Expectations by Role

01 Undergraduates

Yale undergraduates, typically sophomore through senior year

For most undergraduates, this is a first exposure to real research. The goal is both training and real contribution: early years in the lab are spent learning, attending lab meetings, helping with projects, and helping the lab run smoothly. What you put in is directly proportional to what you get out.

Time commitment

About 8 to 10 hours per week is appropriate for most undergraduates. Seniors with additional time and strong interest may elect to spend more time in the lab, particularly if pursuing a senior thesis.

Senior theses

If you are interested in committing to a senior thesis in the lab, this conversation should begin before your senior year. A plan, written as a set of specific aims collaboratively with the PI, must be developed in advance so that the work can be properly scoped, executed, and yield meaningful data within the time available. A thesis attempted without that planning is a thesis set up to struggle.

What success looks like

An undergraduate who has done well in the lab can point to a deep understanding of a specific subject they care about, and to work they can call their own. They have built skills, relationships, and a body of reading that belongs to them and travels with them wherever they go next.

02 Visiting Pre-Graduate Students

Students from other institutions; typically 8-week summer visits

Visiting pre-graduate students are here for a bounded, fixed period: typically a summer of eight weeks. The primary educational goal is exposure: to real research, to the lab's scientific questions, and to what it feels like to work as part of a research team. Within that, there is real opportunity to contribute to ongoing work.

Weekly expectations

This is a full-time commitment: 40 hours per week. You are expected to attend all lab meetings and all project meetings to which you are invited. Weekly 1:1 meetings with the PI will be scheduled unless they conflict with your program's requirements, which take priority.

You will be assigned a day-to-day mentor in the lab. Plan to meet with this person approximately three times per week for 30 minutes. Come prepared to those meetings — see Appendix A — Preparing for Meetings.

Structure of the visit

Eight weeks is a short time. The structure below is designed to make it productive rather than scattered.

What success looks like

A visiting student who has done well will have tested a single hypothesis, related to ongoing lab work, in a sensible and rigorous way. They can present their results professionally, summarize what they learned clearly, and talk fluently about the experience. All materials are handed off in good order.

03 Rotation Students

Graduate students rotating through the lab, typically 8–10 weeks

A rotation is a mutual audition: for you to assess the lab, and for the lab to get to know you. The only way to do that well is through real work. Rotation students are expected to show up as professional scientists in training, ready to help. This gives everyone the information they need to determine whether the pairing is a good fit.

Contributions made during a rotation are credited regardless of whether the student ultimately joins the lab.

Structure and scope

Rotations are typically 8 to 10 weeks, though the precise timeline is program- and person-specific. At the start, explain your timeline to the PI. The two of you will then work together to identify a project of appropriate interest and scope. Expect a combination of mini-project work, open exploration, shadowing of lab members, and reading.

How to make the most of it

Communicate regularly with the PI. Set up meetings when you want them. Explore independence, but do not make yourself struggle unnecessarily: ask questions, and ask early. Read freely and thoughtfully. Protect your time: a rotation is not a test, and you are not being evaluated on how much you suffer through.

At the end of your rotation, talk with the PI directly. Share your feedback and explain your present thinking. You do not need to have made a decision yet. Take your time, consult your outside mentors and advisors, complete your other rotations, and circle back when you are ready.

What success looks like

A rotation student who has done well leaves with thoughtful, well-organized work; a clear sense of what they liked and did not like about the project, the lab, and the PI; ideas for possible future directions; the beginning or continuation of a personal reading library; friendships with lab members; and a richer understanding of the scientific landscape at Yale. Skills learned here belong to you regardless of where you go next.

04 Postgraduate Associates

Full-time lab members, typically post-baccalaureate, preparing for graduate school or a professional next step

Postgraduate associates are full-time, employed members of the lab. They contribute to ongoing work, carry their own project, and help the lab run. Because they are not navigating coursework or program requirements, they are often in one of the best positions to provide continuity, to build deep expertise, and to make the lab actually function day to day. This is a truly important role.

Time and structure

This is a 40-hour-per-week position with standard working hours. Postgraduate associates report directly to the PI, and may also have a secondary mentor they interact with regularly. The shape of the work (which projects are primary, which are secondary, which involve supporting others) is decided together with the PI and revisited over time as skills and interests develop.

