Tag Archives: Career exploration

Career Feature

Recap on Lunch with Jennifer Doudna

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Navigating through grad school can be a daunting process in itself.  While you might find yourself busy with your research projects and teaching duties, making time to figure out how to make the best of your time as a graduate student, and how to make yourself an ideal candidate for your future career, is essential.  The Huck Graduate Student Advisory Committee (HGSAC) aims to help you along with this process, by providing career and professional development resources, and by letting graduate students meet with professionals in various STEM fields.

Dr. Jennifer Doudna came to Penn State and delivered to a full house.
Dr. Jennifer Doudna came to Penn State to deliver a seminar on the CRISPR/Cas9 system.

Last semester, Dr. Jennifer Doudna came to Penn State and gave a seminar on the CRISPR/Cas 9 system. She was gracious enough to also have lunch with graduate students for a Q & A session (co-hosted by the HGSAC and BMB department). Below are her (paraphrased) responses to our student questions.

Career advice or questions:

Which experience or opportunity during your education or early career contributed most to your success?

There were two main experiences that I think contributed the most. I grew up in Hawaii, and when I first read “The Double Helix”, that was the first “spark” that got me interested in science. Then, in the 10th grade, there was a program where they had a scientist talk to students, including a biochemist working on cancer cell research, and that helped reinforce my interest.

How do you think the interactions with your previous advisers (Dr. Szostak and Dr. Cech) benefit your academic career?

With my first advisor, I learned that you need to be proactive. As a first year, my advisor asked me about this idea, and he actually trusted me to make decisions on the science, even as a novice–that made a big impression on me to have early success.

During my post doc, Tom Cech was insightful about making the best of your data and interpreting your results, which also benefited my career.

Could you recommend some ways to find a lab for a promising postdoc experience? Should the lab of a very well-known PI be preferred, or the lab of a new PI in a promising topic?

Whether the PI is well known or new, you should pursue what you are interested in first, and then consider the personality and environment of the lab, make sure it’s a stimulating environment.

Could you provide some insights on what helped you with first being a professor?

It was more like a fly by the seat of your pants experience. You have to be willing to do every job in your lab, initially. That means even fixing leaky faucets. It’s a great idea if you can hire a technician right away to help set up. This person would be able to help you initiate the culture you want in your lab. Science is about people working together.

Dr. Jennifer Doudna with HGSAC members during the Q & A lunch session.

Graduate student/research advice:

Do you have any advice for women who want to pursue an academic career?

Don’t put yourself down, try for positions even if you do not think you are likely to get them, and make sure you choose a supportive life partner.

How do you complete a project efficiently?

Delegate, rely on students and postdocs, and make sure that there are subgroups of the lab so that everyone is teaching one another. Then, meet regularly, and constantly ask the questions of “are we working on the most important question? Is there new literature?”

What kind of qualities do you look for in a candidate?

Honestly I think my job is to figure out what the students are best suited for. We need scientists trained in all sorts of methodologies, and my job is to help them figure out what they should focus on.

Work/life balance and gender adversity:

What have you found to be the most effective way to balance work/life?

Pick the right life partner. If you want to have kids, involve them in your work–bring them to your conferences and trips!

Have you been faced with any adversity as a woman in science? If so, how did you overcome it and do you have any tips or advice for graduate students in general?

I’ve generally worked with males and females who were very encouraging. I think it’s important to have a personality that can deal with delayed gratification.

CRISPR/Cas9 questions:

Did you have a moment where you had to consider the ethical considerations with CRISPR, like human genome editing?

There was an evolution in my way of thinking. Initially, there was so much excitement that this was possible, then it became clear it would work in any cells including embryos and germ cell line. It was when they genetically modified monkeys that it seemed like a profound topic to discuss this in the community. I have gotten involved in the call for a public discussion about gene editing, especially in the germ line. Tomorrow, I will be attending a summit at the International Academy of Science, for a global discussion of the matter. We need a transparent discussion about this, to not do that would be irresponsible.

