I was in the process of finishing up last year and got a post-doc with another researcher that my Ph.D. adviser considers a rival and hates. Actually hates. I was unaware of how much he hated my post-doc adviser until I accepted the position. I figured they just had scientific differences as people do. Anyway, the post-doc was at a good institution and the adviser is well-known in our field. So, I was really excited that I got the job. When I went into to his office to tell him that I was accepting the position he lashed out and told me:
1. That the post-doc adviser was only using me to get to him.
2. That I was unqualified for the position.
3. That he couldn't work with me any more (I was in the process of finishing my diss.)
4. That the post-doc adviser was just trying to "steal me away from" him because he knew that I was "his."

Now, #4 and #2 don't really jive because I can't suck at my job and be valuable at the same time, but whatever. Anyway, I went to the head of my program and he managed to calm my adviser down enough so that I could finish etc. Since this time, the Ph.D. advisor has submitted a grant on my research topic that I wrote part of without my name, asked me to steal data from the lab of my post-doc adviser, and has accused me of stealing ideas from him.

The really awful part is that I can't completely cut ties with him without losing a lot of my research plans. I'm a field-based biologist so I can't leave my site easily, and because he is more senior he keeps trying and partially succeeding in taking over research that I started.

There's pretty much nothing I can do without losing out. I'm a long-term thinker though, and someday I'll write a book on adviser student relations and how to be a good adviser and he'll figure prominently in it.

As a science graduate student, I've spent a great deal of my own time trying to verbalize exactly what it is that I'm experiencing. I've gotten tired of the manipulation and mind tricks used by my advisers, and have become increasingly depressed with the realization that in the end, it won't matter - because we are overproducing PhDs to such a level, that I'll be traped in this tornado of PhD followed by Post-Doc number 1, followed by Post-Doc number 2, followed by depressingly small odds of getting a chance in academia - which would in essence monopolize my entire life, and make it impossible for me to remain healthy, balanced, and be happy.

I love science, but science didn't love me back.

It's not a pretty realization. Growing up, we were bombarded with images of space shuttles, stars, cells and bacteria, cool chemical compounds... only to find that the road to science takes you straight through its own personal sweatshop, run by someone very adept at manipulating you to get what he/she wants.... for damn near free.

I'm disillusioned, and I know a heck of a lot of you are too. They wonder aloud "Why aren't american kids pursuing science", and they figure we're not smart enough. But maybe if they tried to listen to what we have to say, they'd realize the real problem is in these sweatshops that we call graduate school. Having tasted the bitterness of real science, I think the real question ought to be "Why are so many american kids pursuing science?"

Thank you for this blog. It's genius, and you've just made my day - nay, my year.

In any case, even if he's a nice guy, is working with him worth all the adjectives and adverbs? I kid, I kid.

However, rumor is that Alfred Bacher will not be renewed as a lecturer after the stabbing incident! No tenure and no union protection from what I gather. Good luck pushing that PhD in this economy. Would love to see how PhD adjunct holds up in this economy. Walmart greeter? I'm waiting to see if anymore classes get enrolled under that instructor. Too bad, the guy was getting married.