Day-to-day expectations
Basics
When and where to work
Every lab member works out their own schedule in conjunction with their supervisor (either a lab manager or Hua). Hua's office is located at 586 Brickyard, some of our lab members are located on the southeast part of the 4th floor in Brickyard, and some are located at 114 Centerpoint. If you need access to Brickyard or Centerpoint building, please contact Hua and apply here. We could also use Brickyard 205 MOCAP by reserving time here.
Undergraduate research assistants are expected to work 10 hours per week, physically in the lab (or, when duties require, at other locations on and off campus).
Senior thesis students are expected to be in the lab closer to full-time, depending on their research and writing workload. They can do some of their work (especially writing) remotely, but should discuss with Hua how to manage remote activities well.
Staff, graduate students, and postdocs are expected to be in the lab full-time, with some high-intensity periods requiring longer hours (e.g., before a grant deadline. Remote work is often feasible; talk to Hua about setting up a plan for this.
Time off
It's a great idea to take some time off now and then. We have a very flexible vacation policy: if you'd like to take time off for vacation, or want to work remotely from a beach someplace, just talk to Hua to figure out a schedule that will work for you and for the lab.
Dress code
You should wear whatever makes you comfortable in lab, but when families are coming into the lab, ensure that you wear child-appropriate clothing (e.g., no profanity on t-shirts, no overly casual or revealing clothes).
Health
Infants are a vulnerable population so all lab members who will come in contact with them must follow two firm rules: 1. Get a flu shot, no matter what. If you do not want to get a flu shot, you must get permission from a lab manager to interact with infants. 2. If you are sick, stay home! This protects both the infants who come into our lab and your labmates from catching whatever you've got.
At present, nobody in the lab has any severe allergies. If you have one, please notify a lab manager, so that we can inform everyone in the lab, to ensure your safety.
Meeting requirements
Once a meeting is confirmed, the (lead) student should send out an invitation immediately to mark the calendar of all participants.
5 min before the meeting, be on time and prepared. Our time is valuable. If you have a meeting with a labmate, be on time. If you have a meeting with Hua, be on time. If you have a meeting with people outside of our group, you are expected to be in the lab at least 30 minutes before the appointment time to make sure everything is set up and ready to go. And — we can't stress this enough — if you have a zoom meeting, test your audio/video setup ahead of time so that you don't waste time in the meeting.
In case of scenarios you cannot make it to the meetings on time, let the participants know beforehand: if you can make it within 15 min, let them know no later than 5 min before the meeting; if you cannot make it in 15 min, ask to schedule a meeting for another time (or ask other group members after the meeting is done).
During the meeting, it is required to recap the todo list from the last meeting. If there are new students coming, provide a short background of the project meeting.
After the meeting, the students should be able to figure out the action items to do. Summarize the action items in a todo list on your personal/group slides and update your timesheet on Slack.
Lock the doors!
We have a lot of fancy equipment and expensive stuff. If you're the last one in the lab, lock the doors. Theft is a problem on university campuses.
Public engagement
As a member of the DaRL Lab, you are a representative of our organization. That means you should feel comfortable discussing your work in the lab, but please keep two general rules in mind:
Whether you are a new research assistant or a senior graduate student, your actions reflect not only on yourself, but on the lab itself, your labmates and supervisors, the department, the university, and the field writ large. This is true both when you interact with research participants (who are doing us a favor by participating in our research) and scientific colleagues (who are the people who review our papers and grants and are potential future advisors of yours!). As such, it is incumbent on all of us to interact with the outside world with professionalism, enthusiasm, and respect. This is especially the case when posting publicly on social media, whether from your personal account or from a lab account.
Some research findings are proprietary and should not be discussed publicly, and in some cases (like when a research paper is about to be published) findings can be strictly embargoed, such that you shouldn't discuss them with anybody outside the lab. If you're ever unsure of whether or not it is OK to share information about a finding — especially on social media — ask before sharing!
These rules apply to all external communication (social media, phone, etc); see more details on the Communication page.
Money
You can expect the lab to cover the costs of all research equipment and supplies, including computers for use in the lab (and sometimes laptops for using outside the lab, depending on your role); coffee, tea, water, and snacks; and more substantial food now and then, including for advising meetings.
From time to time, we can fund students' travel to conferences to present research. This funding is generally reserved for senior thesis students, grad students, postdocs, and staff, but exceptions can be made. If you have papers accepted, you should always try applying for travel grants from your conference > SCAI > our group.
All lab members are encouraged to seek out and apply for grants regularly. Hua is always happy to help you to write grant proposals; just ask.
Leaving the lab
If your time with us is coming to an end, please make sure that you do the following on or before your last day:
For most people leaving the lab, we will revoke your darlshareddrive and Trello credentials, and convert your Slack account to a single-channel guest (on #general) so that you can keep in touch there. If you are continuing to collaborate with us in your next position, then please discuss with Hua how we will manage your credentials.
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