Today for my graduate class, we spent some time talking about the notion of a lab’s culture. I spent the first 1/2 of the class giving vignettes of some of the many labs I’ve been a member or close observer of. We spent the second half of the class in group discussion about which of the described labs was best for a grad student and which was best for the PI or lab chief. It was a very interesting and disparate set of answers.
What is lab culture? What defines the labs with really good cultures? I think it’s an open question.
From my perspective, it certainly involves a commitment to do excellent science. It probably also requires the ability to deliver on that commitment across the group. But also requires a certain tolerance for differences, for pressure and a certain group sense of humor that can bring the group together in a cohesive way that energizes the science.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 