Questions tagged [lab-management]
Questions related to the management and organization of academic laboratories.
0
votes
1answer
81 views
Is it rude to ask a professor you do not know and in a different department to borrow equipment?
I am a grad student in new lab and my PI like to pinch pennies a bit. I want to purchase an accessory for use with an already purchased piece of equipment. I have emailed a few vendors about getting ...
47
votes
11answers
10k views
What to do when being responsible for data protection in your lab, yet advice is ignored?
I work in a lab where we conduct research on data acquire from human subjects. As we investigate the effects of different diseases and the related treatments, the data is highly sensitive in regards ...
45
votes
2answers
11k views
Strange Sign on Lab Door
I saw a strange sign on a door to a geophysics lab in a museum in Switzerland. I was really curious about what it means and wanted to know if anyone is familiar with this sign.
Here's the full image ...
1
vote
3answers
534 views
Theorists facing tenure track faculty interviews
The faculty interview is based on the context of a department stressing on industry interaction. When asked about how to buy lab equipments and find funding, may a theorist answer the search committee ...
17
votes
3answers
657 views
Is it ethical to put a surveillance camera inside a lab
The Lab leader is putting a surveillance camera inside the lab to protect some precious devices bought recently. The viewpoint of the camera covers most of the lab and shows clearly the lab members ...
5
votes
2answers
185 views
How can I develop leadership skills in graduate school?
I am currently in my second year of a PhD program. I have not yet decided on academia, industry, or entrepreneurship for a career, but in all these cases my success will be strongly influenced by my ...
4
votes
1answer
276 views
Starting a lab wiki
I've recently joined a new lab; an experimental physics group of ~30 people, consisting of postdocs and PhDs and a few PI's. All of these people are using/sharing/rotating between a number of setups, ...
2
votes
1answer
320 views
Should grad students also serve as lab managers?
I'm a 3rd year PhD student in a robotics lab. My advisor recently moved universities, so our new lab space doesn't have a large stockpile of supplies and equipment. As the person who does the most ...
0
votes
1answer
101 views
ask PI for more acknowledgement of good work / affirmation
Setting: PhD student (5th year) at a US research university. Non-native English speaker.
We have a great boss, however sometimes it seems that good things are not being highlighted enough. For ...
9
votes
2answers
2k views
What should I do about a professor who got in my face and yelled at me?
I'm a lab assistant at my university and one day some of my coworkers who are underclassmen asked me about my experience with a professor I had taken a couple classes with. I told them that every ...
3
votes
1answer
191 views
As a part time volunteer, how can I ask my advisor to let me work independently, so that I can have a chance at first authorship?
TL;DR As a part time volunteer, what is the best way of communicating to my professor that I would like to be able to work independently on a project of my own to work towards a first authorship paper,...
1
vote
1answer
164 views
Is it acceptable to use a microscope in the office and not in the laboratory? [closed]
I often see microscopes inside the office rooms of professors as well as other teaching members. They may not use them on daily basis but once in a while, or sometimes heavily used by a few of them. ...
3
votes
0answers
135 views
An organizational chart to ensure central management of laboratories in a college
I was asked the other day to suggest how different labs in our college should be centrally managed, or what organizational chart would be suitable, to make all these labs abide by input from the ...
1
vote
0answers
47 views
What is the UK equivalent of a PC 2 laboratory?
In New Zealand and Australia we use the term 'physical containment' (PC) to describe structures and procedures designed to prevent the release of viable organisms into the environment. As far as I am ...
7
votes
2answers
877 views
What are the disadvantages of having postdocs or visitor in the lab?
I have seen professors clearly stating that they do not accept visitor students or postdocs.
So, what are the disadvantages of having such positions?
8
votes
1answer
314 views
What are the time demands on a PhD student who is helping set up a lab?
I am mulling over pros and cons of different advisers and a quirk I have found with some of the newer professors is the issue of lab start up activities. I have seen some anecdotes online about it ...
4
votes
1answer
393 views
How to restore trust in a toxic lab environment?
A friend of mine started working in a biology research lab where several research groups share space and lab equipment.
Recently the environment has become quite toxic as the people started to ...
