Lab Codes of Conduct – Fluvial@UMass

In the Lab

This lab code of conduct is a mix of expectations I’ve developed over the years and formal language borrowed from Tamlin Pavelsky’s Lab Values Statement at UNC.

All lab member expectations (Colin, postdocs, staff, PhD students, MS students, undergrads, visitors)

You will take vacation
- You can take as much vacation time as you need in a year (I am for 3-4 weeks across the year), but we will set deadlines well in advance such that you enter these vacation periods without feeling burdened by work and are able to truly relax, which is essential. Note that there are times of year (field seasons, AGU conference, during classes *for students*) that I expect everyone to be available and not on vacation.
- You will communicate vacations far enough in advance (at least one month) to ensure that we can cover any needed work in your absence
You will not come to work if you’re ill
- If you are ill with communicable malady, you will stay home until you are no longer a vector
- ‘Ill’ can be any physical or mental malady that affects your ability to be a happy healthy human. You will learn to recognize your own status and communicate that honestly with me. If something is afoot you don’t feel comfortable sharing with me, use UMass resources (see UMass website), who will use their professional training to shar with me what needs be shared
You will be a nice person
- You will not make comments/jokes/discourse at or about anyone based on characteristics that include, but are not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, citizenship, nationality, race, ethnic or social origin, pregnancy, familial status, veteran status, genetic information, religion or belief (or lack thereof), membership of a national minority, property, age, education, socio-economic status, and experience level.
You will recognize and acknowledge that your colleagues who are Black, Indigenous, or other so-called people of color have been and will continue to be subjected to racist behavior both at a personal level and a systemic level by society. Similarly, your LGBTQ colleagues have and still face discrimination in their lives, personally and systemically. Similarly, your chronically ill and/or differently abled colleagues have and will face discrimination systemically and personally. This premise will not be questioned.
- From this premise, you are NOT required to make these issues a focus of your work, but you ARE required to accept the above premise and be actively anti-racist and anti-bigoted in how you interact with other people. This requires being an active bystander, described here https://www.umass.edu/umatter/be-active-bystander. These individual actions will not change society, but they will make our lab a better place to work
You will help each other
- Senior members will provide time (multiple hours per week) to mentor junior members. Cluster computing, email, groceries, course forms, university bureaucracy- all of these require institutional knowledge, which we must actively maintain.
You will accept and offer criticism professionally
- We can get emotional when our work is questioned, which is ok, but we can never resort to personal attacks in critiquing or responding to critique.
You will attend weekly lab meetings in person unless travelling or ill
- At each lab meeting, every lab member will update the entire lab on what they did for the past week and what they’re doing next. Often folks come with slides to show figures and results, and this internal review often greatly accelerates your time to finishing. Be prepared each week and be ready to pay attention to your labmates for the entire two hours. If a particular topic is going long, we’ll table it for a 1:1 meeting, and I’ll try to keep meetings at 2 hours.
You will abide by our lab communication standards
- Slack is the devil, so we use email. I always respond to emails same day, and typically within 30 minutes unless I am teaching.
- Anytime you need me for detailed help, I am available. My door is pretty much always open, and I am in the office M-F ~9-~7. I’ll give plenty of advance warning if I am travelling
- I expect you to be on email M-F during whatever your normal working hours are, and I’ll adjust to those.
- I expect a response to an email during working hour within one hour, unless you’re in class or in a dedicated ‘work block’ (please communicate those)
- I do not do emails at night or on weekends, and neither should you. Please plan accordingly for Monday lab meetings.

