A Conversation About the Environment score criterion

After NIGMS Director Berg notified me of his most recent regression analysis of the individual criterion scores, the good Comrade PhysioProf had a conversation. As is our wont. It went something like this.

Comrade PhysioProf: The most interesting thing of all the correlations was that investigator and environment are so highly correlated.

Your Humble Narrator: I’m not really surprised. I find environment to be a throw away consideration on panels I’ve been on. people don’t generally propose to do something for which major infrastructure is absent!

CPP: On my last R01 review and my post-doc’s NRSA, they waxed poetic about the fucking environment. In the applications, we went on and on about the scientific environment and named a number of specific faculty members whose expertise would be drawn upon blah, blah, blah. I think that shit can actually work.

YHN: Christ what a load of shit

CPP: Dude, it’s true! We have an outstanding environment! The food trucks outside the med school are some of the finest in all of biomedical research!

CPP: How funny would it be to actually put that in the facilities sections of an application? “The “Alibertos” food truck is only steps away from our laboratory and provides a level of energy dense food that contributes substantially to the likelihood of success of the proposed specific aims.”

YHN: “The “Alibertos” truck returns in evening hours at 6 and 10 pm so that trainees need not leave the lab until 12pm, thus maximizing throughput for these studies”

CPP: I just looked at the instructions for the new application format, and that would actually go in the “Resources” section.

YHN: HAHHAHHAHAAAHAH, you are such a grant geek!!!!!

____

Additional Reading: http://scienceblogs.com/drugmonkey/2009/12/how_critical_is_the_environmen.php

Yet more review data from NIGMS Director Berg

Yay!

He has a new post up in response to a request for the full regression analysis. This analysis is tasty and here was the bit that drew my attention:

A principal component analysis reveals that a single principal component accounts for 71% of the variance in the overall impact scores. This principal component includes substantial contributions from all five criterion scores, with weights of 0.57 for approach, 0.48 for innovation, 0.44 for significance, 0.36 for investigator and 0.35 for environment.

Notes for the day

More or less still on strike over at Scienceblogs even though PZ says things are moving along nicely.

Abel Pharmboy packed up Terra Sigillata and moved to a new wordpress blog abelpharmboy.wordpress.com

Johns Wilkins and Lynch are still grinding their axes of disgruntlement. A year later? Dudes, get a grip.

Yesterday’s illumination about Innovium as the VC firm behind Scienceblogs.com was certainly instructive. I doubt that it has any real impact on my decision making with respect to the home of the DrugMonkey blog but it does put some things into perspective.

PhysioProf did a book review? whut?

Ed Yong had his genes screened by 23andme and dishes up an excellent report on the process and interpretive issues.