Introduction:
Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from
Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments, I
have been forced out of my research job at the height of my
scientific career, and unable to find another one, for reasons I
can only describe as something "uniquely Singapore". As a result, I
am driving taxi to make a living and writing these real life
stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting. I hope
that these stories are interesting to you too.
Introduction: Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a
PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific
accomplishments, I have been forced out of my research job at the
height of my scientific career, and unable to find another one, for
reasons I can only describe as something "uniquely Singapore". As a
result, I am driving taxi to make a living and writing these real
life stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting. I
hope that these stories are interesting to you too.
COULD this be Singapore's most well qualified taxi driver?
Dr Cai Ming Jie became an SMRT cabby last November after
spending 16 years as a researcher at the Institute of Molecular and
Cell Biology (IMCB) of the Agency for Science, Technology and
Research (A*Star).
His career switch has become a talking point online after he
started a blog earlier this year. Alongside his experiences as a
cabby, he takes issue with the circumstances of his departure from
IMCB last May.
An SMRT spokesman confirmed that the former researcher is a driver
with SMRT Taxis, but Dr Cai declined to add more beyond this: 'All
that needs to be said is on the blog online...It should be IMCB
that needs to be asked questions, if any.'
The China-born Dr Cai, who became a Singapore citizen, obtained a
PhD in molecular biology from Stanford University in 1990. The
Straits Times learnt that he did a two-year postdoctoral fellowship
after leaving Stanford at the University of Washington, under famed
genetist Professor Lee Hartwell, who won a 2001 Nobel Prize in
physiology.
He joined IMCB two years later and worked as a principal
investigator in the field of cell genetics up till his
departure.
A spokesman for A*Star, meanwhile, said renewal of all its
researchers' contracts is based on a number of factors, including
the time taken to train PhD students, their performance and their
contributions to the research institutes and the agency in
general.
Dr Cai's work, like that of all A*Star researchers, was assessed by
an external Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), which recommended his
contract be terminated.
Still, in spite of the submission of countless curriculum vitaes
and applications to universities, government agencies and companies
since he was told he would be let go in 2007, Dr Cai failed to get
a successful response.
The former researcher now drives a four-year -old Toyota Crown. 'At
a time like this, the taxi business is probably the only business
in Singapore that still actively recruits people,' he said.
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Read about his interesting blog here: http://taxidiary.blogspot.com/