Denial Do whatever it takes to keep moving! Read grants, papers. - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

"At the Helm: Managing Yourself and Your Lab".

Kathy Barker HMS April 9, 2013

Thanks to P

.I.s and lab members. You qualified for your job with one set of skills… But you will keep it with another set of skills.

• Significant and continuous funding: at least 1 NIH grant and

renewal.

• Publication of a significant body of research in high-quality

journals.

• A national/international reputation: scientific presentations,

invitations to meetings or seminars, letters from leaders.

• Teaching excellence: student and peer assessments. Service:

committee work, study section, editorial board.

• A self-statement: Accomplishments, and plans.

What is in the tenure dossier?

Work within your tenure or job promotion requirements:

Year 1... Year 2... Year 3... Year 4... Year 5... Year 6... Year 1…..

• Hire a technician.
• Set up and organize the laboratory and office.
• Do preliminary experiments for an NIH grant and

submit a grant by the end of the year.

• Define all promotion or tenure requirements.
• Find at least one mentor.
• Give a departmental seminar.

Year 2…

• Resubmit grant, if necessary.
• Take on a student or another technician.
• Start teaching and clinical responsibilities.
• Committee work- match to your interests.
• Submit another manuscript.
• Give seminars outside the institution.

Years 3-6…

• Seek feedback on tenure likelihood.
• Speak at national/international meeting.
• Submit a major paper every year.
• Write a review article in your field.
• Hire/find students and postdoc.
• 2nd project and grant.

Think 5 years (rolling) ahead.

Lean in, Dad. Catherine Rampall, 2013, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, p 18. Family planning. Sarah C.P . Williams 2013 NewScientist March 16, p 52-53

Time Management Matrix

Urgent

Important

Important Not Urgent

Being busy is not the same as being productive.

• It’s gotta be perfect.
• The detail-hater.
• Why should I?
• Motivated by crisis.

Do whatever it takes to keep moving!

Procrastination.

Denial

• Scientific mentors.
• Institutional mentors.
• Personal mentors.

Find a mentor- find 2 or 3.

• Departmental duties with

grace.

• Attendance and

participation in seminars.

• Read grants, papers.

Be a good colleague- and don’t let yourself get isolated.

It is all about relationships!

Establish a group culture that supports

transparent communications, good relationships, clear expectations, etc.

Organize to reflect your values.

People get upset when their expectations aren’t met.

• The lab manual.
• Stocks, ordering.
• Safety.
• Lab notebooks.
• Lab jobs.
• Authorship.

Build a framework.

Make ethics part of your package. Fit specific ethics into your

framework.

• Be up front about ethics- stress its

importance.

• Teach ethics by example.
• What makes a good paper?
• Who writes the paper?
• How is authorship

decided?

• What are your ethical

considerations? Be clear about authorships.

Your lab, online

Inventory Orders Facilities Protocols

http://www.quartzy.com

Make lab meetings useful

to all.

Talk about research.

Journal clubs are an important tool.

Talk and think

about funding.

• Find the right people
• Train them well
• Treat them well

Success will depend

• n the people in your lab.

Don’t fill the lab with bodies!

• Call all recommenders..
• Hire for character, not for technical expertise.
• Don’t hire people who are self-centered, arrogant,

can’t get along with others….

• Use the probation period.
• Make good use of the interview.
• Follow your gut reaction.

Hiring lessons from P

.I.s

Bad people are much worse than no people!

• Most of your investment is in

salaries: maximize this.

• Put your stamp on the way

research is done in your group.

• Things to teach: Everything.

Train new people.

Designing a research project

A collaborative culture must

be rewarded and protected.

• Who will be involved?
• What will each person’s contribution be?
• If a paper comes out of the collaboration, who

will get authorship?

• What happens if another person’s skills are

needed?

• When is the collaboration over?

Consider a collaboration

contract.

• Research techniques, good science...
• Writing a grant, budgets..
• Writing, reviewing manuscripts.
• Communication and networking.

Mentoring will be assumed.

Compact between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors www.aamc.org/postdoccompact

What makes a

good

mentor?

Document and evaluate

group members’ performances towards

goals.

How do you think you are doing?

Ottemann 2002: Science’s SAGE KE:38, 5

Experimental. Productivity. Notebook, record-keeping, and organization. Gain of scientific knowledge and critical thinking. Lab meeting participation. Lab citizenship. Communication within the lab, outside the lab, and with the P .I. Consider pathways and life choices

• ther than your
• wn.

Remember that your mentee is NOT a clone of you.

The kindness and wisdom of being

caring and critical.

• Health services.
• Ombudsman.
• Chairperson
• Dean.
• Personnel office.

Find a way to get help for

those who need it.

Firing is sometimes necessary.....

• Know before what makes firing necessary.
• Speak with Human Resources (and perhaps the

institution’s lawyer) for the specifics of the situation .

• Document.
• It is a process, not an act.. Warn the person, etc.

….but must be well thought out.

YES!

Disputes in the lab: Do you intervene?

• Make the lab feel part of the bigger world
• f science.
• Help each person feel part of the lab:

don’t let anyone be marginalized.

