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Academia: Research and Universities

Academia covers the working side of higher education: careers and pay, teaching practice and institutional decisions.

Academia

The Postdoc Squeeze: Years of Expertise, Priced Below the Market

The United States holds tens of thousands of postdoctoral researchers, and the economics of the position — pay, duration, and the queue behind it — have quietly become academia's sharpest contradiction.

By Marta Kowalczyk • February 18, 2026

Academia

The Two-Tier Faculty: What Tenure-Track and Adjunct Economics Look Like

Most US college teaching is now done by instructors off the tenure line, paid per course, without research support or a contract beyond a semester.

By Marta Kowalczyk • January 26, 2026

Academia

NIH Indirect Costs, Explained: What the 15% Cap Fight Is About

Indirect cost reimbursements built the laboratories that direct grants furnish — and a 2025 cap attempt turned a 50-year-old accounting rule into a political fight.

By Marta Kowalczyk • January 4, 2026