1. Financial Management

• Pre-Authorization Required: Active Financial Agreements must be fully established within the Lab Management Portal prior to reserving or utilizing any METRIC instrumentation or services. Principal Investigators (PIs) are responsible for maintaining current funding information and updating agreements promptly as grants, accounts, or laboratory personnel change.

2. Facility Access & Security

• Authorized Use: Access to instrumentation and laboratory spaces is restricted to users who have completed all required safety training, established an active billing profile, and received official, instrument-specific authorization from METRIC staff.
• Undergraduate Access: To ensure laboratory safety and institutional compliance, undergraduate students are not permitted independent keycard access to METRIC facilities. Undergraduate researchers must be accompanied at all times by a METRIC staff member or an authorized senior member of their research group.

3. Sample Handling & Retention

• Sample Documentation: All samples submitted to METRIC or brought into the facility for self-use must be clearly labeled with accurate descriptions, user name, date, and any relevant safety or handling guidelines.
• Removal and Disposal: Users must promptly remove all samples and associated materials upon completion of their data acquisition. Unclaimed materials will be discarded at the discretion of METRIC staff to maintain facility safety and cleanliness.

4. Data Integrity & Cybersecurity

• External Media Restrictions: To protect instrument computers and facility networks from cybersecurity threats, the use of external storage devices (including USB flash drives and external hard drives) is strictly prohibited on data acquisition systems. All data transfers must occur via approved network-based methods, such as secure institutional cloud storage or file-sharing services.
• Data Storage Liability: METRIC provides users with direct access to raw data files for immediate transfer to their own storage systems. Users bear sole responsibility for long-term data retention and backup. Data files retained on local acquisition computers and temporary facility storage drives are subject to periodic purging to ensure optimal instrument performance.

5. Publication Acknowledgement & Authorship

• Facility Acknowledgement: Users are required to formally acknowledge METRIC in all publications, presentations, theses, dissertations, and grant proposals that incorporate data generated within the facility.
• Staff Authorship: Routine analytical services warrant facility acknowledgement only. However, when METRIC staff provide substantial intellectual contributions—such as custom experimental design, advanced method development, specialized troubleshooting, or significant data interpretation—academic co-authorship is warranted and should be established in accordance with accepted scholarly guidelines.