
Welcome
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Welcome to the Ocean Climate Connections (OCC) research group in the Earth and Environmental Science (EES) Department at Temple University! The purpose of this document is to flush out what I expect from you as a student and what you should expect from myself as your advisor. My goal is to make expectations clear and in-turn break down barriers and get rid of the "hidden-curriculum" of academia (i.e, unspoken rules, norms, assumptions needed for success). I am looking forward to working with you and want to help guide you to success in whatever career path you are aiming towards.
Your experience and expectations will differ depending on your academic level (undergraduate, graduate: MS, graduate: PhD). Please refer to the appropriate guide linked in the Table of Contents. However, the following sections below are applicable to all group members, regardless of level. You are expected to read through (in detail!) all of the information outlined below and for your respective level.
__Importantly__ these guidelines are designed to create an environment of mutual respect between __all group members__ (mentor & mentees included).
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[ToC]
Resources
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__Room Access__: All group meetings will take place in the outer office of room __315A__. Each member will be given a key to this office and you are responsible for ensuring the doors are locked upon leaving and should not leave the door open unless you are in the room. Dr. Beadling has a deadly tree nut and peanut allergy, so room 315A will remain a __NUT FREE ZONE__!
Additionally, this room is a shared space, so please treat it as such and put things back where you found them, do not leave trash around, and leave other student's belongings alone. Please use the cabinets in the outer room and any shelves if you have anything you wish to store. There are locks for the cabinets under the desk. Graduate students will be given a desk in the Graduate Student office.
Also please be cognizant of the fact that this space is directly connected to Dr. Beadling's inner office where she is likely working and attending meetings. Please keep noise to a minimum and check the status on Dr. Beadling's door to ensure it is not on "Do Not Disturb" or "In a Meeting" prior to using the space to gather or host meetings.
__Server Access:__ All students will be provided with computing equipment (mouse, keyboard, external monitor, adaptors, etc) that allows you to access the our analysis and storage servers. For incoming graduate students -- please let me know if you do not have a suitable laptop and I am happy to furnish one. Undergraduate students will have access to a desktop workstation in room 315A that you are welcome to use or plug your laptop into to use the monitor.
All analysis will be done using the OCC server: cstocean.tu.temple.edu. This server is maintained and managed by Temple's College of Science and Technology (CST) and any issues you run into should be communicated via Temple's [__Help Desk__](https://tuhelp.temple.edu/). You should CC rebecca.beadling@temple.edu on any of your correspondance with the Help Desk, or if you have issues with this through the Request Help interface -- send Dr. Beadling an email describing the issue you asked for help with so I can keep track of issues. Also please let me know when issues are resolved and if you are not getting timely responses, so I can step in to push things along.
Instructions for Server access and launching a JupyterLab Instance can be found [__here__](https://hackmd.io/ES5n7zfET1q2LI6Sn0SU2g).
__Slack Channel__: You will be added to our groups Slack Workspace: [OceanClimateConnections-Temple](https://oceanclimatec-rhe1047.slack.com/home). Please see more information on this in the Communications section.
__Funding for Travel__: A critical part to success is learning how to effectively communicate your work and building a network of collaborators and support outside of our group (i.e., networking). I recognize this and have and will continue to budget for student travel for 1 scientific meeting per year for graduate students (as long as my grants are funded!). However, there will likely be times when there are workshops or other smaller meetings that you will want to attend. Oftentimes meetings have options to apply for grants to cover travel expenses for students. I expect you to take initiative to seek out and apply for internal and external funding opportunities to cover the cost of travel and attendance at various meetings and workshops. This not only will help the group by freeing up some funds, but also will provide you with valauble experience in writing proposals and grants to put on your CV.
For undergraduate students, the university has money you can apply for in order to cover travel expenses and research stipends. Please reach out and let me know if you need assistance finding these.
If there is a conference / meeting / workshop any of you are interested in attending __please let me know as soon as possible__ and I am happy to assist in finding funding opportunities. __Additionally, abstracts should be developed one to two weeks in advance to provide the co-authors and mentors time to provide meaningful feedback and approve the final version__. Again, my goal is for you to succeed and I want to provide you with the opportunties to do so!
__Shared lab resources (Tutorials, GitHub, etc)__: As you get started on your journey, these are some resources you will want to become familiar with.
