Lab Expectations

Metzger Lab Expectations

Thank you for your interest in participating in the Metzger Lab. Please take the time to read the expectations of lab members. At the CMRR, we value students of diverse backgrounds with strong quantitative skills and a passion for science and critical thinking. As you will discover, my lab’s work is not possible without the equipment, personnel and overall environment of the CMRR and associated clinical departments. We are highly interactive, learning from the expertise of one another.

General Expectations: All lab members are expected to:

Communication

  • Maintain good and regular communication with your advisor and peers.
  • Communicate with Dr. Metzger about your classes, research and teaching workload as applicable. You should be sure that Dr. Metzger is aware of your key objectives, research questions, and basic approach at all times. 
  • Participate in scheduled lab meetings. 
  • Maintain some form of digital notebook of your work (Evernote, power point etc…), to document progress, to facilitate discussions and to help with trouble shooting.
  • Write down ideas in proposal form, with clear research questions and objectives. These informal proposals can be the basis of dialog with Dr. Metzger and your thesis committee. They are also great starting points for fellowship applications and thesis proposals.
  • Use GitHub to manage coding projects. 

Training

  • Learn to knowledgably and safely operate the MRI scanners, optimize imaging protocols and conduct both phantom and in vivo experiments.  The later will include the ability to discuss with human subjects their participation in research protocols, consenting them and ensuring their safety and comfort with the process. 
  • Develop a good, general background in MRI physics, reconstruction methods, image visualization tools and post processing tools including the basics of data manipulation and analysis in MATLAB for prototyping and collaboration. Where these skills are lacking in your background, work to develop a plan to build them.
  • Make sure that you read and keep up with the published literature so that you understand what is novel and important in your area of research. Papers in high profile journals result from cutting edge ideas that build on work that has come before.

Collegiality

  • Build trust by being dependable, honest and helpful. 
  • Be a good lab citizen. There are many people that can help you complete your work in the lab. Conversely, you know that your actions affect many. Remember to communicate your plans for using shared resources.
  • Maintain a clean and organized workspace. Much of our lab is common space. It is important that everything is put back where it was found in the correct location.
  • Be flexible. Research projects are often pioneering innovative ways to answer a question or testing experimental methods that are not fully worked out. This can cause projects to change quickly. 

 

Work Hours

Research and grad school are not Monday-Friday 9-5 endeavors. Very few students are successful putting in just a 40-hour work week, however, if you are focused and using your time smartly this is possible.  My philosophy is you do whatever it takes to get the job done and I will be very respectful of your time ensuring the deadlines and expectations will allow for work life balance most of the time.  Some weeks, especially when collecting data or working towards a deadline, you will need to put in extra time. Other weeks, you may have less on your plate and gain some of those “extra” hours back. At the end of the day, timely progress is expected.

I do not like to monitor the work habits of my students. As long as they are making sufficient progress towards project goals, I prefer to let them choose the hours they work. However, all absences should be approved in advance and must not interfere with project operations or other scheduled activities. Graduate students do not accrue vacation time but if you are making sufficient progress some time off can be restorative.

Specific Rules for the different members of the lab

Postdocs and senior PhD students

My responsibilities to postdocs and senior PhD students:

  • Assist with identifying and writing postdoctoral fellowships
  • Develop project ideas, including independent projects that can be taken with the postdoc
  • Interpret results
  • Review manuscripts
  • Discuss career goals and make an individualized training plan that works towards those goals
  • Bi-weekly meetings (weekly if needed) to discuss progress & pitfalls

 

Expectations of postdocs and senior PhD students:

  • Prepare for our regular meetings and a follow up email of progress and goals
  • Write and submit manuscripts.
    • Postdocs should expect to produce two first author papers per year, one substantial work and one smaller.
    • PhD students should have two papers published, one in revision, and one ready to submit by the dissertation defense.
  • Apply for external funding (either individual postdoc fellowships or contributing to larger lab grant writing)
  • Write reports if on a grant funded project
  • Keep a calendar
  • Maintain a lab notebook (for bench work) and digital notes (for coding), including directories of data, annotated codes and versions, detailed methods. These need to sufficient to reproduce results without additional instructions.  A good working example can be found here.
  • Review manuscripts from other lab members.  Participate in talk rehearsals of your colleagues.
  • Participate in general lab responsibilities.

 

Master and Junior PhD Students

My responsibilities to Master and junior PhD students:

  • Develop project ideas. 
    • I will work with junior PhD students on a training project during their first year. This may or may not be directly applicable to the student’s dissertation work, but will establish a foundation for how we work together. 
    • Masters students should expect to be given a research question and materials to begin work on day 1.  We will then work together to follow-up on the original research question after the first data analysis is complete to flush out the thesis.
  • Interpret results
  • Review and revise manuscripts.  Help develop writing skills.
  • Discuss career goals and make an individualized training plan that works towards those goals
  • Bi-weekly meetings (weekly if needed) to discuss progress & pitfalls

Expectations of Master and junior PhD students:

  • Prepare for our regular meetings and a follow up email of progress and goals
  • Write and submit manuscripts
    • Masters students should have one manuscript submitted by their thesis defense
    • Junior PhD students should submit their first manuscript by their prelim defense
  • Maintain a lab notebook (for bench work) and digital notes (for coding), including directories of data, annotated codes and versions, detailed methods. These need to sufficient to reproduce results without additional instructions. 
  • Apply for external funding
  • Write reports if on a grant funded project
  • Keep a calendar
  • Review manuscripts from other lab members.  Participate in talk rehearsals of your colleagues.
  • Participate in general lab responsibilities (EHS, ordering, maintain common areas, help host visitors).

 

Different Views on Lab Expectations

This is a living document that will change with time and experience. It is important to remember that there are diverse perspectives and approaches to the topics of lab life and expectations and I am open to discussing any aspect to ensure a fruitful, productive and positive experience.