As a scientist studying science itself, it is inevitable to eventually engage with the US-american approach to science: US universities regularly dominate research rankings according to most, if not all measures, and seem to attract global talent more than any other country. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta, Georgia, is one great place in the US to do so, because there’s great Economists studying exactly that: Science and Innovation. More specifically, I aimed to visit Alex Oettl of Scheller College of Business (the Graduate School of Business of Georgia Tech) who henceforth became my sponsor in legal terms. We share research interest in the study of informal collaboration, which refers to helping other researchers in performing an academic study without being coauthors. My visit started mid-August and will last until February, but ironically I am writing these words while on the way to Cape Town for a New Year’s Eve visit.
I arrived in Atlanta in late summer when both temperature and humidity were high. The city is deeply located in the US’ South and home to a number of world-known companies (Coca Cola, CNN, Delta Airlines, UPS, and Atlanta Airport) and research-intensive universities: next to Georgia Tech, there’s Emory University and Georgia State University. University of Georgia and Kennesaw State University. Auburn University and Vanderbilt University are not far away.
Soon after my arrival I was welcomed by the Strategy and Innovation group of Scheller College, which would henceforth be my office and home (for PhD students this actually becomes the same after a while). Its four PhD students recently moved to a joint PhD office with windows, which as I was told is really rare. This proved to be a major facilitator for professional and social affairs.
Many things here are different from my academic life at University of Cape Town. There are more research seminars, most of which are parallel and specific to groups, people work longer hours during all times of the day. That is, people stay very very long but come whenever they feel it’s their most productive time. Weekends and weekdays are usually indistinguishable when judged solely by the number of students at College. It is rare to see people having lunch together or go out after work. In a word, it is less social and more driven.
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PhD students are from everywhere around the world, with very actually from the US, which also holds for the faculty and the entire student body. The US is simply a very strong magnet for talent from all around the world. In fact, it’s a very negative sign when foreigners avoid a university. Research institutions and politicians should always embrace academic immigration, and facilitate it wherever they can.
There are two highlights I wish to emphasize. The first is the annual Roundtable for Engineering Entrepreneurship Research (REER) conference, hosted each November by Scheller College’s Strategy and Innovation group. A paper of mine (coauthored with Co-Pierre Georg and Daniel C. Opolot) was accepted for presentation and I gladly presented it. Judged by the credentials of participants this was the best conference I’ve been so far.
The other highlight is my visit to Boston/Cambridge and New York City, which also took place in November. I went to Cambridge, MA, in order to give a talk at Harvard Kennedy School (a joint project with Suraj Shekhar), and to visit coauthors at Harvard’s Economics department. While Boston is probably more known, Harvard University (and the equally famous MIT) are actually in Cambridge. Both cities are divided only by Charles River. Except my coauthors’ offices, Harvard University and few pubs I did not get to see much of the city.
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This was different in New York City, which was purely a leisure trip to visit my dear PhD colleague Allan Davids, who will report next. It’s an impressive city in many aspects, including the ratio of rent-to-space in flats: “Put your luggage in my room, there is some space at the end of the bed.” Allan showed me New York University’s Stern School of Business, which he is visiting and many parts of downtown Manhattan. We even got to meet some former Manchester United football players which left me fairly untouched but others might find excitement in it.
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I am reluctant to conclude my trip before it’s over, but so far it seems certain that it was one of our wisest decisions to send me out of Cape Town for a while. My trip to Atlanta was generously supported by a Murray-Jelkins-Travelgrant of UCT’s Postgraduate Funding Office, which I thankfully acknowledge here although I am not required too.