Expectations

I hope my legacy isn't power and status. I find fulfillment in understanding things, building things, and helping make the world better. I hope you'll do the same.

What is a PhD?

The original purpose of a PhD is to create a new independent research scholar.

What do I expect from you?

I am your advisor—not your supervisor, or teacher. Often, I don't know the answers to our research questions either.

Core Expectations

First and foremost, adhere to our group's values. Have ideas and work hard on them because you genuinely find them interesting.

I hope you strive to leave a mark, so people might say, "she's the person who did X." Achieving this typically requires growing independent of my ideas and pursuing what truly drives you. This direction often isn't clear at the beginning of a PhD, but I want you to reach that point and will support your journey there.

Think for yourself and from first principles. After time in any field, avoiding "group think" becomes difficult. Question everything—what I say, what the field says. Do things others don't do but should do.

Specific Expectations

Take ownership. If I start caring more about your project than you do, something is wrong. Don't do things just because someone told you to. Understand why you're doing what you're doing. Only one person has solely your best interests in mind—you. My interests will largely overlap with yours but won't be identical.

Communicate openly. You cannot expect telepathy. Tell me if you see something you dislike, could improve, or that annoys you. What seems obvious to you may not be obvious to others. That is, manage up and tell me if something does not work for you. (See: "The care and maintenance of your adviser")

Iterate rapidly. Your first ideas will likely fail—that's normal. Deal with this by executing and iterating as fast as possible, not by thinking your way to the perfect solution. (See also the importance of velocity).

Take action. Don't ask for permission. Rather ask for forgiveness. If you wonder "should I do this experiment?" the answer is probably yes. If there is a decision to take and the worst outcome is reversible (i.e. no serious reputation risk and <1k cost) just take the decision you think is best (and aligns with our vision and values).

Produce outputs. You'll be evaluated on your outputs. Your projects don't have to succeed—most will fail—but you must conduct real experiments that produce real data we can examine and learn from. Make graphs. Take good notes.

Work-Life Balance

While we strive for impactful, ambitious work, we shouldn't sacrifice well-being and happiness..

Key principles:

• Your personal well-being matters more than work
• Take vacation days 100% guilt-free—enjoy quality time with family and friends without diluting it with work
• Sick days are not vacation days
• Leverage academia's freedom—intense periods alternate with slower ones; rest when exhausted during slow periods
• You're not expected to work evenings or weekends unless facing immovable deadlines and managing time well during the week
• Stick to core working hours (10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.) for personal interactions; if family obligations require different hours, tell me what works best

Get stuff done

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do when it ought to be done whether you like it or not. -- Thomas Henry Huxley

Keep in mind that scarcity is value. Most projects start with a lot of excitement, but at some point, it is no fun anymore. Quitting at this dip is a bad point to quit. Pushing through it is hard—but it being hard is what creates scarcity and thus value. If you were to quit, you should have quit earlier. This does not mean that you should not quit. It means that you should quit many things earlier and then push the thing worth pushing through the dip.

Finally, learning to get things done eliminates job worries. As Elbert Hubbard noted in 1899, capable people always find opportunities.

Plot a lot, be obsessed with your data

It is so easy to believe that you understand what your pipeline is doing. But in practice, I almost always found that there are still bugs and that I do not really understand what is going on. Thus, plot a lot. Plot everything. Plot it again. Plot it differently. Plot it in different ways. Plot it until you understand what is going on. Every input, every output, every intermediate step. Plot it all. There is some overhead in the beginning, but it will save you so much time later on.

I am a very visual thinker. If you want me to help you, help me by showing me plots.

Specific Regulations

Beyond the official rules from the institute/university, I expect you to follow these specific regulations:

• Any absence (vacation, sick leave, work from home) must be indicated in the Group Calendar. I need to know where you are in case something happens here (e.g., the fire alarm goes off and the fire brigade needs to know who is in the building).
• For our Jour Fixes, prepare by 6 p.m. the day before a written agenda. This helps us stay focused and productive. If there is no agenda, we will cancel the meeting. Note, that the agenda is most useful if you could add as much context as possible. Often, it is very useful to write in full sentences and paragraphs. (See Amazon Six Page Memos -- we do not need to be that extensive, but we should strive for this direction.)
• Note that in any case I expect that you list down the potential goals for the week you have in mind and describe the one you think is most important in one paragraph. This is to ensure that we are aligned on where we are going and what is important.
• If we curse or talk bad about someone else's work without specific reasons or context (e.g., "this is stupid") we will pay one euro into the group fund. This is to avoid negative talk without context. If you have a problem with someone's work, you should address it in a constructive way and not just complain about it. This applies to all violations to the Code of Conduct.
• You must take lab notes. I recommend you do this in our group Notion to facilitate openness and collaboration. If you prefer to use a different tool, please ensure it is accessible to the group and that you share your notes regularly.
• If you are sick, please stay at home. If you are not well enough to work, you should not come to the office.
• I would like us to be in the office in person most days for “core” working hours of 10:00-16:00.
• We try to be mindful of each other's time and send out calendar invites for meetings. For this to work, we rely on you accepting or declining the invites. That is, if we have a Jour Fixe scheduled, and you cannot make it, decline the event. Then the other person can use the time in another way.

• Trips, e.g., to conferences, must be announced to the university/Helmholtz well before the trip. Thus, enter them in the SAP system as early as possible.

  • Only book things if the trip is approved by me and the university/Helmholtz.
  • Note that there are upper limits for how much you can spend on flights, hotels, etc. You find them on Hanfried or by asking the administration.
  • Keep in mind that combining holidays with business travel is possible, but you’ll need to pay for extra nights yourself, and there is an upper limit of days you can take as vacation this way

  • Note that you will need to ask for invoices with the proper address for reimbursement:

    • For Uni Jena this is

    Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena Dezernat Finanzen

    c/o IOMC {your name}

    Leutragraben 1

    07743 Jena

    Deutschland

    • For HIPOLE this is

    Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie GmbH

    c/o HIPOLE {your name}

    Hahn-Meitner-Platz 1

    14109 Berlin

    - Run any scientific output (paper, abstract, poster, collaboration request, …) by Kevin before it leaves the group - At a university, most of the things are bought with taxpayer money. We all would like that our money is not wasted. Those treat things with care. This also includes shared infrastructure such as toilets.
    - Add any output (poster, talk, presentation, award, ...) you produce to our database - Travel guidelines for guests: If your status is a guest and/or SAP system is not available for you. - Before any traveling, you need to inform Kevin, fill out the Invitation letter and send it to Kevin for approval. Then you can book tickets and hotels. You also need to follow the upper limits for how much you can spend and ask for the invoices with the proper address. - After traveling, you need to complete the Invocie for Travel Expenses, and send it along with all invoices to Kevin. - Settlement of travel expenses for guests

What can you expect from me?

I will adhere to our group's values—call me out if I don't. You can expect availability for advice on research projects and career questions.

Specific commitments:

• Individual personal development plans revised annually
• Project ideas, especially early in your career
• Career advice and network support
• Technical guidance on projects
• Collaborator on code and paper
• Feedback that pushes significant growth
• An environment enabling your highest-standard work—tell me what would help you work better, more efficiently, or more conveniently

I'm ultimately responsible for everything in the group. Blame typically goes to me, not you. Credit goes to you—your career benefits more from recognition than mine does.

What you shouldn't expect from me

Don't expect detailed plans and solutions for research questions. If I already knew the answers, research would be pointless. I'm happy to discuss different approaches to problems, but if I could write detailed project plans, these would be engineering projects, not research.

Perhaps also give "Your Advisor Has Five Impossible Jobs" a read.