Joseph F. Clark, Ph.D.

We have an expression for most of the USPS people that we come in contact with: “the walking retired.”

Translational research – what is it, who does it and why should we do it? A buzz word that comes around in medical research is, “translational” research. While translational is used all time by researchers, no one seems to have a good definition for it. To borrow a famous quote: “I cannot define it, but [...]

Everybody knows that the airline industry is an abomination of American enterprise. It is laughable when the airline representatives say that safety is their concern because they treat people like cattle. Evidence of cattle herding by the industry can be seen anytime you look into the coach section of a jumbo jet. The philosophy is [...]

There is an old saying that those who can do; those who can’t teach. While I’m not too sure about that, there is an interesting paradigm in higher education. That is the highest level scientists in the USA tend to be successful scientists and researchers by spending time doing research, writing grants and papers. The [...]

Peaks and Valleys. The whole lifestyle of college professors and most academics is a series of peaks and valleys. We are exuberant with successes like funded grants and exciting research data. Conversely we live with constant rejection from failed experiments, rejected papers and grant applications. So the peaks really need to outweigh the depths reached [...]

Why do most research universities in the USA lose money on research? That is a question that comes up in numerous college, university and teaching hospital conference rooms. Deans, Department Chairs and essentially all administrators are asking that question. It is not because of the economy although the economy contributes to the very bad situation [...]