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Category Archives: funding

One of the many causes of the financial crisis in universities these days

A colleague at Purdue puts it in perspective in a Bloomberg News article:  College Costs Rise With $250,000-a-Year Bureaucrats

University of Florida eliminates Computer Science Department

There are  budget cuts and layoff everywhere. We have already heard before that Florida State dissolved academic departments to fight the financial crisis. And now the University of Florida is going to eliminate Computer Science Department, a really disturbing move. From Steven Salzberg’s blog: The University of Florida announced this past week that it was […]

Building cheap machines with LEGO for research

I am so envious of these people who can build a useful machine by LEGO which can save money. The building part itself must be a lot of fun! From boingboing.net:  LEGO robots in the laboratory

Occupy Science

This is a cross post from a discussion thread on my facebook, after the UC Davis pepper spray incidence. There are interesting ideas that are worthwhile to think further. It is also interesting to see that there are scientists joining the actual Occupy protests… um..  I still think the problem is not merely the lack […]

Can Lytro camera be an economical replacement of confocal microscopy?

These days with tight budget and poor economy, I am always intrigued in finding ways to conserve my research funding, which I think is a responsible approach to research rather than the big spending and throwing-away-old-but-good-equipment mentality. For example, all monitors in my office are old, unwanted CRT monitors. The oldest one is a Sony […]

Douglas Prasher and the Green Fluorescent Protein

The other day I shared the story of Douglas Prasher‘s with the medical students in my class.  Dr. Prasher’s contribution to the study of Green Fluorescent Protein had ultimately led to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008; however he was not one of the laureates because of life circumstances. During my preparation, I read some […]

U.S. Biggest Budget Cuts in History

It has always been my role to tell you the reality and teach you how to fish, and not giving you a fish, nor the bogus “American Dream” or things-will-somehow-get-better hope. I have been saying for a while that the economy is going to be much worse and now the really hard time is going […]