8  Lab Culture

I want everyone in the lab to feel valued and welcome. We have a diverse group of people who bring different skills, personal backgrounds, and strengths. We all have different academic backgrounds as well. Some come from a Psychology tradition, some from Physiology or Biology, some from Kinesiology, some from Engineering, etc. I am happy all of you are here, I care about you as human beings, and I want you to feel happy to be here and excited about your work.

My personal belief is that everyone I welcome into the lab brings something valuable to the table. More than that, I believe everyone I welcome into the lab has great potential to grow as a scientist and as a person. My outlook is to try to always assume people have good intentions, and to be welcoming, supportive, and generous in my approach. I hope we can all adopt this outlook together.

I want our lab to be a collaborative environment in which we can all feel safe to pursue ambitious scientific projects, together. We all bring unique skillsets and experience and I want us all to feel able to work together and draw upon each other’s strengths to pursue our scientific goals and solve problems. Please take advantage of the rich scientific environment that is available within our lab and more broadly, across all of the labs in the Brain and Mind Institute. We are really fortunate to be located in such a stimulating and diverse scientific environment.

Science is a collaborative effort and in our lab, we work together on projects. While each of us may be the primary driver of our studies, it is not unusual, and in fact it is encouraged, that we bring each other on board to help out, and contribute our unique bits of expertise and experience. Having co-authors on a paper does not detract from your first-authorship status. By working together we can do our best work, together.

I am not a perfect person and I make mistakes. If something is bothering you about something I have done or said, or not done or not said, I hope you will feel comfortable bringing it to me.