View information about Program Policies: Academic Performance and Integrity in Research And Creative Activities, and Student Guidelines emphasis on office, lab and technology set up, and miscellaneous duties and expectations such as purchasing, vehicles, parking, travel and meetings.

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Program Policies

 

Academic Performance: Dismissal from the Graduate Program

Graduate students may be dismissed from their program for failure to meet academic standards.  In such instances, the students will be notified of the intent to dismiss and informed of their rights for due process and appeal (See section XII. Appeals Processes).  If a student appeals the decision to dismiss, s/he must be allowed to maintain enrollment and continue working toward the graduate degree in the same manner as any other graduate student in the program during the appeals process.  Continued enrollment is not required to appeal.  Once the decision of the appropriate appeals panel is made, it will be final. 

 

Integrity in Research And Creative Activities: Dismissal from the Graduate Program

Graduate students may be dismissed from their program for academic integrity violations, student misconduct, behavior that is deemed an egregious violation of professional behavior, unsatisfactory progress towards degree, or unsatisfactory performance of teaching or research duties.  In such instances, the student will be informed by the program of the intent to dismiss and their right for due process and to appeal. If a student appeals the decision to dismiss, s/he must be allowed to maintain enrollment and continue working toward the graduate degree in the same manner as any other graduate student in the program during the appeals process. Continued enrollment is not required to appeal. Once the decision of the appropriate appeals panel is made, it will be final. 

 

Student Guidelines

 

Offices

Office space is limited, but it is especially limited for graduate students. Typically, 3 graduate students will share an office. Room 204 is a big room with more desks. Each student will have a desk, hutch, and chair assigned to them. Do not modify or move furniture without permission from the Graduate Coordinator.

The Graduate Coordinator will assign you an office space prior to your arrival on campus. Please obtain a key from 101 Animal Science. If you want to trade office assignments with another student, and it is mutually agreeable, both students should make the request to the Graduate Coordinator.

 

Computers

Computers are not guaranteed for graduate students. There are a few options for computers. Options for computer use include using your own, use of a PI’s laboratory computer, or use of a computer found in the library or computer labs on campus.

If your desk has a computer on it, and you want to use something else, DO NOT move that computer. Contact the Grad Coordinator. 

 

Wi-Fi

Eduroam Android Connection Instructions:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Wi-fi Settings.
3. Choose ‘eduroam’ from Wi-Fi- list.
4. Set EAP method to PEAP.
5. Set Phase 2 authentication to MSCHAPV2. Note: You may be required to select the Advanced button first.
6. If 'CA certificate must be selected' is listed, set CA certificate to 'Don’t validate'. Otherwise, leave unchanged. Set domain to ad.okstate.edu
7. Type your @okstate.edu login address in Identity text box.
8. Leave Anonymous identity text box blank.
9. Type your O-Key password in Password textbox.
10. Select Connect. 

Eduroam iPhone Connection Instructions:

1. Open Settings.
2. Go to Wi-Fi Settings
3. Choose "eduroam" from the list of available networks
4. Enter in your O-Key login address and password.
5. Choose the option to "Trust" the "eduroam" network.

 

Software

OSU-licensed software is available on the Software Distribution webpage. You may need Admin-access to your computer to install some of it.  Ask OSU IT staff if needed.

The SAS activation file is on the software distribution page with the software, but it is a separate download. R and RStudio are free downloads.

 

Printers

Printers are available in ANSI 101 and 206.

Print what you need, but minimize printing as much as feasible. It costs money, puts wear on the printer, ties it up for others, etc. You can use these copiers for necessary class copies, etc.

DO NOT RUN ADHESIVE LABELS THROUGH THE BIG PRINTER. It will cause a jam. Ask for help from ANSI 205 or 208A.

