Code of Conduct

We love our group dynamic. We have been grateful and lucky that current and past lab members have intuitively understood what it means to maintain a respectful and welcoming environment. However, it’s time to make these expectations more explicit in this Code of Conduct.

• We strive to maintain a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation. We expect all conduct to support this goal of creating an open, welcoming, and inclusive community.
• Harassment of any kind is not tolerated. If you feel you or another is experiencing harassment at any time, whether in our group or within the Scripps Research Institute at large, please inform Andrew, Human Resources, and/or the Scripps Research ombudsman. Information shared with Andrew will be handled with the utmost care and discretion. However, it is important to note that in some circumstances, he is legally required to report certain types of incidents to others in the organization. In those situations, you can expect that Andrew will: 1) Listen to your concerns with empathy and respect, 2) Explain any obligation to report the incident and the process involved, 3) Report the incident to the relevant individuals promptly and accurately, and 4) Provide you with information on available support resources and next steps.
• Everyone’s perspective is valuable and should be listened to equally and respectfully. Discussions are encouraged, provided they adhere to considerate language.
• Err on the side of positivity, especially in electronic communications where intent can be difficult to convey or interpret. Overly negative comments and personal attacks should be avoided.
• We expect ethical conduct in all aspects of our lab’s activities, and we all share the responsibility of raising any issues for discussion. If you witness unethical behavior of any form, let us know.
• We value collaboration over competition, both within the lab and with external colleagues. In the context of collaboration, we expect everyone to openly and generously credit all individuals who contribute to a project. This list is not exhaustive. If you think of something that should be explicitly stated, let Andrew know.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We are a collaborative group of scientists and engineers committed to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The best science comes from a positive, inclusive, and diverse environment. We welcome people of all backgrounds. The following is our pledge to contribute to an inclusive community and culture:

• We recruit with diversity in mind. Our science is diverse and multidisciplinary, so our team should be as well. We welcome individuals from many educational backgrounds (including bioinformatics, computer science, biology, and chemistry), job histories (academia, industry, and new graduates), as well as people who don’t fall neatly into any single group. We prioritize curiosity, creativity, and tenacity over checking specific boxes on a resume. We also recognize that gender and racial biases exist in our scientific institutions, and we actively seek to counteract those biases.
• We value diversity in our speakers. Ever attend a panel discussion that feels like an echo chamber? We don’t like that either. We prefer hearing from people who will expand our horizons and challenge our ideas. Thus, we invite speakers from a broad array of backgrounds in terms of both topics and demographics.
• We work in the open. We often cite the FAIR principles in our work, so it’s not surprising that we value open science and open data. Whenever possible, our projects are developed using open source licensing where anyone can use and adapt our work, and the data we generate is released via a CC0 waiver.
• We collaborate with each other. We don’t like working alone. Most of our projects combine the skills and talents of multiple people (and often multiple labs), and the science we do and the tools we create are better as a result. We pride ourselves on maintaining a respectful environment where “I don’t know” is a starting point for learning and not a sign of weakness, and where we all continually learn from each other.
• We care about your future. We want to know how you define personal and professional success, and whatever that may be, we want to help you achieve it. That means we devote lab meetings to career development topics, including grant writing, CV building, alumni panels, and code improvement. We’re supportive of professional development opportunities such as conferences, formal and informal presentations, and courses. If your aspirations eventually lead you out of the lab, we’ll gladly provide advice, guidance, and networking contacts to help you take the next step in your career.
• We believe in a fun work environment. Sure, the data-munging can be awful, but at least your coworkers are not. We have regular social events organized by our lab social committee (with a yearly budget!). These activities are completely optional, so attend as many or as few as you like.
• We encourage discussion. Discussions on ethics and justice can be awkward, uncomfortable conversations to have, but we don’t shy away from them. For example, the Black Lives Matter movement led to several discussions on how we can better support Black scientists, and we believe our lab and our institute are much better as a result.