Minutes from the first meeting of the organisational committee for the Joint Bioinformatics Center’s Grad Student Presentation Day:
P-san: Ok, now that we have set the presentation schedule for the day, we need to name the session chairs. And a time-keeper for each session.
Dave: That’s easy: there are three sessions, there’s three of us… We each chair one session.
K-san: Actually… The goal is to avoid doing it ourself. Chairing sessions is a real pain in the ass.
Dave: Good point.
K-san: There are three participating labs. For time-keepers, we’ll just pick the kōhai in each of the three labs…
P-san: nods in assentiment
Dave: Great idea. Stupid kōhais, gotta be good for something.
K-san: For session chair, we’ll just ask one senior member from each lab to volunteer.
P-san, Dave: Sounds good…
Dave: Wait a minute… There is only one research student in my lab: me!
K-san: Oh… that’s right.
Dave: …
K-san: …
Dave: Chotto FML.
I don’t get it. Do you call “research student” a Ph.D. student?
Because I’d call a research student a temporary visitor…
P!
Yea, yea… It should probably be Student Researcher, or, more specifically grad students.
I loosely translated the scope, which involves research work presentations by all 大学院生 (MSc and PhD), but not faculty members…
LOL Sorry for mistar Dave! Don’t you have an undergrad in your lab or something you can foist this upon?
Man, no other students. Period. We are a lab of grown-up researchers… Of which I am the closest thing resembling an undergrad slave… with no company to alleviate the pain.
Ah yes, assigning session chairs can be a political thing. Haven’t done the grad thing, already having a career and all; but I have heard vicariously from others about grad life…