At the Helm: Leading Your Laboratory, Second Edition

by Barker, Kathy

• ISBN13: 9780879698669
• ISBN10: 0879698667
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-04-13
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press

Summary

Since 2002, the first edition of this bestselling book has helped thousands of newly appointed principal investigators successfully transition to running their own labs. In the second edition, Barker has substantially revised the text, offering principal investigators advice to the changes and challenges that the years have brought.

Author Biography

Author is well known as speaker & tutor on these topics. Dr. Barker trained as a microbiologist and received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and the 5 College Program. She was an assistant professor in the Laboratory of Immunology and Cell Physiology at Rockefeller University before leaving the lab to investigate and document the non-research problems that seemed to be so much of the typical researcher's life. Her first book, At the Bench: A Laboratory Navigator (CSHL Press, 1998), gives instruction on protocols and techniques that are usually relegated to a difficult-to-retrieve oral tradition, and also explains the culture of the research laboratory to the new scientist. At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator (CSHL Press, 2001) is a guide for new principal investigators, based on interviews and conversations with PIs of varying experience and disciplines. In addition to newspaper and magazine publications, Kathy Barker has given lectures and workshops on dealing with people in the lab, and is currently finishing a book for scientists on communication and negotiation beyond the laboratory.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
Preface to the First Edition	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Know What you Want	p. 1
The Lab Where Everyone Wants to be	p. 3
Start in the Right Place	p. 7
Plan the Lab You Want	p. 19
Start Building Relationships	p. 29
Resources	p. 31
You as a Leader	p. 33
I was Trained to do Everything but Run a Lab!	p. 35
Stop Putting Out Fires!	p. 43
Using Your Time	p. 57
Working with an Administrative Assistant	p. 65
Be Proactive in Finding a Mentor	p. 73
Resources	p. 79
Choose Your People	p. 81
Choose Your People	p. 83
The Hiring Process	p. 91
The Effective Interview	p. 99
Evaluating Candidates	p. 113
Resources	p. 123
Starting and Keeping New Lab Members	p. 125
Getting Off to a Good Start	p. 127
Training Lab Personnel	p. 133
Mentor to All?	p. 143
Resources	p. 151
Make Research the Foundation	p. 153
Setting the Course	p. 155
Motivation	p. 167
Writing Papers	p. 181
Resources	p. 193
Organizing the Lab to Support the Research	p. 195
Building a Lab Culture	p. 197
Lab Policies	p. 203
Meetings and Seminars	p. 217
Using Computers to Organize the Lab	p. 231
Resources	p. 245
Communication as the Glue	p. 247
Communication with Your Lab	p. 249
The Pleasures and Perils of Diversity	p. 259
Gender is Still an Issue	p. 271
Learning through Conflict	p. 275
Stress and Depression in Lab Members	p. 281
Resources	p. 289
Dealing with a Group	p. 293
Lab Morale	p. 295
Lab Romances	p. 301
Maintaining Personnel Equilibrium	p. 309
“I Should Have Done it Sooner!”	p. 315
Violence in the Workplace	p. 321
Resources	p. 327
For the Long Run	p. 329
As Your Job Changes...	p. 331
Maintaining Enthusiasm	p. 341
Career Choices	p. 349
Having it All	p. 353
Resources	p. 359
Index	p. 363
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