Life of an Academic in the US
Life of an Academic in the USExcept for three years of full time work in industry I have spent my live in academia in the US. Even though I had only worked for one university in my entire career, I did spent semester long sabbaticals in residence in UC Berkeley, U.Texas Autstin, Imperial College in London and short visits to countless scholarly institutions around the world. Thus, it might be worthwhile for me to describe for my Chinese sciencenet readers my 40+ years experience and contrast them wherever appropriate with practices in China. Of course, the types of universities in the US are enormous. I am talking primarily of research universities. Excellent purely teaching college, such Williams College in Wiliamstown, Massachusetts, Swarthmore College in Philadelphia, Pa, etc. are not included. Lastly, what I describe below are my personal experiences and should not be construed as typical or general truth.
To advance your career in a first class university, you have basically two routes. First you can be a great teacher (not just good teacher). This means you have to be able to create, organize and teach large and popular undergraduate courses such as beginning economics, physics, or computer science. This is easily said than done. Because the number of people in a department technically qualified to teach such course are many. You have to demonstrate extraordinary teaching and innovative ability. Furthermore, the number of such course with large undergraduate demand in a university are few. In my 40+ years at Harvard, I have seen many very good or near great teachers did not get tenure and had to leave. (footnote: In the US, we have the so-called seven year rule: you either get tenure or you must leave the university within a seven year trial period. Universities do not observe this rule will be blacklisted by the American Association of University Professors AAUP.). The other route to advancement is of course through research. While teaching is basically a local phenomenon, research is world wide. The cost-benefit of excellent research is greatly in favor of research over teaching. But here in first rank universities, you are competing with the entire world. For example in tenure decisions at Harvard, comparison with other authorities in your field world wide are deliberately sought when your case comes up for evaluation. After my own promotion from within Harvard in 1965, our department did not promote another junior faculty member to tenure for 30 years in the systems field. Although you will not get the president and deans to publicly admit this, I have recognized early and have continued to counsel young faculty members that “Harvard pays you to maintain and enhance her international reputations. Everything else is secondary”. Thus, rule #1 – Establish your world wide scholarly reputation early.
To pursue research you must have funds and students. In fact without funding you cannot support and thus have students. Depending on the availability of scholarships or fellowships, most graduate students are supported by the research funds of their thesis advisers in the US. It cost US$50,000 per year more or less to support one graduate student. If you have 5-6 ph.d. students in the pipeline at any one time, then your minimal budget is more than quarter a million dollars per year which the professor must apply for and compete with other scientists in your field nation wide. In the first two years of supporting a graduate student, you basically get no return. A ph.d student only begins to produce in the third and fourth year. Thus, a professor invests quite a bit when s/he begins to support a student. I have known colleagues who swear that s/he will never admit another Chinese students because they come for one or two years and then leave for a better school or opportunity. While America is a free country, legally there is no obligation to stay and complete your ph.d, ethically one has certain obligations after a professor has invested so much in you. This is something not all Chinese students realize and such behavior burns the bridge (过河折桥) for student that plans to follow.
At least 25% of you working time for active academic scientists are consumed by writing proposals, reports, and papers in addition to real research effort. Thus, rule #2 – Learn to write and speak well and know what subjects are hot, i.e.时势造英雄 (Of course, even better is to create a research subject yourself and convince the world it is hot. 英雄造时势).