Student expectations

A PhD is considered finished when 3 papers are complete
- A ‘paper’ is defined as a manuscript submitted (not necessarily published or accepted) to a top journal with my approval
- Complete with my approval means that I will require sometimes substantial edits with sometimes substantial time required. 50+ rounds of edits are not uncommon.
- Top journal means a list of AGU Journals, platform journals, and some Elsevier journals. We will discuss these at length.
You will apply for an external fellowship every year you are eligible. These are prestigious and help the lab in the absence of reliable TA support. We will co write these fellowships to give them the best chance at success. Specifically:
- The NSF GRFP- eligible once, and only within the first two years. Open to US Citizens only
- NASA FINESST- eligible always. Open to non US Citizens
- Any national or international fellowship that can fund you for at least 1 year that does not require onerous reporting requirements.
- You will not apply for smaller fellowships unless a) I do not have funding for you (very unlikely) or b) you are ABD and are looking to increase your network/skills
You will prepare your conference presentation drafts at least two weeks in advance of the conference so we have enough time to review it and improve it before the conference.
You will be a good departmental citizen, and participate in seminar, reading club, and other events
You will not attend conferences without discussing the conference with me first.
You will prioritize your research over your coursework, but get at least a B- in all classes. Your PhD GPA is not relevant for the next stage of your career.
Typically, your first paper is strongly directed by me, but you will move toward research independence as you write more papers. The goal is for you to finish a PhD by being able to ask, answer, and present your own research questions. I will help with all of these components as needed.
You will go into the field to support your labmates, even if you do not have a field based PhD. Our fieldwork is extreme and logistically intense. If you are a modeler, your colleagues have a much harder time generating data than you do, and you will be expected to be a field hand for them. If you are a field person, you will have help from your modeler colleagues.
You will use our group scheduler for the computing cluster.
You will complete your comprehensive exams the semester after finishing the relevant preparatory classwork.
You will complete your PhD prospectus a year after your comps are finished. If we agree more time would make for a better prospectus, we will take more time.
You will use only open source software and best practices for computing.
- This includes participation in the lab github, data archival upon publication, and use of the computing cluster
You will complete any papers submitted to a journal but not published by the time you leave3

Additional postdoc expectations

You will help mentor grad students and undergrads
As with students, you’ll lead all your own work as first and corresponding author
You will complete your ongoing PhD work, if applicable
You will write grants as the PI. This is allowable and encouraged, and if you win these you will take them with you
You will actively Co-I grants when it doesn’t make sense for you to lead them

Additional undergrad expectations

You will show up to all lab meetings on time and complete the work assigned to you each week
You will actively ask for help when you’re stuck- do not spin your wheels!
You will communicate when plans and deadlines are not possible given your other responsibilities, and we’ll adjust things

Additional staff expectations

Your work must average 40/hrs week over a calendar year
- We will communicate at least a month in advance when working weeks will exceed this threshold so that you can plan your time accordingly
You will take and communicate vacation as above
You will participate fully in lab and department life as described in the rest of this document- staff are a valuable and equal part of our lab
You will know where your funding comes from and pressure me to make sure it is disbursed on time
You will work with me no later than 18 months before the end of your funding to apply for new funding
- I will give the same job search support that I give to all lab members if you decide to leave at the end of your contract

In return, I offer the following support.

