Onboarding

Welcome to the Roberts Lab at the University of Washington.

Use this page as your read order. Complete required tasks (especially safety paperwork) as you go.

Day 1 — policies and safety

1. Code of Conduct
2. Lab Safety — complete all required trainings and forms before bench work
3. Lab Communication — join Slack, GitHub org, and lab calendar (see below)

Get connected: lab Slack, RobertsLab on GitHub, Lab Calendar. Ask Steven or a lab member if you are not yet on these.

Undergraduate researchers: also read and sign the Undergraduate Contract.

Week 1 — how we work

1. Environment and Expectations
2. Lab Notebooks — set up your notebook; post daily from day one
3. Data Management
4. Project Management
5. Computing Hardware — install shell, git, GitHub Desktop, RStudio (see IAQs below)

Ongoing — reference as needed

• Computing Best Practices
• Writing Scientific Manuscripts
• Oral Presentations
• DEI Resources
• External Communication and Funding — conferences, travel awards, fellowships
• How to Grad School (outreach slides)

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Lab IAQs

(Initially Asked Questions) — TL;DR for the handbook.

What do I need on my device to get started?

• shell
• git
• GitHub Desktop
• RStudio

What should I read to understand how the lab does science?

• tusk
• FISH546

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Getting connected at UW

UW and SAFS have many groups, listservs, and funding channels. Lab-recommended conferences and fellowships are maintained in one place: External Communication and Funding.

DEI

Non-exhaustive DEI groups and support at UW and beyond: DEI Resources.

Listservs

If you have trouble joining, email SAFS computing administrator Michael Parker (safshelp@uw.edu).

• SAFS social safssocial@uw.edu: join
• SAFS job postings safsjobs@uw.edu: join
• SAFS community Slack: join (or email Steven Roberts sr320@uw.edu)

Undergraduate students

• SAFS: Research and Internships, Study Abroad, scholarships and funding
• Undergraduate Research Symposium
• FieldNotes (CoEnv undergraduate research journal)

Graduate students

• UW Graduate School — GO-MAP, GPSS
• SAFS Graduate Program — advising: Samantha Scherer (iamsams@uw.edu); HR: Amy Fox (amyfox@uw.edu)
• FINS — listserv safsgrads@uw.edu: join; Slack: join
• CoEnv grads listserv environment_grads@uw.edu: join

Travel and conference awards (CoEnv, Grad School, FINS, etc.) are summarized with lab conference recommendations in External Communication and Funding.

Postdocs

• UW Office of Postdoctoral Affairs — listserv: email uwopa@uw.edu
• UW College of the Environment Postdocs — listserv environment_postdocs@uw.edu: contact Anthony Salazar (asalazar@uw.edu)
• SAFS Postdocs — listserv safspostdocs@uw.edu: join

Faculty

SAFS faculty governance (UW NetID): https://uwnetid.sharepoint.com/sites/safs/facultygovernance

Under Policies, see salary recovery, teaching buyout, and teaching release. University-wide options include A/B salary and mobile phone reimbursement (department policy may apply).