Research Expectations

Rule No. 1

Respect each other

That means each other's time, our collaborators' efforts, and the responsibility we carry for the work we put out.

Time: don't waste it on unproductive work. The group reserves specific time slots for meetings — use them effectively. Start the next round of experiments no later than the day after each meeting (analysis, debugging, and reflection take time). If you can only begin one day before the next meeting, reschedule the meeting instead.

Collaborators' efforts: when others share work, code, or ideas, engage seriously and deliver on what you commit to.

Responsibility: own your part. Verify every claim and every number. Follow through.

Communication

Slack is the primary channel. Use #random for casual questions.
Each project gets its own Slack channel named proj-xxx. Add external collaborators as guests.

Weekly cadence

Individual meeting prep

Bring a short document covering:

Context refresh (1–2 minutes): project objectives and current phase goals — don’t open with clarification.
Completed work from the previous week.
Results and conclusions: key takeaways, not raw data.
Challenges encountered and proposed solutions for the coming week.

The weekly-report format is maintained by current students — ask a senior PhD if you’re new. See also Dredze & Wallach’s How to Be a Successful PhD Student — the You and Your Advisor section in particular.

Paper reading

Engage with papers in the #paper-reading channel.
Participate in weekly group meetings.
Volunteer for presentations on your research or papers you found interesting.

Code & repos

Commit regularly — server infrastructure lacks backup systems.
Establish a private repo per project within the LIME GitHub organization.
Use branches and tags to document experimental runs; use issues and the repo wiki for tracking work.
Polish code after submission; share code and datasets upon paper acceptance.

Project logs

Document progress continuously; pin log links in the project’s Slack channel.
Record experimental parameters and primary findings.
Note emerging ideas for future exploration.

Submission deadlines

Faculty juggle multiple submissions at once. For paper deadlines:

Submission timing	Expected feedback
≥ 2 weeks before	Thorough, iterative comments
1 week before	Abstract + intro help; surface-level review
< 1 week before	Limited depth

Insufficient time remaining? Papers without a complete draft one week prior likely shouldn’t be submitted.

Draft requirements: narrative framework established; ≥ 50% content complete; placeholders acceptable for tables and related work. Run a thorough self-review using our Writing & Speaking checklist.