There has been much concern about the impact of tight funding on the careers of young scientists. When only a small percentage of grants are approved, even the smallest problem or error with an application can push it out of the funding range. Unfortunately, the relative lack of grant-writing skills by new investigators often has this effect. To avoid a situation where only experienced investigators with polished writing skills are funded, the National Institutes of Health has instituted a more generous ranking scale for new investigators. Not surprisingly, some senior investigators have protested, calling it reverse discrimination. I say that their anger is misplaced. New investigators do deserve a break.
The argument that grants should be funded only on the basis of priority scores is fallacious. There is only a rough correlation between the quality of the science in an application and the priority score. As anyone who has ever ...
