@mattschultzy671

4 years ago

Like others who have already commented, I really appreciate that you take the time to document the waste cleanup step. No job in the lab in ever complete until the equipment is clean and ready for the next procedure. For the aspiring scientist, it is every bit as important to learn as any other lab procedure. During my time as a student, I had a very particular conversation with our department chair about how useful I thought it would be if the university offered a class, required or elective, on general laboratory procedures. It seemed to me that both biology and chemistry labs failed to teach general and common lab procedures, especially good waste management, and focused to narrowly on the applied lesson itself. Not wanting to take away from that primary purpose, I thought the best thing was to have a separate class that covered these issues. He was seemingly positive about the idea, but nothing ever came of it. I would have been one of the first to sign up to take the class. To this day, I don't think a single undergraduate from our chemistry or biology departments experience even a single lab session devoted to properly identifying lab waste hazards and how to correctly neutralize them as part of lab cleanup. Thank you for going the extra mile!

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