Lab Policies & Procedures | Weecology Wiki

Working on Projects Without Your Advisor

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While many labs require that all projects involve the advisors at some level, we are supportive of advisor-free projects. These projects can give you a chance to establish your independence and learn to collaborate in a non-student-advisor scenario. Many weecologists do at least one project that doesn’t involve their advisor.

There are a few limitations to be aware of when doing one of these projects:

These should be projects where you don’t need a lot of mentoring and research guidance from your advisor. This doesn’t mean that we won’t talk to you about it, but needing regular guidance on either the scientific or collaborative aspects of a project is a sign that you should reconsider whether or not your advisor should be formally involved.
Staff time and lab resources are paid for by grants. By law, there are restrictions on how grant funded time and resources can be used, and your advisor is legally responsible for certifying that these requirements are met. There are also lots of core projects that require staff time and resources and the need for these has to be balanced even in the absence of grant restrictions. On projects your advisor is involved in it is easy for them to keep track what is being done and make sure that it meets both grant requirements and needs of the lab, but this is harder for projects that they are not involved in. Therefore, before using lab resources (e.g., the HiPerGator), or asking staff to spend time on a project, it is important for you to check with your advisor first to make sure that the project is within scope for existing grants and that demands on staff time are appropriately balanced.
One of the things that your advisor does is keep track of related projects in the group and manage any overlap that occurs. In projects not involving them it is your responsibility to be aware of other related projects in the lab and manage potential overlap with your labmates.

Code of Conduct

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We are committed to providing a safe, inclusive, and harassment-free experience to everyone, including lab members and visitors. This code of conduct will be enforced as needed and applies to both the Ernest Lab and the White Lab.

Philosophy

The philosophy of Weecology is to enable and support good science by creating a harassment and discrimination-free experience for everyone. Safe, inclusive, and harassment-free environments don’t just happen. They are created by the day-to-day interactions we all have with each other. Thus, it is the responsibility of all members of the lab to help create and maintain a safe, inclusive, harassment-free environment so that we may all benefit from it. Discrimination or harassment based on racial or ethnic background, citizenship status, religion (or lack thereof), political affiliation, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, dis/ability status, appearance or body size will not be tolerated. We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination by and/or of members of our community in any form.

We are also committed to supporting and training a diverse scientific workforce. Current and former group members encompass a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds from the U.S. and other countries, members of the LGBTQ community, military veterans, people with chronic illnesses, and first-generation college students.

General Guidelines

All communication - online and in person - should be appropriate for a diverse audience, including people of many different backgrounds. Sexual or discriminatory language and imagery is not appropriate at any time.
Be kind to others. Do not insult or put down other contributors.
In general, assume that others are acting in good faith; for example, when they make suggestions or give criticism.
Remember that harassment and sexist, racist, or exclusionary jokes are not appropriate.
Please make an effort to make an inclusive environment for everyone. Give everyone a chance to talk and an opportunity to contribute.
Be aware that your actions can be hurtful to others or contribute to a negative environment even if you had no intent of harm. Listen. Offer a genuine apology. Commit to learning and doing better.
NOTE: lab members are expected to abide by these policies at all lab-related work events, such as conferences, workshops, etc.

Enforcement and Reporting Mechanisms

Unacceptable behavior includes, but is not limited to, offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of discussions, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.

Participants asked to stop any harassing or discriminatory behavior are expected to comply immediately.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any concerns about potential violations, please contact Morgan or Ethan immediately. If Ethan or Morgan is the cause of your concern (or you are uncomfortable talking to them directly for any reason), Kate Thibault (mailto:kthibault@battelleecology.org) is a good informal point of contact; she was one of the first weecologists, does not work for us or the University of Florida, and because of her career path does not rely on Ethan or Morgan in any way. She has agreed to mediate and discuss issues confidentially if desired. Concerns can also be directed to the UFL Ombuds Office.

If inappropriate behavior persists, the issue will be escalated according to UFL policies; for more information please see the UFL Institutional Equity & Diversity page.

License & Acknowledgments

This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Material in this code of conduct derives from the Whitaker Lab Code of Conduct (used under the MIT License), the Bahlai Lab Code of Conduct (used under the CC BY 4.0 License), and the Brown Lab Code of Conduct (used under the CC BY 3.0 License).

Hurricane Preparedness

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Science/lab

Everything on your computers should have off-site backups (you should have these already, but if not, now is the time to do it).
The most valuable/sensitive things in the lab should up off the ground (we’ve experienced flooding from more minor rain events in the past) and stored in the most protected areas
- e.g, moving Portal data and computers into the dry lab away from windows

Safety

Read UF Emergency Preparedness Guidelines
Preparedness kit suggestions from the US government
- Suggestions about specific products/brands
Stay informed about hurricane warnings and advisories

Lab Hiring Processes

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[in development]

Where to post job ads

SACNAS

Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science
All levels
Paid, requires an account

HBCU Career Center

All levels
Paid, requires an account

Santa Fe College

Local Community College
Undergraduate/technician level
Free, requires an account

Ecophys Jobs

All levels
Free, send an email, 250 word limit

TAMU Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences Job Board

All levels
Free, web form

Conservation Job Board

All levels
Free, requires an account

Interviewing Prospective Lab Members

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As part of the hiring process for students, postdoc, and staff we bring people in for on-site interviews. On-site interviews give prospective weecologists the best feel for what we are about and what they might expect if they join our group. It also gives us a chance to see if our work/training environment is one that will suit the needs of the potential weecologist.

