Revised October, 2024
We believe that formalized and frequent communication is the key to effective mentorship. Our interactions are how we put our values (described below) into practice. In this document, we provide guidelines for creating effective communication among lab members and our methods and strategies for working together as a team. Mentorship compacts are a method to set expectations in mentor-mentee relationships for new lab members, as well as an opportunity to introduce lab-specific dynamics and overall lab functioning. This document is based on the UW Biology Checklist. The document will be revisited annually at the beginning of the Fall Quarter to incorporate perspectives from new lab members and revisit any elements that should be updated or added.
Our lab considers community to be of utmost importance in the pursuit of science. This value is reflected in our dedication to intentionally creating inclusive learning environments in the classroom and in research spaces, fostering a sense of belonging within scientific and research spaces, and recognizing the power of community support in our personal lives (family, friends, or other support networks). We believe that nurturing healthy communities creates better scientists and promotes better scholarship.
We work towards making the lab a safer space for team members. Lab members should not feel that they need to hide an important part of identity, belief, and/or culture. The lab strives to create a professional work environment that makes space for lab members to bring their full selves to their scholarship.
Our lab is dedicated to curiosity & self-fulfillment. We value active intellectual engagement, both in our academic pursuits and in our understanding of how to support and uplift each other. We encourage one another to reflect on our goals and to strive for excellence in pursuit of those goals. It is the lab’s job to support these pursuits, not to determine the goal.
These values are aspirational, and enacting these values in our day to day interactions requires consistent work and communication. We encourage humbleness, honesty, and compassion as we work towards the ideals described above.
The lab handbook (how things are generally run in the lab, e.g. how often/ where/ when lab meetings are held, molecular protocols, this document) lives on GitHub in the Tribble Lab Organization's lab_practices repository. This facilitates collaborative editing of lab guidelines and ensures all documents are accessible to any member of the lab.
Each lab member performing molecular work in the Tribble Lab should maintain a physical lab notebook. You will be given a lab notebook when you begin molecular work (if you don't have one, ask your mentor). The lab uses physical lab notebooks, but you may choose to print any notes or documents and paste them into your notebook instead of handwriting everything.
Critically, the lab notebook lives in the lab and you should never take your lab notebook home or out of the molecular lab space. This is because loosing the lab notebook is very bad, and keeping lab notebooks in the lab reduces the chance of loss. Furthermore, you will likely touch the lab notebook with gloves that have come into contact with hazardous chemicals, which should stay in the molecular lab space. You are encourage to take pictures of the notebook to acess at home if you wish, and lab notebooks should be fully scanned twice a year (scans should live on the lab server).
When you leave the lab (graduate, etc.), the physical lab notebook stays in the lab, but you are encouraged to take copies of your scanned notebook for your own use.
Similar to above, all lab members who conduct fieldwork should maintain physical collection notes in waterproof notebooks that will be provided by the lab. These should be scanned (photographed with your cell) every day while collecting data in the field. Backups of these notebooks should also live on the lab server.
What is the goal of the lab research program? What projects are active in the lab? How are the scientific questions determined?
Our research group studies plant evolution, morphological convergence, and biodiversity by integrating molecular, field, and herbarium data using statistical phylogenetics. We use sophisticated statistical methods to model the evolution of complex and understudied natural phenomena. We work on diverse plant lineages including monocots and ferns, and in regions including the American tropics, Hawai’i, and the Pacific Northwest.
You will identify a research project within those guidelines. Undergraduate students generally start off by working as part of an existing project with a graduate student (or other) mentor. PhD projects are determined through iterative conversations with the student during the first year of their PhD. PhD students are expect to be the intellectual drivers of their dissertation and thus should take ownership over the primary research question underlying their dissertation. This often looks like early conversations between PI and student about possible topics, the PhD student doing a bunch of reading, thinking, brainstorming, more conversations with the PI, conversations with other experts to further brainstorm ideas, and then writing a preliminary project proposal (often formated for a fellowship application).
The PI determines whether a potential project is appropriate by evaluating three criteria:
- Is the project feasible given the available resources (include avaiable expertise in the lab and through collaborations)?
