Communication
The days of siloed science, where monolithic researchers were able to have expertise in every aspect of their projects and produce consistent, high-quality work without any feedback or assistance is over. Science is becoming increasingly collaborative, whether that is at the level of you and your benchmate discussing an unexpected result or at the level of 100+ person consortia. Obviously, good communication practices are important both inside and outside of the lab!
A guiding principle about our communication is that you should be vocal. If you need something, ask! If you don't understand something, ask! If you want to start a new project, ask! It is ALWAYS better to ask more questions than fewer questions.
Communicating with Other Lab Members
In Person
Asking for Support. Be thoughtful when interrupting the workflow of your lab mates / mentors. I apologize if the suggestions below seem obvious, but its good to get all of us on the same page.
Recommended workflow for dealing with research challenges
Sit down and think about solutions yourself.
Look for answers in the peer-reviewed literature, manufacturer's manuals, or online communities (e.g. ResearchGate or Labrats Subreddit). Be thoughtful about how much of your results you share on the internet before publishing.
Solicit advice from fellow lab-mates
Seek advice of the PI. I'm always happy to discuss issues, but it's in all of our best interests if you work on the problem yourself. Teach yourself to fish!
If we're still struggling, we'll go outside of the lab for advice.
If it's an emergency, always interrupt.
If they are pipetting/ concentrating, first observe them and make a judgment about whether they can find a pause point to answer your question.
Will there be a safety issue if you distract them? Are they working on something delicate (e.g. RNA)? Do they look particularly busy or stressed? Don't interrupt them unless your needs are important
If they are doing something routine (for them) and they can pause at a reasonable point: Use body language to indicate you want their attention soon (e.g. look at them, stand nearby with a relaxed posture that indicates your willing to wait until they can direct their attention to you.)
Consider making a list of "Questions I have for XXX" and ask those questions as a batch.
Write down the information so that you're less likely to ask them the same questions repeatedly. Even if you ask the question again (no one is perfect), writing down the answers shows that you value the persons' time and you are trying to conserve their time.
Giving Support. Even if you aren't friends with a labmate, it is in your best interest to have a kind professional relationship with them. If you help each other, the altruism will benefit you.
It makes the lab a positive work environment.
It makes everyone's work more efficient. This might free up financial or mentoring resources that can be used to benefit your research and professional growth.
It helps you build soft skills that will improve your professional work no matter your career path. If a labmate's approach to asking for your support is not effective for you. Kindly communicate better ways for them to work with you.
Online
Email: Emails should have clear subject lines and be logically organized. I recommend that if you are looking for feedback from multiple people that you bold their names to get their attention. Similarly, highlighting what sort of response you want is helpful, whether that is done via Bolding, or
Placing your request on a separate line.
Slack: We use Slack for rapid communication within the lab. If you have a quick question, or need to have a conversation, try Slack instead of email. It keeps your communication in one place and, with less spam, is often an easier place to get people to respond.
HeyTaco: We recognize that people regularly go above and beyond lab expectations. We wanted a way to recognize each other when this happens. We now use HeyTaco. This allows lab members to send a quick virtual thank you note and/or pat on the back. If someone’s paper gets accepted or someone helps you out with a programming question, congratulate or thank them. Post a message that mentions any user in the #celebration or #gratitude Slack channels, and they'll get a HeyTaco point. When one member accumulates enough points, they take the lab out to lunch (I'll pay).
Calendars: There are two Google Calendars for the lab: Rau Lab Core Events and Rau Lab Availability. The Availability calendar is for noting individual availability (i.e. whether you'll be out of office). It should be used, for example, to note vacations, conference travel, and other workday conflicts. All other events should go in the Core Events calendar. In general, this calendar is for events that could possibly involve 3 or more lab members. Mandatory events such as lab meetings go on Core Events.
This ^ is being actively worked on at the moment as Google Calendar doesn't play nicely with the MSFT-based ecosystem that UNC prefers
Accounts: Lab members are expected to have accounts for the following:
Google Calender (Shared Calendar)
Slack (RauLab)
Communicating Outside of the Lab
Communicating to people outside the lab is extremely important: your actions reflect not only on yourself, but on the lab, the PI, the department, and the university.
It is essential that every time one of us represents the lab externally, it is with professionalism and courtesy.
Email
When working with other members of the scientific community, please use an official UNC email address. I will want to be cc'd on most communication you have with a collaborator at the beginning, but eventually, I will trust you to use your judgment as to whether or not the email you are sending is one that requires me to be kept in the loop.
Phone
If the phone rings while you're in the lab, answer it! Identify the lab when you answer as there are many times where someone trying to reach the hospital will dial us instead! Take messages as needed and get them to where they need to go.
Presentations
Learning to present your research is important. Very few people will read your papers carefully (sad, but true) but you can reach a lot of people at conference talks and posters. Also, if you plan on staying in academia, getting a post-doc position and getting a faculty position both significantly depend on your ability to present your data. Even if you want to leave academia, presentations are likely to be an important part of your job. Additionally, every time you present your work, you are representing not just yourself but the entire lab.
It is therefore highly encouraged that you seek out opportunities to present your research, whether it is at departmental talk series and events, to other labs (within or outside of UNC), at conferences, or to the general public. If you are going to give a presentation (a poster or a talk), be prepared to give a practice presentation to the lab at least one week ahead of time (two weeks or more are advisable for conference presentations, and many weeks ahead of time are advisable for job talks (securing a postdoc, faculty position, many industry science positions), which require much refining). Practice talks will help you feel comfortable with your presentation, and will also allow you to get feedback from the lab and implement those changes well in advance of your real presentation.
Posters. Example posters are available on our Box account, and you can use those as much or as little as you’d like. Some general rules for posters should be followed: minimize text as much as possible (if you wrote a paragraph, you’re doing it wrong. If you write a sentence, use judicious formatting to emphasize key words), make figures and text large and easy to see at a distance, label your axes, and make sure different colors are easily distinguishable. When using color, less is more. Use color to draw attention to key details. If possible, use consistent colors for the same strain / treatment / important variable between graphs in the same project. The ideal text size :: graph size ratio is different when putting a graph in a paper vs. a poster/talk. You want the axes & labels to be easy enough to read at a distance. Other than that, go with your own style.
Talks. Giving a talk is both about what you say and what you put on your slides. Start by thinking about your audience: Is it your labmates? Your department? A crowd at a conference? Members of the general public? Then think about what it is that you want to convey: are you selling your science, or selling yourself as a scientist? Use a white background on your slides. Keep colors consistent and meaningful. If you have a complex slide, build up to it with simple additions through animation. Keep words on the slide to a minimum as well. Nothing will put your audience to sleep faster than the impression that you are just reading the words off the slides. Use verbal and visual repetition to drive home your key points.
Consider every opportunity to present your work good practice, no matter how small an opportunity it might be, to hone your abilities. This includes during lab meetings.
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