Interview Structure

A typical weecology interview is one day and structured around individual (or small group) meetings with the members of the lab (including remote members). The day starts with a breakfast meeting with Ethan and/or Morgan (depending on who the person will be working most closely with), with the discussion focused on logistical and management aspects of the group. This serves as an orientation. Who are we, how do we manage our people, what is the advisor/supervisor’s role, what flexibility is there in the position, what is the hope/expectation for what the person filling the position will do/experience. The interviewee then meets with the other people in the lab and Ethan and Morgan will provide funds for lab members to take the interviewee to lunch. They will have a second meeting with their primary advisor/supervisor which will focus on the specifics of the position (staff), general research discussion (students), or a combination of the two (postdocs). The day ends with dinner with Ethan and Morgan to allow the interviewee to ask any any additional questions that they have.

This structure serves several purposes. It gives the interviewee repeated access to Ethan and Morgan, which helps develop rapport and a better sense of the applicant. It also provides them with dedicated time to focus on the environment they would be joining and the role they would be playing in that environment. The one-on-ones with lab members allow them to learn about the breadth of research, job goals, and experiences of people in the group to help them figure out if we would provide the type of environment they are looking for. It also allows us (weecology) to see how interviewees interact with people from a range of backgrounds and experience levels.

Lab Member Roles

The role of lab members is to provide information to the interviewee about what life working in weecology is like and provide feedback to Morgan & Ethan about their interactions with, and perceptions of, the interviewees. Here are some things to think about while interacting with interviewees:

Give them your honest feedback on the pros and cons of the group, working with Ethan and Morgan, Gainesville, UF, etc. Everyone has their own personal tradeoff landscape and we want people to make an informed decision to join us.
One of the biggest issues we see in hiring at all levels (students, staff, faculty) is people making decisions based on whether they can see themselves hanging out with/being buddies with an interviewee. This is not an appropriate filter (we are hiring colleagues, not friends) and it is one of the primary ways that implicit bias can influence decision making and result in biased hiring.
That said, how someone will interact professionally is important. We are a collaborative group with diverse interests and career goals. Things to look for:
- Do they seem supportive of diverse career pathways or dismissive of particular career goals?
- Do they listen to you and respond in a professional manner or do they act like talking to you is a waste of time and say dismissive things about your research or other pursuits (not liking your favorite team/hobby is not the same as judging you negatively for having a hobby)?
- Do they seem like they would work well in a collaborative environment - listen and think about different perspectives and engage proactively in discussions with you?
Do their research interests align well with the group/funding support?
- People who have done well/been happy in our group are often those with more general research interests. For example, someone interested in using rodents to better understand general processes as opposed to someone primarily interested in understanding rodents or understanding the ecology of a particular place (e.g., SE Arizona). General interests help ensure that folks feel like a part of the lab even if no one else is working in their particular area.
- Are they excited about science?
- Are they interested in interdisciplinary research and a mix of field and computational approaches?
- Are they comfortable with/excited about working in an open manner?
- Is there something in your interactions with the individual that makes you think our group is a particularly good fit or that they might do well with us but struggle in other workplaces/lab environments that they are more likely to run into?

Lab Member contributions

In cases where the interviewee is visiting Gainesville for the interview, there are some additional contributions expected from lab members.

We like student and post doc interviewees to stay with a lab member during their visit, rather than in a hotel. This provides more opportunities for informal interaction with the interviewee. You do not need to have a fancy guest room to host, a couch/air mattress is fine.
Rides to the airport.
Lunches/dinners: Anyone (at a relevant stage for the interviewee) that has interacted with the lab in any way (classes, carpentries, visited Portal, etc) is welcome to join meals. They can provide an outside perspective of the lab, or even just what it’s like to be at UF in general.
Morgan and Ethan will cover all (reasonable) expenses related to hosting the interviewee (dinner/breakfast on travel days)

Feedback

There are a variety of ways to provide feedback.

Lab meetings: Often Ethan and Morgan will call an ad hoc lab meeting or use the beginning of regular lab meeting to have discussions about the candidates. They may have some specific questions related to things they have been pondering about the interviewees, but there will also be time for general feedback as well. These events will generally happen once all the interviews have been conducted.
Written Feedback: If you would rather provide feedback in a written format, DM via slack or email are both good options. Do NOT use one of the open channels to discuss candidates as anyone who joins the group may have access to that. You may either provide feedback after each candidate or once all the candidates have interviewed.
Via Glenda or other staff member: If you have something you want to convey but for whatever reason do not want us to know who the information is coming from, you may provide feedback to a staff member you feel comfortable with and have them relay your thoughts to us (or slip a note under our door).

