Our Values

• We value a person’s well being. The person may be in our group, our community, or our broader society.  
• We value our own self-worth. We recognize that an academic environment can be challenging and we may sometimes question ourselves. In these times, it is important to communicate if you need support from a peer, Aaron, and/or through C.A.R.E. 
• We value work-life integration. It may not always be possible to balance these elements, and individuals will integrate them in different ways that support their needs. We communicate if we are struggling. We expect people to perform their research, but also to eat, sleep, and socialize.
• We value diversity and inclusion. We respect each individual for who they are regardless of how they self-identify, whether by race, ethnicity, gender identity, or place of birth.
• We value equity. Each individual is coming from a different background and we support the needs of others to enable each individual to be successful.
• We value external collaborations with other faculty and students. We freely share data after gaining approval from all members of the research team involved in the project and the IRB.
• We value commitment and perseverance. All members of the lab are expected to maintain a level of professionalism, self-motivation, engagement, curiosity, and ethical standards that Aaron will model as well. Aaron will balance the interests of the lab’s larger research program with your particular research goals, and will support you in charting your own research path.
• We value setting realistic expectations on timelines for projects. If an expectation is set that is found during the course of work to be unrealistic, these concerns are voiced and expectations re-evaluated. We are mindful of our own limits.
• We respect our colleagues. This respect includes open, honest, and professional communication, as well as timely feedback. We do not put down or insult our colleagues.
• We recognize that engineering education research is an interpretivist field, and therefore we acknowledge our own unique positionality. We value each others’ positionality and perspective on our research questions, and we listen to each other and consider differing opinions with respect.
• We value discussion about our research to collectively make meaning from the data. We will freely share our interpretation of data in research meetings, and we also accept others’ input no matter their position in the lab. We also understand that if someone has a different interpretation about data, it is not a personal criticism and nobody is strictly “right” or “wrong.”
• We respect our scientific community. We acknowledge that there are many groups working on relevant and interesting topics. We cite the ideas of others and acknowledge contributions from others in our own work. We never plagiarize from others or falsify our data.
• We value public engagement. Individuals may pursue different forms of public engagement, such as K-12 outreach, policy development, community science forums, etc. 
• We value flexibility in research topics. Postdoc- and student-proposed research topics are valued and encouraged, provided the topics align with the mission of the group.
• We consider the ethical implications of our research towards individuals and society. The potential benefits for a project should outweigh any potential for harm to individuals, groups, and society as a whole. We receive IRB approval for all studies before starting them, even if we believe they are exempt.
• We consider equity in research studies and proposals. When developing research projects, we consider who the research would impact and how they would be impacted.