We Are All CSHL
The highly interactive and collaborative nature of the Lab stems from a deep sense of community, which is shared as much by support personnel as scientists.
We are all a team, I am a part of it all. I help make discoveries happen.
—Glen DiMaria,
Senior HVAC Mechanic in CSHL Facilities
These thoughts resonate throughout the Lab:
We are all here for the same reason. We are all Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
—Bruce Stillman,
CEO and President, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
It is a feeling that affects the way people work.
“My day at CSHL doesn't end at 5 o'clock,” DiMaria says, speaking for many others. The camaraderie that has developed takes tangible form in the many musical bands organized spontaneously over the years.
DiMaria's current band consists of a professor, a graduate student, a lab technician, and a member of the grounds crew.
The annual volleyball tournament is another example of how shared work brings together people from every part of the Lab.
Here, competition is expressed in a “sporting” passion to crush one's opponents and be crowned victors for the year.
These are bragging rights that Carol Greider says she and her team, the “Beta Blockers,” still remember more than 20 years after their victory.
The lab's central hub of activity is undoubtedly Blackford Hall.
Beneath the dining hall you can find the Blackford Bar, a coffee shop and lunch destination by day and a pub by night. Look around the room and you will see a microcosm of the CSHL world.
Postdocs mingle with the Advancement team, while members of one of the campus bands discuss their latest set. Professors and graduate students talk about upcoming collaborations, and Lab leaders discuss new discoveries.
