At the helm: a laboratory navigator

Kathy Barker

CSHL Press, 2002 - Science - 352 pages

Newly appointed principal research investigators have to recruit, motivate, and lead a research team, manage personnel and institutional responsibilities, and compete for funding, while maintaining the outstanding scientific record that got them their position in the first place. Small wonder, then, that many principal investigators feel ill-prepared. In this book, a successor to her best-selling manual for new recruits to experimental science, At The Bench, Kathy Barker provides a guide for newly appointed leaders of research teams, and those who aspire to that role. With extensive use of interviews and a text enlivened with quotes and real-life examples, Dr. Barker discusses a wide range of management challenges and the skills that promote success. Her book is a unique and much-needed contribution to the literature of science.

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Contents

• The Lab Where Everyone Wants to Be: 3
• Start in the Right Place: 7
• Plan the Lab You Want: 19
• RESOURCES: 27
• YOU AS A LEADER: 29
• I Was Trained to Do Everything But Run a Lab: 31
• Stop Putting Out Fires: 39
• Using Your Time: 51
• Working with a SecretaryAdministrative Assistant: 57
• Staying Integrated: 63
• RESOURCES: 69
• CHOOSE YOUR PEOPLE: 71
• Choose Your People: 73
• The Hiring Process: 81
• The Effective Interview: 89
• Evaluating Candidates: 103
• RESOURCES: 113
• STARTING AND KEEPING NEW LAB MEMBERS: 115
• Getting Off to a Good Start: 117
• Training Lab Personnel: 123
• Mentor to All?: 133
• RESOURCES: 141
• MAKE RESEARCH THE FOUNDATION: 143
• Setting the Course: 145
• Keeping Up: 157
• Writing Papers: 167
• RESOURCES: 177
• ORGANIZING THE LAB TO SUPPORT THE RESEARCH: 179
• Building a Lab Culture: 181
• Lab Policies: 187
• Meetings and Seminars: 201
• Using Computers to Organize the Lab: 213
• RESOURCES: 229
• COMMUNICATION AS THE GLUE: 231
• Communication with Your Lab: 233
• The Pleasures and Perils of Diversity: 243
• Gender Is Still an Issue: 255
• Learning through Conflict: 259
• Stress and Depression in Lab Members: 263
• RESOURCES: 271
• DEALING WITH A GROUP: 275
• Lab Morale: 277
• Lab Romances: 283
• Maintaining Personnel Equilibrium: 291
• I Should Have Done It Sooner: 297
• Violence in the Workplace: 303
• RESOURCES: 309
• FOR THE LONG RUN: 311
• As Your Job Changes: 313
• Maintaining Enthusiasm: 323
• Career Choices: 331
• Having It All: 335
• RESOURCES: 341
• INDEX: 345

Popular passages

Page 110 - Both literally and figuratively, her "feeling for the organism" has extended her vision. At the same time, it has sustained her through a lifetime of lonely endeavor, unrelieved by the solace of human intimacy or even by the embrace of her profession. Good science cannot proceed without a deep emotional investment on the part of the scientist. It is that emotional investment that provides the motivating force for the endless hours of intense, often grueling, labor.‎

Page 32 - The scheme of thought I have outlined in this third lecture explains the balance of faculties that should be cultivated in scientific research. Imaginativeness and a critical temper are both necessary at all times, but neither is sufficient. The most imaginative scientists are by no means the most effective; at their worst, uncensored, they are cranks. Nor are the most critically minded. The man notorious for his dismissive criticisms, strenuous in the pursuit of error, is often unproductive, as...‎

Page 265 - ... day • markedly diminished interest or pleasure in all, or almost all, activities...‎

Page 16 - I pray you to thank the Minister, and to inform him that I do not in the least feel the need of a decoration, but that I do feel the greatest need for a laboratory.‎

Page 107 - specialty occupation" as one which requires the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge, and which requires the attainment of a bachelor's or higher degree in the specific specialty (or its equivalent).‎

Page 117 - What was peculiar to it was the fact that Dr Avery never asked anyone to do anything. In fact, he almost urged people not to do too much. Of all the persons I have known in science, he certainly was the man who most was concerned with thoughts, long thoughts and...‎

Page 20 - ... optoelectronics" — as they are with hard numbers measuring market share, productivity, or ROI. The more holistic approach to knowledge at many Japanese companies is also founded on another fundamental insight. A company is not a machine but a living organism. Much like an individual, it can have a collective sense of identity and fundamental purpose. This is the organizational equivalent of self-knowledge — a shared understanding of what the company stands for, where it is going, what kind...‎

Page 145 - It is amateurs who have one big bright beautiful idea that they can never abandon. Professionals know that they have to produce theory after theory before they are likely to hit the jackpot.‎

Page 166 - Burnout is not a problem of people but of the social environment in which they work. The structure and functioning of the workplace shape how people interact with one another and how they carry out their jobs. When...‎

Bibliographic information

• Title: At the helm: a laboratory navigator
• Author: Kathy Barker
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: CSHL Press, 2002
• ISBN: 0879695838, 9780879695835
• Length: 352 pages
• Subjects: Medical / Hospital Administration & Care; Medical / Laboratory Medicine; Medical / Research; Reference / Research; Science / Research & Methodology