2  General Policies

It is important that each trainee and Dr. Li have a shared understanding of expectations regarding research in the Lab and academic progress in the trainee’s degree or postdoctoral program. The policies in this chapter aim to aid in this goal.

2.1 Joining Our Group

Dr. Li keeps a page updated on his website on lab members, and we have a lab slack for communication. We almost always use GitHub for code share in research projects, so it is a good idea to set up an account and familiarize yourself with using Git. It is also often useful to maintain a personal website for your professional updates. There are many tutorials online to easily create one using GitHub pages.

2.2 Recurring Meetings

Lab trainees meet individually with Dr. Li regularly. This is typically weekly or every other week depending on the needs of the trainee and their projects. Dr. Li expects trainees to manage the meeting such that it ends on time.

In general, Dr. Li expects progress to be made between each meeting. Progress can include struggling with the material. Dr. Li cares that you are engaged and taking initiative to advance the project. We’ll discuss what you learned and where you are still confused. When we identify areas where you have gaps, Dr. Li does expect you to invest in learning the required material and to follow through to fill those gaps. All trainees must be making satisfactory academic progress in line with the expectations of their graduate degree program.

If you do not need to meet a particular week (e.g., making steady progress and don’t have questions), please message Dr. Li in advance. Your physical and mental health are important. If you need to cancel a meeting for health or personal reasons, please also do not hesitate to message Dr. Li. As much notice as is possible is helpful, but it is always better to cancel a meeting short notice than to attend when you are sick!

The format for keeping track of progress depend on projects and individuals. Often we set up a google doc and before each meeting, we add in reverse chronological order with

• What has been completed since previous meeting
• Topics to discuss at the meeting
• What will be completed by the next meeting

We also sometimes keep track of the progress in Slack or Overleaf, depending on needs and preference of the trainee.

2.3 Group Meetings

At the current size of the group, we normally do not hold group meetings just for everyone to give updates, as often it is not the most efficient use of time. But we always try to hold recurring group meetings jointly with other faculty members at UCSC. The idea of such meetings is for trainees to present their work-in-progress project and get feedback from a broader audience.

When there is a major presentation coming up for a trainee, e.g., conference, advancement to candidacy, defense, etc., we will usually hold meetings (sometimes ad-hoc meetings) for practice talks and go over the presentations carefully (slide by slide) to provide feedback on both the research and presentation itself.

Dr. Li is also a co-host of the recurring department journal club. The journal club meets weekly during the academic quarters and we read typically 4 papers in detail each quarter around a selected topic. Trainees are highly recommended to participate the journal club. More details and papers discussed in the past can be found at this Github repository.

2.4 Recommendation Letters

Dr. Li receives a variety of requests for letters from current and former trainees, including for graduate school, job applications, fellowships, and awards, which means he almost always have draft letters and past examples ready for you. If you are not sure if you should apply to an award or position that require a letter, please do not hesitate to let Dr. Li know. Most likely you will be encouraged to apply and Dr. Li will have the letter ready without much hassle.

But it essential that you ask Dr. Li if he can write you a recommendation letter before submitting his name as a recommender. It may be the case that a letter from someone else will be more beneficial for you or that the deadline is too soon for him to accommodate your request. Also sometimes letter requests are sorted into the spam folder, so it is good to keep an eye on what is to come.