Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You let Jenny prove herself and pursue a grant for multiple sclerosis
research.
Because Jenny has great potential, and since you know you'll be unable
to secure funding for two major projects, you decide to pursue a grant in
the area of multiple sclerosis.
Jenny is a student and will only be at the university for a few more years,
so you want to give her the opportunity to work on the project of her choice.
You can always pursue a grant in rheumatoid arthritis at a later date.
So, you ask Jenny to provide preliminary data to support her idea, then
give her two months and certain resources to demonstrate the idea. After that
time, she is expected to come up with a preliminary plan, including a set
of expected results.
Jenny gets right to work and provides you with the documentation you need
to pursue funding.
This is the real-life decision made by Dr. Ben Koop.
"Many of the decisions are based on the expertise and skill levels of students
and their interests. In many cases, the key ingredient in a particular research
project is the interest and desire of the student," Koop says.
"If the student is talented in one area and is interested in pursuing a
research project, then that's the way we would go. If the student is perhaps
floundering and not so sure of him or herself, then we might switch areas."
What happens if you have an existing project, and a student wants to branch
out into another area of the same project?
"If you have funding for one area, and a sideline looks very promising,
then in most cases, granting agencies will allow you to shift, not tremendously,
but to some degree," Koop says.
"There's a certain degree of freedom that a student has to pursue his or
her own ideas as well, and that's expected."