[__OCC Webpage__ ](https://sites.temple.edu/oceanclimateconnections/)
[__OCC Shared Drive__](https://tuprd-my.sharepoint.com/personal/tuq41374_temple_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?csf=1&web=1&e=91gBrI&cid=6fc89442%2D442e%2D4f3a%2D8937%2D7a7286418c41&id=%2Fpersonal%2Ftuq41374%5Ftemple%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2FOCC%5FLab&FolderCTID=0x012000776F88EE0D10364BB6F9B4CD45708E4F&view=0)
[__OCC GitHub__ ](https://github.com/oceanclimateconnections-temple)
[__OCC Getting Started Tutorials__]()
__Resources for reporting discrimination, harassment, retaliation:__ As described in our Values, we strive to create a diverse, equitable, inclusive, accessible, and safe community to learn, collaborate, and grow as people and scientists. If at any point during your experience in our group, in your coursework, on our campus, you experience any form of discrimination, harassment, or retaliation, you are encouraged to use [Temple's resources](https://diversity.temple.edu/eo/report-incident) for reporting such incidences.
__Accessing mental health resources at Temple:__ I recognize academia can be a challenging environment to navigate at all levels and may come with significant negative impacts on your mental health. If you find yourself struggling, please know you are not alone and there are resources to help. I am here to advocate for you and if there ever is a situation that arises where something pertaining to our group, our interactions, or our communication, is negatively impacting your mental health - if you feel comfortable, please let me know and we can adjust and find a new groove that works better for you and allows you to be successful. Information on counseling services available at Temple can be found [__here__](https://www.temple.edu/life-at-temple/students/health-and-wellness/health-and-counseling).
__Communication__
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__Primary Channels: Slack & Email__
I have set up a Slack account for our lab group. You will be added to this group and will be expected to monitor it while you are working for announcements / messages. I find this easier to communicate than sending out emails, but it can also be distracting since you might feel the pressure to respond sooner than emails. We should respect each other's time and recognize that an immediate reply is not warranted regardless of mode of communication. Please take advantage of Slack's status features to indicate times you are away / in a meeting / active. This should make this more managable. If someone's status is away or in a meeting - do not expect an immediate reply!
Any formal messages should be sent via email to rebecca.beadling@temple.edu.
I will do my best to respond to any Slack messages or emails __within 24 hours (or by Monday if over a weekend)__. I will expect the same of you. If you need more time to respond - that is OK! Just acknowledge that the message was recieved. I recognize that I (and you might) work outside of regular working hours (9am - 5pm) and that might be when you are replying to / sending emails. That is okay - just recognize that I generally do not expect anyone to respond outside of those hours. There might be a situation that is urgent and in that case I will tag the email as URGENT and expect a reply ASAP. This will only be in emergency situations with unexpected short timelines.
Colloquium
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The department-sponsored colloquium talks happen most Fridays. Graduate students are expected (required!) to attend all talks (in-person) and are encouraged to ask questions. This is important to building your breadth of knowledge in the field.
Group Meetings
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We will have weekly lab meetings in room 315A to provide updates on the progress of our various projects. Please participate fully by coming on time and prepared, listening to others when they speak, asking questions and participating in discussions. This is a valuable opportunity to discuss what we are working on in terms of: whats working, whats not (what are you struggling with), and what's next. I do not intend for these meetings to be a stressful event, but instead an opportunity to learn and support one another and push each other's work forward. Come with patience and an open mind!
While the expectation is that everyone will attend, things arise throughout graduate school and you might need to miss a meeting for whatever reason (sickness, having to go out of town, another research related opportunity). Please communicate ahead of time to let the group (and Dr. Beadling) know that you won't be in attendance.
Values and Professionalism
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### Core Values
In the OCC Group, we strive to create a diverse, equitable, inclusive, accessible, and safe community to learn, collaborate, and grow as people and scientists. We believe science is done best in collaboration, with diversity of perspectives and experiences being central to achieving our lab’s mission to understand the ocean’s role in the climate system. Hands-on teamwork and rigorous scientific debate and discussion is at the heart of the work done in our lab. We strongly value scientific communication and encourage and provide opportunities for the refinement of our ability to communicate the value of our research to the wider public. With the core value of scientific integrity at the foundation of our work, we are committed to transparent and reproducible science and all published work is accompanied by readily-available code, data, and documentation. We believe in promoting a healthy work-life balance and strive to foster a strong sense of community outside of our research. Everyone is welcome, everyone is respected, everyone is valued. We will accept nothing less.
