BBEL Performance Standard and Group Policy
(Updated 5/18/2009)
Purpose
The performance standard and group policy are established to ensure that BBEL will be among
the most productive groups, its member will be very competitive after the training and has the
most rewarding experience possible. The purpose of this document is to communicate the
standards and policies to BBEL’s members so that everyone will be clear about the expectations.
It needs to be pointed out that the university, the colleges and the department have procedures
and policies that, each member in the group, as an employee or a student, needs to follow. Thus,
the standards and policy serve as a complement to that of the university. If any of the group
policies is contradictory to that of the university, the university policy, not the group policy, will
be followed.
Responsibilities and policies
In addition to academic obligations, each group member is responsible for satisfactory
completion of the project tasks that are either defined by the project or assigned by the group
through the Group Leader (Shulin Chen) and other group coordinators, as demonstrated through
timely completion of project milestones and deliverables.
Each group member is required to:
(1) submit a monthly report by loading it onto the sharepoint by the last day of each month that
includes:
o The goal and semester plan as outlined in the expectation list
o Accomplishment to date toward the expectation list
o Highlight of monthly progress against the plan
o New data/results/information obtained during the month
o Copies (or draft) of papers, reports, and presentations developed in the month
o Updated project status report
o Updated expectation list
o Updated member accomplishment summary
(2) help with other’s work whenever possible, be present at group and department meetings;
(3) complete the Exit check list before leaving the group;
(4) obtain a driver’s license if off campus research activity is involved;
(5) get all leave request approved in written in advance except emergency;
(6) follow all safety procedures. No field work at dark without the Group Leader’s approval;
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(7) use group computer, department equipment, project funds only for project purpose, these
include, but not limited to copy cards, department copy machine, office supplies, cellular
phones, telephone codes;
(8) get the Group Leader’s approval to work on ideas and concepts that have been developed
either by the group or by the group leader during the time employed by the group at WSU.
(9) consider all unpublished data the property of WSU. If any of the data is used for future
publication, the Group Leader has to approve such publications and proper members from the
BBEL group should be co-author(s) of the publication. If all the results are from the work as
WSU, Shulin Chen should be the corresponding author.
(10) complete an annual performance review;
(11) work on assigned projects that might be outside of thesis work as part of the condition of
assistantship;
(12) work 20 hour per week at office or lab on assigned project as required by the assistantship.
(13) all courses taken need to be approved by the Group Leader if paid through an assistantship.
(14) bring to the Group Leader’s attention in a direct and timely manner of: suggestions,
criticisms, comments, concerns, observations, and complains that are related to BBEL’s function,
operation, and management;
(15) make every effort to ensure BBEL productive, and make no attempt that is counter
productive.
(16) maintain a good standing as required by the graduate school.
(17) For a research associate to take a regular university course, the following criteria have to be
met: (1) has been with the group for more than a year, (2) has met the group performance
standard specified below, and (3) the course is critically related to the current research project.
(18) work hours: Working hour. Having common work hours will help to improve our
efficiency, interactions, and opportunities of brainstorming. The university’s official work hour
is 8:00 am to 5:00 pm with a lunch break. A BBEL member is required to be in lab, at office or
other specified working site from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. This allow 2 flexible working hours a day
for dealing with special circumstances. Special personal leave during the working hour is also
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allowed but needs to be minimized. Everyone is required to use the attendance board to indicate
your attendance status. If you need to be away from your office or lab for an extended period,
please e-mail or call Joan to let her know.
(19) An employee who is eligible for annual leave is encouraged to take the leave as it accrues.
Unused annual leave will not be paid at the termination of the appointment with the group;
(20)The Group Leader and his authorized person have full access to any computer or other filing
system that belongs to the group without notice to the member who is using the computer and the
material.
(21) The Group Leader will serve as the corresponding author for all publications or will decide
who should be the corresponding author on a manuscript.
(22) Personal folders at the Sharepoint. Much of our research information needs to be better
shared and related work files need to be backed up. This can be accomplished using the
Sharepoint. The members of the group are required to update the files by uploading all work
related files to the corresponding folders at the end of each month.
Personal folder of (name)
(1) Overall program (containing: Annual plan, expectation list, monthly reports,
member accomplishment summary)
(2) Project (containing: project proposal, Research task report, experimental plan
experimental data, design, experimental procedures)
(3) Research products (containing proposals (research or thesis), papers, reports,
presentations, new procedures developed, reference list)
(4) Group responsibilities and research records
(23) Research task report. For each member’s work, there should be an updated proposal and
experimental plan. Within the proposal and plan, there are specific tasks. The member is
required to write an experimental report for each of the task upon its completion, regardless
if it is required by granting agencies
(24) Our working language is English. English should be spoken in our offices, labs, and any
other working related occasions.
(25) Group members should not visit each other and conduct conversations that are not related to
work in offices and labs during work hours. These types of conversions should occur during
break time (such as lunch time) and in a place where such talks do not cause any disturbance
to others.
(26) Also during work hour, visiting non-work related web-sites and chatting on-line using
university resources is not allowed.
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(27) Each person who works in the lab (including student technicians) is required to have a lab
notebook to document the person’s work in the lab. The records in the lab notebook should
be able to reflect the amount of work a person did in the lab. The lab notebook can be
purchased from the central store.
(28) Graduate students are allowed to take 2 weeks or more vacations without pay. Prior
approval from Shulin Chen is required before taking the vacation.
Performance measures
(1) The above responsibilities and the expectations below define the minimum standard for the
appointment of a member to be continued with the group, although the BBEL group cannot
guarantee the appointment all the time due to funding availability. A group member is
encouraged to deliver an excellent performance that surpasses the minimum standard.
(2) Graduate student: publish one paper a year as primary author on average; Additionally, an
invention disclosure or a new computer program during the graduate program is desirable.
All required number of papers have to be submitted before get the final signature for thesis
completion from Shulin Chen
(3) Post-Doctoral Research Associate – 2 papers and 1 proposal submitted per year. Take the
primary responsibility for the member’s continuous funding after the initial appointment
period. One invention disclosure or a new computer program every two years. Promotion
and pay raise will be recommended proportional to productivity.
(4) Associate in Research – Provide quality and timely support to the research group, as
evaluated by the group members, as well as the Group Leader.
Additional requirement for being accepted to the AEBE Group
(1) Be dedicated to work and willing to work hard.
(2) Each Researcher should have a fundamental hypothesis for their research and have identified
applications for their research results.
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