How did you balance the research on new biotechnology and industrial development of a technique?

We’re still focusing on biology and the underlying molecular mechanisms-understanding this enables you to do many other things. By working on fundamental mechanisms, we can learn more about how to refine this process of gene editing, gene disruption and gene replacement. It’s not a transition but rather a natural progression.

What is your prediction of how CRISPR/Cas9 will be used 10 years from now?

Transcriptional control and live-cell imaging will be further developed. Eventually, this will be a tool in your molecular toolbox, like PCR.  Its’ an enabling technology, I am excited with the science that will be done with this.

Did you celebrate when you realized what you had with CRISPR?

There was definitely this moment of joy when I realized what we had.

Other questions:

Have you ever considered working in industry?

Yes, I worked at companies in Boston but I chose academia because I found it was the best way to pursue “pure” science. I worked for Genentech for a few months then came back because I wanted to have an applied direction to research. As the VP of research, there’s actually a lot more administrative and management duties than I expected. I missed actually doing the science. That’s why I went back into academia.

What do you think about the future of high-risk science funding?  With decreased funding, how do you move forward?

We need to have a mechanism to enable scientists to be creative and explorative. Remember, a grant is not a contract.  Once you have the money, you should have some freedom to pursue “risky” science. You will likely be rewarded. Your judgement should come in here as to whether or not you think it will succeed. You can bootstrap ideas. In general, I think you don’t need huge resources to do good science.

 

For more information on future career and professional development events and seminars, visit our website here!

Career Feature

Dr. Sarah Pendergrass: Mining Electronic Health Records for Discovery

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Dr. Sarah Pendergrass

Bioinformatics is not just an academic buzzword: pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and healthcare companies are quickly realizing the importance of applying computational tools to glean meaning from large biological datasets. In addition to the Huck Institute’s Bioinformatics and Genomics program, scientists in other programs are discovering how bioinformatics can help their own research. Some students who currently work in wet labs may be curious about pursuing careers in bioinformatics following graduation. However, the transition from the bench to the computer screen may seem just as daunting as the transition from academia to industry. Dr. Sarah Pendergrass, a bioinformatician in Geisinger Health System, provided insights on pursuing careers in bioinformatics in the private sector when she visited Penn State in September, as part of a visit was hosted by HGSAC. Afterward, HGSAC interviewed her about her career path and advice for current students.

Dr. Pendergrass is an Investigator I in the Biomedical and Translational Informatics Program at Geisinger Health System, working as a genetic bioinformatician. Her work focuses on high-throughput data analysis and data-mining projects for uncovering the genetic architecture of complex human diseases and traits. This includes coupling genotypic data with de-identified electronic health record data, population survey based data, clinical study data, and pharmacological study data. She is interested in incorporating environmental exposure data in analyses of disease susceptibility and analyses across ancestry. She has extensive experience developing novel methodologies and performing high-throughput analyses for discovery, such as those for Phenome-Wide Association Studies (PheWAS), which work to identify cross-phenotype associations and pleiotropy.

During her PhD at Dartmouth College, she worked on gene expression analyses and bioinformatics, with projects leveraging the complexity of gene-expression data for biomarker and biological discovery for the disease systemic sclerosis. She is a former staff scientist of Dr. Marylyn Ritchie where she did GWAS studies and computational biology. Her master’s degree in biomedical engineering and bachelor’s degree in physics have provided her with additional technical and analytical expertise for complex data-driven projects. Dr. Pendergrass also has extensive experience with developing software tools aimed at analyzing and visualizing complex data including PhenoGram, PhenoGram-Genie, Synthesis View, and PheWAS-View.

What’s your educational background? Is there anything specific that prepared you for your current career?

If I can suggest anything: diversify. Explore projects you find interesting, and follow data that you are excited about. I have had a varied career, with a bachelors in physics, masters in biomedical engineering, PhD in genetics, and a postdoc in human genetics. While challenging to have shifted around, all of the projects ultimately have been complementary and important contributors to later projects, even if I did not realize it at the time.

