{"id":564,"date":"2016-12-30T01:08:09","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T09:08:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/dratner\/?page_id=564"},"modified":"2026-03-13T13:00:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T20:00:42","slug":"opportunities","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Opportunities"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Opportunities and Lab Culture<\/h2>\n<div class=\"accordion \" id=\"opportunities\">\n<div class=\"screen-reader-text\">Opportunities<\/div>\n<div class=\"card\">\n<div class=\"card-header\" id=\"accordion-header\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-0\"><button class=\"btn btn-link\" type=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapse\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-controls=\"collapse\"><span class=\"btn-text\">Wendy's Mentoring Philosophy<\/span><span class=\"arrow-box\"><span class=\"arrow\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"collapse\" class=\"collapse show\" aria-labelledby=\"collapse\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" role=\"region\">\n<p>I (Wendy) seek to create an environment in my lab in which we all feel comfortable bringing our whole selves to work or school. For this reason, I expect all students to excel in a manner that supports their personal short term objectives and long-term career goals.\u00a0 I try to support trainees to lean into their strengths as well as to overcome obstacles that they or others have placed in their way. As noted below, I try to match the degree of teaching versus feedback to your level of demonstrated expertise. I also try to use the times I have experienced privilege as well as the times I have experienced exclusion to create an environment in which everyone can learn, thrive, and have fun.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card\">\n<div class=\"card-header\" id=\"accordion-header\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-0\"><button class=\"btn btn-link\" type=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapse\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse\"><span class=\"btn-text\">Lab Structure<\/span><span class=\"arrow-box\"><span class=\"arrow\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"collapse\" class=\"collapse \" aria-labelledby=\"collapse\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" role=\"region\">\n<p>My lab is organized to maximize your involvement with mentoring at all levels. While I directly mentor all of my lab members, each student also has a more senior lab member mentoring them directly, and is encouraged to provide such mentoring to a junior lab member once they have become established. I encourage these mentoring relationships as well as peer-to-peer mentoring and team work in weekly mini-group meetings, where lab members share their latest results, interpretations, obstacles and plans.<\/p>\n<p>My goal is that each person obtain rigorous training early so that I can trust that they are doing good work, but then to encourage increasing independence, especially for senior members. I always want to hear about your results and plans, but as you progress through your training, I will be doing less instructing and more listening and providing ideas for you to evaluate and then take or leave.<\/p>\n<p>I also meet annually with all lab members for an individual development plan meeting, in which we discuss your short-term and long-term career goals, what you need to do to meet these goals, and what I can do to help you. These meetings use a worksheet such as an individual development plan to help us address important issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card\">\n<div class=\"card-header\" id=\"accordion-header\">\n<h3 class=\"mb-0\"><button class=\"btn btn-link\" type=\"button\" data-toggle=\"collapse\" data-target=\"#collapse\" aria-expanded=\"false\" aria-controls=\"collapse\"><span class=\"btn-text\">How to Join the Thomas Lab as a Student<\/span><span class=\"arrow-box\"><span class=\"arrow\"><\/span><\/span><\/button><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"collapse\" class=\"collapse \" aria-labelledby=\"collapse\" data-parent=\"#accordion\" role=\"region\">\n<p><strong>If you are interested in joining the Thomas lab<\/strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">, email Wendy Thomas to explain what type of position you would like in the lab, why you are interested in this particular lab and\/or project, and include your resume or CV<\/span>.\u00a0 If your interests match our opportunities, we will schedule you for an interview with Wendy and\/or a lab mentor.<\/p>\n<p>To work in the Thomas lab as an <strong>undergraduate student,<\/strong> you need to enroll in an undergraduate research course (such as a senior capstone or thesis or Bioen 499 or 406) OR have an award that pays you to do research (such as a work study award or an undergraduate research award). We also need to identify a more senior lab member mentor with a project idea that matches your needs, so please also<span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"> tell us if you are looking for a short-term project to learn about research working closely with your mentor, or a\u00a0long-term project where you will transition to independence, such as a capstone, thesis or equivalent experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>To work in the Thomas lab as a <strong>graduate student<\/strong>, you need to be enrolled in one of the following programs: <a href=\"https:\/\/bioe.uw.edu\/academic-programs\/\">Bioengineering<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/bpsd\/index\">Biological Physics, Structure and Design<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.me.washington.edu\/prospective\/graduate\/\">Mechanical Engineering<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moles.washington.edu\/landing\/phd\/\">Molecular Engineering<\/a>, or <a href=\"http:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/mcb\/\">Molecular &amp; Cellular Biology<\/a>. In addition to providing the information we request of all potential trainees, tell us which program you are in or which you are considering applying to, and ask about funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contact<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-564","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5059,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/564\/revisions\/5059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bioe.uw.edu\/thomaslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}