Resources and activities for new NBC Lab members. Inspired by the Whitaker lab's great Onboarding repository.
If you are a new graduate student with the NBC Lab, please complete the following steps:
- Read the NBC Lab Handbook.
- Trainees should complete the NBC Lab Individual Development Plan for Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Scholars. Please create your own version of this file for editing: click on File → Make a copy and save to your Google Drive; share with others by clicking the blue Share link on the top right.
- Ask Dr. Laird to give you access to the NBC Lab Outlook calendar.
- Ask Dr. Laird to give you access to the NBC Lab Google Drive folder. This is a private folder accessible only by lab members. All research results (e.g., figures, tables) and associated documentation (e.g., manuscripts, conference abstracts) should be saved to the appropriate project sub-folder so that they are accessible to everyone. This helps us avoid gdoc-related permissions issues.
- Join the NBC Lab and FIU Neuroscience Slack teams by asking Dr. Laird to send you an invite.
- We use the NBC Lab Slack workspace to share news and posts related to the lab. After you've joined, click on "Channels" and browse the list to see the available discussions, which are separated by lab project. Add yourself to any and all of the lab's channels so that you can stay up to date on all of our recent progress and discussions.
- The FIU Neuroscience Slack workspace is great for inter-lab communication and for organizing journal clubs or other activities. The cognitive neuroscience grad student colloquium is also organized on this Slack workspace.
- Please edit your profile in both workspaces to include your full name in your Display Name, not just your first name or username, as well as a photo. Add a helpful description of your role under “What I Do”, e.g., “Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Laird”, “Graduate Student with Dr. Sutherland”, “Research Assistant for ABCD”. We’d like this field to tell us about your educational level and who/which projects you’re working with/on.
- Sign up for a GitHub account and join the NBCLab and FIU-Neuro organizations by asking Julio Peraza to send you an invite.
- We use GitHub to organize and share code related to our papers and ongoing projects. The NBC Lab organization is used for all lab-related projects, while the FIU-Neuro organization is used for tools that serve the whole program.
- You can sign up for a free account. By default, this does not come with private personal repositories, but you can either host private repositories under the NBCLab organization or request an education discount. They generally respond within a day or so.
- Set your NBCLab organization visibility to public (it's private by default). We want people to see that you're a member of the lab. For the FIU-Neuro organization, it's your choice.
- Similar to your Slack profile, please edit your GitHub profile to include your full name in your Display Name, not just your first name or username, as well as a photo and a helpful description of your role (i.e., your educational level and your membership in the NBC Lab).
- We perform our data analysis on the FIU's High Performance Cluster (HPC). Julio Peraza is your point of contact for the lab's use of the HPC. To obtain access, please send a request for an account to [email protected]. Make sure you include your first and last name, Panther ID, and FIU username / email address. Ask to join the NBC Lab's group, led by Dr. Laird, and be sure to cc Dr. Laird and Julio Peraza so that your request can be appropriately approved and processed.
- We recommend that you use Zotero to help you collect, organize, cite, and share research. Download the application and browser plugin, then send your Zotero username to Dr. Laird and she will add you to the NBC Lab Zotero group.
- (Optional) There is also a great BrainHack Mattermost workspace with over 1500 members that anyone can join. That space has a lot of channels associated with interesting projects or initiatives. Mattermost is an open source Slack alternative. To join the BrainHack workspace, use this invite link.
Sign up for the following science-related services: - ORCiD - Google Scholar - Open Science Framework - NeuroVault - FigShare
- It's a great idea to have a place where folks can learn more about you and your research. Please create a page on the NBC Lab website that's all about you. Follow the instructions on this page to add your profile. Also see the lab website's GitHub repository.
- Provide links to your profiles on ORCiD, Google Scholar, GitHub, Open Science Framework, FigShare, ResearchGate, and Twitter.
- Update the website regularly as you upload preprints, publish papers, and present posters at conferences and workshops.
- Win an award? Achieve a big milestone? Have an accomplishment you want the world to know about? Post a news item to the website!
