[1] Talking about my advisor with a friend. Friend A: "You know, you are in an abusive environment! He ..." Me: "But he is actually nice, you know. He is always smiling in the lab meetings. He always says 'Go relax. Don't work. Have a nice weekend.' We thought of reporting him, but there is no evidence ..." Friend A: "Yeah, you cannot report him. This is emontional abuse. He has personality issues. He is using you, taking advantage of you. Every minute he is reminding you not to cross him in any ways otherwise he will torture you. But go ahead, go have a nice weekend!" Me: "Huh..." [2] Boss: "You should not cite these papers. These are just small conference papers. Citing these will impact the novelty of the work. You know, our lab thought of using these methods 20 years ago. It is not like you read these papers and then use these methods because of these papers. I thought of doing it first. I even wrote a grant about this, although it is not funded..." In the updated paper version (only circulated among grad students): "The corresponding author of this work is the pioneer in thinking about using xxx for xxx and wrote a grant on it 20 years ago. Even though the grant was rejected because the reviewers were too short-sighted, we have used the power of mind to demonstrate the feasibility of xxx."
【3】 老板来自上世纪E1: "You guys should use google." Boss in the lab meeting. Note that this conversation happened in 2020 ! "How was your holiday? I had a great time cooking for my family. It has been a long time since I last cooked. Do you know you can find everything on Google? I searched lasagna recipe in Google, and used the first recipe for lasagna. My family loved it. I planned to cook for my family using the recipes on google every weekend ! You guys should use google more often. Lots of useful information there." Me: Thumbs up emoji in Zoom.
【4】 老板来自上世纪E2: "Google it!" Email from the Boss: "Thank you for the document. Could you tell me how you xxxx in Word?" In my head: "Google it! You know, like the time you google for recipes" In real life: "Sure. In xxx, click xxx. (with a annotated figure for illustration)"
老板之前写邮件最喜欢用大写,N个问好和N个感叹号。我也来学学他。 【5】 ALL CAPS !!! 系列 E1 组会上 Labmate H: "Given the data in StudyX, my plans for StudyV are xxxx" Boss: "You did a good work in StudyX. You should perform a realistic simulation of StudyY before you do StudyV" Labmate H 和其他做相同项目的尝试argue StudyY 几乎就是重复StudyX的,结论不会变,还是做StudyV更重要,吵了一小时后,反驳无效。 几周后,Labmate H present他的StudyY结果。 Boss: “Nice results. However, your StudyY are just a repetition of your StudyX. Sure, it is good to valid your simulation conclusion in a more realistic setting, but it is just incremental contributions. Then why are you doing this study? Me in my head: "BECAUSE YOU ASKED HIM!!!!!!! YOU INISISTED!!!" Boss continued: "In our lab, as a PhD student, you should learn to identify what is important and what is not, and spend time on the important things. Otherwise, you will not be able to graduate in 10 years. Where is your StudyV results?”
几个月后,Labmate H 因为“科研成果不足,工作不够努力”,带着一个2年半拿到的硕士,离开了phd项目。但是他是很想读phd的,半年后,又重新申请到了PhD,让我们祝福H。
【6】 ALL CAPS !!! 系列 E2 这是我听其他人转述的Labmate H的故事,具体用词不得而知,我大概模拟了一下场景: Labmate H: "Sorry, my grandpa passed away recently, I was not able to focus. The progress was delayed. But I will xxxx" Boss: "How old is your grandpa? These things happen to old people. Don't be too sad." (说实话我真不知道他是真心想要安慰H只是说错了话,还是别的意思) Me after I heard this: "YOU KNOW WHO IS ALSO OLD???? YOU ARE!!!! DO YOU WANT THESE THINGS HAPPEN TO YOU?????"
