What’s Expected of You#

Work Hours#

I generally expect all of us to either be in the lab or, occasionally, working somewhere nearby on campus during normal work hours (M-F; 9-5). This is a guiding principle rather than a rigid rule as I know there are times when you may find working elsewhere, like the library, more productive. I also understand that an occasional change of scenery can provide a nice boost in motivation or just help clear the cobwebs. These statements are all true for me as well. However, it’s best if most of our hours overlap with each other, as this will facilitate scheduling, promote serendipitous conversations, and foster community. When in doubt about what’s best practice, talk to me.

Beyond your set schedule, what’s most important about your working hours is the depth of your attention and focus on the task at hand. How to best direct your efforts, minimize distraction, and maintain focus is something I’ve thought and read an awful lot about. While I still have lots of room for improvement, I’m happy to provide any guidance I can to you around this topic.

On the topic of focus and deep work, since we’re currently sharing Dr. Romeo Chua’s lab space, we have to be extra conscientious about not holding conversations in the lab. Do not disturb the other trainees in the lab. You can take your conversations to the “closet” or the lower level of Osborne. Please bring it to my attention if there are issues around too many distractions in the lab.

Lab meetings#

We have weekly 1.5 hour lab meetings. Everyone is expected to attend and, more importantly, participate. We’ll usually set aside time at the beginning of the meeting to catch up on everyone’s projects. Each week, a different member will lead the meeting. We’ll likely alternate between project discussions and journal club. However, we’ll also have dedicated weeks for practice talks for conferences and other science-related topics, such as best practices for coding, peer reviewing each other’s writing, and other ideas that we come up with.

One-on-one meetings#

I am here to provide mentorship and guidance to you. As such, you can expect to have regular one-on-one meetings with me. For graduate students, these meetings will take place weekly. For undergraduates, you can expect a regular meeting with me at least once a month. Anyone can request a meeting with me whenever they need to and I will make sure to be available for you. And please feel comfortable knocking on my office door if anything urgent comes up.

With regard to our meetings, I expect you to come to them prepared. This means knowing what you want advice on and, for most meetings, having a simple presentation prepared—whether slides, a Jupyter notebook, written notes/documents, or whiteboard sketches. This is something I learned as a grad student and postdoc. In order to get the most out of my meetings with my advisor, I always had something concrete to show them and discuss. Like all PIs, I have several projects constantly floating around in my mind, not just yours, so having a brief presentation prepared will help me give you my best advice. The presentation doesn’t have to be formal, but even so, it’s great practice for organizing your thoughts and presenting your work.

In addition to preparation, I also expect you to follow through on agreed upon actions and next steps. If you’re looking for software to help with keeping yourself organized, I find Trello to provide a nice, clean interface for keeping track of ongoing tasks.

Receiving feedback on work#

You can expect me to provide you with thoughtful feedback on your work in a timely manner. When seeking feedback, which you should for everything coming out of the lab, please provide me with sufficient lead time. For anything with a deadline, like a conference abstract, please provide me with a solid draft at least two weeks in advance. For manuscripts, the process is highly iterative, as there will be multiple drafts. You will usually start by providing me with an outline at least two months in advance. For theses and dissertations, you will start the writing process many months in advance.

Principal Investigator#

I aim to provide an overall vision for the lab (see Mission) and work collaboratively with you to make sure our research is rigorous, thorough, and clearly communicated (see Guiding Principles). Through our research efforts, I will also work hard to help you realize your potential and successfully reach the next stage of your career. You are in the lab because I believe in you and am excited to work with you.

Other specific expectations of the PI:

  • Support everyone in the lab scientifically, professionally, and in the case of graduate trainees, financially

  • Be available for regular meetings to discuss your research and other topics of interest

  • Provide constructive criticism and feedback on the direction of your projects

  • Provide timely feedback on project ideas, conference abstracts, grants, manuscripts

  • Support your career development by introducing you to other researchers, promoting your work, writing recommendation letters, and supporting your attendance at conferences to help you prepare for the next stage of your career

Graduate students#

You are the driver of your research project. While I (Hyosub) may provide you with a concrete idea for your first project in the lab—and I’m always here to provide guidance—you are always the project leader. Practically speaking, this means you should:

  • (PhD students) Develop your dissertation research. In order to defend, you should have at least 3 substantial chapters/publishable manuscripts that answer a big picture question

  • (Master’s students) Develop your thesis research. In order to defend, you should have at least 1 substantial chapter/publishable mansucript that answers an important question

  • Prioritize your research. Coursework, TA-ships, and extracurricular activities are all important, but your research is what earns you your degree and advances your career

  • Be able to work independently, while also seeking guidance from the PI

  • Help mentor undergraduates in the lab. All graduate students are expected to mentor/work with 1-2 undergraduates.

  • Present your work regularly at lab meetings, seminars, and conferences

  • Apply for scholarships/grants

  • Maintain human ethics approvals, archive old consent forms, keep any required paperwork up to date and organized

  • Think about what you want for your career and communicate with Hyosub about how to accomplish your goals

Undergraduate students#

Theses students (e.g., KIN 492, NRSC 400, COGS 402)
If you are completing an undergraduate research experience (e.g., KIN 492), capstone project, or senior thesis, you are also expected to be the driver of your project. While the PI will meet with you regularly and advise you on your project, you will likely receive more direct day-to-day guidance from one of the graduate students in the lab. Understanding that your timeline is compressed (either one or two terms), the scope of your project will be significantly smaller than that of a Master’s student’s. Also, while publication of your project is nowhere near out of the question, it is not a firm expectation as it is for all graduate students. If you are earning course credit, you are also expected to attend lab meetings (as your schedule permits), present at at least one lab meeting, and submit a write-up of your research work by the end of your project.

For all undergraduate volunteers, the expectations for you are the following:

  • Assist other lab members with data collection and analysis

  • Assist with recruitment and scheduling of participants

  • Develop your weekly schedule by talking to your graduate student mentor(s) and Hyosub

  • Come in every week and commit enough time to get work done

Lab manager/Research assistants#

As a paid employee, you are expected to perform a series of tasks and duties that are assigned to you by the PI. You are also responsible for keeping track of your hours and what you are working on during them. Specific responsibilities include assisting with, maintaining and/or developing standard operating procedures around the following:

  • Setting up behavioral experiments

  • Participant recruitment and payment

  • Onboarding new lab members

  • Data collection and analysis

  • Obtaining and maintaining ethics approvals

  • Data and code curation

  • Upkeep of lab notebooks

  • Overall project management

  • Keeping lab website up-to-date

Although you have a more concrete set of day-to-day responsibilities than the trainees in the lab, I also want to provide you with opportunities to learn more about research. You are encouraged to attend lab meetings and participate in all of our discussions. If you are sincerely interested in our research and you have a good handle on all of your other responsibilities, as a rule of thumb, you can spend 10-20% of your work hours on research-related actiivites, which includes participating in lab meetings. However, this sort of flexibility is subject to change depending on how pressing lab-related maintenance is during any given period. As with all other matters, if you have questions or need more guidance, please come speak with me.