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An insightful critique helped Janelia Farm’s architect find his vision. More

The birth of a first child is always a momentous event, as it was for Monica Coenraads when her daughter Chelsea arrived in October 1996. More

“Young scientists, at the height of their research productivity, are expected to become lab managers, fundraisers, and administrators when they should be in the lab cranking out results in experiments. Ultimately, you have to grow up and deal with these responsibilities, but I think we should nurture newly independent scientists so that success at this level is about more than just getting your grants.”

“Our generation grew up scientifically during the advent of the Internet and cell phones. As a result, we suffer from so-called ‘constant partial attention’ as our line of thoughts are continually interrupted by demand from colleagues, students, vendors, publishers, and of course sports scores. Instead of spending time in the library, we compulsively download and print papers from online journals and never read them. I need more time ‘off line’.”

“Perhaps it is nostalgia, but it strikes me that in the previous generation the pace of research was much more conducive to scholarship. To achieve a bold, long-term research vision, one might not want to publish anything for several years in order to lay the groundwork for something more profound. But the tempo and structure of the grants and tenure process make this impractical for most young scientists.”

“One of the main challenges I face daily, in addition to trying to keep up with the most updated literature, is trying to find sources of funding for my laboratory. It is devastating to hear other young scientists, who have not been as lucky as I have been, talk about their inability to stay in the field and their subsequent move to the private sector.”