As I scurried alongside chemist Christy Haynes from her classroom to her research lab to a meeting in the University of Minnesota's medical buildings, a quote came to mind, from U President Eric Kaler:
I asked Haynes whether she agreed. "Absolutely," she said.
Haynes oversees a research group of about 15 graduate and undergraduate students, who are working on a variety of projects, for which they nab more than $800,000 annually in federal and private funds.
When I shadowed her one day, she checked in on each project, gave a tour of the lab to a grad student who was considering joining her group and spoke to one worker about hiring him full-time.
That's in addition to lecturing in a graduate level course, meeting with a medical doctor and mechanical engineer about treating cancer and finding a few minutes to pump breast milk.
Whew.
Haynes said that she and her husband, who has an MBA, have talked about the parallels between managing a university research lab and steering a business.
"It's a lot like running your own small business, but you have a lot of support -- salaries to pay TA's, your own salary. Nine months of my salary is paid for by the university," she said. "It's definitely similar, but with more support, which I appreciate."
