What are some incentives that Agricultural Scientists have?

Which modern scientists have well-documented life histories that can serve as role models for a new generation of scientists?

• (this question is an offshoot of http://cognitomentoring.org/ ) I think this quote is incredibly illuminating (from ) The best undergraduates increasingly head to universities that have a  more entrepreneurial culture, in part because business (especially  startup) generates an ever-growing fraction of the interesting, smart  role models. In short, I think we need more current, interesting, and smart role models in science. We can't just keep talking about scientists who did most of their work over 50 years ago (and are effectively impossible to use as role models because everything is so different now) - unfortunately they're the only scientists who are usually discussed over the course of one's high school+undergrad education. So I think we need to bring more attention to current scientists with amazing personal stories in order to boost more attention to science and make it easier for students to find actual role models (maybe it could even help alleviate the funding situation in science, too). I'm not sure if "life history" is the right word to use here, but it has to be something. There are modern cutting-edge scientists who have amazing articles about written about them online, but who aren't going to get a Nobel Prize or print biography about them in a long time (or even Wikipedia article, thanks to deletionists). Biographies tend to only be written for scientists who are past their prime (or dead). Even Nobel Prizes are part of the problem, since most people now only win the Nobel only well after they're past their prime. Anyways - I think the rise in social media could be the one thing that could counter this trend and inspire people to have current role models in science again. So please list some people who you think can serve as inspirations!

• Answer:

  The problem with this is that a lot of being a scientist involves things that are extremely personal and stuff that you want to share only with people that are close to you.  You end up with moments of pain, frustration, despair, jealousy, and anger, and a lot of that is stuff that you don't feel comfortable telling everyone.  If you white wash the "bad bits" then you end up with something that doesn't bare much resemblance to what is going on.  Also, the last thing you want is to make people seem "super-human."  One thing that I learned in college was that extraordinary scientists are people too, and they have their personality flaws and annoyances just like everyone else, and knowing that very accomplished people have bad days made it easier to see myself as a physicist. I think the best way around this is not to look for distant role models, but for close ones.  If you get high schools students in the lab doing grunt work, pretty soon they will pick up on gossip and see science as it really is.  Also, when I was a high school student, one of my role models were graduate students, who were more useful as older guides.  The senior faculty were nice, but they were too much like my parents, and I felt a lot more comfortable interacting with graduate students since they were more like older siblings. Having heroic role models also doesn't work because it doesn't bring up how social science is and how much politics and economics impacts science.  It's also is bad to focus on just the most famous people because sometimes it's the people that don't make the headlines that are more useful as role models.  I know people that have gotten Ph.D.'s that are severely underemployed (i.e. bartenders) or are stuck in community college adjunct positions.  They have stories that are as important to someone entering science as the big winners. I think if you want people to go into science, you can't do this with stories but you have to look at the "hidden curriculum."  If you have a graduate student that is scared of being out of work, really annoyed at his dissertation adviser, and wishes he had gone to business school, then anyone that he TA's will pick up on that.