Lab activities
Table of contents
Office Hours
Schedule coming soon…
Office hours are times where students can drop-in and talk to Dr. Xiao about the progress on their study, any challenges they may be having, share successes, or discuss career and research!
Office hours are in place of lab meetings. There will be multiple times available to accommodate student schedules. Office hours will be available in the last week of each month with several drop-in times available.
Journal Club
Journal club is an opportunity for the lab to discuss recent papers published in the field with your study lead (graduate student/post-doc). During journal club, students will present and critically analyze a research paper.
- Each independent study/thesis student will present 1 paper to their study lead.
- The paper will be assigned to the student.
- The student will then briefly present the paper to their study lead at a time decided by the study lead.
- PowerPoint slides are not permitted, students only need to describe the paper verbally in a 3-minute maximum presentation.
- After the presentation, the study lead and other team members will have an opportunity to ask the student questions about the paper and engage in discussion.
Article requirements:
- Empirical research articles or review papers. Commentary articles, reports, or correspondence articles do NOT qualify.
- Articles published in the past 3 years.
- Articles never presented at our before (check Journal club channel on Teams for past presented papers).
- Articles that lab members did NOT contribute to.
Here are some tips for your reading and presentation:
- Make sure you understand the research question the paper is attempting to answer.
- What is the general method of the study and how did the researchers use the method to address the research question?
- What the meaning of the study in terms of its theoretical and practical contributions?
- Who are the authors, are there trainees (students, post-docs, and staff) in the authors, or all authors are professors from different universities?
- What is the specialty of the authors’ lab(s)?
- What are the things you like or dislike about the article?
- THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG PRESENTATION. BE YOURSELF.
Mini Tasks
The lab frequently offers students opportunities to work on mini tasks, such as literature review, learning to use new software, and programming.
Students are encouraged to take on tasks that align with their interests and career developmental goals, which may help them achieve their future career aspirations.
Mini tasks are posted in the Mini Tasks channel in Microsoft Teams.
Tasks may include:
- Literature reviews: collecting and summarizing research on a topic
- Study preparation: creating experimental stimuli, programming
- Data collection: run studies as an experimenter
- Data analysis: pre-processing and statistical analyses
- Software development: develop modules for the research management system
Project meetings
You will work alongside a group of other students on a project - please ensure that you are following up with them regularly to complete all tasks.
In the case that you are unable to complete a specific task or require more time, please communicate clearly with the rest of your team.
Training
We are lucky to have access to these expensive devices that allow us to progress our research.
Please make sure that you complete all appropriate training before using the equipment so that you are well educated about how to use them.
Lab socials
The lab will aim to have a social gathering once per term. More details to come soon.