Meeting with Krista
Last updated
Last updated
Depending on your role in the lab, meetings with Krista may not be expected or recommended. For students leading research projects (graduate students, postdocs, undergraduate project students), Krista likes to meet regularly to check in on project progress, help solve problems, provide supervision, and move projects forward. If you are new to the lab, it's a good idea to meet with her weekly to start. Meetings are set up through her . If there are no available slots or you can't find a time that suits you, please email Krista directly to find a time. Slots can get booked up, so be sure to plan ahead.
Students should carefuly reflect on the amount of time they will need - it can be frustrating to only have 1/2 hour to discuss a series of challening research issues, and a waste to book a full hour when only a short check-in is needed.
Be organized at your meetings with Krista by creating a shared Google Folder. Inside that folder, create a document with your name for agenda and notes. This way both you and Krista can add agenda items prior to the meeting and take notes on the same document. Put the most recent meeting at the top, and the other ones can get pushed down. Krista usually reviews agenda items early in the day before the meetings so that she can start thinking about things, so it's a good idea to add agenda items by the day before. You can also e-mail the link to the agenda ahead of time if you want to make sure she's aware of what will be discussed.
Graduate students and postdocs typically meet with Krista once a week in the first semester or two, and once every other week thereafter. The frequency of meetings will depend on the particular projects going on - during some periods, meetings will need to be more frequent.
If you are an undergraduate student working on a project (i.e., honours thesis, specialization project, etc.) Krista generally expects you to book a meeting to check in about once every two weeks. Depending on the stage of your project, these meetings may be used to hash out research topic ideas, discuss statistical analysis plans or manuscript writing tips, or talk about upcoming steps in the process. Given that you are taking initiative in your work, she is very happy to provide guidance and mentorship throughout the course of your project to ensure that you've produced something you both can be proud of. If you are being co-supervised by a graduate student or postdoc, you will want to invite them to attend any meetings in which you are making project-related decisions.
As an undergraduate RA or volunteer, there is usually no reason to meet with Krista on a regular basis. Since RAs are usually involved with testing and helping out with various projects in the lab, and do not have a project of their own that they are working on, Krista does not need regular progress reports.
If any kind lab-related question, problem or concern arises, please discuss this with the Lab Manager. In most cases, they will be able to help you out and/or suggest solutions to avoid these issues in the future. If the Lab Manager is unable to help out on their own, they will bring the issue to Krista's attention and report back with her answer and/or suggestions.
If for some reason you would like to meet with Krista to discuss something that is out of the Lab Manager's scope, you could ask the Lab Manager whether it would be appropriate to bring the topic to Krista. For example, you may want to discuss potential projects you'd like to conduct in the lab (CUSRA/USRA, honours thesis, etc.), or talk about applying to graduate school or career opportunities after graduation. Information on requesting a letter of recommendation is available .