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Hi hmcbride,
I will see if I can find a program officer to comment on how it feels long-term. Or maybe to make another posting about this issue.
cheers,
Laura
I talked to some program officers from the NIH as well who had interesting paths to the positions. Some were from industry which made sense to me given the translational nature of NIH funded science. Some were "on leave" and some had made the change to giving out the money instead of writing for it as postdoc girl stated. It's certainly intriguing, although it would also be depressing to see so many good people not get funding. I'd like to hear more from the program officers as to how they feel about their positions. Is it one they could handle for the long term?
Hi scifemXX,
If you go to the NSF web site at NSF.gov, there will be a button along the left side marked "career opportunities" and if you click it, you can find out all the openings available there at present. You can also contact specific program officers, say in chemistry or biology divisions, and ask if they know of any upcoming openings. Good hunting!
cheers,
Laura
I've always wondered how they got program officers. I assume people just contact NSF and ask about openings. It's good to have a sense that they would consider academics, and also that at least some places would give academics leave to go there for a year or two. Does NSF advertise for program officers?
I'm glad you're interested, postdoc girl. Later this month, we'll have a posting on being a pollicy intern at American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, which is a short term opportunity that can lead to lots of interesting options to follow, by another guest forum poster, so stay tuned!
cheers,
Laura
Great! Sounds very interesting to give out money and influence the direction of research or how groups work together. Maybe more fun than constantly begging for money to do my experiments.