The communication of new ideas research plans, and results constitutes an
integral part of the activities of the R3L. Regular group meetings and luncheon get-togethers
should be sufficient to ensure good intra-laboratory communication; nevertheless, all lab
members are reminded of the following policies:
Duties in the laboratory are assigned for a six-month duration. The following are titles and
descriptions of these duties.
Librarian - The laboratory librarian is given the task of keeping the laboratory library tidy,
and filing any incoming mail after everyone in the lab has had a chance to look at it. The spreadsheet file
which lists all of the material in the filing cabinet has the filename "FILECBNT.XLS" (Excel 4.0 format)
and is located with the hard copy of the list in the top drawer of the filing cabinet. The disk is to be used to
input any new additions to the filing cabinet. The entries are sorted by category, company, and catalog title.
Chemistry Stocks - The chemistry stocks officer is responsible for all chemicals in the laboratory.
The complete listing of responsibilities is in Appendix A. When needed, the Chemistry Stocks Officer is responsible
for treating the water tank (see below).
Computers - The computer systems specialist (computer guru) requires extensive knowledge of computers.
The responsibilities are listed in Appendix B.
Mechanical Stocks - The mechanical stock officer duties include maintaining all mechanical parts and
supplies in an orderly and transparent manner. The storage bins are numbered and should be maintained in numerical
order for easy access of mechanical parts.
Safety - The safety officer maintains safety discipline in the laboratory at all times and suggest new
procedures which will enhance the safety of the environment in the lab.
Procedure for Treating the Water Tank
(to be performed every four months, i.e. Feb., June, Oct.)
The water tank is best treated in place, and should not be disconnected unless it is necessary to scrub
the interior due to algae growth.
Members of the laboratory who do not conform to the laboratory's protocols will be assigned weekend work. For example, any person found not wearing safety glasses will be immediately assigned two or more hours of weekend work. This work is accomplished in addition to the usual 20-hour or 40-hour per week commitment to research. Repeated egregious assignments of weekend work will constitute grounds for dismissal from the laboratory.
After two terms, students supported as an RA earn four weeks of vacation. Students should discuss their vacation plans with Professor Antal so that a mutually convenient time can be chosen. Students supported as Visiting Scholars do not earn vacation, but may request a leave of absence without pay. To qualify for the privilege of earning overload income, a graduate student should have completed the core courses listed under III (above).
F. Apprenticeship, Learning, and Course Work
Apprentice: one who is learning by practical experience under skilled workers a trade, art, or calling. " - Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary.
From the beginning of recorded history, a young person learned a vocation, an avocation, or simply some desired skills by serving as an apprentice. During the past half-century, Colleges and Universities impersonalized the learning process by replacing the apprenticeship experience with large lecture halls and homework assignments. Some educators are now beginning to advocate a return to an educational experience based on the ideas of apprenticeship. The foundation of educational activity in the R3L is apprenticeship. Everyone in the laboratory is an apprentice, and is encouraged to learn as much as possible about the wide variety of activities that go on in the laboratory every hour.
New members of the laboratory may not immediately perceive the breadth of opportunities for learning that exist within it. Below is a list of activities that go on daily within the laboratory. As one proceeds up the list, one encounters tasks of generally increasing responsibility and requisite experience (with the English language as well as with the science). Each member of the laboratory is encouraged to assume as many of these tasks as possible.
All graduate students in the laboratory are initially admitted as MSE candidates. Usually a graduate student
will receive Research Assistant (RA) support for three terms, during which the student is expected to complete
his thesis and graduate. MSE candidates who receive an RA will be responsible for the operation, maintenance,
design and fabrication of equipment used in the laboratory. Usually the MSE candidate will also be responsible
for a computer project. These activities form the basis for the student's thesis.
MSE candidates who evidence exceptional performance may be invited to continue their work in the laboratory as an
RA for four terms. Such students may earn the opportunity to learn how to operate one or more of the state-of-the-art
instruments in the laboratory. Truly exceptional students may be given the opportunity to study for the Ph.D. with
RA support. Students interested in seeking this rare honor should discuss their aspirations with Professor Antal
after they have successfully completed three terms of research in the laboratory.
To qualify for a RA in the Renewable Resources Research Laboratory, a graduate student must take as many as possible
of the following courses (or their equivalents) during her initial 3-term appointment:
ME 611: Classical Thermodynamics
ME 625: Numerical Methods in Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer
ME 627: Environmental Heat, Mass, and Momentum Transfer
ME 628: Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design
ME 696V: Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
ME 696V: Chemical Engineering Kinetics
Phys 475: Electronics for Physicists
A student who earns the privilege of RA support for four terms should plan on completing the following courses
in addition to those listed above:
Chem 272-273: Organic Chemistry I and II
Chem 272L-273L: Organic Chemistry Lab
ME 631: Advanced Materials Science
Students unable to fulfill these requirements may forfeit their RA support; therefore all exceptions to these requirements must be approved in writing by Professor Antal.
Students should always study the entire contents of relevant manuals concerning an instrument they plan to operate before they actually use it.
Intellectual property (IP) includes patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade names, trade secrets, and know-how. Various Union contracts, and material available from the UH Office of Technology Transfer and Economic Development (OTTED) offer information and specify various rules concerning ownership of IP. Members of the lab should understand that their work is confidential until after it is published in the open literature. The current research activities of the lab, and results therefrom, should not be disclosed in any depth to people outside the lab. If there is a need for you to disclose information concerning the lab’s activities to anyone outside the lab, you must first discuss this need with me and receive my permission before you disclose the information. The recipient of the information may be required to sign a UH Nondisclosure and Confidentiality Agreement, or a UH Nonuse and Nondisclosure Agreement prior to your disclosure. Basically, the work of the lab is the IP of the UH and the lab members. Good reasons must exist to justify disclosure of this IP.
If you invent something new which you believe to be patentable, you must complete the UH Invention Disclosure form and submit it to OTTED for review by the UH Patent and Copyright Committee. OTTED can provide you further information on this procedure. Basically, the UH has right of first refusal to own all patents on your inventions.
Perhaps the most important aspect of IP is the determination of inventorship. This is a legal matter that is governed by the laws of the U.S.A. According to my understanding, the inventor is the person who conceives the initial idea and records it. After conception, the idea must be reduced to practice. Often, this is accomplished by a skillful person under my supervision. If the reduction to practice could have been accomplished equally well by other reasonably skillful workers, and involves only routine tests or tasks executed under my supervision, then the individual involved in the reduction to practice is not an inventor. Similarly, if the individual has served the role of a textbook and supplied already known information to the development of the idea, this individual is not an inventor. On the other hand, if the reduction to practice required the creation of new ideas, then the individual responsible for the creation of these additional new ideas is also an inventor. To be an inventor, the individual should have made a documented, major contribution to at least one claim of the patent. If you are interested in this subject, I recommend that you read the book Successful Patents and Patenting for Engineers and Scientists edited by Michael A. Lechter (IEEE Press, 1995).
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