Chapter 2 Introduction

2.1 Lab Member Expectations and Responsibilities

If you work hard for me, I’ll work hard for you.

2.1.1 For Everyone

The following applies to all lab members with any status.

13 Lab Laws.

Be:

  • Trustworthy. We all depend on each other. Keep your promises.
  • Loyal. If you work hard for me, I will work hard for you.
  • Helpful. We all need help sometimes. Offer to help without expecting any reward.
  • Friendly. Approach everyone as if they are your long-time friend.
  • Courteous. We always must show respect and consideration.
  • Kind. Treat others the way you want to be treated. Primum non nocere
  • Obedient. If I ask for your help with something, I expect you to do your best to help. This goes both ways. If you ask me for something, I will do my best to do it.
  • Cheerful. We are privileged to be where we are, and that should make you cheerful. Look for the positive side of every situation!
  • Thrifty. The public entrusts their tax dollars to support our research, and in exchange we promise to be careful with that money.
  • Brave. You will need to do things you’re not comfortable with. Maybe that means an experiment, conference, or public speaking. From experience believe me that 90% of success is showing up, and you will be stronger after.
  • Clean. Please keep common areas clean and without clutter. Items left unattended may be cleaned, reclaimed, or recycled. If you’re using lab equipment, put it away when you’re done.
  • Reverant. Be reverent towards science and your journey.
  • Expedient. Plan full days of research. Act like someone might finish and publish your project before you, because in reality, they might.

Details

  • Do not come into the lab if you are sick. Stay home and get healthy, and don’t risk getting others sick.
  • Notify the lab manager or me if you will be taking the day off from work, either due to illness or vacation. If you are sick and you had experiments or meetings scheduled that day, notify your participants or collaborators and reschedule.
  • No food is allowed at desks in the bays. Food can be consumed in the dry lab area, the common areas outside of the lab, or outside on a nice day!
  • You are not expected to work on staff holidays. You are expected to work during university breaks (except for staff holidays or if you’re taking your paid vacation/personal time).
  • Lock the doors to the lab if no one else is around, even if you’re stepping out for a minute.
  • The dress code is casual for routine work days. The only requirements in the lab are long pants and closed-toed shoes. Please dress semi-professional when presenting or interviewing new potential lab mates.
  • When working remotely, you should be generally available during workdays (not necessarily responding immediately, but ideally within a few hours), and you should attend any scheduled remote lab meetings.
  • In general, reply to emails you recieve (not only from me) within 24 hours.
  • Notify me if you must miss or reschedule our group or one-on-one meetings

2.1.2 For the PI

All of the points in the Everyone section, and you can expect me to:

  • Guide our group’s collective research vision
  • Secure the funding you need for salary and supplies
  • Meet with you regularly to discuss your research progress. Meeting frequency will change over time or over the course of a project. I will meet with new lab members for at least 15 minutes every morning, but as you progress meetings may be less frequent.
  • Develop a mentoring and research plan tailored to your interests, needs, and career goals. We will meet in September each year to discuss your strategic plan for the academic year to keep you on track with your goals, and we will meet in March to review progress toward these goals.
  • Guide your professional development, for example helping with presentations and writing
  • Support your career development by introducing you to other researchers in the field, writing recommendation letters for you, providing you with opportunities to attend at least one conference per year, and promoting your work in my own presentations.
  • Care about you as a person and not just a scientist. I am happy to discuss with you any concerns or life circumstances that may be influencing your work, but it is entirely up to you whether and what you want to share.
  • If you need extra support related to time management and productivity, I will brainstorm solutions with you and share what has worked for me and for others.