Both rules #1 and #2 mean that you must be “visible” to the rest of the world. You do this by publishing papers in prestige journals and give good talks at conferences. Many scientists consider doing the research is of paramount importance, but writing a paper and giving a talk on your results as more or less trivial tasks in comparison. But unless you have truly world shaking results such as the theory of relativity or the human genetic code, your work will be competing for attention with thousands of others who are just as smart as your are. In fact, it is my personal opinion that having a good idea, writing a good paper to report it, and giving a good presentation of it are three SEPARATE, and equally IMPORTANT endeavors. Efforts involved in each are distinct and different. Giving a presentation does not mean producing a set of PowerPoint slides from cut-and-pasting your written papers and nor reading paragraphs from your papers. Too often we see otherwise brilliant scientists give poor or un-intelligible talks. In fact, by definition a good talk must be understandable to the average audience and yet at the same time be impressive to the experts. Statistics say that an average published technical paper is read by less than five persons including the editor and referees. But a good talk are heard by dozens of people and hundred or even thousands for plenary talks. One month after your talk most of the audience will not remember what you talked about without reinforcement. But they will remember the fact that you gave a good talk for many years. The reward of such audience-centered presentation effort often surprises you in unexpected ways. On this point, the program officers of various government funding agencies go to conferences primarily for the purpose of finding out what topics are hot and who are worth supporting. They are often in the audiences when you give a talk. The importance of giving a good and understandable presentation are obvious. Yet I am continuously surprised to find brilliant scientists insist on giving self-centered, incomprehensible, and arrogant talks. When I was younger, I use to consider myself ignorant if I cannot follow a talk. Nowadays, if I cannot understand what the speaker is saying, I blame the speaker. It is his duty to make his presentation clear and not wasting my time. My motto is “one can make anything understandable to anybody in any amount of time at the appropriate level”.
Traditionally, devoting your life to scholarly endeavor means committing to relative poverty since academic salary cannot compare with that of industry and commerce. However, in science and technology this is not necessarily true anymore. Consulting for industry can add to your income substantially. But the real benefit of consulting is the fact you are dealing with real problems which often inspire new research directions. Any success you achieve will have a cheering team ( 拉拉队) automatically built in. No extra efforts are needed to convince others of the importance of your work. And you will be not spending effort on something no one is interested in (钻入牛角尖). Almost all US universities recognize this benefit and permit their faculty one day per week to pursue such consulting endeavors. In my own case, I have continuously consulted throughout my academic career and can claim all my good research ideas came from taking on consulting work which I know very little about at the start. The right kind of consulting is truly a win-win-win situation for the client, the university, and yourself.
Another fringe benefit of academic life is that you get to travel extensively by attending international conferences on official business. Unlike business meetings where time is tight and you basically go in and out of a place with little time for leisure activity. You generally find time during or after conferences for tourist activities. (see the example of the blog by Dr. 王鸿飞 recently in these pages). The marginal cost to you is minimal compare to the entire cost of travel. There is a travel book entitled “1000 place to visit before you die”. In 40+ years of academic travel, my wife and I have been to 230 of the 1000 places listed as well as places not listed. There is an old Chinese saying: 走千里路胜读万卷. You actually learn a lot from being a tourist. Furthermore, in academia you have friends all over the world that you have only met for the first time. Because of your shared interest in the subject of research, it is truly 一见如古. They are excellent local guides. (footnote: I once asked one of my Chinese graduate student to help a visitor from South America. Upon return, she was so excited to tell me that this complete stranger understood the exact subtleties of her thesis research despite the fact they have never met, are from different countries separated by geography and generation. Such meeting of minds is the indescribable joys of research).
Speaking about the joys of research, when you discovered something good for the first time after months of hard work you enjoy that few seconds of ecstasy that you are the only person in the world who knows this truth. Such a feeling is difficult to describe. You will not be able to sit still, you pace back and forth, you will not be able to sleep that night, and sometimes your stomach will tie into knots in pleasurable pain. Although I cannot say for sure since I don’t have the experience of commerce. This pleasure of discovery cannot be less than if you just win a big contract or made a killing in the stock market. If I experience such feeling once a year, I am very satisfied. If one looks back over his life on all the papers he has written and published, perhaps 10% stood the test of time. This is very much like travel. You are glad you have been to various places. But only a few localities are truly memorable.
