quote:

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Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"i don't know for a fact, but most of the grants here aren't funded by NSF. "

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Stinky is correct. NSF only pays summer salary and usually requires a match from the university. It sounds like the other school was sending "overhead" money back to the prof. That isn't allowed.

This is true for most gov. grants and that is why it's so hard to get the bonus money. I hear that some of the "grants" are really "pork" in that our senators in D.C. direct the Army , etc to fund certain projects.

If faculty want to do this it's OK with me, but why not just take a job in industry. You can do it full time with no teaching. Why work for a Univ. then buy out your teaching time?????

quote:

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Originally posted by: Otherside
"If faculty want to do this it's OK with me, but why not just take a job in industry. You can do it full time with no teaching. Why work for a Univ. then buy out your teaching time?????"

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Will these MIDAS checks bump up the recipient's future retirement benefits from the state of Mississippi? (The retirement benefits are based on a average of the four highest earning years.)

quote:

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Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"i don't know for a fact, but most of the grants here aren't funded by NSF. "

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What do you mean???  The two largest grants USM has received in recent years came from NSF.  I know because I wrote one of them!

Maybe in terms of quantity, most grants aren't funded by NSF, but there is plenty of grant $$ from the NSF at USM.

Please explain your comment!

quote:

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Originally posted by: Otherside
"  If faculty want to do this it's OK with me, but why not just take a job in industry. You can do it full time with no teaching. Why work for a Univ. then buy out your teaching time?????"

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<SARCASM> Because they wouldn't be able to be "lazy and unproductive" in industry. </SARCASM>

as i said, i could be wrong.  i have heard any number of COST faculty note that much of the grant money in the college is really "pork-barrel (sp?)."  by that i mean that it's not as competitive as going through channels like NSF; it often relies on connections with Lott or Cochran.  in fact, polymer science hired someone recently (i don't remember who) that had the perceived ability to get NSF money. 

quote:

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Originally posted by: stinky cheese man
"as i said, i could be wrong.  i have heard any number of COST faculty note that much of the grant money in the college is really "pork-barrel (sp?)."  by that i mean that it's not as competitive as going through channels like NSF; it often relies on connections with Lott or Cochran.  in fact, polymer science hired someone recently (i don't remember who) that had the perceived ability to get NSF money.  "

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Yep, "pork" (or "congressional marks," as they like to call it when they "pretty it up") does come to USM, as it does to many other universities.  The Polymer Palace was originally built with pork from the USDA (and connections to Cochran).  It's not competitive at all; it's about who you know and what sort of project you're proposing (i.e. can the congressperson get it through the federal budget process).  It is "funnelled" through various federal agencies, and it is the best kind of $$ since it has no (or virtually no) strings attached as grant or contract $$ does.  But since it doesn't buy out teaching loads, per se, does it count towards MIDAS?  Someone more in the know that me let us know about that.