Lab Meetings

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Lab Meeting Purpose

Lab meeting is designed to give Weecology members opportunities to gain and practice skills, obtain feedback, and interact with the broader research group.

Lab Meeting Organization

To make lab meeting a positive and useful experience for everyone, we have defined a series of lab meeting types with associated guidelines on how the leader should prepare and what role the group should play during lab meeting. Each semester we will assess the overall needs of the group and assign lab meeting types to particular dates. Lab members can select and trade dates but, because we have a plan for the order of slots, lab meeting types should not be moved from their assigned dates without approval from Ethan and Morgan.

Lab Meeting Types (Alphabetical)

A list of some possible lab meeting types including their purpose, format, the responsbilities of the person leading the lab meeting and the responsibilities of the group is listed below.

There is also a flowchart version to help you decide what format works best for you.

Lightening Talk Sessions

Purpose: To communicate within the lab about current research projects to encourage interactions and collaborations related to shared interests.
Format: All or some subset of the lab will give 5-minute talk following Ignite talk style.
Leader Responsibilities: Every speaker is expected to give a 5 minute talk (and no longer!) on one of their projects that abides by the ESA Inspire guidelines.
Group Duties: Enjoy and think about what projects have in common and what skills discussed in the talks might be useful for other projects in the lab.

Mini-Lessons

Purpose: To promote skill and information transfer within the group and provide opportunities to gain teaching experience in-house.
Format: A 45 minute lesson on any topic of general interest to the group.
Leader Responsibilities: Good teaching takes advance planning. Take time to think about the current knowledge levels within the group and design a lesson plan that will convey your information/skills effectively. Try to avoid unnecessary jargon as it often creates more barriers to learning than it helps overcome. Determine an appropriate amount of material for 45 minutes - it’s about how much people learn, not about how much you present, and less is often better. It is recommended that the leader practice their lesson privately before delivering it to the group. If the group needs to do any advanced preparation, make sure to communicate this well in advance (i.e. not the day of the lab meeting).
Group Duties: Ask questions if confused. This serves the dual purpose of helping group members learn (others are probably also confused) and helps the leader understand where there are issues with their lesson plan that can be improved in the future.

Talk Rehearsals

Purpose: To get feedback on the organization, flow, and clarity of a talk that is going to be presented for a conference, job seminar, defense, etc. Talks should be happening for a specific purpose in the not too distant future.
Format: A formal presentation matching the format for the talk to be given.
Leader Responsibilities: The talk should be a complete draft following the format for the planned presentation. To allow feedback on understandibility, engagement, and flow, the talk should be as complete as possible and ideally avoid ‘placeholder’ slides and areas where the leader has to describe what they are planning to say rather than saying it.
Group Duties: The presenter is looking to improve their talk, so feedback should be focused on improving the presentation for audience comprehension (i.e., How can the slides be improved?, Does the order of idea presentation have a logical flow?, etc). If you have scientific critiques and or suggestions for new analyses, please hold these comments until after lab meeting to avoid distracting from the goal of this session.

Research Updates

Purpose: To communicate to the lab the overall trajectory of one’s research and get feedback from the lab on possible questions, alternatives, future work. This would be a hybrid of the communicative aspects of the Lightning Talk (but more in-depth) and the Problem-Solving Session (but less focused on a specific problem).
Format: A presentation that begins with the general questions in the field and any relevant previous work done by the leader, the status of current projects, and future planned projects and approaches. Think of this more as a narrative with past, present, and future; rather than a scientific presentation suitable for a seminar or conference.
Leader Responsibilities: Communicate to the group the overall goals of your research, and be specific about what sections you’d like feedback on or discussion of. Are you looking for input on alternative methods or data to answer your research questions, feedback about the feasibility and scope of proposed work, suggestions for readings or courses, etc?
Group Duties: Provide specific and actionable feedback on topics as indicated by the leader. The focus is on the research questions and results, not the presentation, so the style of the presentation is not the focus. Remember that the goal of a research update will focus on in-progress and future work; providing guidance in the form of questions and constructive advice is important.

Problem-Solving Sessions

Purpose: To get feedback from the lab to address issues that are limiting progress. This could be getting feedback on statistical approaches, data collection issues, interpretation of results, computational challenges, or other activities. This is your chance to leverage the lab’s collective knowledge to address challenges you are facing.
Format: A presentation that presents a single focal issue that the leader needs feedback on. The presentation should be focused and no longer than 15 minutes (5 minutes of background, 5 minutes explaining the problem, 1-3 explicit questions - i.e., not ‘what do you think?’ - that you are asking the group).
Leader Responsibilities: Communicate to the group a specific issue that the leader needs help with. This requires enough background and context for the group to understand both what the leader wants from the group and for the group to understand the scope of the problem at hand. The presentation does not need to be polished but it should be polished enough to not to be distracting. Be prepared to engage the group positively through question and answer.
Group Duties: Provide focused feedback intended to help address the problem posed by the leader. The focus is on the problem, not the presentation, so the style of the presentation is not the focus. Remember that the goal of a problem solving sessions will typically focus on in-progress work and that providing help in positive, forward looking, ways is important.

