Learning by Seconding: Evidence from NSF Rotators

Abstract

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The Value of Insiders as Mentors: Evidence from the Effects of NSF Rotators on Early-Career Scientists

“…The work also breaks new ground in the emerging literature on the effects of experience outside academia using the rotation program as its template (Kolympiris, Hoenen, and Klein 2019). We bring to light three new findings: a) rotators benefit their early career colleagues considerably more than they benefit other colleagues, b) their effects decay with time and c) rotators have no effect on the acquisition of larger grants.…”

“…One, by comparing our results with the findings of Kolympiris, Hoenen, and Klein (2019) we discover that spillovers from access to superior human capital gained because of experience outside academia are not uniform across colleagues. Rotators have an effect on junior scientists, those for whom getting grants is most important, which is considerably larger than their effect on senior scientists.…”

“…Finally, the $200,000 figure allows us to compare the effect of rotators on early career scientists with their effects on their established colleagues with limited fund acquisition in the past as measured in Kolympiris, Hoenen, and Klein (2019) who find that within a 5 year window since interaction with a rotator, established colleagues raise $138,000 more than similar others. This gain is $62,000 less than what early career colleagues gain due to a rotator or nearly half of the full gains realized by established colleagues.…”

“…Three, our work pushes the emerging literature on the effects of experience outside academia using the rotation program as its template to new directions. Kolympiris, Hoenen, and Klein (2019) used a different dataset to set up a two period difference-indifferences estimation to establish that rotators can serve as effective knowledge conduits for same department peers who are similar, in terms of research topic and tenure, to the rotator.…”

The Value of Insiders: Evidence from the Effects of NSF Rotators on Early Career Scientists

“…For instance, while Borjas and Doran (2012) and Waldinger (2012) find negative and no spillover effects, respectively, for same department peers of star scientists, Waldinger (2010) and Azoulay, Graff Zivin, and Wang (2010) report positive spillovers for doctoral students and collaborators of star scientists. The emphasis on context suggests that it is difficult to extrapolate the results of Kolympiris, Hoenen, and Klein (2017), which is the only work, other than the current study that analyzes spillovers from NSF rotators. Using a different research design, methods, and samples, the latter work does not focus on researchers who arguably have the highest need for funds-early career scientists-and, unlike the current study, does not shed light on the dynamics of the potential effect of rotators on their colleagues.…”