After several months as the head of a condensed matter and thermal physics group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Art Ramirez, who joined Los Alamos from Bell Labs early this year, is in a good position to weigh the differences between public and privately funded science. On the one hand, at Bell, Ramirez never had to apply for funding or attend administrative meetings, as is now the case at the federal lab. On the other hand, his potential for funding and postdocs is much greater at Los Alamos, where he is focusing on material sciences — especially considering the financial woes of Lucent, which supports Bell Labs. And, with about 60 people, including 20 postdocs, in his lab, which he is still in the process of establishing, he has more technicians working with him. Ramirez jokes that the move ultimately resulted in one major trade-off: he now does less soldering, but more grant-writing.
Four professors at Imperial College, London, took up newly created positions as 'principals of faculties' on August 1. John Perkins, former head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemical Technology, became principal of the Faculty of Engineering; Michael Hassell, former head of the Department of Biology and Biochemistry, became principal of the Faculty of Life Sciences; Leszek Borysiewicz, principal of Imperial College School of Medicine, will retain that role and will also serve as principal of the Faculty of Medicine; and John Pendry, former head of the Department of Physics, became principal of the Faculty of Physical Sciences. The new positions were designed to encourage more interdisciplinary collaboration within the college.
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