Brian Winey was headed for a successful research career in physics. The nuclear physics student had worked at Cornell's linear accelerator and was halfway through a doctorate in quantum optics four years ago when his adviser's grant money ran out. With no job and no funding, Winey had to reconsider his career options.
This year, hundreds of researchers in the United States may face a similar crisis. Congress's 2008 omnibus bill in December wiped out funding for two major projects in high-energy physics and clouds the future for individual researchers who rely on National Science Foundation funding.
The cutbacks are driving physicists like Winey from basic research and academia into other fields, according to students and researchers.
Winey turned to radiation oncology, a field that uses physics principles to provide radiation treatment for cancer patients.
"This is a really stable field and I can see the impact of the work I do," he said.
Other physics "refugees" or "expatriates," as they call themselves, often choose engineering or computer programming, according to Gary White, director of the Society for Physics Students, who speaks with students regularly about the future of physics. White often recommends that they look into medical physics.
"It's a lucrative option for them," he said. "There are few accredited graduate programs, but I've seen students graduate from those programs and receive five job offers right away."
At Brigham and Women's Hospital, physics refugees receive a sympathetic reception from radiation oncologist Robert Cormack, who selects postdoctorates for the department and is a refugee himself.
"When there is a big federal funding cut, we see a huge number of people looking into this field" from physics, he said. Cormack recalled that after Congress cut funds for the Superconducting Super Collider in 1993, applications piled high.
Clearly, turning to medicine is a lucrative decision for physicists: In 2004, the most recent year for which data are available, physics PhDs in academia earned about $56,000, while those in hospitals or medical services earned about $120,000, according to the American Institute of Physics. Also that year, physics graduate students outnumbered tenured faculty positions across the country by a factor of 3 to 1.
"The future for students is bleak if their only vision is to become a professor," White said. "This year's budget cuts alone may not be enough to convince someone [to leave physics] but it will definitely influence people on the cusp of a decision."
Though President Bush tried to increase overall science spending last year, and he's trying again now, in the current budget, the National Science Foundation received $500 million less than anticipated.
At Fermilab in Illinois, which had hoped to host new physics projects, one in 10 employees will be laid off this June to compensate for cuts. Other fundamental physics laboratories, including SLAC in Menlo Park, Calif., and Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago have been affected as well.
Federal funding cuts impact all fields of physics, but areas like medical physics are not as dependent on federal money as basic research, so the cutbacks don't hit them as hard. Brigham's radiation department, for instance, receives private donations, patient fees and grants from industry, in addition to federal funding.
"As a student, I saw scientists who had to fret over 20 different grant applications, which is enough to make you miserable," Winey said. He now puts in clinic hours in addition to conducting research, but he said that working in medicine is a better fit for him. "There is a lot less concern about [federal] grants. We're still encouraged to apply for them, but it's not the same pressure."
