Episode 11. Mapping Power, Pressure, and Protection with The Graduate Student Researcher
RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE
ACS CHAS Peer-Led Workshops (accessed 2026-03-30): https://dchas.org/2023/08/22/history-of-the-chas-lst-workshop-2/ [https://dchas.org/2023/08/22/history-of-the-chas-lst-workshop-2/]
Hensley, M.S.; Martin, J.A.; Miller, K.A.; Hungwe, K.N. (2024) Laboratory Safety Teams as an Evolving Community of Practice: Exploring the How and Why https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00702 [https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.4c00702]
Feldon, D.F.; Litson, K.L.; Jeong, S.; Roksa, J. (2019) Postdocs’ lab engagement predicts trajectories of PhD students’ skill development https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1912488116 [https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1912488116]
Miller, A.J.M.; Tonks, I.A. (2018) Let’s Talk About Safety: Open Communication for Safety Laboratories https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.organomet.8b00627 [https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.organomet.8b00627]
Martin, J.A.; Miller, K.; Nyansa (now Hensley), M.; Zinn, S.; Stuart, R. (2021) Enhancing Research Productivity through Student-Led Laboratory Safety Teams https://www.acs.org/acs-webinars/library/student-led-safety.html [https://www.acs.org/acs-webinars/library/student-led-safety.html]
LET US KNOW!
To try to see things from the graduate student researcher perspective, consider how work inside of labs at your institution gets done. At this point, refrain from assigning blame or jumping directly into who should be responsible. Instead, just think about the situations that these early career people are walking into and what they are seeing.
● Are lab workers working around a mess that existed before them?
● Are they trying to find space in the lab for their own work by moving aside work that no longer belongs to anyone working in this lab?
● Are they trying to address inspection items that they know little about?
● Are they being required to engage with systems that don’t help them do their research better? For example, dysfunctional chemical inventory systems, poorly defined hazardous waste procedures, challenges with space.
HOW TO LET US KNOW!
Email address: SkilledSafeAndTrailblazing@gmail.com [SkilledSafeAndTrailblazing@gmail.com]
LinkedIn Community: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/skilled-safe-and-trailblazing [https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/skilled-safe-and-trailblazing]
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