Methodology: "In March, C&EN surveyed chemists in their first or second year as an assistant professor. Of the 192 academics we reached out to, 111 responded; 85 identified themselves as working at a research-intensive school, whereas 26 are at primarily undergraduate institutions."
I have been involved in hiring at multiple top 20 departments would peg this number right around $1M. Every now and then you hear about an off-scale startup package, but these are pretty rare (and not always accepted!). Other important thing to note is that it varies widely how far these dollars go depending on availability of shared instrumentation (a well equipped and staffed central instrument facility is tremendously valuable for all but the most core capabilities), TA positions and student costs, etc. Some places fold the value of TA slots and (sometimes) renovations into the "value" of a startup package (usually this is done by places offering very small discretionary spending accounts).
ReplyDeleteBut basically, you need to be able to get a new lab off the ground for a million in discretionary. If you can't do it for a million, I'm not convinced you will do any better with two million.