Resources
A collection of free downloadable materials, references and useful resources to help you manage your lab, your team or yourself. We initially assembled these materials for participants in our popular workshop "Managing your science team: Setting goals, giving feedback and evaluating scientists." Let us know if you find them useful or if you have other resources which we can include here.
PDF or Word files
1. Mentoring and Advisor/Advisee compacts
Spelling out what you expect from people in your lab and what they should expect from you is one of the most important first conversations you can have.
"Graduate student/advisor compact": Describes what grad students should expect from their advisors, what advisors owe their grad students and vice versa. Spelling these things out between advisor and advisee helps clarify mutual expectations and responsibilities. Another example of such a contract, borrowed from Dr. Trina McMahon at the University of Wisconsin, Madison can be found here.
"Postdoc-advisor compact": What postdocs should expect from their advisors, what advisors owe their postdocs and vice versa. As above, spelling these things out clarifies mutual expectations and responsibilities.
Ever wonder how you stack up as a mentor? This PDF assessment tool developed by the Careers Office at UCSF can help. Use the tool to ask yourself whether you do the things listed in it, and if you are really brave, ask your mentees to rate you using the tool. We have noted three entries in the questionnaire that we do not support. You can use them or not.
Another useful tool for self-assessment is the "Manager's self-review worksheet" which asks “Are you giving the people in your group the professional guidance and support they need?” This form helps you answer those questions.
“Entering mentoring: A seminar to train a new generation of scientists” by Jo Handelsman, Christine Pfund, Sarah M Lauffer and Christine M Pribbenow is a terrific free ebook available for download at https://tinyurl.com/yajvcj26. It covers a broad array of topics about mentoring and is well worth your time.
2. Lab manuals or guides
Everyone benefits form having clear expectations. As a PI or lab head, creating a lab manual should be high on the list of first things to do when you start your lab. if your lab is already up and running, all the better since you can create your lab guide based on experience. For simplicity, lab manuals or guides can incorporate compacts which are described above. Your lab manual should contain basic information about your expectations for how lab members work together, interact and use common equipment and supplies. It should also contain information about your expectations for working hours, how best to communicate with you , the PI, and guidance on authorship. Below are four examples of lab manuals from labs that have made them available on the web. I have selected these not because I think they’re the best (they may be, but I haven’t made that determination nor would I know how!) Use these as guides to making your own manuals and to see how others have gone about it. My thanks to Christine Chen of MIT for searching out the great examples below in her excellent “Growing healthy labs” presentation.
Paul Minda, Psychology, University of Western Ontario, has an especially well organized lab manual, Here.
Mariam Aly, Neuroscience, Columbia Univ. has another very well organized and comprehensive lab manual, Here.
Katherine Huntington, Geochemistry and Tectonics, University of Washington, has a lab manual that is succinct but covers a lot of ground, Here
Tolulope Olgboji, Seismology, University or Rochester, has put together one of the more comprehensive guides, Here
Mary Salcedo, Biomedical Engineering, Virginia Tech, has created an excellent manual created by a postdoc for undergraduates who they supervise: Here.
Finally, Candace Morey, Brain and Cognition, Cardiff University, has a nearly book-length lab manual that covers just about everything imaginable, Here.
3. Free books, guides and articles about "the life scientific," and more
“What researchers think about the culture they work in” is a 2020 report from the Wellcome Trust. The report compiles survey data from over 4000 scientists and trainees and paints a dark picture of our research enterprise. Science trainees are stressed (over 50% have sought or would like professional help for depression or anxiety) and only 34-55 % have received career guidance or had a performance appraisal. Yet 80% of lab heads say they have the skills needed to manage trainees. The report concludes, “ ..we reflect that managers may not know what good looks like if they have not experienced it themselves or taken part in training, or if they do not regularly seek feedback from the people they manage..” Our conclusion: It’s high time we made management training a requirement for running a lab with trainees at any level.
“The Science of Effective Mentorship in STEMM” is a free downloadable book from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. It has actionable guidelines for being an effective mentor and for creating mentoring programs. Download here: https://www.nap.edu/download/25568#
“Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.” This is a free, downloadable report from the National Academies that gives a comprehensive overview of the problem and consequences of harassment in the sciences. It also suggests strategies for addressing this pervasive problem. Download here: https://www.nap.edu/download/24994
"Collaboration and team science: A field guide": A useful guide produced by the NIH to help scientists think through the complexities and challenges of doing team based and collaborative research.
"Making the Right Moves" This is a downloadable book created by HHMI in 2006. It covers many of the "nuts and bolts" of setting up and running a lab, mentoring, career advancement strategies and more.
"How to succeed in science: A concise guide for young biomedical scientists- Part 1": First of two articles by Jonathan Yewdell (NIH) with "unvarnished" (his term) advice and guidance for biomedical scientists.
How to succeed in science: A concise guide for young biomedical scientists- Part 2"
4. Authorship guidelines
Some of the most complex and vexing problems encountered in research involve questions of authorship and author order on publications. Many institutions have guidelines regarding who should be included as an author. Author order is often a thornier problem. Here are two references to help you think though such issues.
"Authorship guidelines for graduate students" A useful guide to assist scientists (not just grad students) in thinking about authorship and how to anticipate some of the most common problems with collaborative projects.
"Author sequence and credit for contributions in multiauthored publications" Tscharntke, T., et al, 2007. Some useful ideas to help resolve author-order questions.
