PinkPearl Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 I got a research job this summer and my PI told me to get started early (1 month early). Except I messed up a few experiments and said some inaccurate scientific stuff. I'm just lost and don't know what to do. He said he won't keep me for the summer anymore how can I get on his good side? I don't want to be fired it's just I feel intimidated by him and get nervous. Sigh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fleming Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Good PIs realize that students make mistakes. He really shouldn't be firing you for making errors. You're there to learn, in addition to helping out. Unless your mistakes were due to not listening to instructions, not showing up on time, etc. then I think the PI is in the wrong. If I were you, I'd go talk to him in his office (in private) and discuss with him what had gone wrong in the experiments thus far, explain to him that you would learn from your mistakes, and work hard over the summer. He'll respect you for it and if he still doesn't want you for the summer, then you're probably better off without him. On my first day at the lab, I was nervous and incorrectly set the micropipet to a value that was 10-fold off. On that same day, I broke the gel trying to dismantle the electrophoresis. 4 months later that PI wrote me a reference letter for med school haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruhh Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 I've screwed up at my lab as well. I put a participant as a no-show when in fact they had shown up and completed the entire study. Our experiments give the participants bonus marks for their courses, so this participant ended up not getting the bonus and you can imagine how angry they were. that was 3 months ago. I'm pretty close with my PI now and I'm sure she'll write me a good reference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falling Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 The first time I made growth medium, the grad students mentioned that the heavy nitrogen was really expensive so I can't screw it up. I accidentally added too much of the acid to the buffer. No one in the lab knows, because it only changed the pH by like .01, but I freaked out until I realized that the pH was unchanged (at least for the purposes of growing ecoli) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
武田信玄 Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 mind sharing what exactly did you do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xkittens Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 You said some scientifically inaccurate stuff? If your PI actually got mad at you for that, and it wasn't because he specifically told you to learn XYZ and you learned it wrong (and even in that case it's not something to get mad over), then he sounds like an awful person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Squeeze Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 If it was along the lines of data manipulation, then its unlikely that they would give you a second chance. But it could be a good lesson and you can always apply for a position somewhere else. Not he smartest thing to do as it can put your entire academic record at risk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AIsForApple Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 If it was along the lines of data manipulation, then its unlikely that they would give you a second chance. But it could be a good lesson and you can always apply for a position somewhere else. Not he smartest thing to do as it can put your entire academic record at risk. Yeah, I was gonna say, what exactly does "said some inaccurate scientific stuff" mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkPearl Posted April 17, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 Not data manipulation, I just said the wrong function of a reagent that I used for my experiment. I don't know why I said that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AIsForApple Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 If it was really as innocuous as you say, maybe he did you a favour. Do you really want to be working for this guy all summer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadow_knight Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 Not data manipulation, I just said the wrong function of a reagent that I used for my experiment. I don't know why I said that As a student you are learning, shouldn't be any big deal. Its not like its a post doc exam where an error like that could be considered outrageous. Have you considered there might be other things, e.g. His first choice wants the job after turning it down initially or the student he had before decided to stay. I was turned down from a job after getting hired because of the latter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhope15 Posted April 25, 2015 Report Share Posted April 25, 2015 What was said above. Many profs are sort of forced into hiring summer students, profs join universities to do research / progress their own career, yes teaching is involved but remember that some don't care so much for the teaching part, they are there to do research and such. So they might be forced by the department to offer spots for students or something, and maybe this guy just doesn't care to have students or teach and will use any excuse to get rid of you. Probably best outcome for you. Find someone who doesn't mind being a mentor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StayHappy Posted April 28, 2015 Report Share Posted April 28, 2015 My research mentor(s) were the nicest people ever. I got through 1/4th of what they were hoping for in 4 months, and made countless mistakes. They both wrote me reference letters over the years and I am now accepted to med Find a new mentor. I am seriously comfortable enough to send my mentors emails just asking them how life is going these days, we are professional but pretty much friends at this point. It is quite nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3change Posted April 30, 2015 Report Share Posted April 30, 2015 ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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