Our lab is so crowded

I now know what it feels like to work in one of the "big" labs in our department.  We may not be spread out into the neighboring labs yet (but granted I've been using the hood in the lab next to ours for months) but we have 4 people sitting at lab benches because there are no desks for them.

I like the way our lab is set up, with individual little office spaces with desks in them that are attached to the lab space with all of our work benches.  There are 6 desks in those office spaces and then a big one at the end that's about 1.5 times the size as one of the other office spaces where an assistant professor now sits but has traditionally been a post-doc cave.  All year one of our first year Ph.D. students was sitting at a desk sort of in the corner near the post-doc area, but since we had a student graduate this year she was able to move to his desk in one of the 6 Ph.D. office space desks.

We may have had one student finish, but we've taken in a huge number of undergrads and we are busting at the seams.  Right now there are 6 Ph.D. students, 1 MS student (who may stick around for a Ph.D.), five undergrads, and then the assistant research professor.  And another student is starting next week.  Our microscope is also constantly being used by labs all over the department so there are a bunch of other random people moving in and out.  The five undergrads are the big problem because while one of them is a summer REU student, the other 4 will all be here until May 2012 and there are only two desks available for them to share.  So they overflow on to our lab benches because there is no where else to sit which makes for a really claustrophobic lab, having to weave in and out of people to get anywhere.

It's not really record-breaking news, but it's greatly impacting my life!