Lab Policies

My goal is that all students and postdocs working in my lab receive practical training as plant breeders and scientists. By the end of their time in my lab, students will be capable of providing leadership in a cultivar development program by understanding the principles of plant breeding in the field, coupling these principles with modern tools to improve breeding processes and drive science forward.

Above all, I expect that members of my lab have take ownership of their projects and show leadership in the progress of their research track in my lab and enjoy their research projects. I encourage all lab members to think broadly and pursue their curiosity as much as possible.

My interest is for graduate students and postdocs to make the best out of their time in my group. My job is to maintain a research environment that enables and empowers lab members achieve the goals that they seek in their future careers. Whether that is  in academia, industry, government or other sectors. 

General Lab Policies

Safety

Health and safety are more important than your research. Therefore, we must follow the MSU safety policies and any other lab safety measures indicated.

Work hours

In general, work hours are flexible, but group members are encouraged to be on campus during regular business hours (8 am-5 pm Mon-Fri), as this is when you can interact with lab members. There will be times when your research project will require you to work beyond the expected number of hours or weekends (i.e. field season, weather windows, deadlines, etc). Above all, you need to be conscious that graduate school is demanding, as you are on track to become an independent researcher conducting original research, and it is often not a 9am-5pm job. My policy is that as long as we achieve our individual and group goals, time off and work schedules should remain flexible. Group members should take time off, but let me know at least two weeks in advance when you plan to take more than one day off.

Without exception, all lab members are expected to assist in the field during the growing season in the summer and the crossing season in the winter. This includes working on their own projects or the projects of others. This is how you become a plant breeder.

Lab Notebooks

All lab members should keep their lab notebooks on our Github repository, whether that is code, protocols etc.

Conferences

All lab members are encouraged to attend at least one conference per year only if work is being presented at the conference, please send your abstracts/posters to me well in advance to review and practice talks. Lab members are encouraged to apply for funding from MSU and from the conference organizers, if possible.

Lab Activities

All lab members are expected to attend weekly lab meetings. On Fridays, we run a lab journal club, usually accompanied by a beer. Attendance to these and other lab events is encouraged but not mandatory. Students are strongly encouraged to attend departmental seminars during the semester.

Authorship

My lab adheres to the guidelines from the ICJME to determine authorship:

• Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

• Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND

• Final approval of the version to be published; AND

• Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Articles will be submitted as open access whenever possible, and I expect lab members to practice open science. Lab documents will be available through GitHub, R markdown, readme files, this website, etc., so they are intelligible and reusable in the future. All lab members are required to maintain a lab notebook that is sufficiently detailed to reproduce results.

I define the roles that enable individuals to become part of publications by evaluating among the 14 CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) categories: Conceptualization; Data curation, Formal Analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing.

Expectations of Postdocs and senior PhD students

• Attend and prepare for weekly lab meetings and journal article discussions.

• Assist with identifying and writing postdoctoral fellowships and funding.

• Assist in proofreading of manuscripts.

• Writing and submitting manuscripts. I expect senior PhD students and postdocs to publish at least 1.5 papers per year (as first or co-author).

• Assist in proofreading and providing feedback for manuscripts/presentations from other lab members.