As I’ve mentioned previously on this blog, my next steps are taking me to West Africa to work on food security and environmental degradation with the Peace Corps. But the need for innovative science-minded people in non-traditional roles is an ongoing one, so how about we do a little brainstorming on the subject? I was kicking an idea around with a friend of mine the other day, about a sort of “fantasy job” that I’d like to have after returning to the States. She challenged me to flesh it out further, and I thought it might be interesting to do that here. Now, if the spirit moves anyone, how about posting your own version in the comments? So what’s my Design-A-Job? I would be Outreach Director for the Biotechnology Association of Maine.
Details below the jump.
So what’s the background? Maine, my state, has a fledgling biotechnology industry, which I very much hope will grow significantly. The biotechnology industry has formed what I guess would be called a “trade group” called the Biotechnology Association of Maine. Now what’s my problem with this group? Their conversations are Industry-Government, Industry-Hospital, or Industry-University. Speaking as a politically active Mainer, the only time the BAM has registered in the public discussion has been when they were complaining about the activity of some local environmental activists who were advocating for various moratoriums on GM-crops.
Now, growing a biotechnology industry in Maine is going to require a significant public investment during some very difficult economic times. And there is a significant overlap between the challenges of convincing mainstream voters to approve funding, and convincing various stripes of activists to consider the benefits of agricultural, medical, and environmental biotechnology. I’d love to be the person who phones up the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Food For Maine’s Future, and the Maine Organic Farmer’s and Gardiners Association (three VERY different environmental organizations in Maine) and starts those conversations. Likewise, I’d love to be the person who calls up the anti-tax activists, and starts those conversations as well, where the subject matter is likely to be different but the core goals would be the same: explain how investments in biotechnology achieve different societal goals, of economic development, environmental sustainability, and so on.
Last updated:
Tuesday, 29 Jul
2008 - 19:25 UTC
I tried to answer this, but I just don’t know. It’s an interesting question, and one that I really need to ask myself. I have some ideas, but I think my problem is that I actually want many small jobs rather than one big one. So, “freelance science communicator” I guess. =) Details to be determined.
I have my ideal science job. I just wish my contract wouldn’t run out next year.
Just for the heck of it, does your vision include some fallout from the excellent basic biology being carried out in Bar Harbor, at the Jackson Labs as well as in its commercial spinoff, Bar Harbor BioTechnology, and at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory? Or was that so obvious goes without saying?
I’m not quite sure what you mean by “fallout” but actually yes, Jackson Labs, MDIBL and Bar Harbor Biotechnology are exactly what I’d like to see supported as the foundation of a larger biotechnology industry. The problem, in my opinion, is the lack of public discussion in Maine outside of scientific circles about what kind of biotechnology industry we could build through economic policy and a strong University system. My concern is that most of “the public” who are discussing biotechnology are coming at it from an activist standpoint.
And now I’m envious of Sabine, at least for a year or so.
I suspect there is also a little bit of an inferiority complex relative to your near, if not adjacent, neighbor Massachusetts. But having spent a wonderful summer at Jax many years ago, I’m all for developing a new regional hub in biotech on the East Coast!
Sorry, fallout was not well chosen. I suppose I meant something like “the productions” or whatever.
I don’t know if I have my absolute ideal science job, but I must be pretty close.
I need some help with this one: I know what I want (and need) to get from the job, but not what it would be. My ideal science job would allow me to stay in touch with hands-on experimental (materials) science but also to promote science, to help the world be more easily enviro. friendly, to have a social life at work, to work with at least a few other women, to feel like I was doing things that more than ten specialists cared about… Maybe I also need a few jobs.
Yeah, that’s another important element. I have a tendency to focus on what specific job I’d like to get, but in real life (or rather, in my experience) it’s almost always a mix of generally enjoying the profession (whatever it may be) and the atmosphere of the workplace.