Authorship Taxonomies: More recently, attempts have been made to devise a "taxonomy" of authors indicating exactly who did what for a publication. It is now becoming common practice to include a narrative listing of what type of contribution each author made. See Brand et. al. (2015) for a detailed guide on using this system.
5. Performance reviews for scientists and technical staff
If you are lucky, you work at an institution whose human resources department provides guidance and training in how to help your science, technical and administrative staff using feedback and performance reviews. Here are a few documents that you can adapt for your own use to help with this process.
"SMART Goals" Shows how to set specific, achievable goals for your team members.
"Performance review template: support and technical staff": A form to help you review performance of lab staff. May seem a bit rigid if used for scientists, but its worth a look.
"Performance review template: Professional and administrative staff" : This form offers flexibility in entering research-specific goals and expectations and is therefore more suitable for use with scientists. post-docs, etc.
"Manager's self-review worksheet" : Are you giving the people in your group the professional guidance and support they need? This form helps you answer those questions.
"Short self-review worksheet" : Before you meet for an annual or semi-annual review conversation, ask the people in your lab to fill out this assessment form first.
See below for our combined performance review and Individual Development Plan document
6. PostDoc Individual Development PLans
Another important tool to help guide postdocs is the Individual Development Plan, or IDP. This is a document created jointly by the postdoc and adviser that sets out both long term and short term expectations for the postdoc's development. Development goals can include accomplishing specific research objectives, learning new techniques, learning or improving management, leadership or interpersonal skills, as well as long term professional job goals. Importantly, there has been actual research showing that postdocs who have IDPs in place fare better in their work and productivity (more publications, more grant funding, etc) than those who don't. You can download the 2006 study of nearly 4000 postdocs by Sigma Xi showing this here. Below are several examples of postdoc IDPs used by Stanford and UPenn. I promise you, its worth the time and effort to create these documents for your postdocs.
This article from Cell, "Yearly planning meetings: individualized development plans aren't just more paperwork." (Molecular Cell, 2015, 58, 718-721) gives a succinct overview of the utility and importance of IDPs in both academia and the private sector.
SMA combined IDP and performance review document
New (March 2018): Science Management Associates has created a combined Performance Review and Individual Development Plan document that you can download and edit for your own use. We made this combined document because we believe that performance reviews as well as IDPs need to be done on an annual basis (sometimes semi-annually) and it is convenient to do both at the same time and in the same document. This document incorporates what we see as the best in the various documents we have reviewed and contains instructions for both the adviser/mentor and postdoc/mentee.
Click here to download the SMA Combined Performance Review and Individual Development Plan (revised January 14, 2019 .
7. The most important study you've never heard of supports the efficacy of Science Management Associates training programs
In 2003 the scientific research society Sigma Xi initiated a landmark postdoc survey overseen by Goeff Davis. The survey was based on over 8000 responses (big N= high reliability) and sought to determine whether there were aspects of the post-doctoral working experience that correlated with measurable outcomes such as postdoc productivity, level of satisfaction with adviser, frequency of conflicts in the lab and more. The results may surprise you and are available for download here: PowerPoint Complete Report; Survey Highlights ; Survey results and technical details.
8. Resources for women in science
This section is a work in progress. If you have ideas or suggestions for content let us know.
We are especially excited about a new podcast series created and hosted by Phoebe Cohen, a Professor of Geosciences at Williams College. Entitled "Female of the Species" each episode contains an interview with a woman scientist focusing on the experiences, lives and musings of women in science. The podcasts are thoroughly enjoyable and illuminating - for both men and women. Highly recommended.
A podcast for the sisterhood of science. A healthy mix of issues facing women in STEM, good solid chit chat, and belly laughs.
9. Resources relating to gender and minority bias in science
We strongly recommend viewing the following PowerPoint presentation created by Eve Fine of the Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. It contains invaluable information about implicit bias and guidelines on how to counteract it during the hiring process:
•“Reviewing Job Applicants – Understanding and Minimizing Bias in Evaluation.” 2015, Eve Fine, Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute of the University of Wisconsin, Madison
We also recommend the following book from the same group, which is available as a free download:
•"Searching for Excellence and Diversity" 2012, Eve Fine and Jo Handelsman. Available as a free download at http://wiseli.engr.wisc.edu/docs/SearchBook_Wisc.pdf.
Two excellent books that are not specifically about science but focus on addressing gender bias in the workplace:
•“Success Through Diversity” 2018, Carol Fulp, Beacon Press.
•“What Works: Gender Equality by Design” Iris Bohnet, 2016, Harvard/Belknap Press.
10. Resources for those on the job market
Giving a job talk? Check out this useful job talk evaluation tool created by the folks at the UCSF Careers and Professional Development Office.
The UCSF Careers and Professional Development Office has an abundance of material relating to the the job search process, including guides to preparing for interviews, preparing teaching and diversity statements and much more. It is worth spending some time exploring this site.
“Job Talks and Interviews: How to Stand Out and Fit In” is a succinct article on the basics of job talks.
Here is an interesting lecture on giving a job talk by the late Prof. Patrick Winston of MIT. It is full of quirky digressions but contains many useful pointers.
Nick Morgan is a frequent writer and speaker about communication. Here is one of his lectures about the immense importance of body language, not just when your giving a talk but in general. If you’re short on time, here is a four minute video by Nick that conveys much of what’s in his longer his longer video.
Need a refresher on the basics of good PowerPoint formatting for your scientific talk? Watch this terrific video by Susan McConnell of Stanford Univ.