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102IAHexpress

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Everything posted by 102IAHexpress

  1. Please elaborate on these lavish funds that the UT system has sent to its research campuses. Again you guys just need to educate yourself more on how research works. The Health Science Center, or the Umbrella system funds very little if anything of the actual research. Yes, there are some (very very few) endowed professors that are being funded by the department. But most, instead are self funded. It takes many years, perhaps decades to be an endowed professor, if they even offer it all. Instead what most professors do is apply for grants, from say National Institutes of Heath or the DoD. If awarded, those grants are awarded to the professor. That's how you earn your salary and conduct research in America. Even the pipets and medical supplies are funded with grant money. Heck, even the administrative staff is paid from the research funds. If you're not self-funded, then you're out of a job. The Health Science center helps with the facilities, I guess. Also, the university does help with intellectual property. So, the patents my wife has were processed with IP attorneys from Methodist. But, even then the institute is getting a cut of the assets. I would rather the universities awarded more research grants to the scientists and professors directly, instead of investing yoga lawns. That would attract more talent (in my opinion).
  2. That's true the Health Science Center in Houston did merge with College Station in 2013. Forgot about that. Actually, Buzbee was a regent then, so i'm not sure why I forgot. Also in 2012 Texas Wesleyan University School of Law in Ft. Worth became the Texas A&M University School of Law. College Station was in expansion mode then.
  3. Tell that to a bio tech startup or investor. Yeah, invest in a biotech hub in the Rio Grande Valley! UT Rio Grande Valley is just as good as UT Austin. It's the same institution! It's always amusing watching you guys tie yourselves into knots.
  4. You are misquoting me. And you are flat out making false statements for some reason. Rice has not made any plans of yet to be at TMC3. UT and TAMU are also not there, and were never at the original TMC. The Health Science centers are different universities within the UT and TAMU system. Like UH central and UH Downtown. If, TAMU UT and Rice and Baylor College of Medicine were at TMC3, that could be a game changer. Lets stick with facts.
  5. That's not what I said. You are clearly misquoting me. I think you are the one who is trolling. Also the ad hominem attacks by @Luminare show his true colors, I am sorry to say. TSU, HCC and SanJac is a hypothetical example I made. It is an extreme example, I know. That was the point. Because the "proof" that clustering "works" was also extreme, Harvard and MIT et al in Boston. Stanford, UC et al in SF. Clustering works there, so it must work in Houston too! I think you guys can come up with better counter arguments than that. Or maybe not. Any updates on the yoga lawns?
  6. Just because you don't like the critiques, does not make them invalid ones. Look, If Buzbee wins, I will be working in the mayors office. I want to make Houston a world class city. But I would be doing a disservice if I sugar coated my critiques to you, this forum or to a potential mayor Buzbee. Research is not world class at the TMC. Okay. fine. How can we improve it? How can we maybe one day land some outside bio tech investment? I gave a suggestion a few posts above. You, well, your worthwhile insight is .. Animal House.
  7. There's no need for you guys to get so defensive and upset. We're just having a conversation. In typical HAIF fashion, @blackjacks100 made the wild claim about clustering without any evidence to support it. I refuted his wild claim. It was as simple as that. But I must say this inferiority complex and defense mechanism Houston has, is really off putting. They way Chicagoans handle valid critiques of their city versus how Houstonians handle critiques, is night and day. Chicagoans don't get so defensive and upset at even the national and presidential onslaughts of criticisms that come their city's way (murder capital, corruption, taxes, etc). Yet, someone makes a valid critique of the TMC and the response, is "oh he must be trolling." lol. Yeah, Houston is just not on the world stage level yet, I am sorry to say.
  8. Well, the Boston area has a little something called MIT and Harvard. SF area is less prestigious because it only has Stanford and UC Berkeley. So yeah, that might play a little role too. In fact there's no evidence that clustering is a major factor by itself. TMC3 could be "clustered" with TSU, HCC and San Jac, and the end result would by some pretty architecture. The biggest link between private bio tech investment and a municipality that has been evidenced to work, is whether that city is home to premier research institutions that were already "clustered" there to begin with.
  9. All fair points. It's also a fair point to mention that the research institutions at TMC have had almost as long to develop too. That the hospitals are so great yet the research institutions are so average and therefore has brought almost no bio tech investment is one of the greatest missed opportunities in the history of Houston.
  10. Clustering has benefits for sure. But keep in mind Houston does not need to cluster like Boston and San Fran do. A lot of successful academic - bio-tech hubs are clustered across several counties and even states. See, NYC-NJ, DC-Maryland-Va, Research Triangle in NC, and Chicagoland, etc. Actually, Boston and San Fran are the only major hubs clustered so closely.
  11. To be fair, TMC’s -primary care hospitals- are some of the best in the country if not the world. The research institutions at TMC are a different story. Well, Not the best in the country, to put it mildly. But i agree, TMC can only go up from here.
  12. Asperations are great. But an asperation without a plan is just a wish. And by plan, TMC will need to do more than just "architecture" their way to the national stage.
  13. I would call those lateral moves. UPenn and NU are in the same league (in my opinion). For example, If the Head Coach of LSU leaves LSU and accepts the position at Ohio State, that is more of a lateral move (obviously different conferences but more or less equal programs in size, weight and reputation). If instead, the Head Coach of UH leaves UH for Texas or Baylor then I would call -that- move a step up. That the Head Coach of UH leaves for a step up is not a failure of the football program in itself, but that almost all UH Head Coaches leave for a step up elsewhere is a big warning sign for future recruits. Scientists are going to leave the TMC. Fair enough. But why do -so- many leave. Fix -that- and Houston will see bio tech investment pour in. But like I said. It was just my two cents. If you are happy with the design and you think the design will spur "collaboration" and innovation and cause bio tech companies to move to Houston, then I am happy for you. Really, I am.
