Variable substitution:
Jean Luc Picard = post doc
Diana Troy = young grad student
By chance today I happened to hear the other side of the "young grad student versus post doc" argument I posted about yesterday. Jean Luc (unsolicited mind you) told me that Diana had been very possessive of a certain piece of equipment (Enterprise's food replicator?) she has just taken over from a graduating Ph.D. student. This posed a problem for Jean Luc, who had trained his undergrad to use the replicator. Now Diana wanted Jean Luc's undergrad to minimize her time on the replicator (in Jean Luc's words "stop using it").
My guess is Jean Luc's snide remark to Diana about her work hours was meant to say, "Hey, be more flexible. My undergrad needs to replicate food too." But he was annoyed so it came out as "Hey, if you actually worked longer hours, this wouldn't be a problem. As a grad student you should be putting in 14-hour days."
Moral of the story for me: Both Jean Luc and Diana seem like nice, reasonable people. Wires get crossed and people misspeak, leading to hurt feelings (the main cause for spaceship tension). I for one regret the feeling of annoyance I had towards Jean Luc when I heard only Diana's side of the story yesterday. Just goes to show there's no point in jumping to conclusions and judging people negatively!
4 weeks ago
There is sometimes that problem with undergrads and PhDs sharing equipment.
ReplyDeleteOur lab has a policy that an undegrad can't work after office hours (after 6pm) for safety reasons, hence they tend to hog some of the equipment during the day. Some grads and post docs too get annoyed by this as there is sometimes a feeling of their work being more important as the undergrad is just doing his stuff for course requirements.
On the flip side some undergrads use this excuse to come and use the equipment as and when they please citing that they need it more urgently as they can't come back after 6pm while it would be ok for the grad student to do the work at night - which tends to get some peoples back up.
That does seem like abuse of the safety policy, which in general is a wise idea. I do think a more reasonable policy would be "no undergrads unless a grad student or post doc is present." That would open up the possibility for research after 6pm, especially since many undergrads may want to work with their mentor after hours. I sometimes used to be in the lab into the wee hours of the morning as an undergrad (probably not smart), because that was the only way to fit research into my schedule. I don't think anyone ever voiced concern for me, but it's good that some labs are thinking about this.
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