Review of Zuo Lab's Rules

Notesfor Graduate Students

(Revisedby September 12, 2002)

 

Performance

• Progress

• Efficiency

• Quality

• Quantity

• Originalityand novelty

• Independence

 

Communication

• Coordinatewith colleagues for the usage of equipments, space and reagents,etc.

• Activeinteractions with advisor and colleagues

• Presentationin lab meetings: treat your every presentation as a publication

• Bein lab meetings on time and active involvement in the discussion

• Responseto advice appropriately

• Noone is a monster in this lab.

 

Workingas a professional scientist

• Doyou have your working model?

• Includeappropriate controls in EVERY experiment

• Independentlythink and design of experiments

• Knowledgeon your field

• Readat least two original research papers per week

• Ifyou disagree with your advisor, speak out!

Thereis absolutely NO experiment that does not have a conclusion

Thereis absolutely NO project that does not have a conclusion

Atough project does not mean a gradually disappearing or forgettableproject

• Takecare about your plants; take actions before they die or flower intissue culture media

• Useequipments and reagents in a professional way

 

Notes

• Recordeverything you have done, including negative results; photography isessential

• Dataanalysis and conclusions

• Discussion,comments and plans for future experiments

• Recordyour data, even if you do not like them

• Notesof seminars and paper readings

 

Workingas a dedicated scientist

• Asa scientist, you must dedicate everything to this business

• Workingtime: 8-hour is unpractical. There is NO way for a scientist or aPh.D student to work only 8 hours a day!

• Goto your mother’s house for afternoon naps and never come back!

• Vacation:5 weeks per year (Chinese New Year, the May Day and the National Daybreaks are included)

• Startyour morning work not later than 8:30 am and afternoon work no laterthan 1 pm

• Surfover the Internet for non-scientific purposes should be less than 30min a day

• Readingnewspapers should be limited less than 30 min a day

• Novelsor other non-scientific journals/magazines are not permitted in thelab and office

• Ifyou are absent from the lab more than one hour, get permissionfirst.

• Everyonehas personal business, but the lab business always has priorityunless in emergency

• Inthis business, an “average” student who works seven days a weekis definitely more productive than a “genius” who works fivedays a week

• Ifyou are able to make any major progresses by working 8 hours a dayand 5 days a week, every fortunate in this world must be on yourside!

 

YourEfforts

• Whatis your career plan?

• Howmuch efforts you have made?

• Itis the shared responsibilities of your advisor and yourself to movea project forward

• Youshould have great concentrations on your project

• Thereis no easy way to get your Ph.D. degree unless hard working

• Youshould know how to use major database (e.g., NCBI and TARI) butrather than an expert on SINA, SOHU or any other non-scientificwebsites

• Ifyou cannot pass the English Test, you are partially disqualified asa Ph.D. candidate in this lab.

• TheUS definition for graduate students: those who can survive andcolonize on the minimal medium with vender machines as the solecarbon source in the absence of dental insurance!

• Youare working neither for your parents, your parents’ neighbors, noryour friends to solely earn a “glorious” name (Ph.D. degree) perse. You are working for your own career!

• Working-hardbefore 30-year-old is the best way to prevent suffers after turning30

• Weare NOT writers or any other non-research professionals

• Areal scientist needs a logic rather than romantic way to think!

Useyour brains: think and work smartly

• Agood graduate student is not a robot

• Agood graduate student always knows what he/she is doing and whathe/she has done

• Agood graduate student always scientifically goes beyond what he/shehas been “advised”

• Agood graduate student must independently think about the project andread the data as well as catch hints derived from the data

 

• Youshould learn and eventually know how to interpret your data

• Youshould learn and eventually know how to write a paper or a progressreport in a professional and logic way

• Youshould be capable of tackling technical troubles by smartly usingreferences and by discussing with coworkers

• Ifyou use your brain, you should be able to avoid unnecessary, stupidmistakes or to avoid making the same mistakes more than once. Manyof such mistakes cannot be rescued by money (e.g., the loss ofmutant seeds)

• Mistakesresulted from brain- or thinking-less actions are not tolerated

• Makingmistakes with similar natures more than once is not tolerated

 

Yourqualifications for a Ph.D. degree will be judged based on thesecriteria, which are the keys to differentiate you from a technician.