Team conflict in a large research project I am an undergrad working in a large research project (1 PI, 5 grad students, 15 undergrads). The project has 5 main facets, each of which is the primary responsibility of a single grad student. The undergrads are distributed as: 7, 3, 3, 2, 0. I am part of the 7 undergrad team.

Now while the grad students are the "leads" the PI treats us all equally.. because some grad students came in after the undergrads started the project (is the case for my team, I have been involved longer in the project than the grad student who is the lead).

The problem is there was an email sent by me, written rather quickly, and the grad student twisted some of the words I said. Sent a team wide email to the undergrads in my team, the other grad students, and the PI suggesting some malicious intent on my part.

Should I explain my side of things in an email? Or wait until the meeting the PI has called for? I want to do this before people start forming their own conclusion, but I'm not sure if I should wait or not.

I said: "not everyone has put in the same amount of effort in this project"
which was twisted as if I said: "I did all the work, no one else did any work" (i.e. the most extreme interpretation)
Deal with the issue head-on: send an email apologising for the ambiguity and saying that you weren't trying to be critical or suggest others weren't pulling their weight. That you wrote the email in haste and didn't phrase it well as a result.

Don't wait for others to draw their own conclusions. It's very easy to misunderstand a terse email.

It's probably also worth talking to the grad student in person, if you haven't already done so, to make the same points and defuse any ill feeling.