Colin’s expectations/promises

You will always be 1^st and corresponding author on your work
- You will not be asked to contribute substantial effort to papers I lead. If you find yourself working many hours to support a paper of mine, you will become the first and corresponding author of that paper.
- You will always be a co-author on any work you’ve contributed to in the lab or in the field
- All people doing fieldwork are added as coauthors for papers the lab leads
- You will never be asked to do any work for which you are not given authorship credit
I will fully fund your entire PhD, pending funds. Our department does not offer a safety net, and therefore your funding is essentially dependent on my grant success and/or your fellowship success. There are department monies available in an hour of need, but we cannot count on them.
- My #1 priority as a professor is to ensure that my lab remains fully funded. This responsibility trumps my role as a teacher, colleague, and researcher.
- I will fully fund you each summer to do research
- I will fully fund your trip to AGU each year (registration, per diem, flights, hotel)
- I will fully fund your fieldwork (if necessary)
- I will fully fund both academic semesters
- This funding will continue so long as student expectations (section 1) are met. In theory, I am willing to fund an indefinite PhD, but you probably don’t want that.
I will always return your research paper drafts within 2 business days. I have high expectations of your writing, and so I promise I will never be your bottleneck
I will help draft your application materials for postdocs, faculty positions, government jobs, or whatever research position you are applying for.
I will view practice and critique your conference talks/posters at length to ensure they are polished and professional and represent your work in the best possible light
- Whenever possible, you will present your own work at conferences. If not possible, I will place your name and photo in my slides
You will almost always work on things that interest you. I do not believe in making work match funding sources. It is my job to make our grants pass audits- it is your job to do science that you find interesting!
We will meet as an entire lab every week to discuss progress and help each other with our bugs and other issues
We will meet individually once every semester, summer, and winter to discuss the big picture of your PhD. We can always meet individually upon request as well.
I will provide access to a dedicated computing cluster (100TB storage, >1,000 CPUs) for our lab’s exclusive use so you can always run your jobs without delay.
I will provide needed field equipment, if applicable.
I will provide a desktop computer and two large, comfortable monitors. I will not provide a laptop.
I will include you on grants as a named Co-I when we know we are writing the grant with your work in mind and when the sponsor allows it.
I will allow you to follow up on off-campus collaborations you find interesting, provided there is a clear publication plan and timeline for the project that I deem reasonable.
I will actively promote your research and your career in my meetings with my network and colleagues
If desired, I will give you opportunities to review papers and write grants. If you review a paper that was sent to me, I will ask the journal to formally reassign it to you to give you credit for doing so.
I will always provide flexibility in light of off campus events that limit your ability to focus on your research: the world is sometimes a terrible place, and more often terrible to some groups of people (non cishet White people) rather than others.
You will always receive my full energy and attention, and I will always give back what you put in. I am a mirror for your ambitions.

Authorship guide

As described above, all lab members are always first and corresponding author on work they have done. This includes staff without advanced degrees
I am always second author, unless there is a good reason to do otherwise- a co written paper with someone else for example.
If you are going to write a paper with another lab group, great! You must, however, discuss it with me first. If the work is related to how I am funding you, I will ask to put the funding number on the paper and be added as an author. I recognize sometimes that is not appropriate, so the important thing is that we discuss.
We will discuss all author lists for lab papers, and err on the side of ‘everyone who touched this is an author.’

I AGREE TO THESE EXPECTATIONS AS ADVISOR: COLIN J GLEASON, PhD

I AGREE TO THESE EXPECTATIONS AS ___________:

In the field

I created this field code of conduct with Catherin Kuhn in 2018, and it was improved by Tamlin Pavelsky later. It forms the basis for the NASA SWOT cal/val team’s field code of conduct.

1. Overview

2. Field personnel expectations

3. Field personnel rights

4. Example unacceptable behavior

5. Reporting guidelines should an incident occur

1. Overview

Fieldwork is an essential part of science, and we head into the field to further our careers, gather irreplaceable data, support one another’s science, and exercise our bodies and minds in pursuit of our objectives. Fieldwork also involves long hours, sometimes harsh conditions, and close proximity between different people for many consecutive weeks- all precursors for potential unwanted behavior. This document states our position on all forms of harassment and discrimination, which will hopefully provide meaningful guidance on interpersonal relationships.

Core conduct statement: if something is not ok in the lab, it is not ok in the field. Fieldwork changes absolutely nothing about standards of behavior between human beings.

We will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on characteristics that include, but are not limited to, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, citizenship, nationality, ethnic or social origin, pregnancy, familial status, veteran status, genetic information, religion or belief (or lack thereof), membership of a national minority, property, age, education, socio-economic status, technical choices, and experience level.

Note that not all field participants are able to perform all field tasks based on limits of strength/flexibility: this is a normal outcome encountered in our highly physical field work. While it is acceptable to make decisions about the appropriateness of an activity for a particular person considering the ability and safety of field participants (not considered discrimination), it is not acceptable to do so without a dialogue between all involved parties (it is discrimination without this dialogue).