Research Process Discussions

Purpose: To provide an opportunity for the group to informally discuss issues related to ’the job of science’ (i.e. career planning, grants, publishing, mentoring, etc).
Format: Open discussions of general topics, often with a focus on Questions & Answer interactions with Ethan & Morgan supplemented by additional perspectives from the broader group. These will typically be ’led’ by Morgan and Ethan with topics selected based on the general needs of the group.
Leader Responsibilities: Make sure the lab is notified in advance of lab meeting so the group can come prepared with questions.
Group Duties: Group members should think beforehand about their questions, issues, concerns about the topic and come prepared to actively engage to make sure they get what they need out of the discussion. While Ethan and Morgan will pick topics, suggestions are always welcome at the bottom of the semester’s lab meeting page and we may poll to get the groups perspective on what they want to discuss most.

Sprints

Purpose: To obtain help from the group to accomplish a task (i.e. data entry, software testing).
Format: A one hour focused period of work with tasks that can be accomplished during that hour.
Leader Responsibilities: Leaders need to be organized beforehand with a plan for precisely what they want to accomplish, how they will organize the group to do this, and how much information needs to be conveyed to the group about what they are doing so they can do their tasks effectively and efficiently. The more organized the leader is, the more effective a sprint will be and the more positive the experience will be for everyone.
Group Duties: The group in this context is working to help the leader attain their goal. Put aside other work for this period and focus on the task at hand. Ask questions if you are unclear on what is expected or if you encounter a situation not covered by the leader in the sprint briefing.

Talk Training

Purpose: To provide more structure training activities related to designing and presenting a good talk.
Format: Variable.
Leader Responsibilities: To design material/activities that will help the group with structuring and designing talks and give them opportunities to practice.
Group Duties: Focus on talk structure and design and not details of the scientific content.

Team Building Activities

Purpose: Activities to help break down barriers in the group and promote positive interactions.
Format: Variable.
Leader Responsibilities: These activities will be organized by Ethan or Morgan, but all weecologists are welcome to make suggestions for group activities.
Group Duties: Try to interact with members of the lab that you do not regularly interact with.

Lab Space

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Conference Room

Check on the conference room calendar to be sure the room will be available for your use. Add your meeting to the calendar to reserve a time.

Video Conferencing

Whiteboards

Material on whiteboards should be recorded (if needed) before leaving the room. Any whiteboard can be erased as needed. If erasing the material makes you nervous, you can always snap a picture just in case. But the responsibility lies with the group working on the boards to make sure they record their work.

If in the middle of an ongoing activity write an obvious “save!” note next to the work, but still take a picture to be safe. This is only intended for short term preservation while the activity continues (typically no more than a few days). Boards marked “Save!” should be not be erased.

Coffee Shop

Tea and coffee are for general use, unless otherwise specified. Wash your dishes.

Dry Lab

Fridge

Fridge space is shared among the lab members, and there is usually plenty of space for storing food/drink items. Here are some general guidelines and specific rules for the fridges:

Do check occasionally for your old/forgotten items.
Morgan and Ethan provide milk - give them a heads up on Slack if we are out.
Fridges will be purged of items 3 times a year:
- beginning and end of spring semester, and beginning of fall semester
- announcements will be sent on the lab slack a week, 2 days, and 1 day before purges (if you need someone to save something in the fridge for you, let someone know)
Fridges will be defrosted once a year:
- simultaneously with the end of spring semester fridge purge

Lab Tools

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There is a general lab tool kit for a variety of tasks. A shared set of tools makes collaboration within the group easier because: 1) everyone knows how to use them; and 2) we’ve selected them over the years because we have found them to be effective for both local and remote collaboration. For tools involved in direct collaboration (e.g., Google Docs, GitHub) these tools should be used unless a specific decision has been made by the entire team to use a different tool set. For tools used directly only by individuals (e.g., RStudio) these are only recommendations.

Reference Manager

Zotero

Manuscript Writing

Manuscript writing: Google Docs
References: Zotero Google Docs plugin

Coding

R: RStudio or Visual Studio Code
Python: RStudio or Visual Studio Code
Text editor/IDE (all languages): Visual Studio Code
Version control: git and GitHub
Code archive: Zenodo

Data

Data archiving: Zenodo

In house digital communication

Slack

Video Conferencing

Zoom

Letters of Recommendation

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One of Ethan & Morgan’s jobs is writing letters of recommendation (or otherwise serving as references) for folks who have gone through the group. Your primary advisor is always happy to serve as a reference. If you’d also like a to get a reference from the other one of us just ask.

Process

References

In cases where all that is required is contact information for references just send us a short message in Slack that tells us you’re applying for the job and includes a link to the announcement. We’ll use this if we get asked to provide a reference. Make clear in the message that you’ve just listed us and that there is nothing for us to do unless contacted.

