Moseley Laboratory Mission Statement and Rules


Our mission is to create a healthy, supportive, creative, collaborative, synergistic, and effective scientific laboratory environment.

This environment will:

  • Provide excellent opportunities for learning that will train outstanding scientists and professionals.
  • Produce the highest quality of research with the highest level of integrity.
  • Significantly add to the body of scientific knowledge and research capacity in a timely manner.

We will use the following Lab Rules to help implement this mission:

  1. Respect your fellow lab members. Respect their space, their property, their person, and their time.
    • With an open lab environment, be careful not to interrupt a fellow lab member's train of thought.
    • If the fellow lab member has head phones on, either wait till they are paused or chat with them via Google Chat or Meet.
  2. Strive to make the workplace as fun, creative, and enjoyable as the work will allow.
  3. Give assistance to lab members that ask or appear to need help.
    • If you are not the best suited person to help, facilitate the introduction to someone that is.
    • Mention to Prof. Moseley who has helped you.
    • Acknowledge who has helped you, especially in lab meetings.
  4. Resolve potential conflicts before they turn ugly.
    • If you are angry or upset, calm down first before talking to someone.
    • First, try to resolve an issue by discussing it with the person.
    • Bring in another lab member to mediate if needed.
    • Bring in Prof. Moseley to mediate if needed.
  5. If an issue comes up or a mistake occurs, mention it as soon as possible and bring it up in lab meeting.
    • This makes everyone aware of issues and mistakes, how to deal with them, and how to prevent them in the future.
  6. Everyone must follow the University code of ethics and conduct.
    • We all must adhere to the highest level of scientific and professional ethics.
  7. Document your work on appropriate pages on the lab Wiki.
    • Keep your weekly lab reports on the wiki up-to-date.
    • Create wiki pages for each project.
      • Keep ToDo lists for each project/responsibility and strike out tasks as you do them.
  8. Create lab goals and periodically review them.
    • Periodically evaluate your efforts with respect to these goals and decide if your effort/behavior should be modified.
  9. Original thinking is encouraged. If you have an idea different from Prof. Moseley’s, then test both ideas; but test Prof. Moseley’s first.
    • Generally, do quick and simple tests first to provide early information that can guide the implementation of harder tests.
  10. Always listen to help and advice.
    • Always have the courtesy to listen to help and advice, especially when it is freely given.
    • Welcome the opportunity to receive free help and advice.
  11. Ask and/or look up when you do not understand.
    • When you do not understand what is being discussed in lab, ask for clarification.
    • If you do not understand a term or concept being used, ask for a definition and/or look up multiple definitions/descriptions.
  12. Be prompt to individual meetings and the weekly lab meeting.
    • Send an email or chat if you are going to be significantly late to an individual meeting.
  13. Communicate vacations and absences.
    • Email Prof. Moseley if you cannot show up for work.
    • Give at least a two-week notice for vacations and extended leave of absences.
    • Post vacations and absences on the LabMembers calendar.
  14. Only students in good academic standing are allowed to participate in the lab.
  15. Keep the lab safe, clean, and up-to-date.
    • Follow lab safety rules, which are minimal for a computational lab in comparison to a wetlab.
    • Follow building safety rules and try to prevent accidents before they occur.
    • Make sure periodic checkups and maintenance are performed.
    • If possible and practical, write down the dates of purchase/arrival and major maintenance directly on equipment.
  16. Receive consent from all authors before submitting a proposal, manuscript, software, or even an abstract.
    • This is more than common courtesy. It is the expected norm in the scientific field.
    • Under an extreme deadline condition, at least notify all authors of an imminent proposal or abstract submission.
    • Never submit a manuscript without the consent of all authors.

Minor Lab Rules and Policies

Naming Documents Undergoing Revision

  1. Timestamp documents undergoing revision. For example: YYYY-MM-DD_filename.ext .
  2. Add your initials when you revise: for example: YYYY-MM-DD_filename_hnbm.ext .
  3. The main author/originator of the document should re-timestamp the filename after many revisions.

-- HunterMoseley - 15 May 2007
Topic revision: r31 - 01 Sep 2022, HunterMoseley
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