Research-Education – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

The National Institutes of Health: 1991-2008

By Scott J. Pearson | December 14, 2025December 14, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

To those interested in healthcare research in America, understanding the National Institutes of Health (NIH) represents a formidable challenge. Few books address the topic well, and most investigators follow the NIH’s trends with deep interest. Even though this book represents history from decades ago – 15 years is a long time in American politics and in research – this book remains relevant to understand the historical trends still operative in this great institution. Reading this…

Institutional Review Board Member Handbook

By Scott J. Pearson | September 28, 2025September 28, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Institutional Review Boards, or IRBs, review human-subjects research to ensure that they ethically affirm the rights of the participants in their research. I have some projects about to undergo IRB review, and though I’ve had successful reviews in the past, I wanted to better understand the issues involved in IRB approval. This book offered a concise, evidence-based summary of those very issues. The book is written primarily for those who are about to serve on…

Research-Education

Designing Quality Survey Questions

By Scott J. Pearson | June 28, 2025June 28, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

In our connected world, we’re inundated by data collection tools. Today’s technology surpasses the quality of anything we’ve had before, and sending out a mass survey is easier than ever. However, many researchers ask the same-old questions in the same-old style they’ve seen in prior surveys. In so doing, they repeat the same mistakes prior generations made. This book’s two expert/authors address ways to think about and formulate survey questions that give you the data…

Research-Education Science

Enjoy Your Science Meeting! A Practical Guide to Getting the Most our of Attending Scientific Conferences

By Scott J. Pearson | April 20, 2025April 20, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

For scientists and researchers, conferences provide opportunities to learn, network, and see what others are doing outside of their own lab or institution. They also give opportunities to disseminate one’s work and receive feedback from a wider audience. Thus, they serve as crucial gateways to accelerate a career. Like everything else, however, there’s a learning curve, and conferences cost someone money. It’s in any scientist’s best interest to learn how to get good at the…

Research-Education

CV Handbook: A Curriculum Vitae Owner’s Manual

By Scott J. Pearson | April 17, 2025April 17, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

For a graduate student, making a CV – shorthand for Curriculum Vitae, a longer form of résumé – can be a daunting task. Those of us who have seen the CVs of eminent scholars might be intimidated that our first CV will look comparably weak. The CV offers an opportunity to define a professional identity, but when someone with power sees that someone else has violated unwritten rules, the CV could be quickly thrown into…

Research-Education Science Software-Technology

Understanding Tech Transfer: A Brief Guide to University Technology Transfer

By Scott J. Pearson | April 7, 2025April 7, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

This short, accessible work outlines a typical tech transfer office at a university. Research universities drive innovation across entire industries and local economies, and smart companies can figure out how to leverage partnerships for commercial successes. The university office that facilitates that is called “tech transfer.” These offices received increased momentum when a federal act in 1980 allowed universities to license their innovations for profit while under federal funding. At 31 pages, this book is…

Research-Education Science Software-Technology

Tech Transfer 2.0: How Universities Can Unlock Their Patent Portfolios & Create More Tech Startups

By Scott J. Pearson | April 3, 2025April 3, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Tech transfer offices in American universities attempt to translate innovations from their research labs into industry and the wider marketplace. Tech transfer’s successes tend to be counted in patents and revenue, but most scientific advances run through larger pipelines of graduating students and journal publications. The Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 attempted to increase the transfer of patents from universities’ labs into licensing to industry. However, as Melba Kurman notes, successful tech transfer has been around…

Healthcare History Research-Education

Meharry Medical College

By Scott J. Pearson | January 1, 2025January 1, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Soon after Emancipation, large efforts were required to meet the needs of formerly enslaved people. A medical college was founded in Nashville as a department of Central Tennessee College to train black doctors to address the needs of the underserved blacks across the country. Now called Meharry Medical College almost 150 years later, the school continues to educate healthcare professionals and advance “the worship of God through service to man.” This book chronicles its history…

Research-Education Writing-Communication

Write No Matter What: Advice for Academics

By Scott J. Pearson | October 5, 2024October 5, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Research and publishing stand as core disciplines in the academic work. Tenure and accolades depend on them. While writing remains central in this task, many academics get carried away in teaching and service-oriented components of a professorial life, and these distract from the solitary pursuit of writing. Outside of one’s institution (and perhaps region), however, reading a scholarly product continues as the main way others interact with research. Even conference presentations rely on good rhetoric…