Above all, the life of an academic is basically flexible and on your terms. You are your own boss. With the exception of funding, you have far less of the many mundane and uninteresting duties of an ordinary business person. Nearly 50% of your time you can devote to things you truly enjoy, i.e., research and seeking truth. And I always tell my students that in life if you like 50% of the things you do in your job, it is a GREAT job! Because you like what you do, you do work very hard. Weekends and holidays are no different. 20 hour day and 100 hour week are frequent. Even at my age and officially retired , more than half of my waking hours are dealing with scholarly and technical matters.
Things I learned through many stays in China and articles I read here in this sciencenet blog tell me that the academic life in China is beginning to globalize and resemble academic life in rest of the world. I look forward to exchange more notes with colleagues here and elsewhere in the future.
本文引用地址：http://www.sciencenet.cn/blog/user_content.aspx?id=1808
评论：
标题：Asking for the suggestions on research topics
发表评论人：Haidafu
Dear Dr. Ho,
I am lucky to read such useful articles here and get many insights. I have some questions and hope to get your suggestions.
You mentioned that People need to know the hot subjects in their area. My first question is "how can we know/predict these hot subjects"? by attending the conference?
As an area becomes mature enough, almost all unsolved problems are very tough. Maybe only few People can make a ground breaking contribution. Should we continue to work on these tough problems?
Thank you very much.
作者：何毓琦 来源：科学网 发布时间：2007-5-11
编者按：哈佛大学终身教授、美国工程院院士、中国科学院及中国工程院外籍院士何毓琦博士长期从事系统控制科学及工程应用研究，在最优控制、微分对策、团队论、离散事件动态系统和智能系统等方面做出了重大贡献。是动态系统现代控制理论的创导者之一。何毓琦博士长期致力于祖国大陆的科研发展，不但培养了多名中国学生，更在2001年受聘清华讲座教授。何毓琦博士以敢于针砭时弊闻名科学界，2007年4月25日入驻科学网博客以来，受到网民的热烈欢迎。现根据部分网民的要求，全文翻译《一个大学教授在美国的生活》（Life of an Academic in the US）一文，希望对中国读者有所帮助。
