早报网昨转新明日报：博士被裁员，改行驾德士 申诉：研究院不尊重科学家
博士被裁员，改行驾德士 申诉：研究院不尊重科学家

（新加坡）新明日报 (2009-08-19)

　　一名拥有博士学位的男子，被研究机构裁退后，现在竟然改行当德士司机，还写博客大谈乘客百态，大受欢迎。

　　本地最近爆红的博客写手是蔡明杰博士（译音）。他说，自己曾是本地分子与生物细胞研究院（IMCB）的研究人员，去年5月被裁退，11月当上SMRT的德士司机。

　　SMRT受询时证实，蔡博士的确是他们旗下的司机，但蔡博士不愿受访，只说：“要说的，我都写在博客了，如果要问，你们应该去问研究院。”

　　他在博客上说，研究院原本的工作环境十分舒服，但最近换了新的一批领导人，他们不尊重科学家，也没有领导经验。领导层裁退了许多研究员，其中最早被裁掉的几个人当中，就包括他这个“建国老臣”。

　　研究院属于新加坡科技研究局（A＊Star）监管。

　　发言人受询时说，所有研究员会不会被续约，都必须取决于好几个因素，包括：他们对博士生的训练、表现、对研究院的贡献等等。

　　发言人说，建议解雇蔡博士的其实是指定的科学咨询委员会，而且，另3名独立专家审查后，也同意他不应该被续约。

　　他说，研究院给了蔡博士一整年的时间，以及不少资料与帮助，来找其他工作。

　　蔡博士却称，他一直找不到其他工作，为了养家，觉得加入“新加坡唯一还在积极招募人员的行业”就是德士司机。

　　他在今年4月开始写博客，谈他遇到的乘客，其中包括：流莺、变性人、外国人等，他的博客文章受到许多人瞩目。

　　他在博客上说，本月底他的德士约满后，他会暂时专注于写作，之后再继续开德士。

　　大专学历驾德士 本地有上千名

　　康福德高企业有限公司集团联络总监陈爱玲受询时说，他们旗下的3万2000名德士司机内，有大约2％（大约640人）拥有理工学院、大学及以上的学历。

　　大约70％的司机拥有O水准文凭，他们占绝大多数。

　　SMRT发言人则说，他们有大约8％的德士司机拥有理工学院及以上的文凭。

　　根据资料，SMRT有3000辆德士，大约6000名司机，因此，拥有理工学院及以上的文凭的司机，约有480人左右。

　　本地知名写词人 看蔡博士博客，十分心痛、边读边哭

　　本地知名写词人，也曾是分子与生物细胞研究院研究员的小寒（33岁）受访时说，她在大二时曾在蔡博士旗下实习，她做研究的基本功，很多都是蔡博士教她的。

　　看到他的博客，她才知道他已改行，十分心痛，边读博客边哭。

　　她认为蔡博士一头白发，说话轻声细语，给人很潇洒很帅的感觉。他口才很好，研究成果也相当显著，相信他被裁是因为他太“与世无争”，较不会为自己争取机会和待遇，而这也许是亚洲人的通病。

　　她认为，蔡博士开德士写博客，给世人带来的快乐也许比之前写研究报告来得多，绝不是羞耻的事，希望他能选择自己真正要做的事。

One more
Imcbsg:

Although it is very unprofessional for me to respond in the open to what you
said, the fact that you see me simply as a taxi driver now made it easier
for me to say what I am going to say to you. Despite what you have said, I
still like you. I liked you from the first time I met you, when you and your
husband walked into my office and told me that you wanted to be my student.
I accepted you on the spot. If I didn’t like you, you wouldn’t have been
a student in any labs of IMCB, as I was the chairman of the recruitment
committee of the institute at the time. I wasn’t wrong about you. You have
been a fine student. I like your work attitude and your special ability of
conducting experiments. I trusted the results from you more than any body
else’s in the lab. If you still remember what I said during the
introduction of your dissertation, I meant every word of it.