### Professionalism
During your time here, you will be expected to develop as a professional. This means:
* __RESPECT OTHERS__: Always treating others and their scientific ideas with respect and tolerance (even if you disagree).
* Taking responsibility for your own actions and duties.
* __Active and timely communication with the group:__ answer emails, participate in group events, attend presentations of fellow group members, be present in the office and available on Slack when working remote. Active and timely communication also extends outside the group when your project involves external collaborators.
* Willingness to ask questions when you don't know the answer.
* Giving others the space and time to respond and contribute. __Interupting, talking over, or dominating conversations is unacceptable and won't be tolerated.__
* Helping other students when they ask for it.
* __Criticism and meaningful feedback.__ Criticism can be a sensitive issue and I will try to provide you constructive criticism and I expect that you will provide your fellow students and me the same. If one does not agree with something regarding a method, write up, wording in a paper, etc - they should not just gloss over it for sake of moving on or not having the time - they should discuss this with the individual / group and provide meaningful suggestions. We all have the responsibility to contribute meaningfully to whatever projects our names are on (or will be on). Making rigourous and meaningful contributions is how one can grow into an ethical and fruitful collaborator.
* __Giving credit where credit is due__. Always acknowledge where your ideas developed and who contributed to what. If you are repeating an idea you got from someone else (myself, another student, another faculty, another researcher, SAY IT!). Science is done in collaboration!
* Be a good citizen of the department by volunteering, when reasonable, for requests that come up for things like being an audience when other students are presenting their work. If you ever feel like you are being asked to volunteer for something that you truly do not have the time for or is outside of your contract, please let Dr. Beadling know.
* Mentoring other researchers in our lab as appropriate opportunities arise.
* Assume positive intentions of others when it comes to criticism or feedback, and take responsibility for any negative impacts of your own words and actions regardless of _your_ intention.
* Treat others how __THEY__ want to be treated.
Time
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The time commitment to research tends to be one of the most important issues for students and mentors.
You can expect a moderate amount of supervision from me, but I expect that you will be able to budget your time reasonably and become an independent worker. As you start new parts of your project, I will plan to spend time with you to be sure you have the tools you need to move forward with your work. If you find yourself unsure what steps to take, please develop some ideas and then come talk with me, don’t sit around waiting to be told what to do every step of the way.
I have an open door policy and you can normally interrupt me with questions or to discuss a
problem. However, I ask that you __try__ to figure out the answer first. There may be times when I
cannot take the time to have lengthy conversations with you, but I will try to let you know when I am
particularly busy. I think you will find that most of the faculty here have an open door policy, but you
should be sensitive to the fact that sometimes we have deadlines to meet / classes to prepare for.
__As long as I can see progress towards your goals at a reasonable pace, I will not pay much attention to how you spend your time.__ Each semester, we will sit down together and identify reasonable goals to be completed by the end of that semester (or summer). We will write them down and revisit them periodically throughout the semester during our weekly lab meetings. We will keep a live document of your goals and actionable steps to take toward them in your project's folder in our [__OCC Shared Drive__](https://tuprd-my.sharepoint.com/personal/tuq41374_temple_edu/_layouts/15/onedrive.aspx?csf=1&web=1&e=91gBrI&cid=6fc89442%2D442e%2D4f3a%2D8937%2D7a7286418c41&id=%2Fpersonal%2Ftuq41374%5Ftemple%5Fedu%2FDocuments%2FOCC%5FLab&FolderCTID=0x012000776F88EE0D10364BB6F9B4CD45708E4F&view=0).
Working hours and time off
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The reality is that a PhD or MS is not measured in hours, as the time spent on a particular aspect of your project or throughout your tenure will ebb and flow based on project needs, opportunities, and degree requirements. You might find yourself having to crunch in a lot of hours while working through a difficult concept, working with large datasets or calculations, or studying difficult material. And then, after putting in that extra time you may need to schedule personal time to bounce back to avoid mental exhaustion and burn out.
Therefore, I recognize that your working hours may ebb and flow and each person's may be different throughout the degree progress.
