0.8 Building your research group

General thoughts

• The goal of your research program is to gain tenure and to establish a strong repuation
  • Do the things that support this goal
  • Do NOT do things that interfere with this goal
• How you set up your research group will follow you and will help determine your success
• Worry about results, funding, and people!

Research group elements

• People
  • Undergraduates
  • Graduate students
  • Postdocs
  • Technical support staff
• Space
  • Place for people, equipment, materials and supplies

Motivating your group

• Find students who will work hard
• Find ways to avoid or dismiss students who will not work hard or are disruptive or dishonest
• Support your students and ensure their own learning process
  • Provide guidance
  • Provide feedback on their work and on their writing

People

• Technical staff
  • Have clear job description
  • Ask a colleague to help in interviews
  • Are technical staff the best use of resources?
• Postdocs
  • Does department have prejudice for/against postdocs? Favor graduate students?
  • How difficult is it to recruit postdocs?
  • Are there university resources for postdocs?
• Graduate Students
  • What are departmental expectations for number of graduate students per year?
  • Will the graduate students also be expected to be TAs?
  • What are the processes for evaluation and advancement to candidacy for graduate students?
• Undergraduate research students
  • How many can you reasonably manage?
  • What are the departmental expectations for undergraduate research mentoring?
  • How do you strike the balance?
  • Using graduate students/postdocs as in-lab mentors for undergraduates can be a very successful strategy

Keeping up

• Have regular meetings with each member of your laboratory
  • Be aware of what they are doing
  • If they need assistance, figure out the best way to guide them forward
• Have lab members write regular reports that can form the basis for publications
  • Use an outline to plan publication
  • Sketch figures/tables
  • Easy way to see what they are thinking and provide feedback

Personnel management

• Establish a positive “lab culture”
• Have regular lab meetings to discuss research and look at papers in your area
• Be proactive in addressing personnel conflicts (or potential conflicts)
  • Get help if you need it
  • No one wants a caustic/poisonous lab environment
• Lead by example

Create clear expectations

• Consider a “compact” document that outlines your expectations that you review with students and that they sign
  • Include information on backups for data/computers, books, chemicals, code, coursework, FAX use, funding, human subjects, lab duties, lab safety officer, new member orientation, use of equipment, website
• Provide clear guidance on
  • Lab notebooks
  • Literature coverage (shared in lab meetings)
  • Attendance at meetings
  • General comportment
  • Publications
    • Orders of authors/responsibilities
  • Engagement in manuscript review/grant review
• Safety issues and procedures
• Security of the lab and its people
• Software policies
• Travel expectations
  • How often/who will fund/who must present
• Vacations
• Progress reports
• Work hours

Recruiting graduate students

• Volunteer to serve on the admissions committee
• Teach classes geared for graduate students
• Mentor graduate students as they enter the department

Non-experimental space

• Be sure that your office is placed in the relationship you desire with respect to your group members
  • Some like it close
  • Some like it far away
• Arrange your office to support your style of working
• Embrace your independence
  • From your mentors/advisors
• In some disciplines, the work you are judged on is independent of your group’s work!

Physical space

• Moving into existing space
  • Proximity to colleagues
  • Access to department/university equipment
  • Proper utilities for equipment
    • Electrical, air, vacuum, water
  • Hoods
    • Chemical, tissue culture
  • Air handling
    • Vibration issues, flow issues, etc.
  • Office space for students/postdocs
    • Separate or within lab?
• Rennovating space
  • Negotiate for a tenure clock extension, if your delay is>4-6 months
  • Same issues apply as for existing space, but you have some choices!
  • Think carefully about what you need for your work
    • Electrical, clean power, ventilation, hoods, plumbing, chilled water, air flow from the HVAC system, everything
  • Do careful research about what you need
    • Contact vendors for equipment specifications and problems identified at other institutions
    • Ask colleagues about problems encountered at your institution
  • Learn from others about renovations
  • Work with the architects/contractor to get your project within the assigned cost range
  • Be actively involved in every state of the process – follow process regularly
  • Ensure that what you need in being taken into account, especially completion date
  • Be prepared for delays
    • Write grants or papers, prepare for teaching
• Organize how you will move in
• Think about what you will do and in what order
• Ask for space to work temporarily if there are things that can get you going
• Take the time to engage your colleagues and learn more about the department

Equipment

• Seek possible discounts
• Negotiate with multiple vendors for the best price
• Allow sufficient lead time for items that are complex (1-6 months for large equipment)

Supplies

• Talk with multiple vendors (bulk discounts from some with large orders)
• Package as much as possible with each individual vendor for best price
• Consider larger quantities of items that “keep” and that you know you will need
  • Biggest discount you’ll ever get!
  • Think about storage strategies

Continually think

• Keep reflecting how things are working (arrangement of space, interactions among lab members)
• Take steps to make changes that would make a difference
• Be sure to think about your joy in the work and the ways you can inspire your team!