While many campuses remain closed to undergraduate students, at least through the summer, researchers are beginning a phased return to their labs, with new safety protocols that include face masks and social distancing; guidelines for space usage and maintenance; and staggered work schedules. Institutions are requiring that researchers continue to do as much work as possible remotely, including writing, analyzing data, and conferring with colleagues. In order for research to fully resume, however, faculty need access to their labs, but they first must be trained in the new protocols and agree to adhere to them; failure to do so will results in the loss of lab access.

At some point, we will power down our makeshift home offices and return to the workplace. What that will look like is the subject of much discussion, but many agree that office space will undergo a substantial post-pandemic redesign. Communal tables and benches might become a thing of the past, while the face shields we’ve come to see at the supermarket could take the form of plexiglass dividers between desks. It won’t be the end of collaboration, but it might be the end of the bustling, densely packed “collaboration spaces.”