QUESTION FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS RECEIVING STIPENDS......

[Psychedelic_MackDaddy]

Is it true that if a PhD student is being funded with money from the EPA, they are now SOL?

 

[kgilbert78]

Grants don't go away that quickly. And most profs have more than one funding source. When I was in school, I was working on boron chemistry. One of the grants we used was one from the US Army. Why? There was a thought that boranes (which spontaneously combust in the presence of oxygen) might make (a) a good rocket fuel or (b) a good explosive. So the Army made tons of boranes and then had to find a use for it. Enter our grant.

 

[Nitt1300]

It's probably the environment that's SOL

 

[Tweedbear]

Another example of anti science, remember the bans on T cell research. Notice all the fantastic discoveries in the last eight years.

 

[kgilbert78]

Another example of anti science, remember the bans on T cell research. Notice all the fantastic discoveries in the last eight years.

One is always going to be a little more careful with human research. There are ethics involved that may not apply to other areas of science. I'm ok with that.

 

[Langmuir]

I think it is more of a problem for the professor than the student. My stipend was always the same no matter where the money was coming from. The stipend, I thought always comes through the university and at the end of the day they still have to pay it. The university may give the professor a hard time if the grant money dries up and there may be no money for new equipment. Post-doc positions may be another story.

 

[CairoLion25]

I think it is more of a problem for the professor than the student. My stipend was always the same no matter where the money was coming from. The stipend, I thought always comes through the university and at the end of the day they still have to pay it. The university may give the professor a hard time if the grant money dries up and there may be no money for new equipment. Post-doc positions may be another story.

Ph.D's are funded by the university. You usually get funding, as long as you a performing well, for 4-5 years with your advidsor depending on the program. After that, if you are not done and wish to continue, you can apply for assistantships with certain university centers or offices that have grants for research. That, or if a particular professor in your department has a large grant, let's say from the NSF, you can get picked up under that. There are usually 1-2 spots in each Ph.D program, and I'm speaking social sciences here, that come from an outside source are "endow" a position or particular research theme. For example, I know a colleague that was interested in Ottoman history but his admittance to Georgetown for a Ph.D was under a grant that required him to study environmental history within Ottoman Empire and its impact on conflict.

 

[91Joe95]

Is it true that if a PhD student is being funded with money from the EPA, they are now SOL?

Sadly, no.