Would it be acceptable to occasionally sleep at the lab?

Question

I'm currently an undergrad, and work as a researcher in an EECS lab. Recently, I discovered a novel application to work on, and so for the last few weeks I've been staying at the lab late almost every day, leaving at midnight or later. Since I live in a dorm on the opposite end of campus, I usually don't get to sleep until around 2-3 AM. In the morning I need to be up and in class by 8-9 AM (depending on the day), in a building that happens to be right next to the lab.

Would it be acceptable to set up a foldable cot at night (leave it under my desk during the day) and sleep at the lab occasionally? I'm usually the last person at the lab at night. If it cultural context matters, I work at a research university in California (US).

EDIT

The lab is mostly composed of graduate students and professors, so they usually maintain a regular 9-5/5:30 schedule at the lab (minus office hours and lectures). As one of a small handful of undergrads, I'm usually there between 4 (when class ends) and well after everyone else leaves. In some cases, graduate students will sleep in the graduate student lounge just outside the lab proper (still part of the lab IIRC).

Answer 1

Ask your supervisor. If your PI supervisor controls the space and gives you permission, there shouldn't be any problem for you.

I've seen situations where there are experiments that need to be babysat over long periods and researchers bring cots into the lab so that they can devote more time and provide more frequent checkups than would be possible otherwise.

Of course, if you are homeless and living in the lab for some longer period of time to avoid paying rent somewhere else, that seems like a much bigger problem. Honestly though, I've seen that done as well. The OK-ness and consequences of sleeping your lab will depend on the local culture, rules, and laws. If you ask a supervisor, it will be their responsibility to make that call.

Answer 2

I have known many people who did this (or something similar) without much trouble. The key things to look out for are:

• Safety: are you behind a locked door or in a public space? Will people know you belong or be frightened by an apparent homeless intruder?

• Courtesy: the lab is not your home, and nobody wants to see you wandering around in your underwear or smelly in yesterday's clothes.

You are probably OK crashing on the floor or a couch once in a while, but if you are going to set up a cot, you need to have a conversation with the people you share the space with to let them know and make sure they are OK with it. Also, many labs have a discreet shower somewhere in the building: learn where, and use it lest you become the subject of derision.

In short: be safe and courteous, and happy dreams!

Answer 3

Would it be acceptable to set up a foldable cot at night (leave it under my desk during the day) and sleep at the lab occasionally?

A worldwide internet academic community like this one cannot answer your question directly. You need to ask the head of the lab. This is the person who will need to vouch for you if any other university member (student, employee, faculty...) finds you there at night, and this is the person who needs to feel confident that someone sleeping in the lab is neither a threat, a conflict of interest nor an embarrassment to the lab and its work.

I will go way outside my direct experience and speculate that keeping and using a cot directly inside a university laboratory is not something that the head of the lab is likely to approve. I don't know exactly what is being done in the lab, but if it's in EECS, sleeping is presumably not an intended use of the space. If you are sleeping right next to expensive and/or delicate equipment, then you are not using it as you have been trained to do, and in some (perhaps annoying but nevertheless real) legal sense you may not be qualified to remain in the presence of such equipment in a less than alert state. What if you stumble out of your cot and onto something?

On the other hand, a student lounge is an entirely different story: that seems precisely like a designated space for students to spend down time. If you put a couch in your lounge, then you can reasonably expect people to at least take naps. It would seem like a much better idea to me to place a cot in the lounge rather than the lab itself. If you don't want to do this because there could also be other people there: well, again, the lab itself is not your personal sleeping space. I would think that you could ask even a senior grad student or postdoc "Hey, is it okay if I keep a cot in the lounge and sleep on it occasionally if I need to?"

Finally, although if the right people say so you certainly can sleep in/adjacent to the lab, I wanted to recommend that you give some thought to the work-life issues involved. In the long run, most people are much happier sleeping in a bed in a place of their own and also having some downtime / nonwork interactions between sleep and attending class. If you are sleeping nights in the lab with just a stored cot are you not showering / doing morning and evening hygiene / putting on clean clothes before you wake up in the lab and then go to class? This is most certainly possible and there are institutions full of large numbers of students who do it (I frequented an all-night cafe at MIT as a graduate student and encountered many students there whose motto seemed to be "No shower until I finish this week's problem set". It wasn't pretty.) But nevertheless most people realize that this is just less healthy, less fun and even less productive than doing things in a more balanced way. For that matter, what is it that you're doing in a lab for hours past the time that everyone else goes home? Is all that time really needed? I mean, intensity is great, but after a certain point it gets a little manic. Many of the most successful academics that I know work incredibly hard in a certain sense; but I don't know any leading academic that literally spends all their waking hours working. You just can't do good work for that much time. Anyway, it's worth thinking about.

Answer 4

The most important aspect here is that you should strive to be a good lab citizen. To that effect:

1. Personal hygiene is a major consideration (always) and especially if you're sleeping at the lab.

2. Every lab has unwritten rules. These rules may not make sense or may not be relative to anyone working there presently.

So gently ask the senior researchers/students what they think and make your decision after considering their input.

P.S. - Sleeping in the lab out of passion, instead of crisis or servitude, is what I would dream of in a student.

P.P.S - Riding your bike back from the lab at midnight sucks. Especially if there are big hills involved and you've got a backpack.

Answer 5

Its generally acceptable to occasionally sleep at the lab. You mention that several grad students are sleeping just outside as well.

If a couch is available, sleep on that. Bringing in a cot will attract attention, so check with the lab supervisor (either the prof or a Ph.D. student). I don't see why they would say no as sleeping at the lab every now and then is an unspoken requirement in many departments.

Answer 6

You want to set up a cot in the lab?

I'd venture a guess that this would almost certainly be frowned upon. Many people here are arguing that you should worry about your hygiene. That's not the issue. The issue is that labs aren't zoned or designed as residencies. If there ever were an issue, such as a fire in the building or an injury to your person by some piece of equipment, the school would be in pretty hot water.

You might be able to get away with it, but I can all but guarantee you that if the school found out that you had set up a cot in the lab, the administration would shut that down quickly.

Answer 7

In some cases, graduate students will sleep in the graduate student lounge just outside the lab proper (still part of the lab IIRC).

This suggests an alternative solution. Your department may be willing to grant an undergraduate who is doing research in the lab, with use of a desk there, courtesy access to the graduate student lounge. I suggest checking into that. If graduate students staying overnight sleep in the lounge, rather than in the lab proper, it would be the more appropriate place for you to sleep.

Answer 8

This answer might be slightly off-topic, since you're an EECS-student.

However, in the biology department at my current university there are rooms with beds next to some of the laboratories, exactly for this purpose. These are intended for students and staff performing fermentation that require sampling every hour or two for several hours, sometimes through the night.

So in some cases it is even encouraged.

Answer 9

Beware, it is mostly much more dangerous as it seems, even if it doesn't violate some policies literally. It is already dangerous if you here there until 2AM.

Things are controlled not only by policies and rules, but also by personal feelings. Especially if you have longer plans about your research, on the sympathy of the employees of the lab will depend much more as you would think. And most of these people goes away around 17-18PM, to his family, and they are always there around 8-9AM, to do their job. If you are out of his cycle, it can make a general, negative impression from you.

Although it can be even positive, if you can show very clearly, your task is important, and you are there because of your diligence. It will depend not on your answers to questions, but on your teachers / leaders (which is probably a prof "governing" the lab and the research there). And this positive effect will only work if it happens seldom.