4 years’ worth of industry grants large enough to complete a student’s degree. Further, research revenue from different aspects of the industry will undoubtedly create inconsistencies in the area and type of research that the student conducts. Consequently, the experiments are less likely to “build upon each other” and lack biological continuity; circumstances that compromises critical thinking and jeopardizes scientific independence. Therefore, untraditional and creative funding strategies are urgently needed in order to meet the global demand for technically trained dairy scientists. Potential strategies will be provided in the presentation.
Keywords: funding