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.