Letters of recommendation

In cases where we need to write a letter up front, do the following:

Provide us plenty of time, ideally at least two weeks (but don’t not ask for a letter if it has to happen at the last minute, we’ll figure out how to get it done). This is particularly important if it is the first time that we are writing this type of letter for you.
Send a message that includes:
- A link to the job/fellowship/award description
- The date the letter is due
- Details on how to submit the letters (typically either a link or an email address)
- Anything you think is particularly important about the ad and/or that you’d like us to highlight. We typically develop a general letter, but are happy to customize in cases where that is useful.
We will contact you once we have sent the letter. If you haven’t heard from us 48 hours before it is due it is your responsibility to remind us.

Working with Ponycopters

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IMPORTANT - READ THIS PAGE FIRST!

Are ponycopters the key to long-term success? Yes.

Do we know what they are? No.

What should you do if you encounter one? Call Glenda!

RA/TA Rights

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As an RA/TA at the University of Florida, you are covered by the rights the graduate student union has negotiated with the university. As a note, these are rights related to your employment status with the university (as opposed to as a student).

A summary of rights based on the previous (2017-2020) version of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is below, the official version of the full current contract is available on CBA page of the GAU website. In cases where the language is squishy in the contract, an attempt has been made to clarify how the policy will be applied to our group.

Leaves of Absence (with pay)

If an injury/disability/illness prevents you from conducting your RA/TA duties you cannot be required to do them. But you should notify your supervisor immediately.
If you have a family-related issue you cannot be required to perform your RA/TA while you tend to the family emergency
- family = parents, spouse/domestic partner, sibling,child, legal dependent or relative living with you
- issue = injury/illness/death
If the university is closed for a holiday or emergency (e.g., hurricanes) you get the day off. That day off does not count against you and cannot be taken out of your personal leave time (see below).
- there are exceptions the first sentence, but are unlikely to apply to our group at this time.

Conferences

Conferences: You have the right to go to conferences/professional development events. The language here is squishy, but seems to indicate that supervisors should not use your TA/RA duties to prevent you from going unless it’s super-duper inconvenient.
- Application to our group (an example): if you are the Portal RA and you see a conference you want to attend in the reasonably distant future (say before Portal plane tickets are bought) occurs about the time you would be expected to go for a rodent census, then we will work together to either shift the timing of the census or find someone to substitute for you so you can go to the conference. If a couple of days before you are supposed to go down to Portal you find out about a workshop you want to attend that would prevent you from going to that census, we can discuss whether or not we can find a solution but if we can’t, I am allowed to say “I’m really sorry but because of your RA duties this isn’t going to work, let’s see if we can get you that training experience another way”.

Personal Days

The contracts guarantees you 5 days per semester to take off without explanation (this is in addition to university holidays).
- Note: Given our lab philosophy that we are maximally productive and creative when we take time for self maintenance, you should not view 5 days/semester as a maximum limit. 5 days/semester is your right. Sometimes you may need more time and we understand that. If you are worried about balancing responsibilities with your need for extra time, you should feel free to talk with us about a) whether there is a concern (feeling guilty about taking time off and there actually being an issue are two separate things) and b) strategies for managing competing needs if there are legitimate concerns. Remember, if you need extra time due to something that falls under the Leave of Absence policy (above), those days do NOT count as personal days.

Unpaid Leave

You are entitled to 6 weeks of unpaid leave during any year if you have a new child (through either birth or adoption), to care for immediate family (defined above), or develop a serious health condition and cannot perform your duties.
- Translation: what this means is that you can walk away for up to 6 weeks and the university is required to give you the same (or similar) position when you return but you will not be paid during this time.
- In practice: please, please, please talk to us (Ethan and Morgan). We have a history of working with students/postdocs who have had babies, serious family issues, or developed debilitating diseases during their time with us. Each situation and each mentee’s constraints/needs differ. Let us help you strategize what the best path forward is for you.
While on unpaid leave you will retain your health insurance and (maybe) your tuition waiver. It is unclear when the tuition waiver won’t be maintained.
Important: the University policy only applies AFTER your first semester on a RA/TA. If you need unpaid leave during your 1st semester on a RA/TA the university is not constrained by the contract.
- In practice: Please talk to Ethan/Morgan if you feel like you need an extended absence from the program during your 1st semester.

Workload

You cannot be forced to work more hours than your position requires. This number depends on your FTE (full-time equivalent) appointment.
- Most RAs in our group are 0.5 FTE (or half-time). Your specifically required RA duties can’t comprise more than 20 hours/week.
- How this applies to our lab: The intersection of the RA duties with a student’s dissertation/educational plan is where things get muddied, lines get blurred, and where abuses can and do occur. For example, if a student is doing a dissertation chapter that is also a project required for a grant on which they are an RA, and a supervisor pushes a student to work more, is the supervisor requiring the student to put in more hours on the RA or pushing the student to make progress on the dissertation? It is sadly common that supervisors to say it is “for the dissertation” when in reality the motivation is actually related to the work required for the grant (or the supervisor’s own professional needs). This is part of the reason we do annual self-evaluations and have you set your own goals, so it is clearer when feedback is based on your progress on your educational plan vs when what we are asking for is unrelated to that and RA related. Ethan and Morgan know the current system in the lab is imperfect and we are slowly trying to make this aspect clearer and more transparent. For now, if you feel that aspects of what you are doing are not related to your educational plan (defined as dissertation plus professional development) and are taking up more than 20 hours per week then please talk to us, or have someone else in the lab convey that there is concern about this (potentially anonymously) if you are uncomfortable communicating this to us directly so we can sit down and talk through the RA responsibilities, how to decrease the hours associated with them, and make sure you have the time to put towards your own educational goals.