2.1.3 For Post-docs

All of the points in the Everyone section, and they are expected to:

  • Develop your own independent line of research.
  • Mentor undergraduate and graduate students on their research projects, when asked or when appropriate.
  • Apply for external funding (e.g., NRSA, K99, Damon-Runyon, Ford). I will hire postdocs only when there is funding available for at least a year; however, applying for external funding is a valuable experience and, if awarded, it will release those dedicated funds for other purposes.
  • Apply for jobs (academic or industry or otherwise) as soon as you are “ready” and/or by the beginning of your fourth year as a postdoc.
  • If you are planning to pursue a non-academic career, treat your postdoctoral research as seriously as you might if you were pursuing an academic career. Excellent research productivity, demonstrated by publications, is beneficial for every path.
  • Remind me (the PI) that different scientific opinions can co-exist in the same lab!
  • Postdocs must involve the PI in any manuscripts they are working on (excluding those from previous labs). The PI may refuse to participate intellectually or as author.

2.1.4 For Graduate Students

All of the points in the Everyone section, and they are expected to:

  • Publication requirements: all PhD students are expected to publish at least one first-author review paper and two first-author research papers. Exceptions to the research can be made for one high impact article (Cell, Nature, Science).
  • Start writing a review on a topic we agree upon the day you decide to join the lab. The purpose of this is to both bolster your CV, and to immerse you into your field so we can see the gaps where research will have the most impact.
  • Develop a line of dissertation research. Ideally, your dissertation research will consist of at least 3 related experiments that produce at least 2 manuscripts.
  • Apply for external funding (e.g., NSF GRFP or NRSA). This is a valuable learning experience and a great honor if awarded.
  • Work toward knowing what you want after you graduate and communicate those thoughts to me. I can help you go anywhere, but I need to know where you want to go.
  • Be responsible for your own academic deadlines and keep me updated on them. You must know when department requirements are due (advancement to candidacy etc). In general, this includes your external funding applications, your qualifying exam, and your dissertation proposal and defense.
  • Prioritize time for research. It is easy to get caught up in coursework or TA-ing, but at the end of 5-ish years, you need to have completed a dissertation.
  • Students must involve the PI in any manuscripts they are working on (excluding those from previous labs). The PI may refuse to participate intellectually or as author.

2.1.5 For Lab Managers & Research Scientists

All of the points in the Everyone section, and they are expected to:

  • Maintain the lab IRB protocols and paperwork (e.g., archiving consent forms).
  • Oversee hiring, scheduling, training and ordering.
  • Maintain the lab internal website.
  • Keep the lab manager manual up to date.
  • Assist with participant recruitment and scheduling.
  • Assist other lab members with data collection or analysis (typically you will be assigned to particular projects).
  • Coordinate and take notes during weekly lab meetings.
  • Help to maintain an atmosphere of professionalism within the lab.
  • Work on your own research project.

2.1.6 Data and reproducibility

  • All data must be uploaded to a public repository before publication.
  • All code needed to reproduce a result must be shared publicly.

2.2 Lab Architecture

The PI, for better or worse, shoulders responsibility for the work conducted by their lab group. While everyone involved in the work will be acknowledged when work we have done is published or praised, the PI will always be primarily responsible for correcting problems when they arise, no matter who really caused them. Our work can be questioned years after it has been carried out and published, meaning the PI is the only person committed to this for long enough to realistically keep this commitment.

For some post-doctoral projects, the researchers involved might share a long-term commitment to the research and be the “local PI” on the work. In those cases, they will act as the primary person responsible for those projects. Even so, the PI must always have access to enough information about these projects to independently reproduce analyses and replicate findings.

While the PI thinks in terms of large, multi-experiment projects, lab researchers at all levels will have the responsibility for individual experiments, projects, or component projects. Elements of any project must always be documented. Every project has designated milestones at which documentation should be completed, backed-up, and shared (at least with the lab group, often publicly).

Whenever a lab member moves on from the lab, every project they led must be documented and made accessible to the PI. At the point of leaving the lab, if a project is unpublished, the PI must be given full editing authority along with the former lab member.

2.3 Current Lab Members

Jesse G. Meyer, PhD, Principal Investigator (PI)

2.3.1 Postdoctoral Fellows

2.3.2 Graduate Students

2.3.3 Research Scientists

Quinn Dickinson, MS, Research Technologist I

2.4 Departmental Resources

Additional resources will go here