- Is the PI excited about the scientific question posed by the project? This ensures long-term investment in the research.
- Is the PhD student motivated to drive the project forward, and does the project server the PhD student's long term career goals?
In addition to conducting scientific studies as described above, a secondary goal of the research program is for trainees to gain transferable skills. For example:
- Presenting at conferences, during lab meetings, and other campus venues to communicate science and practice public speaking
- Developing best practices in managing data and organization
- Gaining writing skills for formal science writing and for communicating with a general audience
What are the expected working hours, working conditions, and schedule? Do these vary from person to person?
Lab members are highly encouraged to work physically in lab spaces as much as possible. If the physical spaces available to you are not conducive to work, inform your mentor so that the lab can provide alternatives. Working from home occasionally is acceptable, but should not be the default. Remote-only lab participation will be highly discouraged and only available under extenuating circumstances (but ask if you need it).
Work hours depend on your situation:
- PhD students: minimum of 40 hours per week (including teaching, classes, research time, etc.) Many (if not most) PhD students will need to work more than that through much of the degree. If you find yourself regularly working less than 40 hours per week, check in with the PI to ensure that you are on track to meeting your goals.
- Volunteers: clearly communicate how many hours you’re able to work, and stick to that commitment for the agreed-upon period (e.g. quarter). If that commitment needs to change, communicate this in advance to your mentor.
- Research for credit: work the number of hours for which you are getting credit. Working less than this may impact your ability to receive credit at the end of the quarter.
- Paid employees: work the number of hours for which you are being paid. If you need to adjust your hours, commitment this in advance to your mentor.
For everyone: if you need to make adjustments (temporarily or permanently) to your work location(s), hours, or schedule, communicate this to your mentor beforehand.
Lab meetings occur once a week (schedule varies by quarter). All members of the lab are encouraged to attend lab meetings, including undergraduate student researchers and lab affiliates. Each academic year we will start lab meetings with a review of lab practices and provide opportunities for feedback on these practices. Other lab meetings rotate between individual updates (plan on roughly 5 minutes of content on what you've been working on; only required for attendees currently doing research in the lab) and focused topics such as paper discussions, practice talks, professional development workshops etc. Lab members will be asked to organize or coordinate these topics, but the PI will assist as needed (just ask).
All students (undergrad and grad) who attend lab meetings are encouraged to register for credit. If you register, you are expected to attend regularly. Undergraduate students who attend lab meetings should communicate with the PI if lab meetings do not feel useful to them before stopping to attend.
Lab meetings are held on campus in person by default (unless indicated otherwise). If lab meeting transitions fully to Zoom, we encourage cameras on for discussions, but cameras may be turned off during presentations. If you are not comfortable with cameras on during Zoom meetings, let your mentor know beforehand.
All attendees are encouraged to bring food and eat during lab meetings, and we frequently coordinate this effort via a snack schedule, established with lab meeting topics at the beginning of the quarter.
The lab meeting agenda lives on GitHub. The agenda is set at the beginning of each quarter with input from all lab members.
All lab social events are optional, but at least occasional participation is encouraged. If long-term lab members stop attending any social events, the PI may take this as a red flag about lab dynamics and initiate a conversation. Lab social events are planned by the lab social committee (committee members volunteer at the beginning of the academic year) and the the PI. The social committee will plan a diversity of activities. No activities will be oriented around alcohol consumption, but alcohol may be an option at some events. The PI will cover some meals as part of social activities. All social event announcements will be explicit about any costs for attending.
All lab members are expected to meet weekly or biweekly with their mentor. These meetings should be scheduled a set time at the beginning of each quarter. In the case of undergraduate students working with a mentor who is not the PI (e.g. a graduate student, postdoc, etc.), the student should meet once with the PI when getting started, and then as needed moving forward. For individual meetings with the PI, the mentee should give the PI a heads up via Slack or email 2--3 days prior to meeting with any big-picture agenda items. This is particularly important for anything the PI should give some thought to before the meeting (i.e. existential research crises, "what is the future of academia", etc.). This is not necessary for most meetings topics, only the big, unusual ones. The mentee should set the topic of the meeting and let the mentor know at least 48 hours in advance, or a week in advance for more intensive conversations (e.g. reviewing drafts). The mentor should take notes during the meetings and ensure those notes are shared with the mentee. Google Docs is a good option for this. If you need to reschedule a meeting, you can propose a new time using the Google calendar event, adding a note with an explanation and your general availability, or via my Calendly app (link in our internal repo).