除了在工业界全职工作了三年，我的整个学术生涯都是在美国渡过的。尽管我一直只供职于一所大学，我在伯克利、得克萨斯大学奥斯丁分校、伦敦帝国学院做过整学期的访问学者，而且还对全世界无数学校和研究机构进行过短期访问。因此，将我40余年的经历与科学网的中国读者分享大概是一件有意义的事情。此外，在适当的时候，我愿意将这些在美国的经历与中国的情况相对照。当然了，美国大学的种类很多，我将主要讨论研究型大学。一些非常优秀的纯教学院校则不在我的讨论范围之内，如马萨诸塞州威廉姆镇的威廉姆斯学院（Williams College）和宾夕法尼亚州费城的斯沃特穆尔学院（Swarthmore College）。最后，下面写的都是我的个人经历，请不要当作典型或者真理。
在一流大学晋升主要通过两种途径。第一，成为一名伟大的教师（仅仅优秀是不够的）。也就是说，你能够在教授常见本科课程，比如基础经济学、基础物理、计算机入门等课程的时候发挥创造性和组织能力。这说起来容易，做起来难。因为从学术水平上讲，一个系里能够教这种课的老师很多，你必须表现出超常的教学和创造力。另外，学校里选课人数众多的本科课程其实很少。我在哈佛待了40多年，经常看到非常优秀甚至近乎伟大的老师没有拿到终身职位，不得不离开哈佛。（注：美国大学盛行一种制度，即所谓的“七年试用期”，在这七年里，你要么拿到终身职位，要么走人。不遵守这“七年试用期”的学校会被列入美国大学教授联合会的黑名单。）
另外一个晋级的途径当然就是搞研究了。教学基本上只是一个本地行为，而研究则是世界性的。对学校来说，一流的研究工作的性能价格比比教学要高的多，因此学校更看重研究。然而在一流大学里，你的竞争对手是全世界的研究人员。比如在哈佛，在决定你是否能够拿到终身教职的时候，学校会特意把你与世界上同领域的权威放在一起比较。
我是在1965年拿到哈佛的终身教授职位的，那之后的30年里，我们系没有授予任何一位系统科学领域的年轻教授终身职位。尽管哈佛校长和各系主任绝对不敢承认，我早早就意识到而且不断地教导年轻同事们：“哈佛付你钱是为了让你维护并不断提高它的世界声誉的，别的都是次要的。” 因此黄金法则一：尽早建立你的国际学术声誉。
为了搞研究，你必须有经费、有学生。实际上，如果没有经费，你根本不可能供得起学生。在美国，尽管有各类奖学金，大多数研究生还都依靠导师的科研经费支持着。一般一个研究生一年要花掉导师五万美元。如果你的组里一直保持五到六个研究生的话，你每年最低必须保证25万美元左右的预算，而你必须和全美国的同领域科学家们竞争来争取这些经费。你不用指望研究生的头两年能有什么回报，博士生只有到了第三年第四年才开始出成绩，所以导师在录取研究生的时候是做出了很大投资的。我认识不少同事，跟我发誓赌咒再也不招中国学生了，因为他们来一两年就跑掉了，要么转去一个更好的学校，要么有了别的什么机会。不错，美国是一个自由的国家，从法律角度看，学生没有义务必须读完博士，但是从道德角度讲，导师在你身上花了那么多钱，你应该肩负起你的责任。然而，并不是所有中国学生都意识到这一点，这种行为对于后来想来美国读书的中国学生来说等于是过河拆桥。
还有，一个一线大学教授至少要花25%的工作时间在编写基金申请书、准备研究报告和撰写论文上。因此黄金法则二：擅长写作和演讲，了解什么是最前沿的课题，也就是所谓的“时势造英雄”。（当然了，如果你能开创一个崭新的研究领域，而且能够说服全世界这就是最前沿的，那就更棒了，所谓“英雄造时事”。）
黄金法则一和黄金法则二意味着你必须让全世界知道你是谁。怎么才能做到这一点呢？在优秀的学术期刊上发表文章，在学术会议上好好介绍你的研究。很多科学家以为搞科研是最最重要的，相比之下，写论文和做报告不那么重要。但是实际上，除非你提出了相对论或者搞定了人类基因图谱，你的研究要跟成千上万和你一样聪明的人竞争。实际上，我个人认为，有个好想法，写篇好文章和给个好报告是三项独立的而且同等重要的工作。每一项工作要付出的艰苦努力都是完全不同的。要想做个好报告，仅仅从论文里复制拷贝制作一套PPT是远远不够的，对着论文照本宣科也是远远不够的。我们经常看到一些本来才华横溢的科学家做的报告惨不忍睹，令人不忍卒听。实际上，一个好的报告应该能够让一般听众听懂，同时又给专家同行留下非常深刻的印象。