2. Field personnel expectations

All field personnel are expected to:

Use welcoming and inclusive language
Be respectful of different viewpoints and experiences
Gracefully accept constructive criticism
Focus on what is best for the field team as a whole
Show courtesy and respect towards all field team members (including limiting personal activities to designated periods)
Agree to the structure of the field team (e.g. safety lead, science lead, comms lead, etc.)
Communicate honestly with the medical and safety leads in cases of concern
Participate in our shared co-authorship model
Understand the harassment reporting structure at their university (see section 5)
Understand that adequate nutrition that encompasses all personnel dietary restrictions is provided, and participate fully in the designated meals (e.g. do not purchase/prepare separate meals)

3. Field personnel rights (adapted from UAF)

To be informed about the plans, nature of work, and risks involved with the remote fieldwork in which they will be participating.
To express concerns about their safety and comfort, and that of the team, with the safety lead. (e.g. Dangerous camping sites, inadequate rest or sleep, inadequate bear-safe practices, etc.).
To refuse to do activities they feel are unsafe or they are not comfortable with. (e.g. Fly in bad weather, drive a boat without training, etc.).
To safe accommodations with whom they are comfortable. (e.g. Students should not be required to share accommodations (like a tent or a room in the TU) with a person with whom they are not comfortable.
To a social environment that would be acceptable in a classroom setting. (e.g. Jokes, language and behavior not acceptable on campus are not acceptable off campus).
To reasonable attempts to provide adequate shelter, equipment, and food. (e.g. Students should not be required to go without meals and sleep in leaky tents for budgetary reasons).
To not be left alone in remote field settings if not desired. (e.g. Students should not be required to spend time sampling out of line of sight of others unless the student feels comfortable doing so).
To carry and use remote field safety equipment, including communication devices when sent separately if available.
To request and obtain training for field safety issues and tasks from the PI (e.g. Bear safety training, scientific equipment use, etc.).
To be evacuated at no cost, if the student feels a Title VII or Title IX violation has occurred and wants to return to town for safety reasons and/or to file a complaint. (e.g. Harassed because of gender, belittled because of religious background or nationality, sexual harassment, etc.).
To be evacuated at no cost, if the student feels they are experiencing a medical emergency
All of these field safety rights shall be exercised without retaliation or adverse effect on the student’s academic progress.

4. Examples of unacceptable behavior

Below we offer examples of common enough behavior which will not be tolerated. This list is by no means comprehensive.

written or verbal comments which have the effect of excluding people on the basis of membership of any specific group
causing someone to fear for their safety, such as through intimidation, bravado, or questioning of safety lead decisions.
violent threats or language directed against another person
dirty jokes or the display of sexual, obscene, or violent materials
sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, or exclusionary jokes
offensive personal language/acts (name calling, sexual conversations, overt obscene material, obscene gestures, hazing/bullying).
unwelcome sexual attention

nonconsensual or unwelcome physical contact
sustained disruption of talks, events, or communications
insults or put downs
excessive swearing

incitement to violence, suicide, or self-harm
publication of private communication without consent

5. Reporting guidelines should an incident occur

Our reporting follows an escalating structure, designed to facilitate confidential reporting. Field personnel may report at any of these levels at any time they wish- there is no need to move through the progression if the aggrieved feels it necessary.

1^st level: Camp Manager

The camp manager will field complaints about harassment and address the issue with the offending parties in cases where the aggrieved feels comfortable discussing the issue ‘in the field’ with another team member. The camp manager will treat this information confidentially, and ask the offending parties to change their behavior. If the behavior is rectified, the issue is considered closed.

2^nd level: PI

Any of the PI- level personnel can be confidentially contacted via email/phone/text about unacceptable behavior. The PI will consult with the aggrieved to determine if rectification is possible, and if so, the PI will initiate this discussion. If not, the aggrieved has the right to a no-cost trip home, or, the PI may send the offending party home at no-cost.

3^rd level: University title IX officer/other reporters

Field personnel are expected to know the reporting structure at their university (e.g. Title IX officers, other confidential reporters). Field personnel are empowered to contact these reporters directly to initiate procedures in place at their university, in cases where the PI level personnel are involved in acts of unwelcome behavior. Field personnel are also able to request a no-cost trip home without a stated reason in such cases.