John Benning

I maybe did bury the lede a bit 😂

I sent the letter above to WSJ as a Letter to the Editor a few days after Dr. Wright's piece came out. They declined to publish it, and declined to comment on why. They did publish other letters.

These facts should be considered when evaluating Dr. Wright’s claims of oppression.

These views are my own and do not represent Cornell University.

To be clear, Dr. Wright was not implicated in any wrongdoing. But the assumption that this association was a non-issue for hiring committees reviewing Dr. Wright's application in 2020 seems implausible.

In early 2020, Pruitt — Wright’s PhD advisor — was accused of scientific fraud and later found by his university to have engaged in multiple instances of data falsification and fabrication. “Spidergate” was the biggest scandal our field has weathered.

A notable omission from Dr. Wright’s commentary is the fact that 95% of his publications at the time of his applications were co-authored with Jonathan Pruitt.

His CV certainly demonstrates potential. But “top in [his] field”? You would be hard pressed to find a domain expert who agrees with that claim.

Most folks spend years applying to dozens or hundreds of faculty jobs, and most PhDs do not end up in faculty positions. There are many potential reasons Dr. Wright failed to land a job.

I personally know two other white male evolutionary biologists hired by Cornell within the last two years.

People unfamiliar with EEB often do not realize how competitive the job market is.

Dr. Wright suggests that being a white male prevented him from securing a faculty position in our field (EEB) and that in particular, Cornell University’s doors were closed to him because of his identity. However, I was hired by Cornell this year.

I am the most recent white male evolutionary biologist hired at Cornell. I’d like to provide essential context for readers mulling over Colin Wright’s commentary, “Cornell University discriminated against me.” 🧵

I say we start by making it less financially appealing.

We need a ruthless anti-scam administration. A total crackdown on robocalls, MLMs, crytpo scams, get rich quick influencers, and fake supplement companies.

Steep penalties and enforcement structures with teeth.

had not seen this; very cool

I need to write a response, as the latest white male evolutionary biologist hired by Cornell!

h/t @jbyoder.org for inspiring!

Part of the Science Homecoming initiative: sciencehomecoming.com @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social

America leads the world in science and innovation. Let’s not throw that away. Published July 2025 in my hometown paper, The Franklin Times. Part of the Science Homecoming initiative. KJ Muldoon was only a few days old when his parents received devastating news: their son was…

Published an op-ed in my hometown paper, advocating for the continued funding of American Science.
johnbenning.net/2025/08/01/a...

Very stoked to tell y'all that I just started as an assistant prof in Cornell EEB!

More to come later, but for now, if you know folks looking to do a PhD in evolutionary ecology, they can chat with me about this awesome fellowship. 2-pg LOI is due July 31!
www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

They are not. We have maybe the worst political system in the developed world, one that makes an unrepresentative sliver of voters with no principles who aren't really paying attention decisive. Every few months, they get profiled like a set of jangling keys and folks want to throw democracy away.

We begin reviewing applications next week!

Really like this; thx!

hey hope you were having a good day before you read this

The Kreiner and Carley Labs at @UChicago E&E are co-hiring a Lab Manager/Research Technician position in Plant Evolutionary Ecology & Genomics!

Please see the link for more details and instructions on how to apply: bit.ly/UChiPlantTec...

I have been following the discussion around how best to represent and label human genetic variation, and thought it might also be worth discussing an aspect of the broader context. 1/n

Frontiers | Typological thinking in human genomics research contributes to the production and prominence of scientific racism <p>Public genomic datasets like the 1000 Genomes project (1KGP), Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP), and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD)...

New from @jedidiahcarlson.com and I, and with a personal guarantee that there are no AI images. We discuss conceptual and methodological practices in mainstream human genetics that contribute to misappropriation by scientific racists through their own fringe counter-research & online memes.

Awesome! Can postdocs be the main PI on a STAR? Or co-pi?

jfc

I used the Decagon GS-1: johnbenning.net/2015/02/26/v...