Other than attendance at scheduled group meetings and other project-related check-ins, group members may choose their own working hours that align with their current contract. To reasonably accommodate different schedules and responsibilities, try to ensure meetings are only scheduled for Mon-Fri between 10 - 5 pm.
__Vacation while on RA:__ All group members are entitled to annual vacation, as well as national holidays, and are encouraged to use their vacation allowance, which our group allots to be four weeks per year. Students should follow the guidelines regarding time off in the TUGSA contract: https://www.tugsa.org/ (Four weeks per year is our group's guideline, this amount of time off is __not__ outlined in the TUGSA contract, which only acknowledges university-observed holidays).
Spring break is not a university holiday - it is a time for a recharge from course related tasks and teaching responsibilities. __While funded on RA__, students are expected to maintain progress on research deliverables over this period, while also accommodating a mental break. Students may work remotely during this period and are not expected to be on campus outside of any scheduled meetings.
__All group members should give the adviser advance notice of vacation longer than a few days or during times where there will be a conflict on updates on their projects, presentations, or other deliverables__. The adviser should also give other group members notice of any vacation longer than a few days so that everyone is aware of periods of time when feedback or response times may be delayed.
Intellectual Property and Authorship
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Authorship will be decided as early on in a project as possible, so that expectations are clear when publishing. If a group member has contributed substantially to a project, they will recieve credit as a co-author on any resulting publications. The goal is that each student, as they grow within the group, will find themselves involved in each other's projects and leave their degree with several co-authorships in addition to their MS or PhD chapters.
For criteria for coauthorship, the following guidelines will be followed:
https://provost.yale.edu/policies/academic-integrity/guidance-authorship-scholarly-or-scientific-publications
PI Responsibilities
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As your group leader and a PI overseeing a research program I have the following responsibilities:
1. __Define broad research directions__ for the Group. Identifying important problems and gaps in scientific understanding that we can use our knowledge and skills to address.
2. __Aquiring resources to fund our research__. Supporting research infrastructure, graduate (+tuition), postdoc, and undergraduate salaries are expensive! This requires a significant portion of my time to be dedicated to writing proposals to obtain funding to support the group so that we can move forward with our research.
3. __Mentoring__. It is my responsibility to provide mentoring that allows students to develop into independent scientists and mature professionals capable of being successful in whichever field they wish to go into.
4. __Setting goals and timelines__. It is my responsibility to aid in defining specific milestones and timelines to ensure successful research and degree completion.
5. __Provide feedback__. It is my responsibility to provide timely feedback on project directions and any written deliverables (manuscripts, dissertations, theses, exam write ups). I do not work at the last minute as I have many projects that I am managing at once, in addition to proposal writing, university service, etc, so documents that students want feedback on should be submitted with a minimum of two weeks alloted for feedback.
6. __Oversee publications__. It is my responsibility to oversee and approve all publications that come out of the group and ensure authorship criteria are met. It is also my responsibility to obtain funding for publications.
7. __Provide recommendation letters__. It is my responsibility to provide letters of recommendation for students for various opportunities. These letters are reflective of my experience with the student and their performance. I have a responsibility to be honest in these letters and I will let you know if I feel like I cannot provide a strong recommendation on your behalf. My intention is to provide letters that allow you to obtain internal or external opportunities that align with your career goals and demonstrated skill sets.
9. __Departmental service__. As a faculty member of the university, I am required to participate in and lead various activies that serve the university and broader community. These might include serving on various committees or outreach activities.
10. __Community service__. I strongly believe in and take seriously my obligation to translate my results to the public whose tax dollars fund my research. Therefor, each year I participate in or lead community engagment efforts related to my area of expertise. I will do my best to incorporate our students in these activities for professional development.
11. __Teach and design courses__. I have a responsibility to teach one course a semester within our department and continuouly design new or revamp existing materials to meet diverse and evolving student needs.
12. __Perform my own research__. I have a responsibility to lead my own research projects and report back to the funding agencies all progress on work funded by grants. Obtaining grant funding comes with it the responsibility to provide detailed annual reports on projects that are using the funding (my own work, work of funded students, results from undergrad projects, broader impacts initiatives, mentoring, etc.)
Guidelines MS
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Guidelines PhD
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Guidelines Undergraduate
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