During all the years you worked in my lab, I was upset with you only once.
And you know the reason. I didn’t know you are still bearing a grudge about
that. No matter what you think, I want you to know that you can still trust
me on your recommendation letters, if you like to develop your career
elsewhere. Even I am a taxi driver now, my letters are still indispensable
for you in many places around the world. Personally, I think you should go
back to China. Much better chance for both of you to succeed.

You know where to get my email if you need it.

Reply to these negative comments
August 20, 2009 10:56 PM
lao said...
Imcbsg: 一个忘恩负义的小人。当年若不是蔡博士收留你，你会来到新加坡？会有今日
的一切。做人要懂得感恩才有好报。否则，枉过一生。
蔡博士，为你的勇气和坚韧而感动。
行万里路，牵万颗心。我们永远支持你！
祝 平安，保重。

astar的政治斗争很厉害的。
洋人》local》换国籍的中国人》中国籍的。

as simple as that

some negative comments from the readers.
------------------------http://taxidiary.blogspot.com/2009/08/thank-you-all.html#comments
imcbsg said...

it is wierd feeling to read your blog as an ex-student of yours.
first time when I heard about you becoming a taxi driver, I flashed back the comments and hard time you gave me, sigh, and asked have you ever thinking about what you can give to others to make life easier? or at least in a more pleasant way?

I complain IMCB is far away from a good place for scientific work (research work, maybe), not for professors like you, or students like me. bosses are bosses but not mentors, the training system is like nothing at all...
after complaining, I feel confused since I just started my career here, a NUS PhD must be even much cheaper than a Stanford one, right? and scientific field here fits me or I fits here or not? with own family and a baby, I keep talking to myself that I should wake up and try to work for boss to please him for hopeless promotion or 2% perfomance bonus, or switch to industry for more $$ directly.

there is no way to get a PI position with background like mine, not even yours nowadays, but I may end up like you years later when scholars flood back, with a quarter of your salary. hmm, life is not easier for most of us.
you are individual among PIs, not a good thing to get a comfortable life here. I guess this is the best lessen you gave me. bitter, although.
all the best
August 17, 2009 5:17 PM


-------------------------http://sgblogs.com/entry/mingjie/357853
#15 by Rachel at August 20th, 2009

Reply | Quote

Before everyone starts diving into an impassioned defence over the terrible fate of Dr Cai, please, for once consider exactly -why- he was kicked out, and -why-, despite sending numerous letters to academic institutes, he remains, unemployed.

I, for one, was guilty of feeling sorry for Dr. Cai at the beginning. Stanford PhD turned cabbie??? What in the world is Singapore coming to??? However, while reading his blog, I noticed that his command of the English language is less than commendable. Being trained in the Scientific field, I gathered that scientists are frequently far more comfortable expressing themselves with complex scientific terms than with fanciful vocabulary. Nevertheless, I would have expected good grammar usage at the very least, coming from a Stanford PhD holder. This was, disappointingly, lacking.

Eloquence aside, apart from serving as a Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular & Cell Biology, he also acted as an Associate Professor in the National University of Singapore. A friend (X) working in the Science department of the above named prestigious university threw light upon this matter. Have it ever crossed your mind exactly why Dr Cai was, curiously, unable find a job in NUS, NTU and the 5 Polytechnics in Singapore in spite of his dazzling credentials (”PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments”)? Not even as a laboratory officer? Was he blacklisted in all the academic institutes? X revealed that Dr Cai was actually the PhD supervisor of an associate (Y) at NUS. And he did not even bother to read Y’s thesis! Y then filed a formal complaint with the Dean. There, the fog is cleared.

By portraying himself as the victim he never was, he is in fact trying to salvage his remaining pride and to appeal to sympathy which he does not deserve.

I am not trying to discredit Dr Cai. I just want to demonstrate that there are always two sides to a coin.

转一篇评论http://sgblogs.com/entry/mingjie/357853
Many people by now have discovered A Singapore Taxi Driver’s Diary, a blog
oestensibly written by a Stanford PhD holder and former A*STAR researcher,
now retrenched and self-employed as a taxi-driver. The blogger’s name is
Cai Mingjie, and his blog currently begins with this poignant headline:

Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from Stanford and a
proven track record of scientific accomplishments, I have been forced out of
my research job at the height of my scientific career, and unable to find
another one, for reasons I can only describe as something “uniquely
Singapore”. As a result, I am driving taxi to make a living and writing
these real life stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting.
I hope that these stories are interesting to you too.

