AXLE Lab

Our values

The lab is a community of people brought together by shared interests and maintained by mutual respect and a commitment to learning. Each person is expected to be a productive member of the lab and to follow the general principle of being reasonable and respectful. Everyone is expected to contribute to a positive, supportive, and inclusive lab culture with the understanding that each person has their own perspectives and each has value.

  • Emphasizing effort and growth over outcomes

    We value the quality and effort that each person brings to their work and to their own growth. While the outcomes (publications, demos, etc.) are important, we are constantly aiming to be the best researchers and community members that we can.

  • Giving credit where it is due

    We credit each other and other researchers/designers appropriately! For instance, this set of principles borrows from the EPFL CoALA Lab, The Variation Lab @ Harvard SEAS, and from the OH Lab @ CMU. The lab logo was designed by Isabel Ngan!

  • Taking care of ourselves and each other

    We prioritize getting enough sleep and attending to our mental and physical health, so that we can bring our best selves to our work (see “Lab Counterculture” by Jess Hammer, Alexandra To, & Erica P. Cruz).

  • Making tacit knowledge visible

    We believe that each generation of researchers and designers should work to ensure that the next generation faces fewer unnecessary hurdles than they themselves did. With fewer hurdles in their way, more people will have more opportunities to advance our fields. In line with this belief, we value sharing tacit knowledge with newcomers to the lab.

  • Starting at your beginning and reaching your own finish line

    We are all starting from somewhere different. We recognize that students at all levels may have a wide range of career goals. We support each other’s goals and help each other reach them!

  • Understanding the contexts our work lives in

    We look for the problems that matter to the people affected by them. A problem cannot be separated from the context it sits in, so we work across disciplines and alongside community partners.

  • Reflecting on our personal and community practices

    This set of values will evolve over time. Every lab member can contribute to shaping the kind of lab they want to be a part of, and we will work together to make it happen!