 

Lab Procedures

Laboratories are available for the benefit of the department and University. Certain labs are supervised by specific faculty. These arrangements should be respected. Follow all safety and lab use approved lab procedures. If you don’t know what you are doing, ask for and obtain help. Don’t endanger yourself or others, don’t waste materials or supplies, and don’t break things in the lab. Don’t move or modify equipment without the permission of the lab supervisor. Replace supplies that you use. Practice common sense and be a good citizen. We understand accidents happen; if a piece of equipment breaks or becomes damaged, notify your advisor and the faculty member supervising the lab immediately so corrective measures can be taken.

 

Data Management

Every PI has their own preferences for data management. Please discuss with your PI requirements for data management before you start collecting data. 

Below are some guidelines to stimulate your thinking and that discussion:

• Raw data should be collected on pre-designed and approved forms, and signed and dated by the collector.  These forms must be kept in a secure place.  Data should be immediately entered into a spreadsheet and checked for errors.  Error checking involves checking mean, standard deviation, and range of the data.  Error checking also includes entering data into two separate tables and using functions in spreadsheets to compare the two values, as well as checking entered values against the raw data form in reverse order.  
• The structure of the spreadsheet should be “tidy”.  Tidy data is a structure in which observations are in rows, variables are in columns, and each type of data has a separate table. Tidy data has no extraneous information or formatting (single color, single font, no comments in cells, no headers or footers). Tidy data is very easily read into an analysis software package with very simple code.
• Data should be visualized immediately to look for obvious errors.
• Your processes must be reproducible. This means that everything that you do to the data from the raw data to the final analysis must be scripted in code (R, SAS, etc.). All data transformations, calculations, sorting, group means, etc. must be in code. Do not manipulate the data in Excel - because the steps you take in Excel are not recorded and when errors arise or somebody questions your calculations, you will not be able to reproduce what you did from the raw data.
• The above steps should be completed within 1 or 2 days of collecting raw data.  Before you collect data, you can and should plan what your data will look like, and begin scripting these processes with dummy data.
• After these steps are completed, and your advisor reviews them, then data analysis and interpretation can begin.

 

Additional Tips

• Get an experiment number from your PI. 
• An experiment is basically one set of treatments.
• Keep all your data in a single Excel workbook.  
• Name the workbook with the experiment number and your last name.  
• Put each kind of data on a separate worksheet in the workbook.
• Name the worksheets with descriptive names so that somebody else can understand what the data is and where it came from.
• Should be one sheet for cattle allocation to treatments, one sheet for cattle weights, one sheet for forage measurements, one for methane or blood, one for lab work, etc.
• Make all sheets “tidy”.
• Be consistent in the way you format data, dates, variable names, capitalization, spacing, etc.
• Put comments in the column headers to describe where the data came from.
• Write your R scripts to read the data from this one Excel workbook.
• Keep your R script and the workbook in the same folder.
• Write your thesis and save it in this folder.
• Send a copy of this folder to your PI before you turn in your thesis.

 

Purchasing

Grad students can be issued a purchasing card (p-card) at the request of their advisor. Students are not allowed to maintain possession of their card, so it must be kept with the graduate administrative assistant. You go and get it when needed. Borrowing another’s card (i.e. your advisor’s card) is a violation of OSU purchasing regulations.

 

Vehicles

Department vehicles are available for checkout by graduate students for business purposes. Please see the front office. Vehicles are also available from OSU motor pool.

 

Parking

Graduate students are not eligible for staff parking permits. Student parking permits are available.

 

Travel

OSU travel policies and procedures are complicated, but they must be followed. See the graduate administrative assistant well before your planned travel.

 

Meetings

You are expected to attend professional meetings. Do not wait to be asked if you would like to go to a meeting. Plan the meetings you want to go to, and present your plan to your professor. Masters students should go to at least the sectional ASAS meeting each year.  PhDs should go to two meetings per year.  

 

Financial resources for travel are often limited. Students should carpool and share hotel rooms where possible to minimize costs.

 

You must present research at a meeting to request travel expense reimbursement. See section on review of publications for guidelines on preparing an abstract for submission.