Lab Culture

“We are all smart. Distinguish yourself by being kind.”— Charles Gordon

The PPE Lab fervently upholds Ohio State’s Shared Values. We strive for a supportive, collaborative, and inclusive environment revolving around the core understanding that everything is interconnected. We believe to create science that benefits the global community we must include the global community on our scientific team. Therefore, we seek to include students that represent the world’s diversity while acknowledging the long-standing, systemic issues that actively impede diversity, equity, and inclusion. All are welcome in the PPE Lab! This includes, but is not limited to, students who identify as persons of color, students who identify as LGBTQIA2S+, students who identify with any ethnicity, nationality, race, or culture, students with non-traditional academic experiences, students who are caregivers, students who identify as low-income or first-generation, students who identify as having a disability or chronic illness, and all the possible intersections therein.

 

In practice, the PPE Lab abides by 11 simple rules (adapted from Maestre 2019).

Rule 1: All lab members will promote the well-being of other lab members.

Rule 2: All lab members are permitted to set their own schedule once trained to work independently.

Rule 3: All lab members can expect gratitude for their efforts and participation in a healthy lab culture.

Rule 4: All lab members will treat other lab members as teammates.

Rule 5: All lab members will contribute to a collaborative lab environment.

Rule 6: All lab members will embrace their unique contributions and the unique contributions of others.

Rule 7: All lab members will respect working hours, public holidays, and vacations of other lab members.

Rule 8: All lab members will give credit where credit is due. (Note our lab authorship guidelines below.)

Rule 9: All lab members will actively work to destigmatize failure and celebrate success.

Rule 10: All lab members will promote and facilitate the professional development of other lab members.

Rule 11: All lab members will contribute to a clean, organized, and well-stocked work environment for one another.

 

Authorship guidelines: The PPE lab recognizes and promotes scientific contributions of all sorts, regardless of rank, status, or position type. Authorship will be given to all lab members who meet the following criteria based on McNutt et al 2018 on all products resulting from their efforts. Authors are recognized as those who:

  • have made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; OR the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; OR the creation of new software used in the work; OR have drafted the work or substantively revised it;
  • AND have approved the submitted version (and any substantially modified version that involves the author’s contribution to the study);
  • AND have agreed both to be personally accountable for the author’s own contributions and to ensure that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work, even ones in which the author was not personally involved, are appropriately investigated, resolved, and the resolution documented in the literature.

 

McNutt, Marcia K., et al. “Transparency in authors’ contributions and responsibilities to promote integrity in scientific publication.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115.11 (2018): 2557-2560.
Maestre, Fernando T. “Ten simple rules towards healthier research labs.” PLoS computational biology 15.4 (2019): e1006914.