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8 articles
For decades, citation counts and grant dollars have served as the de facto report card of American science. A growing movement of universities and professional societies is testing narrative CVs, open peer review, and other frameworks that ask a harder question: what does a good scientist actually look like?
Rejection letters are among the most widely read documents in American science, yet the least discussed. KSMV members reflect on what declined proposals taught them about sharpening questions, assembling teams, and enduring a funding climate where even excellent work goes unfunded.
Hybrid hiring has changed the calculus for academic couples negotiating shared careers. Interviews with recent job seekers and department chairs reveal where remote searches create openings — and where they quietly close doors.
Academic training produces world-class experimentalists and first-time managers in the same breath, yet the managerial half of the job is almost never taught. We spoke with early-career PIs across the United States about the skills gap they confronted on day one, and compiled a practical checklist for anyone about to open their own lab.
The average American postdoc spends six years earning less than a regional truck driver, all for a PI appointment that fewer than one in five will ever land. KSMV examines why the final step of the scientific pipeline is its leakiest — and what societies like ours owe the researchers stuck in it.
With NIH paylines stuck near historic lows, a growing number of KSMV members are building research careers that don't depend on a single federal award. This report surveys the alternative funding architecture — philanthropic partnerships, industry collaborations, and state programs — and asks whether the traditional pipeline can be repaired.
Hybrid sessions, asynchronous posters, and open-review formats are quietly rewriting the rules of scientific meetings. KSMV members fresh off their first major conferences describe what works, what doesn't, and where the annual meeting is headed by 2030.
Federal science funding decisions are made just miles from the bench, yet most researchers never engage with the process. KSMV member-advocates share how laboratory scientists can meaningfully shape policy—without stepping away from their research careers.