We enthusiastically value diversity, inclusion, and kindness. Be mindful of others’ perspectives and help create a welcoming and rewarding environment for everyone.
Attend all scheduled lab meetings and actively participate. These gatherings are a space to present your work, listen to others, ask thoughtful questions, and learn from your peers. They also help foster a sense of community in our remote setting. Your presence matters!!! Please make sure to let Evan know beforehand if you need to miss a lab meeting.
We love seeing your face during our ice breaker sessions! Sharing fun facts and stories helps us connect on a personal level and build trust within the team. We understand that there may be times when you can’t connect (technical issues, internet bandwidth, etc), but this should be the exception, not the rule. Please make every effort to be present and visible at this time.
Your pod group is a small, focused team of 3-4 labmates where you’ll collaborate on projects, engage in discussions relevant to your work, and build deeper relationships with peers. You will meet each week for about an hour to share progress and ask for or provide support. Please take these assignments seriously; they have been thoughtfully and purposefully designed–you have a role to play!
Pods help you engage with others’ projects, get support on your own, and build collaborations that can lead to co-authorship while strengthening individual work, your peers’ work, and our lab culture.
Come to meetings prepared, keep track of your tasks, and manage your time effectively. This helps you contribute meaningfully and stay aligned with lab goals.
We love our remote work model! It gives us the freedom to think big, work smart, and enjoy life outside the lab. But with great flexibility comes great responsibility! Be honest about your effort and remember the time commitment you agreed to when joining the lab.
Ultimately, success is measured by productivity, most visibly via published papers, grants, and forward momentum on projects. Our remote work model only works as well as we can stay accountable and productive. Be mindful of which projects are funding your work, so you can make appropriate progress on these efforts, but also keep in mind that yours and others’ future in the lab is dependent on our ability to fund future projects. So your progress and efforts play a significant role in our ability to succeed together!
Goals to keep in mind: - Postdocs and research scientists: Aim to publish two first-author papers per year. - Students: Shoot for one first-author publication per year. - In addition to first author papers, you should be involved in multiple collaborative papers, either within the lab or with external collaborators. Students should have clearly defined Aims and Thesis goals, but the lines for postdocs and research scientists are more blurry – make every effort to engage with others to make your (and their) work better! - These targets might shift depending on other assignments (Evan will let you know if that’s the case).
Bottom line: we’re here to do great science and enjoy the ride. Let’s keep the momentum going!
These 45-minute meetings are your opportunity for personalized guidance, feedback, and mentorship and typically occur every other week. It is your responsibility to make sure these meetings are scheduled and on Evan’s wejlab@gmail.com calendar (send a calendar invite).
Please be patient if Evan is running late. He gives each meeting his full attention, and you’ll receive that same thoughtful focus during your own meeting.
Take initiative in your work and follow through on commitments. If you’re facing challenges or delays on an assignment after using the tools available to you, communicate early so you can be supported by your Pod, other members with previous experience in your work and Evan. If you are unable to attend a meeting or will be late, let those in attendance know as soon as possible so that they can plan accordingly.
Don’t wait for your next one-on-one or Pod meeting to ask for help,
especially if it prevents you from doing further work! Reach out via
Slack on appropriate channels or via direct message to those people who
are best suited to help you. If you are uncertain where to turn, try a
general channel like #coding or #johnson-lab
before turning directly to Evan.
As a rule of thumb, more than 30 minutes on a coding challenge without progress is a sign to switch gears to a different assignment, before returning with fresh eyes and trying again. After an hour of honest work, reach out for additional support!
As you are working on projects, presenting results, submitting grants, and publishing papers, strive for the highest quality of science possible.
This includes: - Being familiar with best practices within the field - Utilizing style guides - Making your work publicly available and reproducible - Engaging in proofreading and having your work reviewed by Pod/lab members - Requesting work-in-progress code reviews and final code reviews - Acknowledging individuals, tools, and the work of others in your own work - Creating visually appealing and informative figures.
The lab wiki contains information on how to accomplish many of these tasks, but please reach out to others for assistance as needed, especially on first-time attempts.
Failure to consistently meet these expectations may result in a range of consequences, including but not limited to formal warnings, reduced responsibilities, impact on authorship or funding opportunities, and, in some cases, dismissal from the lab.