Dr. Stanley Snyder, inventor and entrepreneur, is an untenured senior scientist at a leading Midwestern university. As a maverick and self-described organizational outsider, Dr. Snyder learned to get necessary influence through difficult experience. Dr. Snyder has been for a long time an adjunct member of the biology department, a natural because he had a Ph.D. in molecular biology. In that department, he had developed several patented technology in the university and paid his own way through royalty and grants. However, he had been a thorn in the assistant provost for research, who Dr. Snyder had believed had been looking for an excuse to get rid of him for some time.
The anthrax scare immediately following 9/11/01 provided the precipitating excuse for a confrontation. Dr. Snyder’s work had principally involved biology, but when the U.S. government had started the search for a quick test to determine the presence of anthrax and a company approached Dr. Snyder for assistance on developing such a test, Dr. Snyder ‘ ‘came to the rescue.’’ He worked with a colleague who had an anthrax stain in her research collection and has serious experience culturing these bacteria. They rather quickly came up with an inexpensive ad practical detection method for anthrax. Dr. Snyder then went to the university provost to announce the good news and to help arrange a co-operate license agreement, with royalties to go to the university. Instead of welcoming the news, the university administration according to Dr. Snyder “went ballistic,” prompted by the high anxiety over anthrax. He and his colleague were subjected to a university investigation, and then were investigated by the local police and FBI as if they were reckless scientists and criminals. They were placed on administrative leave (a very negative exchange!)
Dr. Snyder had liked working at the university, where he had colleagues and research collaborators. He did not wish to leave, and at first could only think of fighting the university. During the stressful period, a leading member of the physics department, Dr. Zelikoff, who Dr. Snyder had recently helped in writing a patent application, met with him.
As they were discussing Snyder’s employment problem, Dr. Zelikoff offered to explore the possibility of having him join the physics department. A bit of an individualist himself, but skilled at working within the university organization, Dr. Zelikoff wanted to help both Dr. Snyder and the university resolve a difficult situation. He studied the policies and procedures and realized that he could invite Dr. Snyder (who would be self-funding anyway) to the department. Dr. Zelikoff would get a useful colleague and the department would receive a share of Dr. Snyder’s royalties. Dr. Snyder would gain a degree of protection and oversight as well as laboratory and office space. Resisting the efforts of the assistant provost for research to terminate Dr. Snyder, they worked out a deal with provost (manager of the assistant provost) that was beneficial to Dr. Snyder, the department, and the university. Dr. Snyder is currently hard at work on applied research and new inventions.
The pictures are to simply illustrate to you or give you an idea of what I truly mean.
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Great Gee out.