"There are good ships and wood ships,
ships that sail the sea,
but the best ships are friendships,
may they always be!"

–Irish Proverb

What Can You Expect from Joining Our Group?

• Expect mentorship. Expect to be mentees, expect to be mentors.
• Expect a lifetime of friendships and support. Expect that this is the place where you will return, to share your greatest triumphs, multiply your joy, and divide your sorrows.
• Expectations about the quality of work you will do and the quality of life you will lead are high. Very high. Extremely high. Expect to become the world’s expert in what you do. Expect to know how to enjoy life by the time you become that expert. Expect that process to be incomprehensibly difficult at times, but know that many have achieved it, and we are all behind you.
• Work is work. Life is life. Find your balance.
• Find out who you are, what makes you tick, what makes you happy, what makes you sad. Find out what motivates you.
• Find out how you work. Find out how other people work. Find a middle ground.
• Work the machine so you don’t have to.
• Many people depend on the group for their work, life, career, and futures. Leave the group in a better shape than you came in.
• Every decision, policy, and actions are decided upon discussion as a group. Expect to be open. Expect to lead. Expect to contribute.

Work Days & Hours

• Most of education occurs through osmosis at the graduate level. Make certain to have adequate face time with the rest of the group and the community.
• If you have a special circumstance that needs accommodation, talk to PHYC.
• Be mindful that you are expected to do what is necessary for you to be successful beyond our group. These are basic expectations and may not be conditions that guarantee you future success.

Time Management

• 20% of the time from 2nd year on should be spent on something other than research. This is so that you can cultivate other aspects of your professional career for future success. Developing transferrable soft skills as well as preparing for the future are strongly encouraged.
• Manage your TA time and resource investments. You are here to be excellent in your research, and if you are so called, in your teaching.
• Preparation of input files and data processing should take minutes, not hours or days. If it takes longer than few minutes, please bring this up to PHYC.
• If you are working all the time, you are doing something wrong.