统计数据表明，一篇普通的发表了的科技论文的读者只有5位，其中还包括了论文的编辑和审稿人。但是，一次优秀的讲座的听众可能多达数十人、数百人甚至数千人。大多数听众一个月后大概都不记得你讲座的具体内容了，但是多年以后他们可能还会记得，你的那次讲座非常成功。这种针对听众的讲座能给你带来许多意想不到的好处。目前，各种政府基金管理机构的官员参加大大小小的会议，主要就是为了了解最热门的研究领域，发现那些值得资助的人。你给报告的时候他们很可能就坐在听众中间。那么，让你的报告清晰易懂的重要性就显而易见了。然而，我还是不断地碰到很多研究出色的科学家在做报告的时候完全无视听众的存在，报告晦涩难懂，让人觉得他非常傲慢无礼。我年轻的时候，如果听不懂别人的报告，就怪自己无知；现在，如果我听不懂一个人在说些什么，我就怪那个作报告的人。让报告清楚明白、不浪费我的时间是他的责任。我的座右铭是“完全可以让任何人在任何特定时间内适当地明白任何事情。”
多年以来，投身学术研究意味着接受一种较为贫穷的生活方式，因为学校的工资低于工商业界，但是至少在科学技术领域，情况已经大为改观。为工业界做咨询可以大大增加你的收入，但是做咨询的真正好处在于你处理的是一些实际问题，你经常会受到这些实际问题的启发，转向新的研究方向。而且你取得任何一点成绩都会有一支“拉拉队”自动为你欢呼加油。你根本不需要付出额外的努力，说服别人你的工作很重要。你也不会钻牛角尖，在一些没人感兴趣的问题上浪费时间。几乎所有的美国大学都意识到咨询的这一好处，允许教授每周一天时间用于咨询工作。就我而言，我在整个学术生涯中都不断地从事咨询工作，而且我敢说我所有绝妙的研究想法都来源于某项咨询工作，尽管一开始的时候，我对这项咨询项目所知甚少。合适的咨询工作会创造“三赢”的局面：客户赢、学校赢、你也赢。
投身科研的另外一个次要好处是你可以借参加国际会议的机会周游五湖四海。商业界的人出差，时间都很紧，基本上来去匆匆，没什么休闲的机会。但是研究人员出差，会前会后都能找出观光的时间来（比方说王鸿飞博士的博客里写到的）。比起旅行的全部费用，你自费的部分是很少的。有本旅游手册叫做《有生之年必去的1000个地方》，我在40余年的学术生涯里，已经和我太太去了这1000个地方中的230个，还不算很多这本书没有列出来的地方。中国有句古话叫做“走千里路胜读万卷书。”旅行能够让你增长见识，而且在学术界你会和很多第一次见面的国际同行交上朋友，因为你们的研究兴趣相投，所以能够一见如故。他们是你最好的导游。（注：有一次，我让我的一个中国研究生招待一位南美同行，她回来以后非常兴奋，告诉我说这个陌生人竟然能够理解她的博士论文研究中的种种精妙之处，尽管他们来自两个隔着千山万水的不同国家，年龄相差很多而且以前从未谋面。）
至于研究的乐趣嘛，当你在数个月的艰苦工作后第一次有了不错的发现，你会陷入几秒钟的狂喜——全世界你是唯一一个认识这个真理的人。这样的感觉只可意会不可言传。你坐立不安，来回踱步，彻夜难眠，有时候甚至会高兴到胃疼的地步。我没有在商业界待过，不能百分之百肯定，但是我想这种发现的喜悦大概不亚于赢得一个大订单或者在股市大有斩获。要是我一年能享受一次这样的喜悦，我就很满足了。一个人回顾他的学术生涯，审查他一生撰写发表的所有文章，也许只有10％能够经受时间的考验。这和旅行很相似。你很高兴去过很多地方，但是只有几个地方让你终身难忘。
最好的一点是，搞研究的人时间比较自由，基本上你可以自行安排。你是你自己的老板。和普通商业界人士比起来，除了申请经费，你不得不做的无聊重复的工作要少很多。你可以在你真心喜欢的工作上投入差不多50％的时间和精力。我一直告诫我的学生，如果你50%的时间喜欢你正在做的工作，那么这就是一个非常棒的工作！因为你喜欢你的工作，所以你会格外刻苦。节假日和平时没有区别。一天工作20个小时、一周工作100个小时更是家常便饭。我已经这把年纪了，而且正式退休了，每天醒着的一半以上的时间还花在学术上。
通过在中国的所见所闻，还有我在科学网博客上读到的，我发现中国的学术生活正在变得越来越国际化，和世界其它地方越来越像了。我期待着将来与科学网和其它地方的同行们更多地交换意见。（科学网 何姣译）-%-17999-%- 其实有很多人供职于一些企业的，我不知道他们的造诣到底如何，但是都是IEEE的委员，我们集团的美国公司就有不少。 顶一个！ It's worth of reading
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