BioM2 Lab Guidelines and Resources

Biosphere Modeling and Monitoring Lab · Cornell EEB

What to expect in the BioM2 Lab: how we work, what members can expect from the PI and from each other, and how to join.
Published

2026-09-18

Version 3.3 — September 2026

Welcome to the BioM2 Lab. We work to improve mechanistic and predictive understanding of the terrestrial biosphere through multi-scale modeling and model-guided observations and experiments. This guideline serves as a What-To-Expect document for people interested in joining the lab and a community commitment statement for current lab members.

1. What we do

We work at the interface of plant science, forestry, ecology, Earth system science, and remote sensing, asking how traits, diversity, and environmental heterogeneity determine ecosystem processes at large scales. To address these questions, we use theoretical and computational approaches to analyze field and remote sensing observations. Current projects center on forest resilience and disturbance under environmental change, tree allometry and forest biomass dynamics through lidar, process-based forest demographic modeling, and satellite-based monitoring of freshwater ecosystems. Our research is supported by NSF, DOE, USDA, NASA, NY DEC, Cornell, and private foundations. Please refer to the Research tab for more details.

2. Working in BioM2

2.1 Computational work

Most projects in this lab involve substantial computational work, such as running numerical models, analyzing remote sensing data sets, and using interpretable machine learning techniques, often on High-Performance Computing (HPC) clusters. Previous computational experience is preferred but not a prerequisite. People join this lab with a wide variety of academic backgrounds and computational fluency. It does not take long to master the tools necessary for your scientific questions, especially with the rapid evolution of LLM and agentic AI. Course resources are available to help you, including my own ecological data analytics course, as well as the lab’s internal documentation.

2.2 Field work

High-quality and novel data is essential to ecological research. We run and contribute to field campaigns, especially the Luquillo LTER in Puerto Rico and recurring lidar-based forest census campaigns in New York.

During fieldwork, safety is not optional and not informal. EEB circulates a checklist and runs an annual field safety workshop — see the EEB GSA resources page. A communication plan is mandatory. Someone who is not in the field must know your itinerary and expected check-in times. If conditions on the ground differ from the plan (weather, political situation, illness, or anything else) the default is to stop and call me to work out a contingency plan.

2.3 Meeting schedules

  • Weekly lab meetings alternate among research presentations, journal club, practice talks, and professional development discussions. Everyone is expected to attend and it is the main opportunity for lab members to exchange ideas and catch up. There is a fun Five-Slide Rule for research presentation in lab meetings, bases on Compression is Intelligence concept. This asks both the presenter and audience to focus on key question and spend more time on interactive discussions.
  • Weekly thematic research meeting dives deep into a topic or a project. This is not an all-hands meeting; often only member(s) involved in the project or interested in thematic details join (but everyone is welcome). This is the best opportunity to gather intellectual resources within the lab to tackle challenges.
  • Additional one-to-one meetings serve to talk about personal topics, career planning, and anything better discussed privately. They are often more frequent for the first semester of new members (e.g. bi-weekly).
  • Other meetings are need-based (e.g. monthly project meeting, pop-up meetings for manuscript or proposal writing).

3. Lab expectations

3.1 What you can expect from me

I see my role as adviser and colleague. You can expect the following from me:

  • Regular meeting time with lab members prioritized over other meetings.
  • Prompt feedback on written work (within one to two weeks) for manuscript and proposal.
  • Honest and critical assessment of your work. I welcome disagreement and push-backs, which are normal and healthy for exploring the unknowns.
  • Advocacy for you inside and outside the department: introductions, nominations, letters, and job searches.
  • Transparency about funding. I will explain what is supporting you, for how long, and what the plan is after that.
  • Individual Development Plan. In addition to research meetings, I will work with you to set up personal development goals annually, including key milestone targets, the skills to build, and resources you need.

3.2 What I expect from you

Be curious and proactive. Find the questions that genuinely interest you and look for ways to answer them, even when your approach seems naive and does not lead you far in your first few tries. Such practices make our discussions better and prepares you to work independently.

Be creative and rigorous. Propose bold ideas and hypotheses for fundamental and challenging scientific questions. At the same time, test them carefully to make sure your research products are rigorous and reproducible. Pay attention to alternative explanations and to the outliers instead of cherry-picking “positive” results.

Be communicative and collaborative. We work as a team. Good collaborative teamwork builds upon open, honest, and timely communications. Tell me about progress, needs, and anything that disrupts the plan, and I will do the same. Share your work with lab members and give them constructive feedback, particularly in lab meetings.

Specifically:

  • Come to meetings prepared, with results organized and questions ready.
  • Participate in lab and departmental life (lab meetings, EEB seminars) as a contributor (ask questions, meet with speakers, propose meeting topics).
  • Raise problems early. Almost everything is easier to fix at week two than at month six.
  • Side projects and continuing prior work are welcome as long as they do not derail your main goal. Talk to me and we can usually make them complementary.
  • Organize and back up your work regularly. Archive on publication and check data-sharing terms early. Detailed guidelines can be found in the lab handbook.

3.3 Authorship and AI usage

You should be first and normally corresponding author on papers from the project you lead. You know the details best and are the right person to handle correspondence. Exceptions exist: if you took little part in the research design but led the analyses and writing, you could still be first author, though likely not corresponding author.

