> This raises the question of what constitutes "dramatic impact"
That's a valid critique. What I had in mind is the overwhelming prevalence of researchers who in my opinion have never even carried out a high risk high reward project, regardless of impact (not every high risk high reward project is going to make impact, and that's fine).
As example of what I have in mind by high risk high reward, I'd like to point at the work of Katalin Karikó and James P. Allison, both highly untypical science practitioners who have been rejected and indeed denigrated during much of their careers.
There are two root causes that for the most part, grad student do not develop into a Karikó or an Allison:
(a) Most grad students are never put in a position where choosing a high risk high reward project is legitimate.
(b) Many grad student in the first place do not have the character such projects (tolerance to sparse rewards and inclination to long term project risk management)
Regardless of the root cause, I observe that a grad student who was never trained to properly manage a big bet project is not likely to succeed doing that after graduating.
To be clear, I do not blame anyone in that situation. The graduate school system selects candidates for being good underlings to the thesis advisor, and down the road for aligning into field/department politics. There's little wonder to me how this system perpetuates a meek research mentality.
That's a valid critique. What I had in mind is the overwhelming prevalence of researchers who in my opinion have never even carried out a high risk high reward project, regardless of impact (not every high risk high reward project is going to make impact, and that's fine).
As example of what I have in mind by high risk high reward, I'd like to point at the work of Katalin Karikó and James P. Allison, both highly untypical science practitioners who have been rejected and indeed denigrated during much of their careers.
There are two root causes that for the most part, grad student do not develop into a Karikó or an Allison:
(a) Most grad students are never put in a position where choosing a high risk high reward project is legitimate.
(b) Many grad student in the first place do not have the character such projects (tolerance to sparse rewards and inclination to long term project risk management)
Regardless of the root cause, I observe that a grad student who was never trained to properly manage a big bet project is not likely to succeed doing that after graduating.
To be clear, I do not blame anyone in that situation. The graduate school system selects candidates for being good underlings to the thesis advisor, and down the road for aligning into field/department politics. There's little wonder to me how this system perpetuates a meek research mentality.