NSF plant post docs

[Tobias Baskin]

Greetings, 
         As a former NSF plant post doc, I do feel that the program helped
my career enormously. I did a second post doc overseas, and I am a great
believer in a global villiage for science.
 
        However, I am also a believer that for many projects and many
circumstances, a foriegn piece of the 2-3yr post doc is simply
inappropriate. My suggestion is that the NSF have a special "foreign
project award" that would pay for a 6 month to 1 year visit overseas. This
would be open to grad students/ post docs/ faculty. In this way, the
important opportunity for working abroad could be widely offered and taken.
 These awards would be devoted to research, in contrast to the Fulbrights,
which have a substantial teaching component.

        Then, the new "evironmental" post doc awards could select for the
best persons doing the best projects, without any extraneous constraints,
however laudable, such as going overseas.

        Thanks for listening,

        Tobias Baskin
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Tobias I. Baskin                            Baskin at biosci.mbp.missouri.edu
University of Missouri * Division of Biological Sciences * 109 Tucker Hall
Columbia, MO 65211 USA      voice: 314-882-0173          fax: 314-882-0123
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