Maintain group morale.

Celebrate.

• Is it the science?
• Is performance (research, citizenship, mentorship)

recognized and rewarded?

• Is it the group dynamic? Is it an individual? The P

.I.?

• Is it you? Are you there? Are you depressed or

unpredictable? Are you pushing too hard, or appearing uninterested?

The dysfunctional lab

can be fixed.

• Small lab, Big lab.
• More competent personnel.
• Failure and Success.

And the job will keep changing... Your ideas of fulfillment might change.

• So. What can

you do now?

Don’t let yourself get isolated!

Cultivate relationships. How do you deal with conflict in the lab?

And can you do it better?

There are two ways you can learn to deal better with conflict:

• 1. Manage your own emotional

control and communications.

• 2. Have a process to reduce and

mediate conflict.

Myers-Briggs Assessment

Get some perspective.

http:// www.halverson

• law.com/

1-5.htm#start

It‘s not just about the delivery..... LISTEN.

Small talk isn’t so

small.

“When I needed lunch, I would buy it (and be

seen doing so) in

• ne of the NIH cafeterias.”

Harold Varmus in The Art and Politics of Science.

Be competent with your emotions.

Establish trust with predictability.

• “Always”

“Never”

• “You ….. “
• Bring in older

issues.

• Bring up

character flaws. Some ways to deal with conflict:

• Avoid it.
• Be accommodating.
• Take a position.
• Consider interests,

not issues.

Have a process.

Videos at http://grad.msu.edu/ conflictresolution/vignette.aspx

http://ori.hhs.gov/thelab

• Observe successful groups

and P .I.s.

• Learn to read and write

grants.

• Read. Talk. Listen. Try new things.
• .

Gather skills and advice.

Talk about data and research

and science.

Study authorship. WRITE.

Work on your day to day

management to achieve long term goals.

OmniFocus for Mac

Use tools wisely.

MsgFiler

Know yourself:

Strengths, weaknesses, values, 5 year plan.

• Of the results I obtained last month, which

were the most important?

• DId I deviate from last month’s planning? If

so, why?

• What are my most important goals for the

upcoming month?

• What are the likely problems, and how do I
• vercome them?

Make a habit of self evaluation.

• http://

myidp.science careers.org

Policy Fellowships For Scientists & Engineers http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/intersection/2010/08/23/ updated-policy-fellowships-for-scientists-engineers/ #.URAeq6X3Uhw

You’ll have to do your

• w

n

research.

Be absolutely proactive in getting the help you need.

Or you will

squander your

resources and energy.

Start in the right place!

• Plan your future project.
• List the resources and

equipment you will need.

• Consider the personnel

necessary to do the project.

• Ask for advice on budgets, etc.

Know what research you want to do and what it will take to do it.

http://advance.ei.columbia.edu/sitefiles/file/documents/ negotiation_report.pdf

Imaginative negotiations.

http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/careerprep/jobsearch/ negotiable.html

• Will administration support

you with more than words?

• Will you have the research

tools you need to do science?

• Will you have good

colleagues?

• Will you be able to find people

for the group?

Before you accept, find out…..

You might want/need to talk to civilians.

• To do your job.
• Inform.
• Learn. Share.

The film Molecules to the Max was created by an NSF-funded nanoscience centre. RENSSELAER POLYTECH. INST. http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100526/full/465416a.html

Broader impacts.

Sources

• f

funding...

Talking to non- scientists....

Tell a story- it isn’t about the data. Explain why it is important. Avoid technical and specialized language. Don’t be too detailed. Be brief.

http://eloquentwoman.blogspot.com/2010/07/whats-difference- when-scientists.html

Converse beyond the bench.

Write an op-ed.

http://www.theopedproject.org

Letters to the editor.

• Local
• Don’t duplicate.
• Relevant to paper’s issues.
• Check submission guidelines.
• Consult with your media office.
• Coordinate with your allies.

http://www.faseb.org/portals/0/pdfs/opa/Writing %20Letters.pdf

Are scientists activists?

There is a strong culture of activism in science.

But it isn’t part of the mainstream story.

1st USA Science and Engineering Festival

K-12 activism

Student research in textbooks

2012

2013 You can find a way to communicate.

http://ed.fnal.gov/projects/scientists/

False equivalence:

the tendency to give equal time and credence to varying sides of a story, even if only one side has data behind it.

Meetings might be very different.

Embrace (Okay, tolerate) complexity and conflict.

Don’t reinvent the wheel!

Professional organizations- local

chapters, involvement with section, workshops at meetings, etc.

Advocacy organizations- check

funding and mission!

Community organizations- schools,

interdisciplinary interests.

When can I start?

Recommended best practices for science-based advocacy.

Know about the history of science

“….I mean, you can take a piece of information, and you can do lots of things with it. You can try to

publish it; you can try to develop a practical aspect of it, like a therapy, or a machine; or you can look at the implications in the public health arena, or the public policy arena. I guess I’ve always

considered those a kind of continuum of ways that information becomes valuable, and ways that I take information and then try and go further with it.” David Baltimore

Be revolutionary!

Thanks! kbarker715@gmail.com