SGER: Leadership in the Laboratory: Defining Best Practices for Mentoring Academic Scientists

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Effective management of scientists in academic research settings is a key component of highly successful research programs. Nevertheless, many new Principal Investigators (PIs) lack the appropriate leadership skills and as a consequence face an uphill battle in building a productive research enterprise and sustaining grant funding. When PIs falter in lab management, their career advancement is jeopardized along with the considerable investments made by academic institutions and funding agencies in these research programs. The goal of this project, which will be conducted during a faculty sabbatical leave at Texas A&M University and at Harvard University, is to determine whether postdoctoral fellows and young PIs can benefit from understanding fundamental principals of business management and thus be assisted in their transition to independent research careers. Aspects of management to be examined are: 1) leadership styles that promote creativity, resiliency, productivity and collegiality; 2) methods for recognizing and recruiting the right people; 3) optimal methods for training and promoting knowledge transfer; and 4) understanding working styles of people from diverse backgrounds.