SPINLAB @ MSU

This is the email I sent to all past and present members of Spinlab when my job title transitioned from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor. -JTS

Dear Spinlab Members and Alumni,

Thank you so much for all of your contributions to the success of Spinlab – I am very grateful! Seven years ago, we started with an empty room, no external funding, and zero publications. Because of your efforts, we now have an overfull lab with fancy lasers & sophisticated cryogenic equipment, plenty of funding from the NSF, the DOE, the NNSA, the Moore Foundation, & the Sloan Foundation, and 12 publications with more on the way! Over this time, the group has been composed of:

• 1 postdoc
• 9 graduate students
• 17 undergraduates
• 5 Professorial Assistants
• 3 Director’s Research Scholars
• 8 Honor College Seminar participants
• 3 Research Experience for Undergraduate summer participants
• 1 high school student

Today starts my 8^th year at NSCL/FRIB/MSU, but my first day as Associate Professor. As some of you may be aware, this promotion comes with “lab-tenure,” which essentially means that I probably won’t be fired unless the Lab loses external funding and/or I am deemed incompetent based on my most recent two years of performance.

This new status is a major milestone for the group and I am very grateful to each and every one of you for your contributions over the last seven years. After all, you are the ones which did all of the work!

As is tradition in my family, we celebrate by eating cake – even if remotely under the current circumstances. Please have cake or cake-equivalent to celebrate (and send me a picture if possible)! At some point in the future, I plan on hosting a party our house in East Lansing to celebrate more fully.

When I was a graduate student, I was present when Prof. Randy Pausch gave his famous Time Management lecture at UVa:

He told a story about taking current and former members of his research group to Disneyland for a week when he was awarded tenure. I thought this was a great idea and I wanted to do the same thing, but my wife said “NO – that’s too expensive!”

So, as an alternative, I would like to mail you (via the US Postal Service) a hand-written note, a keepsake, and a small token of my appreciation. If you would like this, then please email me your current mailing address.

• $100 bill
• $20 bill
• $10 bill
• $5 bill
• $2 bill
• 4 cents
• personalized thank you card
• stainless steel tippe top
• Chien-Shiung Wu USPS Forever Stamp

Finally, I’ve lost touch with some of you, but I would be very interested in knowing what y’all are up to now and if there is anything that I can do to help.

Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you!

-Jaideep