Meet the Lab

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Postdoctoral Scientists:

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Technicians:

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Alumni:

• Stephanie Miller, computer scientist
• Savannah Harris, undergraduate
• Kariel Stuart, undergraduate
• Aaron Rosenfeld, technician, currently PhD student at UC Davis
• Melissa Farias, technican
• Emilee Stump, NCBS Summer Intern
• Emily Stone, UF Honors Scholar
• Anya Brown, postdoc, Brown Lab in Marine Ecology at UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab
• Hanh Nguyen, PhD Soil and Water Sciences 2020
• Nicole Miller, MSc Interdisciplinary Ecology 2019

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Lab Values Statement

We value inclusivity, empathy, open-mindedness, respect, curiosity, and a passion for science. In this lab, all colleagues are respected. In learning and growing as scientists, lab members are safe to express their opinions and ideas. This lab acknowledges the systemic inequalities in the US, in STEM, and in academia that disproportionately impact people of color, LGBTQ people, and women. Those of us with privilege acknowledge the biases that have benefitted us and we use our power to lift up others and to promote equal access and equal opportunity.

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Lab Expectations*

As the PI, my role is to provide a supportive environment for the professional development of all lab members. What you can expect from me:

• Obtain external funding to support salaries, projects, and maintenance of the lab.
• Support student and postdoc travel to conferences and other professional development opportunities.
• Provide baseline technical training for lab procedures and bioinformatics analysis.
• Mentor lab members in their professional development (in academia or otherwise) including guidance for preparing job applications and funding proposals, providing letters of recommendation, and advocating for lab members.
• Provide guidance and timely feedback on lab member’s projects, posters, presentations, manuscripts, and other written materials (thesis, dissertation, proposals).
• Ensure the overall integrity, quality, and rigor of the work produced in the Meyer lab.
• Cultivate an inclusive, safe, and supportive environment for all lab members, as evidenced by a lab culture that values creativity, teamwork, intellectual rigor, optimism, and equity.
• Give credit where credit is due. This includes co-authorships for working on projects outside of your own research project.

What I expect from everyone in the lab:

• Treat all lab members with respect.
• Stay up to date with all lab safety training and follow lab safety rules.
• Clean up after yourself regularly and respect other lab member’s spaces.
• Maintain and treat all lab equipment with care, especially the most sensitive and expensive pieces like the Denovix, the plate reader, and the fluorescent microscope. The microscope and concentrator are occasionally used by members of other labs. For use of all other equipment, researchers outside of this lab need permission of the PI first. Report any misuse to the PI.
• Maintain legible, organized, and fully updated lab notebooks. Your lab notebook must include enough detail for you or anyone else to be able to reproduce your experiments. You will thank yourself later for always including more details than you think are absolutely necessary.
• Back up your data regularly.
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Regularly update me on your progress and seek help when you need it.
• Include the PI on all communications (email or otherwise) regarding any lab research with people outside of our lab. Scientific research is competitive, including intense competition for funding that pays for our research program. If you are unsure of what to share with whom, ask the PI.

In addition to the general expectations, as a postdoc, I expect from you:

• Be actively invested in your own development. I will provide as many opportunities as possible for your professional development and for the success of your project(s), but ultimately, you are responsible for guiding the trajectory of your research and career in the direction that best suits you.
• Pursue funding opportunities as appropriate for your project/career needs.
• Produce/analyze data and write high-quality manuscripts (using google docs/paperpile) to meet the goals of the funding source.
• You are employed for 12 months of the year and all UF holidays are days off for you. You also accrue vacation time, which you are encouraged to take as needed. Give the PI advance notice of extended absences.

In addition to the general expectations, as a graduate student, I expect from you:

• Be actively invested in your own development. I will provide as many opportunities as possible for your professional development and for the success of your project(s), but ultimately, you are responsible for guiding the trajectory of your research and career in the direction that best suits you.
• Become an expert in the literature associated with your project (and store/share references via paperpile). Sign up for email alerts of the table of contents for journals in your field. For microbial ecology, you should be aware of what papers are coming out in ISME, Nature Microbiology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Frontiers in Microbiology, Microbiome, mSystems, eLife, etc.
• Put in the time to excel academically. As a graduate student, your coursework is chosen to complement your research project and will help you become an expert in your field of study.
• Develop and maintain clear R scripts and other code in github. Just like with the lab notebook, your scripts in github should allow anyone else to reproduce your analysis and figures when given the raw data and the scripts. This makes our work reproducible and our processes transparent, but we also have the added benefit of learning from each other’s scripts (so we are not all independently re-inventing the wheel).
• Work the number of hours stipulated in your contract for your research assistantship. Your hours should overlap at least partially with my time at the university (roughly 8 to 4). While you will most likely work primarily on your own thesis/dissertation project, you may also be expected to occasionally work on projects that I assign that may fall outside of your area of interest.
• Lab experiments and/or fieldwork may require flexibility in your work schedule – in other words, you may need to work nights and weekends as dictated by the research on an occasional basis.
• You are employed for 12 months of the year and all UF holidays are days off for you. In addition to UF holidays, you are encouraged to take occasional vacations (one week per semester). Give the PI advance notice of extended absences.
• Deal with research challenges in the following order: Sit down and think about solutions yourself; Look for answers in the literature; Solicit advice from lab mates; Seek advice of the PI
• In addition to departmental guidelines, I expect PhD students to produce at least 3 first-author publications (using google docs/paperpile) during their PhD and Master’s students to produce 1 first-author publication.
• Apply for fellowships and travel grants for which you are eligible.

In addition to the general expectations, as a technician, I expect from you:

• Produce/analyze data and contribute to reports for the funding source.
• You are employed for 12 months of the year and all UF holidays are days off for you. In addition to UF holidays, you accrue vacation time and are encouraged to take vacations. Give the PI advance notice of extended absences.

In addition to the general expectations, as an undergraduate student, I expect from you:

• Put in the time to excel academically. Your highest priority is your academic career. This research experience should enhance that education but should not interfere with your coursework.
• Ask questions. Engage in intellectual discussions with lab members and think about the purpose behind the project you are working on.
• Establish an agreed upon schedule with the PI or other lab mentor and stick to it.

*Adapted from documents shared by Dr. Cameron Thrash (@jcamthrash) and other PIs on twitter.