  14. FWIW, the green space is the only concrete proposal in this evolving "design." I am all for top professors and bio tech investors moving to Houston. The question is, what's the best way to do that. My wife and I moved from the TMC to pursue better opportunities else where. As some of you might of heard, Dr. Ferrari left as CEO and President of Methodist to lead up the European Research Consul instead. The reality is the TMC, for most scientists is a stepping stone to better opportunities elsewhere. Like being the football coach of the Cougars. Top bio tech companies are not going to invest capital in Houston, just like top recruits are not going sign with the Cougars. Houston's reputation needs to improve first. My two cents. The feedback I have heard from other scientists who chose a lab in Houston over one in Boston or NYC of San Fran, is cost of living advantage in Houston. In the end they still ended up leaving, but at least the low cost of living gave them some interest. Many will chose the best opportunity regardless of cost, so can't do anything about them. However, for those on the fence about Houston, I would pool up the money and give a special TMC "grant" to all scientists that chose Houston. That will lead to better talent, which will lead to better research, which will lead to better national reputation, which will lead to national bio tech investment in Houston. Or, we can just build yoga lawns! Or maybe a light rail through the center of it! Surly bio tech investment will pour in then.
  15. I can see why you think that. That's how scientific breakthroughs are portrayed in pop culture. But in real world science, beneficial encounters are much more intentional, planned and calculated. The best place for the kind of "collision" encounters you guys are thinking about happen at medical conferences. There you have a gathering of physicians, scientists and industry, sharing knowledge in a specified field. I wish it were more like in the movies. Maybe we would have more cures and discoveries if it were. But unfortunately, science is very secretive. There's not a lot of collaboration research and development even within your own university, much less with a rival one. There are collaborations, but they are very very calculated.
  16. You quoted Dr. Quaggin! That's my wife's former boss. I agree physical interactions are important. I'm not trying to totally discount them. But as you can see no yoga mats anywhere in NU's video. Conference rooms make sense. Running trails not so much. I was just trying to show HAIF how a little more serious university promotes their facilities. Again, i'm not anti yoga or morning runs. I just have no idea what they have to do with serious research/and or private bio tech investment. However, If a biotech company/investor choses TMC3 over NU or Harvard, Stanford, etc. then I promise to eat humble pie.
  17. I don’t think so. You can tell scientists were consulted. The design is very practical. No areas to “collide,” no trails for morning runs or green space for yoga. Lol. Just pure science. Which leads to better research, which leads to increased credibility, which leads to interest from private industry, which leads to private capital investment.
  18. Slightly off topic. But just to give you an idea of the competition against TMC3. This is the new collaborative biomedical institute that opened up here at Northwestern Medical a couple of months ago. My wife is a professor of medicne and surgery in the "old" part of the building that connects to the new institute.
  19. Gotcha. Thanks for the info. I was thinking the opposite. I figured they would have wanted a piece of the hotel and convention center action, why give it up to a private developer when they could profit from it? Alright then, if it is a private developer spending money on the hotel/residential. Then I have no problem with it. It's their private money. They can do whatever they want with it.
  20. I can assure you, this research in particular would never go to a professor in China. Cancer and heart disease are not funded in high numbers in China because, well, the Chinese don't get cancer and heart disease in the numbers Americans do. And even if it did. So what? If the research is published for the whole world to read, then great. The whole world benefits. Also, It won't bring in a high income workforce. These are academic doctors not medical doctors. See my post above. They earn less than HISD teachers. My wife is a professor of medicine at Northwestern Medical School. One of the best medical schools in the world. She barley earns more than a Chicago public school teacher, with way fewer benefits. We need to do a better job of explaining exactly what medical research is and what it is not, I can see just from this thread there are a lot of misconceptions.
  21. I get what you're saying. But you may be conflating industries. Biotech workers and biomedical researchers are completely different. I would love thousands of biotech workers in Houston. Bio tech companies pay their scientists very very well. Those corporate scientists settle down, establish roots and contribute to the community. That's not what biomedical researchers do. They instead earn very little, mostly because they are academics not corporate scientists. Once they finish their academic research they return to whatever country they are from.
  22. What is your source for that? Not doubting you. I just haven't seen that anywhere in the project highlights. Who is the private developer developing the hotel/residential buildings? Will it still be on TMC3 owned land?
  23. Yeah, they will never do that. Not even Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, NYU, or Stanford post-docs get subsidized housing. In fact at those top institutions postdocs are luckily to get NIH base salary because there is such demand to do research there that a lot of postdocs will work for even less than postdoc minimums. Which is obviously in violation of statute, but it is not unheard of.
  24. TMC3 is comprised of Texas A&M University Health Science Center, The University of Texas Health Science Center (UTHealth) and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center which are all still public institutions funded courtesy of the Texas Taxpayer as far as I can remember. Baylor College of Medicine is private. The TMC is a special non-profit district funded via public and private dollars. So yes, TMC3 is tax payer funded.
  25. I agree it is very odd. This is becoming a taxpayer boondoggle. Not sure who will afford to live there, but it's not post-doc/scientists. I know this HAIF, but let me bring it back down to reality. Here are the NIH post doc salary limits for 2019. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/salary-cap-and-stipend-levels-announced Here are the HISD salary limits for teachers in 2019. https://www.houstonisd.org/cms/lib2/TX01001591/Centricity/Domain/16074/salary schedules/2019-2020 salary schedules/2019-2020 Initial Compensation Placement Tables.pdf Yes, you read that right, teachers earn more than the vast majority of post docs and scientists. So, again, who is this TMC3 project for? Who benefits from this tax payer funded project?
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