March 24, 2020
I wanted to provide you an update on our progress and also announce new Projects and Positions. First, I’m pleased to introduce the following personnel who are contributing to the organization:
Eric Greene - Eric is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and he is helping me to advise the group and interface with CUIMC administrators. Eric will also help to start launching our “internal” projects focused on ideas and the scientific literature. These will hopefully engage larger numbers of volunteers from this group at once. Stay tuned!
Miles Richardson – Miles is Graduate Student in the CMB program and joined us as Communications Officer.
Natalie Steinemann – Natalie is an Associate Research Scientist at the Zuckerman Institute and is serving as the leader of Project 3.
Haotian Wu – Howie is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences and is serving as Manager of Project 1.
We are working to select a Personnel Officer and a Safety Officer from among numerous applicants – thanks to all the volunteers!
Updates:
First of all, membership in this group has increased to over 300 volunteers! So far, projects have only required modest numbers of people, but we’re working to build out projects that will engage larger numbers of individuals ASAP. In addition, we have connected with top-level administrators at CUIMC who have begun to connect us with specific needs (see Project 5 below). We are also beginning to make progress on the first projects:
- Project 1 (IRB Data Management) is off and running! Howie is working with the IRB to understand their needs and bring in the right group of people to assist.
- Teams have been selected for Project 3 (Mask Sterilization) and Project 4 (Biorepository) and are awaiting deployment (our partners for these projects are working through logistical aspects).
We’ve also been building a webpage to update the community on our efforts and inform potential volunteers of the effort. It is very basic right now, but will be developed further over time. Right now, if you know of anyone who is interested in this group, they can sign up to volunteer through the website.
New Project: Project #5 – Rapid Response Team
We were contacted by the Research Office of VP&S who noted that with so many fewer people on campus, it is sometimes challenging to quickly respond to the failure of equipment such as freezers and incubators. They asked if we could assemble a “rapid response team” of experienced laboratory scientists who live on or near campus who could be on call in the event of an equipment failure. Team members would be asked to help assess the situation (with their support) and assist in remediation. Volunteers for this project should have significant experience working in wet-labs (this should be reflected in their RASCAL trainings), and of course the permission of their Columbia PI/Manager. If you are interested either in Managing this Project or in being part of the response team, please fill out this form.
New Position: Data Management Officer
As our organization is growing, we need to make sure that volunteers have easy access to all the information they need. We are looking for a data manager that will create and maintain an intuitive workspace in Google drive, organize our documents, and administer access permissions.
This role has the potential of evolving into a more general IT support position. If you are interested, please fill out this form.
Thank you again for all your support. Now that we have built out this infrastructure, we hope to be able to increase the number of projects available in the coming days.
I wanted to provide you an update on our progress and also announce new Projects and Positions. First, I’m pleased to introduce the following personnel who are contributing to the organization:
Eric Greene - Eric is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and he is helping me to advise the group and interface with CUIMC administrators. Eric will also help to start launching our “internal” projects focused on ideas and the scientific literature. These will hopefully engage larger numbers of volunteers from this group at once. Stay tuned!
Miles Richardson – Miles is Graduate Student in the CMB program and joined us as Communications Officer.
Natalie Steinemann – Natalie is an Associate Research Scientist at the Zuckerman Institute and is serving as the leader of Project 3.
Haotian Wu – Howie is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences and is serving as Manager of Project 1.
We are working to select a Personnel Officer and a Safety Officer from among numerous applicants – thanks to all the volunteers!
Updates:
First of all, membership in this group has increased to over 300 volunteers! So far, projects have only required modest numbers of people, but we’re working to build out projects that will engage larger numbers of individuals ASAP. In addition, we have connected with top-level administrators at CUIMC who have begun to connect us with specific needs (see Project 5 below). We are also beginning to make progress on the first projects:
- Project 1 (IRB Data Management) is off and running! Howie is working with the IRB to understand their needs and bring in the right group of people to assist.
- Teams have been selected for Project 3 (Mask Sterilization) and Project 4 (Biorepository) and are awaiting deployment (our partners for these projects are working through logistical aspects).
We’ve also been building a webpage to update the community on our efforts and inform potential volunteers of the effort. It is very basic right now, but will be developed further over time. Right now, if you know of anyone who is interested in this group, they can sign up to volunteer through the website.
New Project: Project #5 – Rapid Response Team
We were contacted by the Research Office of VP&S who noted that with so many fewer people on campus, it is sometimes challenging to quickly respond to the failure of equipment such as freezers and incubators. They asked if we could assemble a “rapid response team” of experienced laboratory scientists who live on or near campus who could be on call in the event of an equipment failure. Team members would be asked to help assess the situation (with their support) and assist in remediation. Volunteers for this project should have significant experience working in wet-labs (this should be reflected in their RASCAL trainings), and of course the permission of their Columbia PI/Manager. If you are interested either in Managing this Project or in being part of the response team, please fill out this form.
New Position: Data Management Officer
As our organization is growing, we need to make sure that volunteers have easy access to all the information they need. We are looking for a data manager that will create and maintain an intuitive workspace in Google drive, organize our documents, and administer access permissions.
This role has the potential of evolving into a more general IT support position. If you are interested, please fill out this form.
Thank you again for all your support. Now that we have built out this infrastructure, we hope to be able to increase the number of projects available in the coming days.