Stipends/Fees/Tuition/Health Insurance

RA/TAs are required to be paid at least $21,333.33 for a 0.5 FTE 12-month appointment
Fees for graduate students are not due until Fall: Nov. 15, Spring: Mar 15, Summer A,B,C: Jul 21st
The university provides health insurance to all RA/TAs with an FTE >= 0.25 and should be charged only a $10/month. Dependents/Spouses can be added at additional costs.

Discrimination

All personnel decisions related to RA/TAs should be based on job performance and job-related criteria and not based on “race, color, sex, religious creed, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, gender identity, or any other category protected by federal or state law”.
- The contract makes no mention of what your rights are if this has happened. Sigh. We will develop a page of resources/protocols that are available to you to pursue action.

Work spaces

If you are required to work on-campus, the university must give you a place to work
If you feel that your working environment is unsafe (in the health and hazard sense) you should report this to an administrator who is required to conduct an investigation. You will be provided the outcome of the investigation and any actions the university needs to take to remedy the situation.
The university should give you a 1 month notice if they are going to move your work space

What is the process if your supervisor submits a formal complaint about you?

The contract outlines the process and rights of the RA/TA if their supervisor starts formal disciplinary proceedings against them. This process ONLY applies to work-related issues related to the RA/TA. It does not cover other aspects of the graduate student/mentor relationship (e.g., requesting a new PhD mentor or a mentor requesting a student be reassigned to another mentor). This process involves the supervisor submitting a complaint to the university, the university investigating this complaint and deciding on appropriate action and you having a chance to appeal the decision. This situation rarely happens but since it is really important to know your rights if it does, things are broken out and defined below.

Step 1: Request for Disciplinary Action

What is a Disciplinary Action? It is a formal accusation of misconduct/incompetency submitted to the University. It is not an oral reprimand, letters of counseling, or other criticism. A formal Disciplinary Action will be handled through the university and involves due process.
RA/TAs can only be disciplined for misconduct or incompetency. Actions outside the scope of employment cannot be used against you unless they “adversely affect the legitimate and compelling interests of the University” (which are undefined)
Accusations of misconduct or incompetency will be investigated by the university and conducted as confidentially as possible. The RA/TA will be notified in writing about the result of the investigation.
Disciplinary actions can result in termination of the RA/TA or suspension w/ or w/o pay, depending on the degree of misconduct, or a written formal reprimand.
- If terminated, the student will have to pay pro-rated tuition starting at the date of termination.

Step 2: Grievance

If you have concerns about how the university decision was made (for whatever reason) you have the right to request a Grievance Procedure. This is when the union gets involved.

What is a Grievance?: a formal complaint by an employee towards their employer that the employee has been treated unfairly in some way.
The Grievance Procedure Grievance is a formal process and will involve the union in some capacity.
Representation: during this process you have a right to be represented by a union official, by legal counsel, or to represent yourself.
Your supervisor cannot punish you for the time required to participate in grievance meetings (i.e. they cannot withhold pay or deny you time off to attend the meeting.
There is a detailed process in the contract for how to proceed with a Grievance. Long story short, contact the UFF-GAU (graduate student union) and let them help you through this process.

When can a RA/TA be terminated?

Continued failure to perform duties specified in the letter of appointment
Failure to make appropriate progress towards degree
Documented misconduct/incompetence (must be on record with the department)
Lack of funds as a result of adverse financial conditions (Unclear if this means at the university level or if the grant suddenly turns out to lack money)

Self assessments

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Goal

In academia, it is easy to get caught up in the day to day tasks and lose sight of where you are going and why. Every year we (Ethan and Morgan) reassess our scientific and career goals and take stock of what we accomplished that year, what we had hoped to accomplish, and what we need to be doing to reach our goals. This has been enormously useful for us as it helps us to keep our eye on the ball and think strategically about how we are spending our time. We would like to encourage everyone to conduct their own yearly self assessment so that you can evaluate your progress and keep us informed about your career goals so we can help you to reach them.

Process

How do you go about doing this?

