Group Projects Class of 2010 Logistics Bren School

Group Projects Class of 2010 Logistics Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Information Sources Group Project Guidelines http: //www. bren. ucsb. edu/services/student/index. html Past Reports and Briefs http: //www. bren. ucsb. edu/research/group_projects. asp Brief Template and Example http: //www. services/students/index. html 2 nd year Presentations this Friday April 3 rd, 3 pm Double Tree Resort Your 2 nd year Peers Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Administration Group Project Committee (09 -10) • • • Christina Tague, Group Project Chair John Melack Cathie Ramus Jim Frew Amy Burgard ü Staff Group Project Coordinator ü Your first point of contact for all matters related to group projects Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Registration You should be registered in 401 A (Tague) for spr 09 If not, do this before end of week or you’ll need an approval code 401 B (fall 09) & 401 C (win 10) Multiple sections; register in the one with your advisor Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Meetings Meet at least once/week Students are responsible for scheduling meetings and securing meeting space (not advisors) Bonsai Room & Visitor Center are designated group project meeting spaces Visitor Center available during business hours Bonsai available at all hours Students reserve rooms for group project meetings in these spaces using Corp Time Scheduling Instructions (on services) http: //www. bren. ucsb. edu/services/student/Student. Schedulingof. Rooms _000. htm Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Meetings (cont. ) Be good peers… Check availability before scheduling Never schedule on top of an existing reservation Always remove reservations if you won’t be using the room and remove it as soon as you know Staff will not schedule group project meetings in other rooms unless Bonsai and Visitor’s Center are booked or it is a special stakeholder meeting (in this case send email to scheduling@bren) Please use scheduling@bren to reserve any rooms or media (i. e. video projectors, conference phone etc) and do so reasonably well in advance Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Money Matters Each group gets $1, 300 plus up to $200 for printing Includes all costs including poster and briefs Printing allocations made to individual group members Can “buy” more printing Appoint a financial manager (FM) by Thursday 4/9 and inform Amy Burgard (aburgard@bren) via email (group nickname, manager name and email) Mike Best will arrange meetings with each manager (perhaps groups of managers) and educate them about financial matters Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

$$$ FMs should study information about finances in handbook Get to know the Bren School’s Financial Staff Connie Fourqurean (connie) = purchasing Frank Soares (fsoares) = travel and payroll Mike (mbest) = extramural and gift funds, proposals, financial statements, questions, problems, training Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

External Funds While obtaining additional funding may be desirable, we generally don’t pick projects that can’t be done on the base budget provided by the School or funding promised by the client. You are not encouraged to spend a lot of time trying to raise funds at the expense of doing the project! Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Contracts/Grants Contract/grant = money given to University for a specific deliverable(s) Proposal to funding organization is written (with Mike Best’s coordination) Must be faculty principle investigator (PI); PI ultimately responsible Proposal must have budget, budget justification, clearly articulated deliverables, start and end date Must be approved by the Office of Research before submission (takes at least 1 week) ONLY the Office or Research can accept contract and grant money; you can’t do this on your own! OVERHEAD RATE = 50%!!!! i. e. $100 yields only $50 of real capital Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Gifts are Best!!! Donor writes check to UC Regents stating that it is a gift Can be no deliverables; no signed paperwork; can be general stipulations… “to support research about alien life on Mars” All gifts coordinated by Jennifer Deacon (jennifer@bren) Most federal agencies and many other public agencies can not make gifts Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

The Golden Rule If you want the gold, you have to speak with Jennifer first Do not under any circumstances, even if faculty tell you to, talk to anyone about a giving a gift without first talking with Jennifer Deacon!!! Active fundraising by students without Jennifer’s guidance is not appropriate Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Summer Internships If internships promised, identify one group member to be the summer internship coordinator (IC) Decide EARLY who is going to do the internships IC works with Dave Parker for help coordinating internships Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Work Stations One computer for each group in Commons (13 total) Computer assignment map will be posted in Services/Group Projects Exception: Eco-Ent projects will be in BH 2027 until we create more stations in Commons (although that probably won’t be during your time here) Obtain keys from Frank Soares Move-in date = Monday, April 27 th Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Computer Resources Each group must appoint: Web Manager (IM) Data Manager (DM) Inform Amy Burgard (aburgard@bren) by Thursday, 4/9 Compute staff will hold a mandatory training meeting for DMs and IMs in the near future Much to learn about computing related to group projects Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Website Each group must create (by end of spring quarter) and maintain a web site At a minimum the following is required: Names and email of all group members Group email address Names and email of advisor(s) Final project proposal (completed at the end of spring) All GP computers will have Adobe Suite installed Website design workshop to be held in spring quarter Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Grading Grades Letter grade assigned for 401 A by Tague IP (In Progress) grade at end 401 B Letter grade assigned at end of 401 C by advisor Letter grade replaces previous IP grade B or better required Separate grades Often the whole group gets the same grade but this is not required Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Evaluation Criteria 401 A Tague will outline in her class, Basic Course Outline is available on Gaucho Space – make sure you have access to ESM 401 A on Gaucho Space (https: //gauchospace. ucsb. edu/) Log in using your University ID 401 B & C Understanding of relevant published literature Critical perspective on quality and shortcomings of prior work Understanding of both social and natural science dimensions of the issues Originality of analysis, problem formulation and scope of work Relationships with outside advisors and stakeholders Resourcefulness Punctuality Communication skills Participation Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Peer Evaluations Completed at end of each quarter These are taken into account in assigning grades If you don’t identify probs. , they can’t be solved S (09) submitted to Tague & faculty advisor F (09) & W (10) submitted to faculty advisor and GP Coordinator Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Faculty Evaluations 401 A reviewed at the end of spring GP Advisor Evaluations – Completed at end of project Extremely important that every group member participates and provides thorough and informative feedback Why not end of spr & fall? Past students recommended against this because many uncomfortable doing so mid-project and when it is difficult to be anonymous Communicate serious mid-project advisor issues to Amy, anonymously if need be Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Faculty Advisors Monitor progress, provide technical assistance/expertise, and evaluate project and assign grades Project leadership/mgmt and quality of final products is YOUR responsibility NOT project managers, more like a consultant Attend a regular meeting Provide advice but generally reactive; you need to take initiative No two advisors alike Expect variability in engagement, expectations, responsiveness, and feedback May be quite hands off All expect you to take charge Turn around time needs vary but NEVER expect under 1 week Schedule initial meeting with advisor NOW and explore how they will interact with you Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

