Slang for a rotation student - a first year graduate student who rotates through a variety of labs before choosing the lab in which they will perform their thesis research. They are often abused, given
scut work and mundane tasks that no one else wants to do. Combination of the words "rotation" and "moron". Similar to the compound word "
touron".
There are also different kinds of rotons:
(1)
The Fragile Roton ("I hope they like me - I will bring food one day or buy them coffee")
(2) The Overachiever ("Yes I will get a publication out of my rotation work.")
(3)
The Bulldozer ("Move out of my way and I will show how science is done.")
(4) MuddFudd a.k.a MD/PhD ("Don't worry, I will always have medical school as my backup plan.")
(5) The Mute (...............sigh...........)
(6) The Kiss-ass ("Yes I agree you are so smart! What else can I do for you today?")
(7) Dr. Crick (His ego is so big and name drops like there is no tomorrow)
(8)
Pigpen (leaves a
dirt trail everywhere they go and you end up cleaning up after them)
(9) The Serial Killer (is
super clean and organized and extremely accurate. Discovers things in your work you weren't aware existed. You worry he may kill you one day because you are so dirty and disorganized.)
(10) The Socialite (Always talking and shooting the shit. Entertaining but hard to motivate to do work.)
(11) The Mule (Works their tail off and you feel guilty for giving them more work. But you do it anyway.)
I have a
roton working with me this term. He is a total kiss-ass so I am giving him the most
boring experiments I can think of to keep him
busy.