Panta Rhei
Panta Rhei is a board in the aero and hydrodynamics lab with catch all responsibilities including scheduling regular scientific presentations, organizing dinners, an annual day trip and lastly preparing coffee every morning. I was part of the board of three in 2019. I found it rather humbling to involve myself in the mundane activities that lubricate a well functioning lab.
Lets start with the talks
In the laboratory for aero and hydrodynamics there is a long standing tradition of a coffee talk (previously lunch talk) every Wednesday for several years. This is a presentation of about 20 mins on ongoing scientific work by researchers, staff and students. One of the responsibilities of the Pantarhei is to schedule these talks every week. Since researchers need time to prepare these talks, this has to be done at least a month in advance. The most practical solution we found was to have a rolling schedule for the next several months.
In addition to the coffee talk, we also organized a monthly seminar with an invited guest speaker. This was more elaborate and involved more preparation. I wrote to many prominent researchers, inviting them to visit our lab. In addition to the seminar which lasts for an hour we also prepare an itinerary including a tour of the lab and a small borrel after to have an extended discussion.
Day trip - Kaag
We started by taking suggestions a few months in advance and narrowed it down to a sailing trip in the Kaag (a small lake in the interior of the Netherlands). Next we started filling out an itinerary for a day. Starting with travel arrangements to and from the Kaag. Making the reservation for dinner was easy but cataloging everyone’s dietary preferences is not for the faint of heart. We could finally negotiate an arrangement with the restaurant at a reasonable price. We rented 5 sailing boats for the sailing enthusiasts and an additional boat with a motor for those not too keen on sailing. The weather was a real gamble and we were lucky to have a good sunny day in October.
Apart from the day trip we also organized a number of other things : a potluck dinner in January, a welcome dinner for new colleagues, sporting activities for the lab (survival run) and other odd jobs.
Managing the finances
One of the periodic responsibilities of the Panta Rhei is stocking the candy store. In the aero and hydro lab we have a cabinet filled with cookies, crisps, bars and other snacks. We charged 55 cents a snack. We bought our supplies in bulk from the Macro every other month. In addition to candy, we also bought a gift for every graduating PhD candidate, coffee for the lab and Christmas treats in December.
Needless to say this generated a lot of bills. Carefully maintaining a balance sheet of expenses led us to some interesting macro trends like the candy consumption in different seasons, total percentage of borrowed candy(!), etc. We could also easily make estimates for the right price and type of candy to break even. However, this wasn’t for profit and we were more than happy to simply stock the cabinet.
The most important task : making coffee!
Every morning at 10 am we ring an old brass bell to announce a fresh pot of coffee. It’s a short break in the morning to catch up, celebrate birthdays, grants and publications. The coffee table is on a cozy platform on the first floor of the lab surrounded by an enormous crane and a labyrinth of pipes and X beams. The coffee table is the scene of much excitement and I found it humbling to diligently prepare coffee for a year.