RoboOrg Office Moves Policy

The Robotics Institute maintains a policy of assigning first-year students (both Masters and Ph.D.) to a group of contiguous offices or cubicles, currently on the second floor of Smith Hall. Every summer, these students move to other spaces in the Robotics Institute to make room for the next incoming class.

The policy for organizing these yearly moves into new offices has been designed to ensure fairness.

  1. In the beginning of the summer, two lists are made: one of spaces that will be available, and one of first-year students and any other students who need to or would like to change their office assignments.
  2. First, we make any assignments that are specially requested by an advisor (for example, for a student to physically work in a particular lab space).
  3. Then, the list of available spaces is sent to every moving student. Each student submits three choices in order of preference. These requests are compiled by a RoboOrg officer.
  4. The names of all moving students are put in a hat. Then, until the hat is empty, a RoboOrg officer draws a name from the hat and gives that student their top available preference.

Offices that are vacated during the course of the school year (after the normal lottery and before May 1) may be offered, on a case-by-case basis, in a public lottery for students who are interested in moving. (First-year students, however, must wait until the full summer lottery.) Offices may not be requested until the space is vacated and announced publicly.

  1. Once a month, RoboOrg will be notified of available spaces.
  2. RoboOrg will announce the spaces to all students, who will have one week to express their interest by replying to the announcement (after consulting with their advisors and current office occupants; see below).
  3. RoboOrg will randomly draw a student from this pool, and notify the student and the relevant RI administrator.
  4. Students may move only after receiving official email notification from the RI administrator.

In either case, before submitting office preferences, students must get approval from their advisors and talk with any current office occupants to ensure compatibility.

If you have feedback related to this process, please speak with your RoboOrg representative.