tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post1462890099905713245..comments2024-03-14T04:53:49.513-05:00Comments on FemaleScienceProfessor: An Office of One's OwnFemale Science Professorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15288567883197987690noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-6172895509209271712012-04-03T03:18:31.598-05:002012-04-03T03:18:31.598-05:00Basement cubicle farms for all students, postdocs ...Basement cubicle farms for all students, postdocs and research associates. No private space and only 3 meeting rooms for 70-80 people. New grad students hang around for up to 4 months waiting for someone to graduate and make space. Meanwhile, they sit at the "day use desks", which consist of standard desks partitioned into two.<br /><br />Postdocs/RAs with very influential advisers get the cubicles close to skylights or the light well. Faculty get private offices, but the three most junior ones sit right next to the kitchen. One of them is my adviser, and we have to close to door sometimes because of the noise.<br /><br />Overall, we put up with it and get along just fine. I've seen a few sets of noise-cancelling headphones around though.<br /><br />But don't get me started on the month when we replaced an MRI scanner and the workmen had to cut through a foot of concrete...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-31642722900095312502012-03-29T18:41:11.431-05:002012-03-29T18:41:11.431-05:00In our department, the advanced students have the ...In our department, the advanced students have the best set-up: there are 6-8 sharing one office. Though, once you hit your sixth year, there isn't office space for you (and so you are left out in the cold). The middle students all share one office, probably around 15-20 students. Then, the younger students also share one larger office.<br /><br />All of the offices have shared desks with two built-in cubbies for storage.<br /><br />I must admit, however, after scrolling through the comments, I am a bit jealous.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-52111267817202327552012-03-29T08:44:45.328-05:002012-03-29T08:44:45.328-05:00The places I've been (for grad school and post...The places I've been (for grad school and postdoc) had work benches on both sides and 2 desks at the end of the room. Each room is divided to to aisle, so usually 4 to a lab. I've been lucky in that we got one hood each. I've heard of larger depts where students even have to share hood space. That would have been a nightmare.jbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-78887487435010680332012-03-28T02:18:45.890-05:002012-03-28T02:18:45.890-05:00Engineering grad student in a small country state....Engineering grad student in a small country state. Own cubicle, 2 rows of 8 cubicles (16 in total) in a big, rectangular office. Both 'long' sides of office are windows... which opens to two indoor corridors. No natural light, no view. We, the grad students in the 'aquarium' office, IS the view for anyone walking down the corridor. Cubicles are set in such a way that anyone walking past sees what you're working on on your computer screen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-21903806356167596592012-03-26T13:28:38.682-05:002012-03-26T13:28:38.682-05:00Grad student in a foreign language:
12-15 student...Grad student in a foreign language: <br />12-15 students in long narrow cubicle room with windows down one side. Students with seniority got the cubicles with the windows. There were a couple of cubicles big enough to be shared by 2. Since we were almost all teaching basic language courses, individual oral exams (required by syllabus) were dicey and eventually I started holding mine in various common areas of the library or other academic buildings so as not to bother others. Oh, and the space was broiling hot both summer and winter due to unregulated heating in the winter and no a/c plus a dozen or so computers that had to be kept on 24 hours a day plus a wall of windows facing Southwest. I probably walked uphill to campus both ways, too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-71656499360586743052012-03-26T11:34:56.691-05:002012-03-26T11:34:56.691-05:00I'm currently a grad student in who shares an ...I'm currently a grad student in who shares an office with all the other techs, grad students, and undergrad workers (usually ~11 people). I hate it. There is rarely ever a science-related discussion that will have any value. There is constant chatting, phones going off or being talked on, music playing, printing, walking around, bumping desks, etc. I get very little done in my office and have never seen any value in it. We are on a satellite campus; the main campus has much better facilities with 3-4 students each in a spacious office. Post-docs and technicians also share, but generally 2-3 per office.<br />Sadly my advisor is set on seeing us around regularly, so I can't stay home and be more productive as much as I'd like. He also routinely comes into our office to chat with lab members.HennaHonunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-2164422984384137652012-03-26T08:53:32.886-05:002012-03-26T08:53:32.886-05:00My experience is that non-faculty have shared spac...My experience is that non-faculty have shared space with 2 - 16 people. In grad school, the post-docs had their own shared office.