1
vote
1answer
188 views
First time being in an applied math lab - what are some tips to overcome shyness?
This will be my first semester in an applied math lab. After spending a couple of years taking all theoretical math courses, essentially working in isolation the entire time, and finishing a thesis, ...
4
votes
2answers
239 views
Asking my advisor about our lab’s funding situation
It seems like funding in the lab in which I am working is getting tight. Since I usually end up spending a fair amount of said funding to buy supplies for the lab and my coworkers, it’d be nice to ...
14
votes
1answer
1k views
What's a good strategy for coming up with a lab name?
I'm going to be starting a research lab as a junior faculty, what is a good strategy for coming up with a lab name?
How important is a lab name in differentiating yourself in the field or ...
29
votes
3answers
4k views
Is offering to use personal funds for research a good idea?
I'm at an engineering department at a public US university, and I'm somewhat new to writing proposals. The call I'm submitting to wants know if the project budget is higher than the amount of the ...
3
votes
0answers
39 views
Online Slot Management and recruitement tool for lab studies [closed]
In Human-Computer Interaction and Psychology (and others) lab studies are performed quite often. Although searching quite a bit, I did not find a tool/piece of software or application to provide a ...
4
votes
4answers
564 views
Is there any guide or organisation solution for increasing utilization of laboratory and lab equipment?
We obtained a report for the last academic year. A shocking revelation was that the capacity utilization* of lab equipment, laboratories, instruments and machines is only 37%. Everyone seems to be ...
11
votes
2answers
177 views
What incentives can a faculty member offer to a potential lab manager?
As a new junior faculty member in life sciences, I would like to recruit a PhD lab manager/technician. The duties would include some basic administration (such as ordering reagents) but mostly ...
7
votes
5answers
293 views
How to organize repository of common research papers for lab members?
The Problem
I am a graduate student in a research lab with several other students, and as such we're all pursuing research and dissertation topics that are at least generally related in nature. We ...
25
votes
10answers
5k views
How to cope with lab noise?
I have searched a lot and I am surprised that this topic hasn't been discussed yet. I am an M.Sc. Student in Computer Science. Our lab is actually a dry lab in which we need to do a lot of reading of ...
11
votes
1answer
232 views
Is it reasonable to purchase a professionally designed logo/brand for a research group?
I have seen a few research groups that have a "stylized" look, including a logo/slide template that is used by the PI and his/her students. [My particular research area is adjacent to computer ...
8
votes
1answer
228 views
How do junior professors build up a team of lab personnel?
In the field of computer science how does a junior professor recruit graduate and undergraduate research assistants to initially build up a lab at a university? How long would this normally take? In ...
7
votes
2answers
309 views
Tips for supervising interns
My advisor will be taking on a number of summer interns, some of whom have been assigned to my projects. The interns are a mix of sophomore and junior undergrads with varied levels of research ...
3
votes
4answers
1k views
Good data entry and management systems [closed]
I am a PhD student and am thinking ahead to when I start up a psychology lab---what are some of the best data entry and management systems? To avoid the "it depends" answer, below I list what I'm ...
9
votes
1answer
735 views
What are the flaws of working in a research center department led by young principal investigators?
In few months I will join a new research center department of an excellent university in Northern America. My field is computer science and bioinformatics.
This new department has mainly hired young ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
In a research group, is it better to have few post-docs and many PhD students, or viceversa? [closed]
I work in computer science, and am wondering what is the right balance between PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in a lab.
In the previous research group I was, there were one principal ...
11
votes
4answers
601 views
Monitoring students in the lab
My professor recently had a problem, and he asked me for my help to solve it, and of course I ask for yours.
He was made the School of Engineering Dean, an while it sounds important it takes most of ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Good practices with lab wikis?
OpenWetWare and Google Sites have been effective strategies in curating lab knowledge. I was curious about what are effective ways to create an effective wiki. Factors include:
Ease of use and low ...
8
votes
1answer
130 views
What are good practices for sharing protocols online
We're beginning a fairly large effort to share the vast number of protocols accumulated in our lab and pushing them all to the cloud. Naturally, you don't want the knowledge of older graduate students ...
