Lab Philosophy
I am invested in your success. I define success as the ability to graduate or move to a new position; this broad definition indicates that I do not care what type of job or position you attain after spending time in my lab, simply that your time with me as an advisor or mentor has helped you advance your career. I want you to work hard, but to most importantly to work efficiently. Try to hit the goals that we establish for your career without working more than 40 hours a week. Have a life outside the lab, exercise, work on your happiness.
What you can expect from me:
I advocate on behalf of the graduate students within the department to ensure they can make progress. I write reference letters for lab members. I help lab members get their work written up and published. I write grants to fund the lab (including salaries of lab members).
I strive to create a scientific atmosphere ripe for learning, but I won’t teach you everything you need to know. This is because each project will need something slightly different, and I am not all-knowing, nor do I want to be an expert in everything. If there is something you need to learn that is not in my wheelhouse, I do my best to point you in the right direction so that you can get there on your own.
I try to meet with every lab member individually each week for 30 mins to an hour to catch up on scientific progress. This might not be possible always, and for those weeks you may have to be resourceful in my absence.
I will help you edit and prepare papers, grants, dissertation chapters, posters, and talks. My goal is to return drafts of papers within 3-7 days. With regards to feedback: I will be direct with you when I find areas that need improvement. I tend to be pretty clear with my expectations. If you don’t hear from me, it is because I think you are making progress. If I determine that there are performance issues, I will develop a performance improvement plan, and expect weekly and monthly improvements following this rather specific feedback.
How to know if you are making progress in the lab:
It depends on your position in the lab. In general, each person has to be individually guided and resourceful. Get used to being in charge of your own calendar.
If you are a graduate student, it is fairly clear — are you developing research ideas, applying for grants to enact these plans, taking courses, collecting data, analyzing it, and writing up your results? Have you taken and passed your prelims? Have you helped me to develop an individual mentoring plan?
If you are a postdoc, are you producing manuscripts that will help you to be successful on the job market? Are you helping to mentor others in the lab?
Some important considerations inherent to everyone's success:
I am equally committed to the success of everyone in the lab. This means that I make an effort to treat everyone equitably. I do not want some people to feel as if they are less appreciated than others, and further, I want to ensure that lab members do not harbor resentment toward one another — such a scenario can hurt morale and collaboration within the lab.
I value a professional lab atmosphere, which I believe to be crucial to overall lab success. By this, I mean that we interact with one another in a professional manner — no gossiping, especially the unkind sort; no projecting bad moods on one another; respect healthy colleague-colleague & mentor/boss-advisee/employee boundaries.
If you are dealing with personal issues (e.g. family situations, physical or mental conditions), you may need to have time off to effectively get things under control. I care about your general overall health and I absolutely want to know if you think I can help, but I do not want to overstep boundaries and pry into your private life. Perhaps more importantly, I am not a trained psychologist or life-coach. My advice on these fronts will be flawed. If you are struggling with general malaise regarding getting your work done, or a mental/emotional block with regards to your work, then you likely need life coaching or counseling, and it is your responsibility to set up and follow through with this.
* Much of this is adapted/taken with permission from Gina Baucom (thanks, Gina!)
What you can expect from me:
I advocate on behalf of the graduate students within the department to ensure they can make progress. I write reference letters for lab members. I help lab members get their work written up and published. I write grants to fund the lab (including salaries of lab members).
I strive to create a scientific atmosphere ripe for learning, but I won’t teach you everything you need to know. This is because each project will need something slightly different, and I am not all-knowing, nor do I want to be an expert in everything. If there is something you need to learn that is not in my wheelhouse, I do my best to point you in the right direction so that you can get there on your own.
I try to meet with every lab member individually each week for 30 mins to an hour to catch up on scientific progress. This might not be possible always, and for those weeks you may have to be resourceful in my absence.
I will help you edit and prepare papers, grants, dissertation chapters, posters, and talks. My goal is to return drafts of papers within 3-7 days. With regards to feedback: I will be direct with you when I find areas that need improvement. I tend to be pretty clear with my expectations. If you don’t hear from me, it is because I think you are making progress. If I determine that there are performance issues, I will develop a performance improvement plan, and expect weekly and monthly improvements following this rather specific feedback.
How to know if you are making progress in the lab:
It depends on your position in the lab. In general, each person has to be individually guided and resourceful. Get used to being in charge of your own calendar.
If you are a graduate student, it is fairly clear — are you developing research ideas, applying for grants to enact these plans, taking courses, collecting data, analyzing it, and writing up your results? Have you taken and passed your prelims? Have you helped me to develop an individual mentoring plan?
If you are a postdoc, are you producing manuscripts that will help you to be successful on the job market? Are you helping to mentor others in the lab?
Some important considerations inherent to everyone's success:
I am equally committed to the success of everyone in the lab. This means that I make an effort to treat everyone equitably. I do not want some people to feel as if they are less appreciated than others, and further, I want to ensure that lab members do not harbor resentment toward one another — such a scenario can hurt morale and collaboration within the lab.
I value a professional lab atmosphere, which I believe to be crucial to overall lab success. By this, I mean that we interact with one another in a professional manner — no gossiping, especially the unkind sort; no projecting bad moods on one another; respect healthy colleague-colleague & mentor/boss-advisee/employee boundaries.
If you are dealing with personal issues (e.g. family situations, physical or mental conditions), you may need to have time off to effectively get things under control. I care about your general overall health and I absolutely want to know if you think I can help, but I do not want to overstep boundaries and pry into your private life. Perhaps more importantly, I am not a trained psychologist or life-coach. My advice on these fronts will be flawed. If you are struggling with general malaise regarding getting your work done, or a mental/emotional block with regards to your work, then you likely need life coaching or counseling, and it is your responsibility to set up and follow through with this.
* Much of this is adapted/taken with permission from Gina Baucom (thanks, Gina!)