<br /><br />My difficulty with shared offices and now having my desk in the lab as a post-doc is that it is EXTREMELY difficult to find private time and space to take care of personal things, like making a doctor's appointment. Productivity is DEFINITELY lower for me when I have more people around with whom I could talk. I try to make time to go "hide" and write/analyze in a coffee shop where no one will talk to me.Female post-docnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-26679299954146511702012-03-25T23:42:59.359-05:002012-03-25T23:42:59.359-05:00I'm currently a grad student who shares an off...I'm currently a grad student who shares an office with several other grad students. I hate it. There's no privacy, and there are far too many distractions. But there's no other available space, so it's what I'm stuck with.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-84363205181552544992012-03-25T18:16:29.411-05:002012-03-25T18:16:29.411-05:00Postdoc, we started with two of us in a two person...Postdoc, we started with two of us in a two person office which worked well and was great, now there are three of us in it, back to back (seriously!). Now that I am writing, it is really difficult, and there are some issues with one other that make it not a good place to write,or be, although we are all civil to each other.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-53340003749931908882012-03-25T03:05:04.693-05:002012-03-25T03:05:04.693-05:00I didn't notice that anyone brought up this po...I didn't notice that anyone brought up this point yet: the requirements of office space should really depend on the type of work. For someone who will spend most of their workday in the office more privacy might be crucial, while for a student who mostly spends time in a separate lab space it would be less important. This would also explain why shared offices are more common in the biosciences - I would assume time spent as a desk would be less compared to some other fields.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-30003613966988254512012-03-25T01:44:17.659-05:002012-03-25T01:44:17.659-05:00Our grad students redesigned one of our grad offic...Our grad students redesigned one of our grad offices to get rid of cubicles, opening it up to get more interaction. It is now the most popular of the grad offices (students are allowed to use any desk, but tend to stake out one).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-56237974889404072032012-03-24T17:55:19.082-05:002012-03-24T17:55:19.082-05:004-6, social science department, allocated only to ...4-6, social science department, allocated only to those of us that teach.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-41626993935256273162012-03-24T13:39:44.116-05:002012-03-24T13:39:44.116-05:00I share an office with 3 other grad students.
We...I share an office with 3 other grad students. <br /><br />We never have problems, although when they do come up, we all sit down and talk about how to solve them. We are lucky. I have seen really ugly fights in offices of four - to the point that they had alternating schedules to avoid each other.<br /><br />We have regular skype meetings (or interviews) between various collaborators. Everyone else makes sure not to disturb the person on the phone and (better yet) makes sure that no-one else disturbs them from the outside.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-42040819417395505972012-03-24T00:54:53.089-05:002012-03-24T00:54:53.089-05:00In my grad program most offices were ~3, but my of...In my grad program most offices were ~3, but my office had 5. It was possible to get an office with fewer people (even your own office) if your advisor had space or if you begged the person in charge of such things to find you a quiet space while you were getting ready to defend, but that was the exception not the norm. As a postdoc now I share an office. We have one large office with 6 grad students and one smaller office that has 1-2 grad students (yes, right now the two postdocs are sharing an office while a grad student has the same size office to herself...)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-70694523597484884792012-03-23T18:40:25.825-05:002012-03-23T18:40:25.825-05:00In my PhD department it was 3-6 grad students per ...In my PhD department it was 3-6 grad students per office.<br /><br />For my postdoc there are 3 people in my office.<br /><br />At least the offices had a door and a window.<br /><br />I once knew of a postdoc with her own office. It is not normal to have that.David Snoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-88787339540554678112012-03-23T17:59:45.584-05:002012-03-23T17:59:45.584-05:00In my department, grad offices are 4 to 9 students...In my department, grad offices are 4 to 9 students per office. And they're so small you can always touch at least 3 other students from your desk. Though most offices get at least some natural light, it's really hard for me to get work done in a room with 8 other people - even if they aren't talking, 8 people generate a lot of distractions!sarcozonahttp://sarcozona.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-892562471649743572012-03-23T13:39:45.306-05:002012-03-23T13:39:45.306-05:00Always have been crammed into space, but it hasn&#...Always have been crammed into space, but it hasn't really been an issue. We've all gotten along well. Set up has allowed us to dive deep when needed, ask questions of each other when we get stuck, and to generally catch up with each other.