For Rotation Students

Being a rotation student is a unique situation in any lab, and I find it useful to have some clear guidelines about my expectations for rotation students.

Here at UNC, a rotation is 9 weeks long (10 weeks in Winter, but I'll expect you to take a week off like the rest of us - it is important to maintain your mental health and work life balance!).

• The purpose of a rotation is to figure out if you like the lab's research focus and lab culture, not to pump out a ton of data Many rotation students are worried about whether they are going 'fast enough' or whether their classes are taking 'too much' time away from their research. Nine weeks is an absurdly short time to learn about a research project, get trained, and produce any workable data at all, especially during your first year of grad school where your coursework is going to be the heaviest. Please know that I am aware of this and whether or nor your project is successful is not a metric for me in terms of whether I want you to join the lab or not

• That said, please treat your rotation seriously. While I don't expect mountains of data or flawless success, I do want to see how it is that you work in the lab and whether or not you are serious about your work. You should be trying to make progress on your project in some way every day!

• More than anyone else in the lab: Ask Me Questions! The time you have in the lab is so short and it is very important that we get to understand one another! If you are stuck, if you need something different, if you have questions about UNC or career options or my lab philosophy, please come and ask.