“Extreme space weather isn’t sexy”
Things aren’t going so hot for me. My advisor wants me to find another advisor. I’d prefer a female physics advisor but of course there are none. I knew I was going to have issues w/ this advisor when I was telling him about my space weather mitigation plans & he said no one is going to fund or work on this bc it isn’t sexy. (Wtf?) Does everyone choose their respective field/science/career based on sexiness? Plz tell me this is delusional. It would help, k, thx.
“Extreme space weather isn’t sexy”
@carlysagan if funding is allocated based on what people think is sexy, I might need to rethink my entire understanding of human sexuality…
Personally, I only think about sexiness in a few contexts, and none of them are professional, academic, or financial. People who describe other kinds of appeal by analogy to sex make me uneasy, and I don’t expect them to have either good priorities or healthy relationships
“Extreme space weather isn’t sexy”
@ShadSterling haha exactly. There does seem to be a problem with venture capital only funding stuff they think is “cool and sexy” or whatever - but for an academic to say that was really disturbing for me. Surely NASA, NSF, DoD, etc are thinking beyond sexiness? lol
“Extreme space weather isn’t sexy”
@carlysagan For public funding I think it's a mix. Funding agencies do have some core areas of interest that they're always going to fund because they're useful, but there are also academic trends or fads that do seem to influence funding significantly (I'm speaking less from personal experience and more from what I've heard from other academics). Some people structure their careers around chasing whatever is trendy (which I think is a more descriptive term than "sexy") others don't pay much attention to the trends. The former is probably the easier path but may be less likely to result in significant, lasting contributions to the field.
“Extreme space weather isn’t sexy”
@carlysagan I know that when I was interested in studying quantum gravity my advisor warned me off it, basically because he knew it was a difficult area with paltry funding. I ended up doing my dissertation in quantum open systems/quantum information (which was and remains well funded). He didn't really make it an edict, but it was at least a very strong suggestion. I do think it's important for advisors to point out the practical implications of these choices, but once a student had their eyes open then I think the advisor should work to help them follow the path they wish (even if it's with a different advisor). There are, unfortunately, those who view their grad students as little more than cheap labor and will strong arm them into studying whatever will bring the most grant money into the group. In my own experience, though, those were by far the minority.