A lot of people have asked: What’s up with his story? Is he for real?

It’s not always easy for laypeople to understand the sometimes arcane
aspects of the scientific world. With that in mind, here’s some facts I
have collected, along with some comments that might help put them into
context:

1. The Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) existed before the
Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) did, which was only
founded in 2001: IMCB was founded in 1987. IMCB, along with several other
institutes, were co-opted into the A*STAR as an “autonomous research
institute” around the time A*STAR was founded.

In contrast, Dr. Cai supposedly started working there 16 years ago from now,
i.e. in 1993. This brings me to:

2. There is indeed a Cai Mingjie who has a documented existence in the
scientific literature, and he has published several times as documented by
databases of scientific publications such as the ISI Web of Science.

a) Two papers dated June 1989 and May 1990 are listed as authored by a Cai
MJ from Stanford University’s Department of Biochemistry and co-authored
two well-received papers by Prof. Ronald W. Davis, presumably his PhD
advisor. The earlier paper was cited at least 66 times, and the later paper
was published in the prestigious journal Cell and has been cited 249 times;
these papers are pretty influential.

b) Starting from 1995, 14 papers from a Cai MJ from IMCB are documented on
Web of Science.

Let’s tally the papers from 1993, the year the supposed Dr. Cai started
work at IMCB.

1993: 0
1994: 0
1995: 1
1996: 1
1997: 2
1998: 0
1999: 2
2000: 1
2001: 1
2002: 0
2003: 1
2004: 0
2005: 1
2006: 0
2007: 2
2008: 2
2009: 2

Yes, that was not a typo. His remaining colleagues are still publishing work
done together with Dr. Cai, who is the corresponding author of both 2009
papers and still lists IMCB as his affiliation on these papers.

This does not necessarily mean that he is still employed at IMCB, as it is
customary to declare the affiliation with the institution at which the work
was done, not necessarily where the author is now. Usually authors choose to
list past and present affiliations, although in this case the lack of a
second affiliation is hardly surpising.

3. A Dr. Cai Mingjie appears several times on IMCB’s website.

a) In this November 2007 press release, Dr. Cai is listed prominently as the
last author of the two featured scientific publications. The fact that he
is the last author in sequence is significant in many scientific disciplines
, as it is typically reserved for the Principal Investigator, who is usually
the most senior or most powerful researcher involved in the work reported.
The publication’s abstract lists his affiliation as IMCB Singapore. However
, note that Dr. Cai is promiscuously absent in the title photo. Note that
the Dr. Cai on the blog claims that he was informed of his being fired some
time in 2007.

b) An A/Prof Cai is listed in the program of the 1st A*STAR Postdoctoral
Symposium in 2004. It is not unusual for researchers at a research institute
to also hold professorial appointments at nearby universities.

Draw your conclusions as you wish, but to me, the facts seem pretty clear:
Dr. Cai does exist, and has a well-documented history as a biochemist from
the years 1989 to 2009. There is at best circumstantial evidence to suggest
that he had a falling out with IMCB sometime in 2007, but hardly anything
definitive at this point.

So why was Dr. Cai “forced out” of IMCB “for reasons [he] can only
describe as something “uniquely Singapore”"? And why is Dr. Cai having
trouble finding another R&D job, if not in Singapore, then abroad? His own
words strongly suggest some influence of internal politics. However, the
above facts also suggest other facets to his current predicament.

I have blogged before about A*STAR’s strong emphasis on metrics of
scientific output, which I have always maintained as missing the forest for
the trees. As highlighted prominently in the Johns Hopkins University
debacle of 2006, A*STAR focuses strongly (if not exclusively) on measurable
quantities such as the number of publications generated or number of patents
successfully filed, as all supposedly ways to measure and justify their
return on investment.