Acquiring and exchanging skills

A postgraduate associate occupies a bridging position in the lab: more experienced than most students, working alongside graduate students and postdocs, and often interacting with trainees at every level. Once you have acquired skills, you have a responsibility to help teach others. The exchange goes in both directions: you will also continue to learn from the people around you. This is one of the things that makes the role valuable.

What success looks like

A postgraduate associate who has done well will have contributed significantly to lab projects, developed real expertise, and learned how to manage their own work within a larger team. In exceptional cases, this work can lead to first or second authorship on published research. By the end of their time in the lab, they are prepared for their next step, whether that is medical school, graduate school, or a professional career, and they leave having made the lab meaningfully better.

05 Graduate Students

PhD students; typically five or more years in the lab

Graduate students are the core long-term trainees of the lab. The primary goal is to develop as an independent scientist, and the ideal is to have that growth trajectory advance the lab's overarching aims at the same time.

The arc of a PhD

The shape of a PhD is different for every person, but there is a recognizable arc. In the early period, usually the first one to two years, the graduate student is in class, reading broadly, writing an initial paper (usually a review or methods paper), preparing for qualifying exams, and beginning to build a scientific network. The goal during this time is to align that foundational work with both the student's own interests and the lab's direction.

The middle period is spent doing serious, in-depth, independent research. This work should be student-driven, within a larger framework built together with the PI. That framework exists to give the student's creative and intellectual freedom a context: knowing that your efforts are well-aligned with the lab's goals means you can be ambitious, collaborative, and innovative without worrying that the work is disconnected from what the lab is trying to do.

The final period of the PhD is the exit. It usually begins once the student has exceeded the PI's knowledge base in their area, and it is about demonstrating, cleanly and professionally, to the PI and to the thesis committee, that you are functionally an independent scientist ready to graduate. This period should involve extensive teaching of others, so that when you leave, your knowledge and skills are transferred to the next generation and the lab can continue to do good work in your area.

Weekly expectations

Graduate students are expected to work approximately 40 hours per week, structured however works best for them. Beyond the weekly 1:1 with the PI, expectations include attendance at all lab meetings, organized and well-communicated work, active collaboration, mentoring of junior members, and ongoing teaching as skills mature.

Milestones and time management

Meeting milestones is the responsibility of the graduate student. The impetus to get organized, select committee members, plan fellowship applications, and manage the timing of long-horizon elements must originate from you. The PI is here to help, not to dictate. It is easy to slip behind without noticing. The responsibility is to raise things before they become imminent, so that all the pieces can be assembled and approved in time.

Time management is one of the hardest tasks of graduate training, and it becomes increasingly your own responsibility as the PhD progresses. Staying organized is the difference between moving through the PhD with grace and moving through it in chaos. This becomes especially true in the later years, when the work spans multiple timescales and no external structure enforces the schedule for you.

What success looks like

A graduate student who has done well leaves with at least two first-author publications: one a review or methods paper written in the early years, and one an original research paper. The ideal is one paper per aim, meaning three research papers alongside the initial review or methods article. They have a deep and teachable skill set, clear scientific identity, a well-developed knowledge of a portion of the literature, and many open threads they are already thinking about pursuing. They are comfortable with self-directed learning and with mentoring others, and they leave the lab ready for whatever comes next.

06 Postdoctoral Researchers

The most senior trainees in the lab; typically two to five years

Post-doctoral researchers are the most senior and experienced members of the laboratory team. This means that, intentionally or not, the behavior and professionalism of postdocs sets the standard for all other members of the lab. They are teachers, role models, and colleagues all at once. All lab members should feel comfortable turning to postdocs to learn and to answer questions on a day-to-day basis. When answers are not known, postdocs should be prepared to model creative problem solving and self-directed research to find them.

It can be challenging to balance the needs of others with your own need to get specific work done and keep the lab running smoothly. This is one of the major challenges of being a postdoc, and it is designed to help you train for the next level, when you are yourself leading a laboratory or similar team.

