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Top-level
@johncarlosbaez She's an SVP at BioNTech and has been in private industry for the last 10 years (after starting her own company to attempt to commercialize in 2006). I don't think at that point you have time or need to be TT. Not to take away that UPenn trying to bask in the achievement seems very off putting. I wonder why she stayed there especially after the 2005 papers were published. 22 comments
@johncarlosbaez @benleis  @nilsskirnir @johncarlosbaez @benleis PLZ let her come to Cal, she'd be brill here, and we have a TON of cutting-edge orgs that would pay her what she deserved! @DrGeof @johncarlosbaez @benleis Isn't Stanford looking for a new Head Panjandrum of some sort or the other? @thepoliticalcat - Katalin Karikó may not want to be Head Pajandrum. Since 2019 she was senior vice president of BioNTech RNA Pharmaceuticals, but in 2022 she left BioNTech to devote more time to research. So I think she mainly wants to do research, not administration. @johncarlosbaez @benleis They will use the fact that an adjunct won the Nobel to push all the faculty to adjunct status. @brinnbelyea @johncarlosbaez @benleis Good one! or tell all adjuncts that they should be proud and love being slaves(ish) @johncarlosbaez @benleis high level academic institutions admitting they were wrong 😑 don’t bet on it She doesn't have to accept promotion or tenure and she probably doesn't have to route the Nobel money through that affiliation. I'd keep the appointment, reject promotion and tenure, accept another appointment at another school and route the money through that affiliation. But I'm a vindictive old guy so I have behavioral flaws related to large institutions and how they're run. You're right of course but I'm a grant funded person so I think in those terms. I've also spent "Start-up"/faculty development money to collect data and publish papers and having a pot of money that big would mean that I could do some of the "unfundable" work I'd like to do! I'd just be certain to do it with as little benefit to the institution as possible given their past behavior.  @johncarlosbaez @benleis Have you met men? Especially the most petty version like the ones who already didn't support her work. They are not going to suddenly stop being assholes now she's shown herself to be a better scientist and gotten bigger accolades than them. @benleis @johncarlosbaez it is entirely possible remaining embedded in the academy was valuable to her? This isn’t hard. I'm assuming the collaboration with Weissman must have been rewarding/productive enough to keep her at the lab but at that point it feels like she could have procured an appointment at an institution that actually valued her once the breakthrough publications had been published. (Or UPenn could have recognized her which it doesn't seem to have done until now) I'm also sure there are details here I'm not privy to @benleis @johncarlosbaez Oh, but she was TT, so her actions imply that for her it was important and found it useful to lead to the development of mRNA, Ben. @Adirondack - that's extremely interesting. How do you know that stuf! I can see websites confirming that Susan Francia is Katalin Karikó's mother, but not that her mother kept that job for the staff discount on tuition. @benleis - I recall her mentioning it in an early interview. These links have been buried in the latest news, it seems. Will share when I find it.  @benleis @johncarlosbaez I think the bit about tenure is what the French call "le sarcasme". |
Gregory's Server
@benleis - it's possible UPenn will now get so embarrassed having her listed as an adjunct on their website that they'll make her tenure track and quickly give her tenure.
https://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g325/p13418