<br /><br />So, master's program: 6/space. PhD program 9/space.Peanutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-72545340015973320992012-03-23T04:57:55.736-05:002012-03-23T04:57:55.736-05:00We have 10 grad students to an office, which is ab...We have 10 grad students to an office, which is absolutely unbearable. The masters students chat and muck around all day, while the senior PhD students have to use earplugs if we want to concentrate.Emmanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-58099910482402158222012-03-23T03:38:51.110-05:002012-03-23T03:38:51.110-05:00In grad school I shared an office with 3 other stu...In grad school I shared an office with 3 other students in my group, but we spent a lot of time in the lab anyway so the office was a great place to get work done.<br /><br />Now, as a postdoc in another institution, I am in an office with 11 other people. Most of them are grad students, mostly from other groups (the grad students I work with in my group are in a different office). My officemates seem nice, but there is not much camraderie in the office aside from a group of four Italians who mostly speak to each other in Italian. And I wish if I were going to be crammed in with so many people, that they would at least be people from my group so that I could keep up on their activities and have convenient work discussions. It feels a bit like my office is a set of library study desks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-77581992519163528592012-03-22T22:46:38.712-05:002012-03-22T22:46:38.712-05:00I had a nice private office as a postdoc (physical...I had a nice private office as a postdoc (physical sciences). All the postdocs did. I had one of the smaller offices, but I had a great view out the windows.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-72335486817362593482012-03-22T22:07:41.479-05:002012-03-22T22:07:41.479-05:00There was a combination of shared office space (4-...There was a combination of shared office space (4-6 people in a large office) and desks in the labs (smallish 2-3 person labs). I had the latter and liked my lab cave. As a post-doc all the desks were in a large lab. In industry (start-up company that went public) there were cubes and shared offices (2-3 people per office). After 20+ years of shared office space it is very nice to have my own office.<br />The student offices here are typically shared by 4-6 students/postdocs and are located next to the labs.<br />I've gotten along with all my officemates, with the exception of Mr Creepy, who tended to invade everyone's personal space and make people very uncomfortable. I switched offices as fast as I could.Old Biddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12982631719343776864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-57735759702373480542012-03-22T21:41:16.474-05:002012-03-22T21:41:16.474-05:00Private office for a .... postdoc? AHAHAHAHAHAHA...Private office for a .... postdoc? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *wipes tear away*<br /><br />I have been in offices/cube farms with 2 grad students+postdocs up to 8. I have seen cube farms with 12+. I am currently in a building that has no offices for anyone below the rank of assistant professor. Everyone else has a desk next to their bench in the lab. This is the third building of this nature that I have worked in (out of a total of 6 buildings).queenrandomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00128796087827034559noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-35752280908098796992012-03-22T18:06:41.231-05:002012-03-22T18:06:41.231-05:00Our department does 6-10 students per office and 2...Our department does 6-10 students per office and 2-5 postdocs. I actually find that it is worse for postdocs in many respects. Students mostly seem to work on individual projects and go to their advisors' private office for meetings. Postdocs tend to work on collaborative projects, and an office with even 4 people who happen to work on different projects tends to get an awful lot of foot traffic and noise. I tried to make this argument to the department, but with only very moderate success - so far we managed to keep it to 3 people, but they keep telling us that adding a 4rth person is imminent.MDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07386675958339450332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-40695243830988298542012-03-22T17:29:03.914-05:002012-03-22T17:29:03.914-05:00In reply to Anon 7:31 - I was at a university when...In reply to Anon 7:31 - I was at a university when they opened a shiny new building with dedicated space for grad students. It was one big, windowless room with about 10 desks with hutches, arranged along the wall so everyone was facing the wall. First thing I did was ask if everyone else agreed that we should put the desks perpendicular to the wall in pairs, back-to-back. It made better use of the space, but was still unpleasant. I wasn't sad to leave.<br /><br />At another place, I shared a very large room with big windows mostly with one other PhD student, sometimes the odd undergrad. The fridge and microwave were there, so our supervisor came through often. Lots of spontaneous conversations, it was a good setup. One undergraduate leg-jiggler, but he was only there a few months so he didn't get strangled!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29059245.post-2022335766354737452012-03-22T15:47:26.488-05:002012-03-22T15:47:26.488-05:00For the grad students, there are 16 cubicle-style ...For the grad students, there are 16 cubicle-style desks in each room. I haven't had much of a problem with this set-up, as people are generally very considerate of others, keeping their conversations to a minimum. If someone needed to make a research-related conference call or phone interview, there are spaces available for that purpose that can be reserved.PhocuseDhttp://phocused.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.com