Vacation & Working from home:
There are always deadlines and never a perfect time to take a vacation - use your judgement while planning for one, but be sure to take one for rejuvenation and maintaining connections with family/friends!
However, it is hard to be successful in science if you treat this simply as a 40-hour week job with paid vacation and benefits - being present 40 hours a week isn't the same as actually working 40 hours - you're expected to optimize your own time so that you can meet expectations and deadlines to progress your own career and the goals of the lab!
We promote the academic lifestyle of flexibility in your hours and research. Aim to strike a balance between what works best for your productivity and maintaining strong connections with other lab members - ideally this involves working from home/elsewhere at most once per week.
In this vein, ALL members should plan their days to be in lab between 11am - 2pm to promote overlap, interactions, and a time for collaborative ideas to be discussed.
Conference attendance:
Group members are expected to attend at least one conference per year, where they present a poster or talk (preferred) on their research progress.
Other symposia, workshops, or events geared towards expanding your scientific or career guidelines are also encouraged (particularly the myriad of ones in the greater Boston area).
See Conference section for more details and suggested conferences.
Funding:
You've been accepted in the lab, so I've committed funding for your term (depending on your career stage)!
Regardless, all graduate students and postdocs are expected to write and apply for an independent fellowship - successful procurement will help both you and the lab!
All members of the lab are expected to be ready to contribute preliminary grants and contribute to grant writing (especially for senior members, dependent on expertise)
Applying for a new funding source (independent fellowship or small internal/external grants) are always encouraged!
Expectations from group members:
Treat others with respect, dignity, and strive to embody the type of atmosphere you would most like to work in.
Be a good lab citizen - don't just do your own research and lab job, but help out when and where needed.
Promote lab organization through completing EHS requirements, updating the lab inventory, writing detailed protocols (experimental, computational, or life hacks) where useful, and updating this wiki!
Maintain lab notebooks and complete annotated documentation of experiments, methods, code, figures/data at a level that it can be reproduced by anybody walking into the lab.
Actively participate in weekly lab meetings, department seminars/symposia/workshops, and lunches with speakers or other visitors. You are always representative for both your future career and the lab as a whole.
Progress your science - write manuscripts, apply for funding (individual fellowships, grant awards, or contribute to lab grant writing), and give poster/talks!
From graduate students: keep your eyes open and eager for new opportunities, skills, and techniques to learn
From postdocs: take on a leadership and mentoring role within the lab, become an independent scientist who brings in new ideas and develops a unique research interest/program
From research staff: be the support network of the lab by helping trainees troubleshoot projects, training new members, and facilitating larger-scale projects
From Athma:
Provide you with ANY & ALL resources you feel are necessary to do your job.
Recruit other members to the lab that will fit with the lab dynamic that we'd all like to establish.
Available in person or over e-mail/phone/Slack to consult about any research/non-research issues.
Work with you to find the best career path for you - be it academia, industry, publication/writing, or something else!
Be honest and forthright in assessing performance and changing expectations.
For students: work with you to establish ownership over projects and craft a full thesis.
For postdocs: work with you to establish independent projects/directions and crafting a useful scientific network.
For research staff: work with you find the role you'd like to fulfill in the lab (managerial or technical)