In the Instructional Labs and associated areas, we try to foster a culture of safety and respect. The safety aspect is underpinned by the training required for physical access. This means you can be assured that the other folks you meet in the labs have received at least the same level of safety training that you have. Let's take a moment to discuss the respect aspect.
The same diversity that makes Stanford such an intellectually strong and exciting community also means that we may come from different backgrounds and have different expectations of one another. However, one thing that we all share in common is the desire to be treated with respect. At the most basic level this entails consideration of the other people around you. By this we mean that one should consider how others will view and react to our actions. To be clear, this does not entail compromising one's beliefs or thoughts, but rather acting in a manner that takes into account other peoples’ feelings (“Don't do to others what you would not have them do to you.”)
The Electrical Engineering Department maintains a set of policies to facilitate the offering of lab components for EE courses. These policies allow the EE Instructional Labs to function smoothly, stay within budget and, hopefully, make the most effective use of our resources.
The Instructional Labs Manager (hereinafter, Lab Manager) is responsible for the timely and cost-effective procurement of lab supplies, equipment, and ancillary lab resources. Because the Lab Manager has to ensure that sufficient lab resources are available for all courses with a laboratory component, the EE Department has put in place the following policy:
Instructional Labs Procurement Policy -
A. Faculty and teaching staff shall notify the Lab Manager at the earliest possible date of materials and equipment required for each lab course offered.
This allows the Lab Manager to solicit donations from industry partners, obtain educational discounts, etc. thereby making most effective use of Department funds. Additionally, if materials or equipment are already available, the Department can avoid unnecessary duplication.
B. Any and all purchases must be made by the Lab Manager.
This allows the Department to monitor and optimize the use of funds for the Instructional Labs.
C. No purchases, expenses or commitment of funds shall be reimbursed without the prior written consent of the Lab Manager.
This means that, regardless of the circumstances, the Department shall NOT be obligated to reimburse for any expense incurred without the prior written consent of the Lab Manager. This policy applies to all department members, including, but not limited to, faculty, staff, and students. If you think you really, really, need something right away then you will need to send the Lab Manager an email and wait for an affirmative response BEFORE buying / ordering the thing. The Electrical Engineering Department WILL NOT reimburse you if you fail to obtain prior written authorization.
Access to each instructional lab will be granted during each academic quarter based on the following considerations:
SAFETY - To be granted access to any instructional lab you must send an email to the Lab Manager certifying that you have read and understood the Basic Lab Safety training material HERE.
ENROLLMENT - You must to be actively enrolled in the course(s) using the lab for which you are requesting access. This also means that when the course is over your access will automatically expire.
BUDDY AREAS - If a lab is marked as a “BUDDY AREA” you MUST have a “lab buddy’ with you whenever you are working in that lab. In general it is NOT acceptable to ”just hang out and work on your computer" in a BUDDY AREA. Please see the Basic Lab Safety material for details.
STAFF AGREEMENT - Several of our labs are only open for use when teaching staff are present. If you are enrolled in a course where this is the case, please respect this rule! I really, REALLY DO NOT want to have to revoke your lab privileges because of something like this.
As the Lab Manager my first responsibility is to facilitate and support students’ safe use of the lab facilities. I take this seriously. Please do your part to help us maintain our culture of safety in the EE Department.
Since Instructional Labs are, by definition, used by folks who are learning things they haven't yet mastered, there will inevitably be times when a piece of equipment is broken. If you think you've broken something, find a lab CA / TA and have them help you look at it to see if they can help. This will provide incentive for them to master the gear and provide a “teachable moment” for all involved. When you just can't get the darn thing to work, PLEASE send the Lab Manager a note! I will do my very best to get that darn thing to work or send it out for repair so it will be available the next time it is needed. DON'T just leave a note or piece of tape on the box that says “BROKEN” or “SCREWED UP”, etc. I don't go in all the labs frequently enough to discover these notes. PLEASE, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE, SEND ME A NOTE!!
The Packard building is NOT set up for chemistry. Don't do chemistry in Packard!! If you need or want to do some chemistry, please visit with the Lab Manager and we'll get you set up to do what you need to do. We can obtain access to wet labs in Allen or AllenX or somewhere that is set up for what you need to do. And, we can get you trained too, so you can do your thing SAFELY.
I'm going to put more info here on soldering. For now we have a couple of soldering tutorials that might help.
The first one is soldering 101.
If you are getting going on soldering SMT devices there is a companion tutorial soldering SMD.
I am happy to help you learn how to solder so please send me an email if you want to meet up and solder stuff together.
One of the more complicated things about Packard is “Where do I put my TRASH?!?!”
I'll try to explain it here:
If you have “regular” trash: put it in the trash can in the room or pitch it into one of the trash things in the common areas.
BUT NOT CARDBOARD! Cardboard is special in Packard. The janitorial folks don't take it out for you, so YOU need to take it out to the recycling bins by the side of Spilker Building. This includes (ESPECIALLY!!) pizza boxes!
Oh, but not paper… Paper gets recycled in the paper recycling bins.
If you have “solder waste” –> see the Soldering section above
If you have wires and / or e-waste –> put that stuff in the e-waste bins
If you have used batteries –> put them in the used battery buckets
If you can't figure it out, ask Mr. Green, the Packard Building Manager (He knows this stuff cold!).