Member Handbook

COLDEX email listserve: Email is one of the primary ways we keep you up-to-date on what is happening at COLDEX! Danielle Whittaker sends out a weekly email to the list on Monday mornings with the week's COLDEX events, announcements, and reminders.

COLDEX Slack Workspace: We also use Slack for more informal communications. Announcements sent via email are also copied here.

COLDEX Google Drive: All COLDEX-related documents are available to all COLDEX members, and they are stored in a shared Google Drive. If your institution does not allow access to Google Workspace with your institutional email, you may request to add your personal gmail account to this drive.

COLDEX Google Calendar: COLDEX-wide events are collected in a central shared Google Calendar which includes Zoom links for these events. Make your life easier and add the COLDEX calendar to your own Google Calendar. Contact Danielle Whittaker to be added (danielle.whittaker@oregonstate.edu).

COLDEXer Bios (add yourself!): Browse the slides to learn more about the members of COLDEX, and add yourself to the slide deck!

COLDEX Google Calendar: Get all the COLDEX events and Zoom links right on your Google Calendar. Contact Danielle Whittaker to be added to this shared calendar (danielle.whittaker@oregonstate.edu). 

The COLDEX monthly seminar, held on the first Monday of every month, features speakers from all over the world. These seminars are open to interested people outside of COLDEX - please feel free to invite your colleagues, collaborators, and friends! See the Events tab for upcoming seminars. Recordings of past COLDEX seminars can be found here.

The monthly COLDEX all-hands meeting is an internal business meeting held on the third Monday of every month. The purpose of these meetings is to discuss COLDEX plans, policies, and other issues, provide professional development training, and to gather your feedback. All COLDEX members are encouraged to attend.

COLDEX subgroups meet on a monthly basis. All COLDEX members are welcome to attend any meetings that interest them. Please see each groups' notes document in the Group Monthly Meetings Folder for meeting times, Zoom links, agendas, and notes from past meetings.

The third Annual COLDEX Meeting will take place September 9-11, 2024, in Corvallis, OR. More information will be available here when we have it!

**COLDEX Zoom links master list - find all Zoom links for upcoming events **

Strategic and Implementation Plan (Last updated January 2025)

Integrity and Professional Ethics Guidelines (Last updated October 2025)

Data Management and Sample Allocation Policies (Last updated November 2024)

Strategic Communication Plan (Last updated April 2024)

IP Management Plan (March 2022; last reviewed October 2024)

All COLDEX personnel that are named in the Strategic Plan are required to report on their COLDEX-related activities and progress towards strategic plan milestones on a quarterly basis.

Quarterly reports are due February 28, May 31, August 31, and November 30 of each year.

All such personnel will receive their custom reporting form directly from Danielle Whittaker 30 days before the due date.

If you are not required to submit a quarterly report, but would like to report COLDEX activities such as publications, please use this form or send the information directly to danielle.whittaker@oregonstate.edu.

Graduate student recruitment best practices

Responding to prospective graduate students interested in COLDEX

Safe and inclusive field teams best practices

We have set up a server for sharing COLDEX data. Request access by filling out this form.

Media inquiry? Pending press release or press event? Here is a ‘cheat sheet’ to help make sure you keep the right people informed and know who to contact with any questions.

COLDEX Engagement and Training Support Request Form: This form can be used to request support for communication or engagement-related inquiries and requests (e.g. a media request, request for support engaging a policymaker or preparing a written testimony for work related to COLDEX, communication or applied science-related coaching session). Please also use this form if you have received a media inquiry related to COLDEX and either need help crafting a response or want assistance in deciding who is best to respond to the inquiry.

COLDEX Media Engagement Tracking List: Please help us track COLDEX’s successful media engagement efforts, such as the publication of COLDEX press releases, interviews with COLDEX participants or coverage of COLDEX efforts, by updating this list with any media engagement that you have participated in.

Director for Broadening Participation Erin Pettit has compiled a document with a summary and links to ongoing activities here.

If you are interested in getting involved with COLDEX Broadening Participation work, please consider attending the monthly meetings!

All COLDEXers are required to comply with the Integrity and Professional Ethics Policies.

All COLDEXers conducting research are required to comply with their institution's Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training requirements. COLDEX PIs must report compliance of their team with this requirement in the quarterly progress reports.

Online RCR training modules are offered through CITI. Oregon State University users with an ONID register here. Logging in using OSU’s single sign on (SSO) process enables the CITI to match users and completion reports with the OSU electronic research administration systems.

COLDEXers at institutions with a CITI subscription should log in through their institution. COLDEXers at institutions without a CITI subscription may access the training modules by registering at the main CITI website here. As part of the registration process, please manually select an affiliation with OSU. There are multiple RCR training courses available - please select the version most appropriate for your field. Available courses include:

Reporting violations of the COLDEX Integrity and Professional Ethics Policies: COLDEX participants concerned about ethical or scientific integrity, including problematic behavior in lab, field or other settings, can make their concerns known and seek mediation in a variety of ways. These reporting methods are detailed on this page: How to Report Ethics Violations. They are also outlined in the COLDEX Integrity and Professional Ethics Policies document.

We now have a mechanism for members to provide both positive and negative feedback related to their experiences as a COLDEX community member. Such feedback may be submitted anonymously if desired. Go to the COLDEX Feedback Portal for more information.