Dr. Costas Tsatsoulis, vice chancellor of research and graduate studies, sent the following message about safety in research labs to all S&T faculty Wednesday, March 18.

Colleagues,

Research at Missouri S&T is a critical element of who we are. It educates our students, it creates important discoveries that change the world around us, and it generates a healthy technology transfer and workforce development ecosystem for Rolla, the state and the nation.

At this time of health crisis we are forced to change the way we perform research activities so as to protect our staff, our students, and ourselves. These changes will enable us to continue our productive research and scholarly activities, while following the recommendations by the CDC, the System, and the University.

I request that you implement the following rules in your research effective immediately:

• All researchers should use a personal space distance of six feet between them in all situations including across bench space.
• In non-bench related research space, the personal distance space should be used as a guide and non-bench research spaces should be limited to a maximum of 10 people.
  • The number of people in a lab will be impacted strongly by the square footage of the lab so long as the six foot personal distance limit can be maintained.
• Consider implementing a rotation time for researchers’ access to shared spaces.
• Implement a cleaning of work space surfaces with appropriate cleaners, especially for shared equipment and computers.
• Please ensure that all personnel in your labs carry their ID card.
• Conduct research group meetings by Zoom.
• Check your own health and be proactive. Consider taking your temperature in the morning prior to coming into work.
• All personnel should stay home if they experience any symptoms.

Please continue to check the appropriate CDC (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html) and S&T (https://coronavirus.mst.edu/health-and-safety/) web sites for additional information. Another useful site is here: https://cgsnet.org/information-cgs-members-coronavirus

And continue to observe social distancing in your labs, your work spaces, and your personal life.

Let’s stay healthy and safe. Collectively we will overcome this crisis.

With best Miner wishes,

Costas Tsatsoulis

Vice Chancellor of Research and Graduate Studies