We recommend including the following components:
- For students/postdocs: When do you think you will be completing this phase of your training? (This puts in perspective how much time you have to complete your tasks to achieve your goals)
- What are your long-term career plans? (This helps focus in on what kind of things you should be doing)? Include at least two possible career paths. (It’s good to consider multiple paths, you’ll be happier knowing you have multiple options, and it helps us understand what’s most important to you)
- What parts of your current job do you like and not like and how does this relate to your career plans? (This helps make sure your career plans fit with your interests)
- Given your long-term plans, what do you think you need to do to be successful? (These are what we will call your goals)
- What did you accomplish this year towards accomplishing your goals?
- What are your plans for next year for working towards your goals? (Be as specific as you can be. Are there particular projects you plan to start/finish? Is there specific training or experiences you think you need to succeed in reaching your goals?)
It should be written down. This gives you a record next year of what you thought you needed to be doing so you can compare what you did with what you wanted to do.
Share it with us. This is totally voluntary, but we know a little bit about succeeding in academia and we know a lot of people who work in other areas of science (and software engineering). Our goal is to help you be successful in whatever career path you choose. Knowing what you want to do, what you think you need in order to do it, and what you want to accomplish helps us advise you better during your weekly meetings.

In order to facilitate this process we designate one week each year, typically during the Spring Semester, where we will plan to look over your self-assessments and discuss them with you during your weekly meeting. We will give you a few weeks notice on when that week will be and encourage you to send us your self-assessments one week in advance of your meeting so that we have time to look it over and think about it. If you don’t want to participate, just let us know.

Also, a note for more permanent staff: we think you’re awesome, and we’d love for you to stick around forever, but we know that you may have bigger plans, and you know that these kinds of positions are always dependent on sufficient funding being maintained in the labs. We want you to get where you want to go, so you shouldn’t worry about sharing goals with us that involve you leaving at some point. Of course it’s totally understandable if you don’t want to tell us about this (or if you never want to leave), but just know that we’ll be supportive of whatever you’re trying to do.

Slack

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Slack is Weecology’s internal communication system. Think of it as an email/texting hybrid. It plays a vital role in our group by keeping team members informed of each other’s activities, allowing weecologists to see what other groups are doing, and to leverage our breadth of knowledge and expertise to help each other. Information on specifics of how to use Slack can be found by reading Slack 101 to learn slack basics.

For Weecology specific information and Slack etiquette tips, read on!

Slack is official communication. This means it is subject to both the Lab Code of Conduct and the State of Florida Sunshine Laws. Fun things can still happen on here (like the Hao-needs-a-dog channel), just remember that this is still offically Weecology space, just like being physically in the lab.
You may join any Weecology channel even if you are not part of that group. Want to know a little more about what the forecasting group is doing? Or Everglades? It is 100% fine to subscribe and listen in.
Maybe don’t subscribe to all of them, though. Information overload can make it hard to winnow signal from noise. Even Ethan and Morgan don’t subscribe to all the channels.
You can direct message (DM) anyone in the lab if you have things to chat with that are only relevant to that person. You don’t need to do all communication through a channel. DM’ing can especially be a good way to contact Ethan and Morgan, to circumvent their full email inboxes.
If someone posts something in slack that you want to discuss further, use the reply function. 14 back and forths about how cute a rodent is (which is totally an ok discussion to have!) can clutter a channel but the reply function lets you have that discussion, tied directly to that cute pic, while not cluttering the main flow of discussion.
If you mistakenly forget to reply and send something that should have been a reply more broadly, it’s ok. No one will get mad. These are just guidelines.
Using mentions (@NAME) is a good way to let people know that something is being discussed that requires their attention. For example: “I’m still waiting for feedback from @morgan”).

Social Events

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

A few times each year the lab will get together for social events outside of normal work hours. Most frequently these events involve dinner at Ethan and Morgan’s house and group dinners at conferences.

These events are completely voluntary and are not important for your professional development as a weecologist.
Significant others, children, and service animals are welcome.
The lab code of conduct applies to these events.
Morgan and Ethan will take care of food and drinks. If you have any dietary requirements please let them know.

Software Project Code of Conduct

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

This is the general-purpose code of conduct that we use for lab software projects, to facilitate inclusive interactions between the lab and outside contributors. Copy the text below into a file into software project repositories.

Contributor Code of Conduct

Our Pledge

In the interest of fostering an open and welcoming environment, we as contributors and maintainers pledge to making participation in our project and our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, disability, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, level of experience, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contributes to creating a positive environment include:

Using welcoming and inclusive language
Being respectful of differing viewpoints and experiences
Gracefully accepting constructive criticism
Focusing on what is best for the community
Showing empathy towards other community members

Examples of unacceptable behavior by participants include:

The use of sexualized language or imagery and unwelcome sexual attention or advances
Trolling, insulting/derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
Public or private harassment
Publishing others’ private information, such as a physical or electronic address, without explicit permission
Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

Our Responsibilities

Project maintainers are responsible for clarifying the standards of acceptable behavior and are expected to take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any instances of unacceptable behavior.

Project maintainers have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, or to ban temporarily or permanently any contributor for other behaviors that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies both within project spaces and in public spaces when an individual is representing the project or its community. Examples of representing a project or community include using an official project e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event. Representation of a project may be further defined and clarified by project maintainers.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported by contacting the project team at ethan@weecology.org. All complaints will be reviewed and investigated and will result in a response that is deemed necessary and appropriate to the circumstances. The project team is obligated to maintain confidentiality with regard to the reporter of an incident. Further details of specific enforcement policies may be posted separately.