External Advisors Groups are expected to obtain the counsel of outside advisors (at least two) who may have interest in the projects, data, or deliverables You are responsible for identifying them, developing professional relationships with them and maintaining professional contact Outside advisory committee often includes another Bren faculty member Interact with them with absolutely the highest standards of professionalism Don’t have a meeting without an agenda Prepare minutes Send thank you notes Meet deadlines and keep promises Never share negativity ACKNOWEDLEGE them frequently, privately and publicly (if they welcome this) Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Structure of the Group Democracy vs. efficient organization This is a situation where democracy is overrated Someone needs to be in charge or chaos will rule Laura’s advice: designate a project manager!!! Give manager authority to be the ultimate decisionmaker (not tyrant) Rotate role? Must designate a financial manager, data manager, and web manager May want to create other roles as well (get advice from 2 nd years) Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Problems Primary responsibility for problem solving lies with students Avoid complaining; propose solutions It’s possible you’ll have slackers or pseudo-slackers Involve advisor after thorough efforts by the group to solve problems If serious unresolvable problems (this is rare), go to Amy, Christina and/or John; they will involve group project committee if appropriate Written documentation essential if administrative solution ultimately required PS There is an campus ombuds office: http: //www. ombuds. ucsb. edu/index. html Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Use of Human Subjects MUST follow very strict procedures and may need to obtain approval from the human subjects committee if human subjects will be used in research This even applies to CONDUCTING SURVEYS!!! It's potentially a very big deal not to be in compliance This will be covered in detail in 401 A, and a representative from UCSB Office of Research will present on human subjects approval process Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Deliverables See Group Project Guidelines for Specific Deadlines and Timelines Deliverables will be covered in more detail in 401 A Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Spring/Fall 2009 Spring 2009 z Draft and Final Project Proposal z Other deliverables required by Tague z Proposal Review Meeting z Written proposal review summary z Peer Evaluations z Group website Fall 2009 z Progress review meeting (mid-quarter presentation) z Written Progress Report z Peer Evaluations Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Winter 2009 z Project Defense z Final report z Abstract and acknowledgements for presentation program z Brief - 4 page summary of highlights with graphics z Poster Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Public Presentation Date TBA; Group projects officially end winter quarter so it could be as early as the end of finals week; likely the second week of spring quarter Will likely be in a different next year—hopefully at Bren Not the same as defense talk because different audience Don’t “dumb down” but tailor it to a diverse audience more interested in substance and findings and less in details of methods Poster session & reception follows Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

What you need to start doing IMMEDIATELY READ the Group Project guidelines Schedule meetings Define roles (FM, DM, WM, IC) and email relevant parties Start developing your group; learn about each other; do something together Educate yourself about your project Collect papers and reports and read about your project You can’t get started and you can’t do a good job if you don’t know the current state of knowledge Get clients funding commitments firmed up (working with advisor and appropriate Bren staff) Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Helpful Resources Writing skills Writing Center (writing@bren) Individual and group tutoring Research skills Janet Martorana (martoran@library) Librarian assigned to Bren Holds weekly office hours here at Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Cautions The work belongs to ALL group members Everyone must be listed as authors in all presentations and publications even if you’ve adapted it Make sure references to others work/data/models are thoroughly referenced There may be problems sharing datasets or products with outside clients because of licensing agreements; explore this well in advance with Jason. Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB

Wo. Ws Avoid having group project become all or overly consuming and not taking advantage of all the other important learning opportunities at Bren This may or may not be extremely challenging (more likely may) You may or may not have issues with group members, advisor of clients; it’s all good This is one of the best preparations possible for your future career (ask any alum or employer) You will face the same sorts of challenges (and harder) in your job; appreciate the opportunity to practice now This is an educational experience—”a practice not a perfect” Relish the process as well as the product Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, UCSB