OPEnS Promotion Guide

The OPEnS lab wants to reward employees for gaining new skills, learning, and remaining with the lab. However, we are a grant funded, educational institution – not a company – so we hope to do our very best to add value to your resume as well as your pay as possible. To do this we offer varying methods for promotion.

All raises will be applied on top of the base pay for the lab and maintain that elevation with base pay increases. The rate range per hour for OPEnS Lab positions follows the University pay rate guidelines for the Undergraduate Student Technical Assistant job category which starts at minimum wage and is capped at $18/hr as of July 1, 2021. All raises will be applied the first day of the next pay period after eligibility is met.

Time Based Raises

The first method is guaranteed raises for a continued stay with the lab. For every 6 months spent with the lab, a $0.50 raise will be given to acknowledge the progress and expertise acquired over this time.

Project Lead

The person designated as the project lead inherently has a larger time commitment and responsibilities, and to acknowledge this added difficulty project leads are given a $0.50 raise during their time as a lead. A solo person on a team is also considered a lead. A lead can choose to let someone else take the title and responsibilities, but they will also lose the raise. The exact responsibilities given to leads will be detailed later in this guide. Project leads are appointed by the lab director in consultation with project students.

Publications and Articles

Students may receive additional merit raises for accomplishing a publication, patent application, or portfolio. These typically embody at least 6 months of work. Submission of multiple publications, patent applications and portfolios throughout your time at OPEnS is possible.

Publication/Patent

Publishing a paper or patent is a huge achievement for an undergraduate, and papers are the life-blood of a laboratory. These promotions exist to incentivize employees/projects to publish their projects when they are ready to share.

• Lead Researcher - First Author or (Co-author if load is split equally, closely monitored by Director) publication submitted to peer review journal or patent application for review in consultation with Lab Director. $1.00/hr pay raise
• Co-Researcher - Listed as co-author on a submitted peer reviewed article or patent application, significant contribution must be documented. $0.50/hr pay raise
• Scholar - Lead researcher on publication officially accepted for release or patent application accepted. $0.50/hr pay raise

Portfolios

Each project and each team member has different goals and responsibilities. And projects may not be in a phase conducive toward publication. To reflect this, a portfolio option that is as diverse as the kinds of work done at OPEnS is needed. A $1.00 raise is given when a portfolio is accepted. Portfolios must:

• Be submitted in digital format on Google Drive Folder to the Lab Director for review
• Include a 1-page executive summary of your achievements in the lab. This will be a concise narrative outlining your key
• Include a timeline either based on the OPEnS project timeline or a timeline of important dates and milestones you want to be considered.
• Include links to all relevant documents and work you want to be considered since your last portfolio. Consult the lab director to see what you should include. What you submit will be based on your specific work done and can include things such as:
  • Github wiki fixes, updates, links, requests/pulls from 3rd party organizations, or adoption of material by other institutions.
  • Code created (validated to work)
  • CAD files (PCB, 3D, Laser cuts)
  • Publication quality media (assembly photos, deployment photos, videos of operation, validated data collected)
  • Documentation (including project checklist documents, readme files, build guides, operation manuals, QA documents, serial number spreadsheets, troubleshooting manuals, and documentation that your project remained fully functional in the field for at least a month)

The arbitrary title given for your submitted portfolio will be based on the kind of work included. Examples of titles are Systems designer, advanced prototyper, programmer, field deployment tech, or assembly manager.

When submitting a portfolio, please expect a 2 week turn-around – more if the director is out of town.

After submitting, schedule a follow-up interview with the Lab Director to go over performance and content of your portfolio to see if you qualify. In some cases, an interview and portfolio may be declined without review if the portfolio is incomplete, or there is not enough content to make a fair judgment. Reasons for decline will be clearly communicated. Accepted portfolios will be available for viewing on the shard google drive.

Provisional promotion

In the event of extraneous circumstances, A verbal project review may be conducted with the Lab Director to assess if all portfolio requirements have been met, but for some reason circumstances prevent formatting and submitting the portfolio in a timely manner. In these circumstances, an immediate provisional pay increase between $0.25 - $0.50 can be approved towards the full $1.00 raise.

Responsibilities of Project Leads

A team leader is responsible for making sure the following things occur, delegating to other team members where necessary/possible:

• Making sure github is up to date, including links and pictures
• Making sure team communication is happening (including with stakeholders and lab management)
• Making sure group meetings are prepared for (e.g. weekly report, timeline, relevant data)
• Coordinating schedules for field deployments and build parties
• Making sure the project checklist/timeline is up to date
• Communicating in advance possible plans to leave the lab or project to ensure smooth transitions
• Requesting new hires based on project needs/timelines
• Passing on knowledge to new OPEnS staff

This is a lot of extra work, however delegating this work amongst your team is key to a successful project.

Acknowledgements

This promotion guide was written with the help/guidance of OPEnS staff in winter of 2022. If future staff deems revisions, changes, or reworks necessary they have the full right to respectfully do so.