Project maintainers who do not follow or enforce the Code of Conduct in good faith may face temporary or permanent repercussions as determined by other members of the project’s leadership.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 1.4, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct.html

Teaching Opportunities

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Teaching opportunities are available for folks in the group who want to develop teaching skills and experience or just like to teach others.

Carpentries training and workshops

UF has an active Carpentries community originally co-founded by weecologists. There is typically a Carpentries Instructor Training workshop each year to receive training in how to teach workshops. One you’ve completed this training there are multiple workshops per year at UF to teach in. Find out more at the UF Carpentries Club site. Weecology will cover any costs associated with training.

Guest Lectures

Guest lectures are when someone delivers one or more lectures in someone else’s course. Ethan and Morgan are happy to support members of the group teaching guest lectures in their courses and there are sometimes opportunities for guest lecturing in other courses. Just let Ethan or Morgan know that you are interested in this and they will work with you to identify the best opportunities.

Co-teaching as instructor of record

The best way to understand what developing and teaching courses is like is to co-teach a course. This is also useful for demonstrating real experience and committment to teaching for people interested in going into teaching focused careers. Morgan and Ethan are both willing to co-teach courses with folks who want to do this and have sufficient time and energy to do so. You will actually be an official instructor (also known as an “instructor of record”) and we will work with you to learn how to teach and develop new course materials for college courses.

UF/Santa Fe College Faculty Development Project

The UF/Santa Fe College Faculty Development Project is a partnership between the University of Florida and local Santa Fe College that aims to increase faculty diversity at Santa Fe College while providing doctoral students at UF with valuable teaching experience. Participants teach two courses per year at SFC and assist in its recruitment and retention of minority and underrepresented students. The program provides a stipend of $15,000 for nine months, in-state tuition, fees, and health insurance for fall-spring semesters with an additional amount supplied by UF. Participants must have a master’s degree in an approved field, 18 credit hours of graduate level hours in an approved field completed, and have passed their qualifying exams. The application deadline for this program falls in the spring of each year.

http://www.graduateschool.ufl.edu/prospective-students/funding/other/ufsanta-fe-college-faculty-development-project/

Video Conferencing

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

For now, can be used as our permanent meeting room for any meeting I’m in (my account is Pro, so meetings are not capped at 40 minutes).

To use Zoom:

Go to https://ufl.zoom.us/
Click ‘Sign In’
As ever, this will take you to the myUFL login page. Sign in and you will be in your Zoom account.
Click Host a Meeting > With Video On
This will download the Zoom desktop app. Also download the Zoom plugin for Chrome if you would like to add Zoom links to your Google Calendar meetings.

On the profile page, the link to your personal meeting room (ufl.zoom.us/j/ yourpersonalmeetingid) is a permanent link that can be used to start a meeting with you at any time.

Your Zoom account includes up to 24-hr long one-on-one meetings (you and one other account). But meetings are capped at 40 minutes for larger groups.

Way of weecology

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Be bold, but not reckless
Prefer rough answers to the right questions over precise answers to the wrong ones
There is no one “right way” to do science, not even your way

Prioritize science over credit, but credit everyone who contributes
Recognize and credit all aspects of the scientific process
Don’t be territorial, there is too much work to do to fight over who does what

Train the next generation of scientists, and the previous one
Help make science more diverse and inclusive
Be generous

Treat other scientists like you would want to be treated
When you screw up, and you will, apologize and do better
Don’t punch down

Talkin’ ain’t doin’
Remember that saying No is just saying Yes to something else
Choose the path that advances knowledge as quickly as possible
That often means stopping the ideal from being the enemy of the good

Good science comes from happy people
Work in the way that works best for you
Take care of yourself and those around you

Open is better than closed
Share knowledge and tools broadly
But recognize that not everything should be open

There are many versions of success
You define success for yourself
Your priorities, strengths, and goals will help you find your path

It’s all going to be OK

Working Remotely

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

[In development]

Remote work is broadly supported in the group ranging from occasionally working from home to living elsewhere and working entirely remotely.

Alternate Work Location Agreement

For folks working off campus for extended periods we need to let UF know that you are planning to work offcampus as your official work location. Download the Alternate WorkLocation Agreement and fill out as much as you can. If something does not seem relevant to you, put in N/A. Send to your supervisor (Morgan or Ethan) to fill out or discuss anything that you can’t answer on your own. When the two of you are happy with the form, your supervisor will send it to the WEC staff to be submitted to UF. You will be asked to sign the document through docusign, so signing it in advance is not necessary. The form needs to be renewed every year.

Windows Computer Set Up

Setting up a new Windows computer under the UF domain remotely is not possible. It will give you an error message that your Microsoft account does not exist, if you try to use your UF GatorLink log-ins. However, creating a local account can be done.

at the Sign in with Microsoft screen, click on the domain join found at the bottom left corner of the screen
set up computer with your preferred name, password, sign-in options (e.g., PIN, fingerprint, etc.)
using personal UF Gatorlink, download software such as Microsoft Office