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There’s one part of every scientific conference that I dread. It’s not the tasteless coffee or whatever the cafeteria tries to pass off as chicken parmesan. It’s being asked to judge the trainee posters presented by students and postdoctoral fellows. As a seasoned faculty member, I am routinely asked to select my top three picks for the “best” poster from among dozens, or sometimes hundreds, of hopeful presenters.
I’ve always looked upon awards in science—from poster prizes to the Nobel Prize—with mixed feelings. On the surface, it seems laudable to acknowledge someone’s achievement, but it places far too much credit on one or a few individuals who happened to be the last link in a chain of knowledge that stretches far back into the past of our collective enterprise. We stand not only on the shoulders of giants, but on an incalculable number of unrecognized researchers ...
