Career Resources: Lab Management

TSRI jointly organizes an annual Laboratory Management course in conjunction with Salk, Burnham, and UCSD:

• TSRI News & Views article about innaugural SD Lab Management Course (Feb 2007)
• TSRI News & Views article about 2nd annual SD Lab Management Course (Feb 2008)

Next course: Jan/Feb 2010

Lab Management Books

Barker, Kathy. At the Bench: A Laboratory Navigator. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2005.

Barker, Kathy. At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2002.

Boice, Robert. Advice for New Faculty Members: Nihil Nimus. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 2000.

Boss, Jeremy M., and Susan H. Eckert. Academic Scientists at Work: Navigating the Biomedical Research Career. New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 2003.

Cohen, Carl M., and Suzanne L. Cohen. Lab Dynamics: Management Skills for Scientists. Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2005.

Feibelman, Peter J. A Ph.D. is Not Enough: A Guide to Survival in Science. New York, NY: Perseus Books Group, 1994.

Formo, Dawn M., and Cheryl Reed. Job Search in Academe. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, 1999.

Gosling, Patricia A. and Noordam, Bart D. Mastering Your PhD: Survival and Success in the Doctoral Years and Beyond. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag New York LLC, 2006.

Harmening, Denise M. Laboratory Management: Principles and Processes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002.

Heiberger, Mary Morris, and Julie Miller Vick. The Academic Job Search Handbook (3rd Ed.). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty (2nd ed.). 2006.

Lucas, Christopher J., and Murry, John W., Jr. New Faculty: A Practical Guide for Academic Beginners. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2002.

Menges, Robert J., and associates. Faculty in New Jobs: A Guide to Settling in, Becoming Established, and Building Institutional Support. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1999.

National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine.  Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy.  Advisor, Teacher, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in Science and Engineering. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1997.

Newhouse, Margaret L. Cracking the Academia Nut: A Guide to Preparing for Your Academic Career. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.

Reis, Richard M. Tomorrow’s Professor: Preparing for Academic Careers in Science and Engineering. New York: NY: IEEE Press, 1997.

Sapienza, Alice M. Managing Scientists (2nd Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Liss, 2004.

Toth, Emily. Ms. Mentor’s Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2002.

Lab Management Articles

Alberty, Betsy. Mentoring to the Bottom Line. The Scientist. Sept 2006.

Austin, Jim. Management in the Lab. ScienceCareers.org (September 13, 2002).

Austin, Jim. Managing Knowledge Workers: Rules for Absolute Beginners. ScienceCareers.org (May 12, 2003).

Austin, Jim. The Academic Scientists’ Toolkit. ScienceCareers.org (April 29, 2004).

Austin, Robert D. Managing Knowledge Workers. ScienceCareers.org (July 21, 2006).

Austin, Robert D. “Project Management and Discovery.” ScienceCareers.org (September 13, 2002).

Barker, Kathy. At the Helm: Avoiding Management Mistakes. ScienceCareers.org (July 25, 2003).

Boss, Jeremy M., and Eckert, Susan H. Academic Scientists at Work: Negotiating a Faculty Position. ScienceCareers.org (February 11, 2005).

Cohen, Carl M., and Suzanne L. Cohen Lab Dynamics: Sciences at the Balcony. ScienceCareers.org (September 2, 2005).

Dolgin, Elie. Management for Beginners. The Scientist. July 2008.

Grens, Kerry. Dealing with Conflict. The Scientist. February 2007.

Haynes, Laura et al. Lab Management: Insights for the New Investigator. Nature Immunology. September 2006.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Resources for the Development of Early-Career Scientists.

Lane, Laura. The Nine Lives of Lab Equipment. The Scientist. March 2005.

Levine, Irene S.  Mind Matters: Managing Conflict in the Lab. ScienceCareers.org (September 23, 2005).

Marshall, Hilary. Lab Rage: Dealing with Personality Conflicts. ScienceCareers.org (June 30, 2000).

Perkel, Jeffrey M. A Lab Startup. The Scientist. October 2006.

Perkel, Jeffrey M. Give P2P a Chance. The Scientist. July 2006.

Perkel, Jeffrey M. Lab Equipment You Need – Sort Of. The Scientist. November 2006.

Perkel, Jeffrey M. Needed: Praise for Postdocs. The Scientist. September 2006.

Perkel, Jeffrey M. The Scientific Do-Over. The Scientist. August 2006.

Portny, Stanley E., and Jim Austin. Project Management for Scientists. ScienceCareers.org (July 12, 2002).

Mentoring Resources

TSRI Individual Development Plan template The Career & Postdoctoral Services Office offers a career planning tool that helps to identify scholars' professional development needs and career objectives. While not required, it is strongly recommended that all TSRI postdocs review the IDP template and establish their own development plans to track progress and facilitate discussion with their advisors.

AAMC Compact Between Postdoctoral Appointees and Their Mentors is intended to initiate discussions at the local and national levels abut the postdoctoral appointee-mentor relationship.

Preparing Future Faculty

Mentoring Resources for Graduate Students and Faculty from the University of Washington

Women in Science Project at Dartmouth College includes electronic mentoring information

COACh Committe on the Advancement of Women Chemists

Committee on Women in Science and Engineering from the National Research Council and National Science Foundation

Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend is an excellent resource from the National Academy of Sciences, especially the section "The Mentor as Career Adviser"