Working together, we can make an idea bigger. Intellectual bravery requires leaps into the unknown. A warm and supportive lab culture provides a safety net for taking big leaps. You belong here.

Lab Culture

• Mutual respect

• Belonging

• Representation

• Positive and constructive feedback

Lab Practices

• Journal club: We ask each person to identify 1-2 strengths, weaknesses, and discussion questions. After each person is heard, the moderator clarifies areas of confusion and chooses the order of discussion questions.

• Mentoring: As the PI, mentoring is the most important part of my job. My mentoring philosophy is grounded in patience, listening, empathy, and feedback. We are all learning from each other all the time. I promise to train students to identify a big question, focus on a proximal question, and develop a list of executable tasks. Together we will iteratively design well-controlled experiments and thorough analyses. In 2019, I was awarded the inaugural Outstanding Postdoc Mentor or Teacher Award by the Postdoc Society at Washington University in St. Louis. This is my proudest professional achievement.

• Individualized Development Plans: To align expectations and ensure training serves long term career goals, we will use the Vincent et al. 2015 format for Individualized Development Plans developed by the DePace Lab. One of the primary goals of StallerLab is help lab members get to where they want to go next.

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: StallerLab is always looking for trainees from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in STEM. We currently partner with the SEED Scholars program, the Biological Scholars Program, and similar initiatives. Max has a track record of mentoring students from diverse backgrounds.