Information For Students
Requesting Letters of Recommendation
If you need a letter of recommendation, please email me directly and fill out this form, which will help me write the best letter possible for you.
Please give me a month before the deadline to start working on your letter.
Joining the Lab
If you are a student interested in joining the lab for a summer research experience or for your science research credits, please get in contact: esuter (at) molloy.edu
Code-of-Conduct
All members of this research group are required to read and agree to this CoC.
I value the participation of every contributor to the lab group. I always want to make sure that everyone has an enjoyable and fulfilling experience. Please show respect and courtesy to others at all times.
Molloy College has several institutional policies on appropriate behavior for students and employees, as well as academic integrity. In addition to those policies set forth by the College, this CoC is supplemental guidance on how to behave in a collaborative research group:
Inclusivity and diversity Enjoyable, high-quality research can only be conducted when you feel safe, secure, and supported. All group members are thus dedicated to a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age, and/or religion. We do not tolerate harassment by and/or of members of our group in any form, and we ask all members of the community to conform to the following
- All communication, online or in person, should be appropriate for a professional audience.
- Be kind to others and do not insult or put down other group members.
- Behave professionally.
- Participants asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately.
- Contribute to discussions in meetings with a constructive, positive approach.
- Be willing to listen and be mindful of talking over others when discussing in groups.
Besides making group members feel safe and secure, diversity and inclusivity benefits science.
Feedback We all benefit from feedback: ask for it early, and give it constructively.
- TIP: Criticism is easier to take if it’s delivered as part of a sandwich, where positive feedback is the bread and the constructive suggestions for improvement are in the middle.
Support other lab members We want to build a supportive group. I am always willing to help every one but please also help each other!
Honesty & integrity are absolutely essential Do the right thing. If you make a mistake (and we all do at some point), do your best to acknowledge it and to correct it if possible. If the mistake is science-related, record all the details in your lab notebook and notify me.
Be open to new ideas and perspectives People come from lots of different backgrounds, and in science that is a strength! Be open to new ideas and perspectives, and please contribute your ideas and perspectives. It can sometimes feel daunting to share your ideas, but the worst thing that can happen is you learn something new. The best thing that will happen is we improve our ideas!
Timelines You should run abstracts, proposals, manuscripts, etc. by me before you submit them, and need to factor in time for editing things before the deadline. Things like proposals and manuscripts often take many, MANY, drafts before they get submitted, so, if something has a deadline, we should work out a plan early in terms of when to have drafts ready by. For meeting abstracts, you should get those to me at least two weeks ahead of the deadline.
Please check email/Slack regularly (excluding holidays and weekends).
Data sharing In our group, we aim to adhere to Open Science policies. As you work through pipelines, you will be asked to share your scripts in a version control environment (like GitHub). You will also be producing data files as you go. These should be shared with the lab group in whatever format is appropriate and the final files should be shared publicly (in a place like NCBI or OSF). I will help support you through using these resources and making your science open access.
General Recommendations for Undergraduate Researchers
Research is not based on clear-cut assignments and due dates. It is a cyclical process in which you plan, read, collect data, analyze, read some more, share your ideas, share your results, and constantly reconfigure your approach and reassess your ideas.
That being said, here are some basic guidelines that can help you get started as an independent researcher:
Research is collaborative. No one, even the best known researchers, can complete a project on their own. Learning to work well with others, read the literature, and ask questions is essential to being able to carry out good science.
Write everything down. You will need to keep a lab notebook (hand-written, electronic, or both). If you are working in a computational notebook, you should record your code AND be commenting and explaining your code as you go.
In addition to lab notes, you should be writing down what you learn. If we discuss something relevant to your project, write it down. If you are learning from a video or tutorial, write it down. At first, you will be receiving a lot of information and it will be very difficult to remember everything. The only way to learn is to write it down and explain to you future self what you were thinking.
Do your homework. There are no clear assignments or due dates in research. It is your responsibility to make sure you are progressing a little further day-by-day. Research cannot be done at midnight the night before the project is over. If it helps, make a weekly shcedule where you block out time you will work on research projects.
Be on time. Missing meetings can put other researchers in the group behind by a week or more. If you must miss a meeting, please be responsible and give notice.
Research is not about a grade. It is a learning process and should be an enriching experience. The purpose of research is for scientific knowledge.
Research costs money. The materials and computational infrastructure you will use costs a lot of money. That money has come from either the College or from grants which are funded by taxpayers. Please be responsible with all materials.
Approach your work in the lab with a growth mindset, and consider what is good enough. Two things that can be a challenge for all of us are: 1) thinking we need to do things perfectly, and 2) feeling like there are certain things we are bad at and never will be good at. In reality, the more we work on something, the better we get at it. An important ability in science (and life!) is recognizing what is good enough. So aim for improvement, not perfection. Aim to do one thing that you couldn’t do before. And be willing to submit high-quality, but not necessarily perfect, work.
Work towards independence. The goal of an undergraduate research experience is for you to be able to carry out an experiment with little to no guidance. This independence will come slowly. You can start by observing and learning, then trying to replicate small tasks under supervision, and eventually work your way to being able to work independently, with some occasional discussion and input. As you work, ask yourself about the process and try to understand why you are performing each step. Knowing the why will help you remember how to replicate your analyses.
Ask questions and tell me when you mess up. There are no stupid questions! Research is difficult. Choosing not to ask questions usually leads to making mistakes. It is also important to report when you think you did something wrong. If we want to publish our findings, we must do our best to make sure they are of the highest quality possible.
Be curious and enjoy the science. Take the time to intellectually grow and enjoy the process of discovery. It is very rewarding. Don’t be afraid to discuss your scientific curiosities with me and the rest of the group.
Check out this example of the “How science works” process in oceanography.
References
Much of the above is based on policies and guidelines developed by other groups:
- Dr. Megan Duffy’s Lab Guidelines
- McMillan, VE. Writing Paper in the Biological Science. 5th Ed.
- Neurotic Physiology, Undergrad herding
- Dr. David Oppo’s SBRG Code of Conduct
- Professor Snarky’s Unsolicited Advice
- Dr. K. Hogan’s recomendation letter form
- UC Berekeley’s Understanding Science