- Every member of our lab that will be involved in any part of our research must complete some online courses through a program called CITI. The courses provide historical information of the use of human subjects in research as well as guidelines for keeping information gathered from participants confidential and protected. These courses should be completed prior to your start in the lab. Here are the instructions for creating an account and accessing these courses:
- Go to CITI
- On the left side of the page select the "Register" option located under the heading "Create an account".
- Enter "Florida International University" as your affiliated institution and click "Continue".
- Enter your personal information and click "Continue".
- Enter your preferred account information and click "Continue".
- Enter demographic information and click "Continue".
- Here it asks if you are "interested in the option of receiving Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credit for completed CITI Program courses?" select "No" and click "Continue".
- In the section that asks for the "Institutional email address", enter your FIU email address. In the section that asks for your "Role in Research", select "Research Assistant". Towards the bottom, for the section that asks for the "Office phone" write 305-348-0464, and when it asks "Which course do you plan to take?" select "Basic Human Subjects - Social & Behavioral Focus". Click "Continue".
- When it asks "Do you conduct research in any of the following settings?" select "Human Subjects Research" and "Health Information Privacy and Security (HIPS)". When it asks "Do you conduct or supervise studies that use human subjects?" select "Social & Behavioral Human Research Investigators Course". When it says "If you want to take Health Information Privacy and Security (HIPS), please make your selection below", select "Health Information Privacy and Security (HIPS) Course - Information for Investigators"
- To finish creating your account click "Finalize Registration". Now you will be able to access the courses.
- When you complete the courses you will get a certificate of completion. Please place a copy of the pdf certificate in the Google Drive under irb-resources --> citi-certs.
- If you are a graduate student, postdoc, or new faculty member you also need to complete the "Responsible Conduct in Research" course. This completion certificate should be uploaded to our Google Drive: nbclab --> irb-resources --> citi-certs. Please create a folder with your last name as the folder name and upload your CITI certificate there.
- Our projects are reviewed by FIU's Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure the protection of human subjects in research. Please talk to Dr. Laird and confirm that you have been added to the IRB-approved protocols for the project(s) you'll work on. You must complete this before working with any research participant or analyzing any data.
- Learn more about the FIU IRB Topaz Online Protocol Submissions, including information on Accessing the System. Submit a Topaz Protocol Access Request Form so that you will show up in the system and can be added to our IRB protocols.
Every member of our lab should complete MRI safety training so that you will be allowed to access the MRI facilities at FIU's Center for Imaging Science. Please click on this link to begin this training. You will be provided an opportunity to watch two videos (the Siemens MRI safety video and the CIS MRI safety presentation) and complete the 25-question safety exam. To pass, you must complete the exam with an 80%. If you have any questions, please contact Lita Sabates .
- Send a request to Lita Sabates for keycard access to the lab (AHC4 380) as well as the east wing, which will allow you to swipe into the double doors by the elevator leading to our other offices.
- Follow instructions here to obtain access to the printer queue. This will allow you to send your print jobs to a queue and release the jobs on the Toshiba printers in AHC-4 using your Panther ID card.
The NBC Lab's Public Google Drive folder contains a folder called "recommended-reading". A list of recommended textbooks, journal articles, and youtube videos are provided, organized by topic. Topics range from an introduction to MRI data acquisition and analysis to recent papers published by lab members to papers related to newly launched projects.
Grad students have two email addresses- a student email (which has numbers, like [email protected]) and an employee email (which generally doesn't, like [email protected]). The student email is accessible on Gmail, while the employee email is accessed through Outlook. Make sure to forward your employee email to your student email, or vice versa. Important emails may be sent to either or both, so it is very helpful to just forward one to the other.
- Python 3: A large portion of the code used in the lab is written in Python. Install Python on your laptop using the Anaconda distribution.
- VSCode: Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is a text editor you can use to write code. There are a number of add-on packages you can install to add helpful features.
- A VPN Client: You will need a VPN client like Cisco AnyConnect in order to access the HPC from home.
- An SCP Client: You will need an SCP client like Cyberduck to transfer files to and from the HPC.
- git: git is necessary for version control and is a key component of GitHub.