What are your current roles and responsibilities? How have these changed over time?

I am starting a lab in a new program, with new data, and some very new collaborations. This is very different from when I was a staff scientist, when I had many “known projects” ongoing. Right now I wear many hats and am trying to learn as much as I can in all those roles to help get the lab off the ground.

Was this career path something you had always considered?

I think I knew as a kid I wanted to be a scientist, but I only knew about park rangers and later, biologists. So I assumed those were my two career choices given my interests, until college when I realized there were so many things I could do with an interest in science.

What skills have made you and others in your field successful?

Creativity, flexibility, curiosity, a sense of adventure, asking questions no one else thinks to ask

Were there any unexpected skills that you needed to learn?

How to handle competitive and unkind behavior from fellow scientists

What’s the most challenging part of your career?

Keeping up. And having a life balance while keeping up. This is a daily struggle.

How do you think your career will change in both the near and distant future?

Things are changing so fast at present. You should probably ask me in a year about what happened and my projections for the future.

What can young scientists do to prepare for careers in genetics and bioinformatics? Any tips on specific ways to network in the field?

Take courses in –omic data that interest you, particularly if they have “hands on” components. If you can’t find those courses specifically in your graduate program, take courses at places like Cold Spring Harbor.

Identify authors of papers you find interesting, and try to find ways to talk with them, or if you can’t reach those authors somehow, talk to the graduate students that worked on those papers. Also, if you can’t network through your mentor, see if your thesis committee members have networking connections to help you reach out to scientists outside of Penn State. Find researchers at Penn State you think are doing interesting work, and try to set up a time to talk with them and ask them how they got to where they are. These are all ways to build relationships and networking that carry forward.

If you weren’t at Geisinger, where do you think or where would you like to be?

Nowhere else I would like to be right now career wise. Unless you mean on a vacation, then if so, I would like to be backpacking in Patagonia.

How easy/difficult is it to balance work and personal/family life in your career as a genetic bioinformatician at Geisinger?

It is very hard to balance work and personal/family life as a scientist “climbing the ranks”. But I do what I can.

What advice do you have, about anything, for current graduate students?

The same thing I noted at the beginning. Don’t decide that your current PhD or what you study, or what your academic path has been, defines your future science. Diversify. Explore projects you find interesting, and follow data that you are excited about. Explore possibilities. It is tough spending plenty of time out of your comfort zone, but as one poster said “that is where the magic happens”.

Also, find your mentors. Find experienced scientists you trust, with a range of viewpoints. And then remember to reach out to them with questions. I used to think I was supposed to behave like I “knew it all”. And then I saw that some of the most successful scientists I know are successful in part because they always talk about things with their mentors and get great advice. In the end each person has to decide what works for them, but the expert advice can sometimes be just the right information at just the right time.

And for goodness sake, GO OUTSIDE once and a while (if you are not an ecologist) and remember there is also good life outside of graduate school and chasing after manuscripts. Stand on top of a mountain and have some fresh air. Sometimes that is the perspective you need, to not get too tied up in things that ultimately are not the most important things.

Student Stories

Maximizing LinkedIn: Three Tips to Improve Networking

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http://blog.linkedin.com/2013/05/13/how-linkedin-changed-my-life/

LinkedIn has become an important contemporary and influential way to expand your network and grow your career professional stock. Globally, it is one of the largest directories of professionals and companies and is best known for creating opportunities for persons to network, job search, do company research, and connect with colleagues, industry, alumni, and an assortment of other business related groups. Overall, it offers a different avenue for talent requisition for companies to hire versus the traditional process.