With that in mind, it becomes a damning fact that Dr. Cai only has 14
publications to his name since joining the IMCB 16 years ago. Going only by
that criterion of quantity, publishing less than one paper a year makes for
a truly unimpressive publication record. But just about every practicing
scientist knows that despite the current pressure to publish or perish,
science and research isn’t (entirely) about churning out more and more
papers, and the number of papers that can attributed to one’s name is not
necessarily a good measure of a scientist’s productivity. At the very least
, one should take a more qualitative assessment of the quality of the work
– one that I, as a non-biochemist, am not really qualified to make. I can’
t really tell if Dr. Cai sat on his bum for 16 years doing very little, or
if he was doing good work in an environment that insulated him well from the
more contemporary pressure to publish. However, I will point out that Cai
had had a good run as a graduate student, which at least suggests at the
very least, at some point in his scientific career, that he was capable of
doing good science. His papers prior to 2004 were also well-cited, so even
going just on these two counts, it seems unlikely that the “Dr. Cai was a
bum whose time was coming” theory is true.


So why is Dr. Cai having trouble finding another R&D job? The R&D market isn
’t so hot these days. The bad economy means not many firms are hiring
professional scientists. Academia isn’t much of a help – there’s a long
history of too many PhDs chasing too few jobs. It doesn’t help that many
people get a feeling for rampant ageism in the R&D job market too. Dr. Cai,
having received his PhD in 1990 or so, is probably in his mid-forties by now
, which in any industry is a particularly challenging time to find work.

Dr. Cai now writes engaging stories of his experiences as a taxi driver.
However, for someone like me, his experience spells a clear cautionary tale
for anyone interested in a R&D career, let alone anyone interested in an R&D
career in Singapore and A*STAR.

Update: Thanks to Fox who points out that Dr. Cai is in today’s edition of
the Straits Times., which not only confirms that Dr. Cai is for real, but
also has a few more details:

[Dr. Cai] joined IMCB two years later [in 1992-3] and worked as a principal
investigator in the field of cell genetics up till his departure.

A spokesman for A*Star, meanwhile, said renewal of all its researchers’
contracts is based on a number of factors, including the time taken to train
PhD students, their performance and their contributions to the research
institutes and the agency in general.

Dr Cai’s work, like that of all A*Star researchers, was assessed by an
external Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which recommended his contract be
terminated.

This leds further credence to the “you don’t have enough papers, so you’
re fired” theory. Not that this necessarily excludes other possibilities,
like internal politics or IMCB deciding that having a yeast geneticist like
Dr Cai around was no longer in line with its long-term plans (after all, it
doesn’t offer tenure). But there you have it.

Update 2: After a long discussion with an A*STAR scholar-friend of mine (yes
, shock! horror! I do have friends in A*STAR!), I think it’s worth
clarifying that a lot of this post has to do with Dr. Cai’s publication
record. This is not because I think it was necessarily the deciding factor
in his leaving, but it is something I have data on, and hence something to
comment on. However, A*STAR’s track record on placing a lot of emphasis on
the quantity of publications (and variant metrics like quantity weighted by
impact factors) does not rule out the possibility of Dr. Cai getting fired
over his less-than-stellar publication record. Again there are many other
plausible factors at work here, which (at least for now) cannot be ruled out
, nor can they be used to evaluate many other plausible scenarios. Useless
bum who deserved what’s coming? Good scientist insulated for too long
against the relentless pressure of modern science to publish or perish? Well
-intentioned researcher who allowed years of lax oversight to get the better
of him? Who knows…

照时间推算，IMCB的director刚来新加坡就给Dr Cai下通知要他离开了。。。
看来确实是领导一换，影响整个institute。

早报网新转后续报道：失业博士改行追踪：博士驾德士每天15小时
失业博士改行追踪：博士驾德士每天15小时 （新加坡）联合晚报 (2009-08-20)　

http://www.zaobao.com/wencui/2009/08/lhwb090820i.shtml

华人对洋人的盲目崇拜心理。。。
在新加坡呆久了，自己竟然也有点这样了。。。

太惨了..唉.................当农民都不行..
不公平啊.