AI assistants are powerful for brainstorming, coding, debugging, and editing, and you are encouraged to use them. At the same time, you must be able to explain the code and the results. Verify generated code and texts, because these tools still make mistakes despite their rapid improvement. Two requirements:

  • Do not paste unpublished data, collaborator data, or manuscripts under review into a tool without checking the terms of the specific account you are using.
  • Disclose AI use where a journal, funder, or fellowship requires it. AI assistance does not confer authorship and does not substitute for understanding your own analysis.

3.4 Lab culture and support

Our lab welcomes people from all backgrounds with a shared passion for understanding ecological principles and solving environmental problems at biosphere scale. We maintain a safe and supportive lab environment for scientific discussions. No question is too stupid to ask within the lab.

Our research addresses both fundamental principles and solutions to real-world problems in ecology and environmental science. The lab actively collaborates with government agencies, national labs, NGOs, and industry partners. Therefore, I also support career paths beyond traditional academic positions by providing resources on relevant internships, appropriate skill-building, and networking.

Maintain a good work-life balance. Research is a marathon, not a sprint. Plan your vacations following university policies (for graduate students, for postdocs). In addition, your health comes before any deadline in this lab. Tell me and your co-workers about your time-off plans as far in advance as possible so we can adjust plans and expectations accordingly.

Harassment and discrimination are unacceptable. Please talk to whoever you are comfortable with, including me, the EEB Director of Graduate Studies, the Graduate School, and Cornell Title IX Office.

4. For graduate students

Departmental requirements are set by the Graduate Field of EEB. In brief, as of 2026: a launch team supports your first year; the Special Committee must be complete by the end of your third semester; the A exam (dissertation proposal) must be finished before the end of the 5th semester and the B exam (dissertation defense) in year 5; BIOEE 7670 is the one required course; two semesters of TA are required. Refer to the EEB funding and program requirements page and the EEB Ph.D. Student Handbook for more details.

Lab norms on top of that:

  • A first-year project based on existing data or straightforward model–data comparison, ideally becoming chapter 1.
  • Three publishable chapters minimum, tightly or loosely connected, each at a quality suitable for a leading journal in the field. Write and submit early rather than saving it all for year 5.
  • Contribute to lab field campaigns as much as you can. This helps to maintain long-term data set collection in the lab and enrich your skills.
  • Conferences: aim to present at a relevant meeting (AGU, ESA, ATBC, or similar) once a year. In addition to project funding, also pursue Graduate School travel funding.

Funding. Students are supported through a mix of Teaching Assistantship, Research Assistantship, and Fellowship. I develop a base support plan for each student and will be transparent about it. I encourage applications for internal and external awards and am happy to review proposals:

Steven Weinberg’s Four golden lessons is quite insightful for guiding graduate study in my opinion:

  • no one knows everything, and you don’t have to
  • while you are swimming and not sinking you should aim for rough water [go for the messes — that’s where the action is]
  • forgive yourself for wasting time [if you want to be creative, then you will have to get used to spending most of your time not being creative, to being becalmed on the ocean of scientific knowledge]
  • learn something about the history of science, or at a minimum the history of your own branch of science

Prospective graduate students. It is recommended to reach out to me a few months before the application deadline. Include a short description of your research experience and the questions you want to work on. Applications go to the Graduate Field of EEB.

5. For postdocs

Postdocs are a major source of intellectual diversity of the lab, since you usually arrive from a different background and training. Such diversity is critical to out-of-the-box thinking and solving hard problems. Contributing your expertise to other lab members’ projects usually costs little and produces disproportionately good and exciting results.

Postdocs are generally supported by grants or fellowships. I expect you to work as an independent researcher on questions of shared interest, and I will provide intellectual and logistical support. I highly encourage you to think beyond the project in the context of your own career plan and research portfolio.

Prospective postdocs. Email with a CV and a short statement of research interests if you are interested in joining the lab. Fellowship applications with me as host are welcome. Fellowships that fit the lab’s work include, but are not limited to:

Other resources: EEB postdoc professional development activities, the Cornell Office of Postdoctoral Studies, and the Cornell Atkinson Center.

6. For undergraduates

We welcome undergraduates in lab rotations, summer projects, and honors theses, on computational, field-based, and lab-based work. Email me with a short note about what draws you to the work and any relevant coursework (or a Resume). Programming and GIS experience helps for modeling projects but is not required for all of them. You are not required to attend regular lab meetings due to challenges in coordinating your course schedule.

Undergraduate research projects are often carved out from a bigger lab project under direct guidance of current lab graduate students, postdocs, and me. A short presentation (15min) summarizing your work at the end of your project in lab meetings or research meetings is generally expected.

Undergraduate research can be supported through either for-pay reserach positions (often over summer and availability depends on project funding) or enrollment in research credit (during regular semesters).

Contributing

This guideline is maintained in the lab GitHub organization and rendered on the lab website. If something is unclear, outdated, or missing: raise it at lab meeting, or tell me directly.

BioM2 Lab · Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University · https://xiangtaoxu.eeb.cornell.edu/