Time management

Time management is essential. Evaluate how your time is being spent and adjust thoughtfully, day to day and week to week. It can help to schedule specific days for general laboratory tasks (ordering, inventory), specific times for reading, research, or data analysis, and specific times for experimental work. This also allows you to protect scheduled time with other members of the lab to answer questions, respond to requested guidance, and explore together.

Career planning and mentorship

Identify your career goals with the PI early, so that you can determine which milestones would be most valuable to achieve during your time in the lab. Revisit these conversations as you develop a fuller picture of the laboratory, see how your interests fit, and explore more of the Yale scientific community. Plan to submit at least one grant during your postdoc. By the end, you should be fully ready to lead.

Forming a mentorship committee that extends beyond the PI is one of the most valuable actions a postdoc can take, and also one of the more challenging, because it requires you to pioneer your own scientific network. Identify specific faculty at Yale whose work connects to your interests. After checking with the PI, contact them to ask if they would be willing to meet two to three times per year to provide feedback on your work and offer scientific and career guidance. Seminar attendance and broader community engagement are easy to let slip and important not to.

Independence

One of the goals of postdoctoral training is to develop independence. This can be challenging because postdocs are still operating within someone else's lab. What it means in practice is: intellectual independence (deciding research directions) and operational independence (designing experiments). Both should happen in conversation with the PI, but the ideal is one in which the PI acts to insure against failure rather than point the way. This prepares you to lead your own group, having built a foundation you feel ownership over and are excited to build from.

Postdoctoral research is among the most free-form work allowed in science. That lack of structure is a double-edged sword, with great freedom and little clear direction. It is always important to ask for help and guidance. Researching in a vacuum is never good and doesn't allow learning to flourish.

Types of work

Postdocs may choose to work on four types of projects at once:

• A review of some kind, to cement learning and provide a literature foundation for grant applications.
• A low-risk personal research project, using established methods and models and therefore structured to reliably yield a publication.
• A high-risk personal research project, using either new techniques to study an established model or established techniques to study a new model. This may or may not yield a publication but is likely to yield high-quality preliminary data for grants.
• Team projects led by others, in which the postdoc plays a critical supporting role, often drawing on greater experience with the publication process.

What success looks like

A postdoc who has done well publishes one to two papers per year, submits at least one grant, and leaves with a rich and supportive scientific network tuned to their specific interests. They are fully prepared to lead at whatever comes next.

07 Staff Scientists

Long-term or permanent employees with established expertise

Staff scientists are distinct from trainees. They are long-term or permanent members of the lab with established expertise, and their role encompasses all of the following: developing methods, performing experiments, teaching and training others, ensuring that bread-and-butter tasks get done efficiently and on time, and helping the lab manage its data, outputs, software, reagents, and equipment. They are a backbone for the whole lab to operate around.

Staff scientists may not be pursuing an academic career as a primary goal, but they will often still need to publish. Because they are frequently the ones developing methods, performing experiments, and making discoveries that only they can fully explain, they are a significant asset to the lab when they do contribute to publications. They are also in a unique position to do longitudinal, exploratory work without the pressure of publication timelines, and they serve as preservers of methods and approaches that give the lab continuity across generations of trainees.

Reporting and direction

Staff scientists work 40 hours per week and report directly to the PI. This role differs from a postdoc in that the PI may ask for direct switching of tasks or reprioritization as lab needs evolve, a level of direction that reflects the nature of the role rather than a reflection on the individual. Within their areas of technical expertise, staff scientists have real authority and autonomy.

What this role is responsible for

Staff scientists have authority over their techniques and their teaching. The lab relies on them to be efficient, thoughtful, and organized. Their work must be reliable, well documented, backed up, and communicated clearly so that others can learn from it. They should be approachable by all lab members and trusted as a resource and a teacher.

Being attentive to and engaged with most if not all projects in the lab is part of the role. Staff scientists are well positioned to identify opportunities to connect work across the lab, facilitate cross-training, and make sure that skills and knowledge are shared rather than siloed.

What success looks like

Success for a staff scientist looks like strong annual performance, good relationships with lab members at every level, and trust established with trainees, the PI, and collaborators. A staff scientist who is doing well is one that the whole lab can rely on: technically excellent, well organized, generous with their knowledge, and deeply woven into the fabric of how the lab operates.