- You can also download GitHub Desktop, which provides a simplified GUI for using git.
- Follow these instructions to set up git on the HPC.
If you are a new undergraduate student with the NBC Lab, please complete the following steps:
- Review the contents of the NBC Lab Undergraduate Google Drive folder. This is a folder that contains our undergraduate training materials and information about ongoing projects.
- In the Google Sheet, complete your cells in the worksheet tabs labeled "Student Preferences" and "Student Progress".
- Join the NBC Lab Slack teams - Dr. Laird will send you an invite. If you are waiting for your invitation, please be patient and keep an eye on your junk/clutter folders.
- We use the NBC Lab Slack workspace to discuss lab-related activities. After you've joined, click on "Channels" and browse the list to see the available discussions, which are separated by lab project (e.g., "casa", "embrace-raise", "littleriver"). Add yourself to any and all of the lab's channels so that you can stay up to date on all of our recent progress and discussions.
- Please edit your profile to include your full name in your Display Name, not just your first name or username, as well as a photo. Add a helpful description of your role under “What I Do”, e.g., “Undergraduate Student”.
- Every member of our lab that will be involved in any part of our research must complete some online courses through a program called CITI. The courses provide historical information of the use of human subjects in research, as well as guidelines for keeping information gathered from participants confidential and protected. These courses should be completed prior to your start in the lab. Here are the instructions for creating an account and accessing these courses:
- Go to CITI
- On the left side of the page select the "Register" option located under the heading "Create an account".
- Enter "Florida International University" as your affiliated institution and click "Continue".
- Enter your personal information and click "Continue".
- Enter your preferred account information and click "Continue".
- Enter demographic information and click "Continue".
- Here it asks if you are "interested in the option of receiving Continuing Education Unit (CEU) credit for completed CITI Program courses?" select "No" and click "Continue".
- In the section that asks for the "Institutional email address", enter your FIU email address. In the section that asks for your "Role in Research", select "Research Assistant". Towards the bottom, for the section that asks for the "Office phone" write 305-348-0464, and when it asks "Which course do you plan to take?" select "Basic Human Subjects - Social & Behavioral Focus". Click "Continue".
- When it asks "Do you conduct research in any of the following settings?" select "Human Subjects Research" and "Health Information Privacy and Security (HIPS)". When it asks "Do you conduct or supervise studies that use human subjects?" select "Social & Behavioral Human Research Investigators Course". When it says "If you want to take Health Information Privacy and Security (HIPS), please make your selection below", select "Health Information Privacy and Security (HIPS) Course - Information for Investigators"
- To finish creating your account click "Finalize Registration". Now you will be able to access the courses.
- When you complete the courses you will get a certificate of completion. Please place a copy of the pdf certificate in the Google Drive in the folder "CITI-certs"; use the naming scheme "CITI-Xxxxx.pdf" where Xxxxx is your last name.
- Our projects are reviewed by FIU's Institutional Review Board (IRB) to ensure the protection of human subjects in research. Dr. Laird will add you to the IRB-approved protocols for the project you'll work on. But first, you need to register in FIU's TOPAZ Online IRB Protocol System. Submit a Topaz Protocol Access Request Form so that you will show up in the system and can be added to our IRB protocols. For "Department", please list "Physics" since that is Dr. Laird's home department.
- Please confirm that you have been added with Dr. Laird BEFORE interacting with any research participant or analyzing any data.
Every member of our lab should complete MRI safety training so that you will be allowed to access the MRI facilities at FIU's Center for Imaging Science. Please click on this link to begin this training. You will be provided an opportunity to watch two videos (the Siemens MRI safety video and the CIS MRI safety presentation) and complete the 25-question safety exam. To pass, you must complete the exam with an 80%. If you have any questions, please contact Lita Sabates.
The NBC Lab's Public Google Drive folder contains a folder called "recommended-reading". A list of recommended textbooks, journal articles, and youtube videos are provided, organized by topic. Topics range from an introduction to MRI data acquisition and analysis to recent papers published by lab members to papers related to newly launched projects.