The Value of Insiders as Mentors: Evidence from the Effects of NSF Rotators on Early-Career Scientists
研究发现，在政府机构工作过的学者（如NSF轮岗人员）返回大学后，能显著提升其所在院系新助理教授的研究资源和获得中小型资助的机会，表明接触具有外部经验的个体有助于推动科学职业发展。
We show that academics with experience in government jobs generate spillovers for their early-career colleagues. Our template is the National Science Foundation rotation program in which the agency employs academics, called rotators, on loan from their university. Within two years after the rotator's return, fresh assistant professors in her department increase their research resources materially and are more likely to win small and medium-size grants compared to academics in three control groups. Consistent with evidence that the mechanism is mentoring from the rotator, the results suggest that access to individuals with insights gained outside academia propels scientific careers.