Contemporary scientific research faces major cultural and institutional
hurdles. Some of the primary challenges include an exploding knowledge
base and organizational complexity of many scientific projects, the
overproduction of PhDs relative to the availability of faculty
positions, and protracted educational trajectories for many aspiring
researchers. Perhaps the most serious set of consequences caused by the
fierce competition of modern science are low rates of reproducibility in
research studies across many disciplines, a startling reality which
undermines the scientific process and institutional authority itself. In
an increasingly interconnected intellectual world, where fundamental and
applied research are deeply interwoven, the implications of this state
of affairs extend well beyond the research laboratory. In this article,
I explore one possible strategy among the many necessary interventions
for addressing these critical global issues, namely, new graduate
programs to train scientific generalists. Rather than focus on
developing niche technical skills, these programs would train
outstanding communicators and decision makers who have been exposed to
multiple subjects at the graduate level. The motivation for creating
such programs is to introduce a large number of exceptionally trained
individuals across all industries and organizations who have been
encouraged to think critically about the practical realities and
contemporary cultural trends of scientific research. I suggest possible
avenues for structuring such programs and examine the roles that
generalists might play in the modern research, policy, and industrial
landscape.