The lab staff

PI

MEET GREG!

You can expect me to:

•          Have a vision of where the lab is going.

•          Care about your happiness and success.

•          Obtain the funding to support the science, and the people, in the lab.

•          Support you in your career development for whatever career you choose, including writing letters of recommendation, introductions to other scientists, conference travel, and promoting your work as often as possible.

•          Support you in your personal growth by giving you flexibility in working hours and environment, and encouraging you to do things other than science.

•          Treat you to coffee or lunch. I always accept FLUNCH requests from undergraduates to share a meal with you or a group of students.

•          Make the time to meet with you regularly, read through your manuscripts, and talk about science.

•          Obsess over font choice, punctuation, and graphic design.

•          Be a human being who is also trying to manage my own personal and professional life. I will make mistakes. I will get stressed and overworked. I will lose track of things. You may feel ignored/neglected/underappreciated. Please communicate with me. I am very open to criticism. Know that I always want to do better and understand that everyone has their own unique style and needs.

Postdocs and Staff Scientists

I expect postdocs to transition to independence (i.e., move towards being more PI-like), including giving talks, writing grants, and cultivating an independent research program while still supporting the lab’s research. And, to have (or acquire) the technical and open science skills listed for PhD students, below.

Postdoc salaries generally follow NIH guidelines (regardless of the source of funding).

PhD students

I expect PhD students to:

•          Know (or make an effort to get to know) the literature related to their topic like the back of their hand.

•          Seek out and apply for fellowships and awards (including travel awards, etc.) and encourage me to nominate you for awards.

•          Realize there are times for pulling all-nighters (NOT in the lab!), and times for leaving early to go to the park and enjoy the sunshine or taking a mental health day off.

By the time you’re done, you will have to know how to do statistics and plots in R, share your work with me using Rmarkdown, use scripts for data analyses, know enough Python to navigate presentation in PsychoPy, compile figures and create posters using Adobe Illustrator or a similar graphics program, and give a clear and accessible public talk. You will also preregister your experiments when appropriate (which it almost certainly will be) and share your data and analysis scripts publicly. The learning curve can be a little steep on these but it’s well worth it. (If these aren’t compatible with your goals or interests, my lab is probably not a good fit for you!)

Employees

Employees – whether full-time or part-time – are expected to use their time efficiently to support the projects to which they are assigned. Paid employees will typically have the most interaction with other staff, and with research participants, and in these contexts especially should be a model of professionalism.

Hours

Full time employees are expected to satisfy the equivalent of 40 hours worth of work per week (typically within the 9:00–5:00 window). If you are testing participants outside of this time, we will adjust accordingly for those weeks. You are expected to hold yourself accountable for fulfilling these hours. Per HR policy, you must work at least 40 hours per week to maintain full-time benefits eligibility.

Time off should be requested in advance, via email. Once approved (via email) please add to the lab calendar.

Sick time should also be requested over email. Per HR policy, full-time employees are allowed up to 5 unverified sick instances per fiscal year (beyond this medical verification is required).

(Note that graduate students, postdocs, and staff scientists are given more flexibility in their hours, provided they make sufficient progress on their projects. This flexibility does not extend to other paid positions because we need to maintain a consistent lab presence for scheduling, supporting undergrads, interacting with other staff, and so on.)

It is important to document these requests (and subsequent approval) over email so that we have a record. It is your responsibility to make sure this happens.

Timesheets

•          Hours entered on your timesheet should reflect hours actually at work.

•          Web clock times should be entered from the lab (from a lab computer—not your cell phone).

•          Submit your timesheet before the due date.