One-off meetings with the PI can be scheduled using Calendly. Contact the PI for the link to this app.
Outside of regular meetings, the PI recommends the following for in-person communication:
- If office door is open: feel free to come in and ask a quick question (but longer conversations may need to be scheduled)
- If office door is almost closed but not latched: feel free to knock and ask a quick question (but longer conversations may need to be scheduled)
- If office door is totally closed and latched: PI is either not in the office, in a meeting, or needs to focus.
- If there is an emergency^* do whatever you need to do to get ahold of the PI (knock on a closed/ latched door, call cell phone, etc.) ^* Emergencies include you or anyone you know experiencing a mental health crises, any type of physical injury or emergency, fires, freezers failing, etc.
The lab uses Slack and email to communicate. See the lab software guide for more. There is a lab listserv. Slack is great for day-to-day communication, but emails are best for bigger requests (letters of recommendation, feedback on papers, etc.). Everyone should have the PI's cell number for emergencies (and social events). ***** add a private doc with all contact info for lab memebers *****
Lab data are stored on a network-attached storage (NAS) device (the lab server) which lives in the computational workroom. All lab members have access to the drive remotely, though off-campus or off-network access must be via a VPN. The lab server has protection against disc failure and is backed up to the cloud for off-site security.
All lab members conducting research in the lab should ensure that any work is backed up (drafts of writing, figures, etc.) even if that work doesn't live on the lab server. One option to set up a backup system for your whole computer, via a cloud service or an external hard drive. Another option is to do all work on cloud/ collaborative software.
All code should be stored on GitHub in repositories affiliated with the lab GitHub organization. Code shoudl be documented and readable, as this will serve your future self and others who attempt to use your code. Coming soon: code documentation SOP.
The person who generates the data/ code is responsible for storing it on the lab server/ GitHub and sufficiently documenting it for future users. We recommend that you set up data management and documentation practices as you are collecting the data, instead of at the end.
See also: lab software guide.
Mentees should inform their mentors if they will miss an expected event (e.g. lab meeting, individual meetings) because of illness. If mentees take vacation or time off during non-UW holidays, they should communicate this with their mentor as far in advance as possible.
No one should come in to lab if even remotely sick. If you feel like you may be getting sick, please switch meetings to Zoom and communicate this to your mentor.
Vacation time expectation:
- Employees: specified in employment/ benefits offer
- Grad students: should be working over academic breaks, but not on UW holidays. Vacations are acceptable, within the bounds of time that allows you to meet your academic and professional goals. Working from another location during academic breaks may be acceptable, but should be discussed with the PI beforehand.
- There will not be scheduled lab or individual meetings during academic breaks.
- PhD students should communicate with the PI above what summers will look like (may include conference travel, fieldwork, etc.)
- Mentors (including PI) should communicate any non-holiday absences to their mentees (or the whole lab).
The lab has a network of existing collaborators and encourages lab members to form new collaborations that benefit them. The PI and mentors will assist with reaching out to existing or new collaborators (identifying people with relevant expertise, drafting emails, etc.). Lab members, especially technicians, PhD students, and postdocs, are encouraged to attend a national or international conference annually and smaller regional conferences as needed. The lab generally attends the Botany meeting annually, SSB standalone meeetings when they occur, and Evolution as desired.
Communicate conflicts or concerns early, as the PI cannot address concerns that they don't know about. If any issues (interpersonal or otherwise) is getting in the way of your ability to do your work (i.e. not being able to focus, feel uncomfortable in work environment), initiate a conversation with your mentor and/or the PI. The PI will work to find a solution internally, but external support also exists. A list of resources for conflict support, mental health services, emergency support, and an anonymous lab form can be found in the lab resources' conflict and safety guide