This one's for the experimentalists

[kaberett]

I am increasingly convinced that the reason labs are so often located in the basement has nothing to do with technical reasons (weight of equipment; minimising vibrations; etc) and is instead 100% concerned with convincing you that you will never see the sky again.

(Lab is 15degC and falling. I have at least an hour to go. Group pub outing started twenty-five minutes ago. And it is still the case that I really love my job.)

Comments

[highlyeccentric]

USyd has a policy of keeping their Arts postgraduates belowground. It was exciting the day they built us a new hotdesk lab with WINDOWS. Windows! (Finishing students get an attic instead. And dedicated desks. They're training us into low expectations.)

[kaberett]

HAH. Caltech actually does something similar with its first-year postgrads in earth sciences - they all of them live in a crowded little den in the first basement in first year, and then get to go somewhere with LIGHT once they're big grown-ups with a project of their very own.

[swaldman]

In my little mini-campus, the taught masters students get glorious views across hills and sea, and PhD students get to look at a brick wall 2feet from the window.