【7】 Labmate H 故事补充 老板之所以疯狂针对Labmate H,就是因为他很想读一个L系的secondary MS. Open house 期间,他邮件和老板说,如果他可以读这个MS,他就会来我们组,否则就去别的学校, 老板答应了。一年后,他qualify也过了,我们系phd要求的课也上的七七八八了,他要开始申请secondary MS了,老板反悔了,说你应该focus on research. 吵了几个来回也没有结果,但是那之后老板就看Labmate H干啥都不顺眼,组会grill他能grill一个多小时。中间还有一个插曲是,Labmate H 因为上L系的课的时候表现优秀,后来接受了L系的TA邀请,被老板知道了,H 解释说是以为要自己找TA position (但是我们系其实是系里安排)才接收的TA offer, 最后是老板发邮件给任课老师,把TA给推了。加上各种七七八八的事情,老板应该觉得Labmate H 过于不听话,最后就想了个办法把他开了。
【9】 闭关锁国 E2 Labmate E当前的项目用到了一个大部分intro to ML 课都会教到的算法,但是目前还没有啥结果。当然他propose的这个方法也放到了自己的proposal exam材料里面。 A few weeks after Labmate E's proposal, Boss: Did you discuss your research with Dr. X (E's committee member)? Their department is starting a new research project in the same area using the same method! They are reaching out for a collaboration! How did they know about this! You should not discuss anything with Dr. X. You do not want any competition. You should not send any materials to him. Labmate E, looking innocent: "No, I did not talk to him or send anything to him other than the proposal exam materials" Boss, calmed down. "Okay, I guess he knows this through your proposal presentation." In my head : "ANYONE CAN THINK OF USING THAT METHOD ON THAT TOPIC !!! AND, Dr. X IS HER COMMITTEE MEMBER !!! "
【10】闭关锁国 E3 有次合作者问可不可以让他们看一下我们lab买的一个软件,因为他们也准备买这个软件 (一方面还是为了数据格式统一,能更方便的给我们传数据)。 Boss 和我们说:你要把握好这个度,不能让他们知道你能用好的关键,不然他们要是都会用了,我们的advantage就没有了。(对,我们的advantage就是买个超贵的软件, 让一堆advance degree的学生点点点,大概advantage是钞能力吧)
补充内容 (2021-11-12 09:32 +8:00): [12] I own everything E1 第一次和老板一起申请专利,时常被老板的专利写法震惊到。用造车打个比方,如果说我们的数据能证明我们造的汽车能开,他patent写的就是我们延展一下,我们不仅可以造F1赛车,还能造火箭飞上外太空,我们组向外延展的一小步,就是迈出人类的一大步。 他还信誓旦旦的说,我们之前的XXX专利没有通过,就是因为别人的专利说他们的车用2-6个车轮,我们设计的车用4个车轮,就被他们包括进去了,所以这次,这个新型车,要写我们用2-1000个车轮,让别人没办法钻空子! 他甚至还要专门做个图,把方法中需要用到的数据采集仪器,电脑也写到专利里面去。好家伙,他的意思是,别人用个电脑,跑个计算,也要被算在你的专利里吗?那我们的方法还是用脑子想出来的呢,不如他把人类都写到他的专利里面好了,世界上只要有个人动了脑子,就算用了他的专利, 妈妈再也不用担心有人钻专利的空子了。 我不知道是他把patent reviewer当傻子还是把帮他写专利的组员还有律师当傻子。好笑的是,律师看到了1000个车轮,觉得没必要写这个,老板看到patent修改版本中这句被删了,立马发邮件为啥删了,听到律师解释说是因为申请费的考量,立马表示不差钱,这句让人又笑又气的1000个车轮就还是被保留了下来。 希望patent reviewer大发慈悲,让这个专利通过,因为我还是很想看有1001个车轮的汽车满大街的跑的。
[13] I own everything E2 老板总喜欢把别人的主意和贡献揽到自己身上,有时候莫名要和组员共一,有时候甚至直接抢一些组员的一作。当我们提出新的想法的时候,他总是会先拒绝,一段时间后,又会重新提起来这个想法,但是这个时候,这已经成为了他的想法了。前两天他在和一个组员B 1v1 的时候,他说 “I want you to acknowledge that xxx is my idea”。这个xxx明明是B先在组会上提出来想做的,当时论证了好久,老板才同意做这个方向。几个月前写相关文章的时候,他们就因为谁先提出来xxx争论过,但是因为这个争论并不影响作者排序,所以也就不了了之。 没想到老板几个月后又来挖坟,但是近期并没有关于xxx的新paper要发,也没有专利要写,这句话完全不涉及到任何利益相关的科研成果,单纯的就是想让组员B表达自己的忠诚和臣服罢了。组员B是一个科研大过天的人,“你可以压榨我,但是我想出来的idea,就是我想出来的,决不让步”,结果就是他们又为了xxx是谁先提出来的吵了40min,最后不欢而散。