“He mentioned that you’re a student at Briar, but your pack is here in the City. He said that you’re looking for lab space and someone who can help oversee your project, so that you can get through the individual research you need to complete in order to graduate,” he replied.
“That I am. I’m happy to send you the proposal or answer any questions,” I replied, trying not to get too excited.
“No need. I’m happy to take you on,” he said.
“Really? Wait, doesn’t NYC State have rules about people using the labs?” I asked, still wary.
“They do. Which is why we started the lab incubatorprogram for independent research. It’s open to non-NYCS students. I would be absolutely happy to accept you to the program,” he replied.
“I would be happy for that, too.” Oh, would I be so happy.
If it worked out, of course. I couldn’t get excited yet.
“Great, I’ll send over the information so you’ll know how we operate. You can go over it with your mentor and make sure it meets all the criteria your university has, and that they can supply you with things you need beyond what we have,” he added. “But those accepted to the program don’t pay a fee to use the lab itself. There are staffed hours where you can get guidance and sign-offs as needed, and unstaffed hours. It won’t replace your mentor, but if this is as self-directed as it sounds, we should be able to satisfy whatever else your university might require.”
“I’ll talk to him. I think this might work. I have a grant from Compass BioTek, I’m not sure if that would be a conflict of interest,” I added. Oh, this sounded perfect.
“Compass BioTek? That’s fantastic and another reason why we started this program. Let me get your email and I’ll send everything over to you right now. If it doesn’t work for you, I totally understand.”
I gave it to him, asked a few questions, and ended the call.
Wow. I might have a lab. I immediately texted Baba.
Me
I heard from Professor Mathers today. Thanks.
Baba
I hope it works out. He’d be a good connection for you. You’ve always leaned more toward Bio-Chem anyway. Let me know if I can be of more help. Also, apparently your Mama’s exerciseclass uses a lot of your mate’s music and she’s excited to meet him.
Oh, I could see that. Next time we were in Bayside, Dusty would probably like to go to the class.
Me
Thank you.
That was exciting. I opened my email and looked over everything. Wow. This looked like exactly what I needed. I sent it to my mentor, hoping this would work.Please let it work.
Yeah, I could have a lab now, I just needed that PhD program and I’d be all set.
“I think we’ve pretty much accomplished everything that we need for our next pack services appointment,” Dusty stated as we sat around the dining room table. It held remnants of the dinner Fiona had made–pork chops, applesauce, green beans, and potatoes. Delicious.
“Sounds good. I’ll make sure to redirect my percentage to the pack account by the due date, and I’ll start setting up the utilities on auto pay from that account, since they’re all in my name anyway,” Carlos chimed in.
We had a pack bank account. Wow. Talk about grown up.
“Now that we’ve gone over everything in the contract and made all our changes, I’ll get it back to Dad. He’s been after me ever since we had dinner. But he’s the one who taught me to read contracts thoroughly,” Fiona added.
“Does anybody else have anything we need to add or discuss before we move on to Fiona’s presentation?” Saoirse asked. “We’re on thenews and updatessection of the agenda.”
“Yes.” I’d been holding in my news. “I have a lab.”
“You do?” Fiona jumped up and hugged me.
“Today I got an offer from a professor at NYC State that has an incubator lab. My mentor looked over everything, and it meets all the requirements. We submitted the forms to Briar for final approval, and then I’ll be all set,” I said excitedly.
Also, I’d looked up Professor Mathers, and he was doing some fascinating shit. Yeah, Baba had really done me a solid there.
