Jobs away from the bench often have the reputation of being "out" of
science. But if there's a common theme among the scientific program officers we've
talked to, it's that they're very much "in" science.
Program officers at scientific organizations--including federal agencies, private
foundations, and professional societies--have a variety of responsibilities, but in
general, they coordinate and allocate research and training funding. Many coordinate
the peer-review process by which grant and fellowship applications are reviewed, and
some make the final decisions. Such responsibilities require a broad understanding
of how science works and the ability to recognize projects with the potential to
move a field forward.
The federal government employs hundreds of program officers. The National Science
Foundation, for example, employs 450 of them, about half of whom are
permanent federal employees. (Most of the rest are "rotators," usually faculty
members on leave for 1 or 2 years.) At the National Institutes of Health (NIH),
grant review and grant management are split into two separate jobs. The agency's
1200 program officers, housed in each of the agency's institutes, launch
initiatives, make funding recommendations based on peer reviews, and manage grants
once they're awarded. The agency's 300 scientific review officers, who work at NIH's
Center for
Scientific Review, supervise almost all of the agency's grant and
fellowship reviews.
In Europe, program officers work behind the scenes of each country's national
research program, such as the French
Agence National de la Recherche
. At the European Union level, program officers work at organizations
such as the new European Research Council, the European Science
Foundation, and the Research Executive Agency.
A recent
report from the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences recognized the importance of program officers in the
research process. "Agency program officers are indispensable to the vitality and
productivity of the research enterprise," wrote the report's authors. "They must
have the opportunity, responsibility, and the shared expectations of their agencies
and the scientific community to be leaders in their fields."
You can read more about the report and about the program officers' duties and
qualifications in Steering Science From a High Altitude, written by
Science Careers contributor Siri Carpenter.
There is no set career path into research management, so contributing editor
Elisabeth Pain took an in-depth look at how three scientists found their way into
program officer jobs. Read their stories in Become a Program Officer Your Own Way.
Finally, Antonella Di Trapani, a science officer with the European Science Foundation
who has made a habit of changing countries when she changes jobs, tells her story in
In Person: A European Career Tour From Research to Research
Management.
Elisabeth Pain and Siri Carpenter contributed to this article.
Photo (top): Floete2008
Kate Travis is contributing editor for North and East
Europe. |
10.1126/science.caredit.a0800137 |