I have gone to various career-orientated talks this year, and a few overarching themes were “Who do you know?” and “Can you sell yourself?”. Just like keeping up with the changing times, it has become critical for young professionals to understand and take advantage of every outlet possible and their potential opportunities. LinkedIn has a lot of potential to improve your visibility on the job market, so it is important to understand how to use LinkedIn to network with other professionals. Here, I am giving  pointers on how to message people on LinkedIn to ask questions and start a conversation. The hope is to help you be able to give your chats a  more in-person feel.

Here are three tips for breaking out of your shell and using LinkedIn to its fullest potential:

  • No risk, no reward:

The most important part of LinkedIn is connecting with people and growing your network, keeping in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic to build trust and relationships. Remember: you are selling a product, and that product is “you”—be open and honest about what you are trying to sell. Don’t be afraid to say hello and initiate conversation. Sometimes you have to be the first to reach out and say hello, and that is okay; you never know to where a little chatting may lead. Speaking up helps you become more memorable. So, don’t be anxious—take that risk and send that message.

  • Network with purpose:

Use mental introduction guidelines when engaging new people. Sometimes you only get one chance and you have to make it count, so have focused guides in your speech. Having these mental bullet points will help you get your points across clearly. Decide what your objectives are. Before speaking to people, ask yourself, “Why am I networking?”, “What do I want to accomplish with my networking?”, and “Who will benefit the most from my networking?” Basically, you should network with purpose. When trying to get your points across, it is best to be short, concise, and engaging. Give a synopsis of what you do or what business you are in.

  • Ask questions and be relatable:

You want to keep your interactions and conversation from going stagnate. Ask questions that stimulate more conversation, using the “where, when, who, what, and how” as opposed to simple yes or no questions.  The whole point of networking is to learn and to connect, so interacting this way will lead to more organic conversation and dialog.

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Conclusion:

I am not trying to influence you to just start messaging tons of random people on LinkedIn, but I am trying to suggest networking a little outside your circle. Largely, LinkedIn is about remaining linked with people you actually have encountered. It’s not really a casual social media (e.g. Facebook or Twitter); it is understood to be professional.

Connecting with random people online can be weird; just keep in mind everybody is random until you meet them. The only way to meet people is to talk to them, especially if you have a reason. In-person interactions are more distinctive and memorable than online; however, if you must use it, LinkedIn can be an attractive alternative if you have a specific question or purpose. Good luck—now get to networking!

 

 

 

Want to connect with graduate students, post docs, alumni, and faculty from the Huck Institutes? Join our LinkedIn group here: Penn State Huck Institutes Graduate Network

Alumni Spotlight

Shakira Nelson: Fellow at the National Cancer Institute

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Shakira M. Nelson, PhD, MPH, Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute

 

It is chiefly important to show the variety of career options for PhDs at the end of their graduate school journey. As part of this spotlight, I asked one of our Penn State alumni to answer some questions about her career journey up until this point.

Meet Dr. Shakira M. Nelson, cancer prevention fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. Nelson obtained a PhD in Pathobiology from Penn State, class of 2013. Her former advisor was Dr. K. Sandeep Prabhu.  She also recently received a MPH (Masters in Public Health) in Epidemiology from John Hopkins University.

How did you chose your degree program and what you like about your current career?
As an undergrad I majored in Microbiology (also at Penn State). When I graduated I had no clue what I wanted to do next and decided to enter the workforce. I was fortunate enough to land a contracting job at the Department of Health and Humans Services (DHHS) where I worked within the Pandemic Influenza Division. For two years, I was able to watch MDs and PhDs work together, and with other Divisions and Agencies and Congress, to protect the country against a future influenza pandemic. The more I worked, the greater my desire to move into a field of public health, working to protect those around me. At the end of two years, I felt ready to return to school and get my PhD.

My plan was to work in biological sciences, acquiring the background necessary to understand biological assays, cellular work, and mechanisms. I still wanted to focus on public health and humans, working on prevention of diseases, but I felt having this as a foundation would benefit me in the long run. Little did I know that a person in my future, while at Penn State, would open a door for me that would lead me directly to the work I wanted to do. Towards the end of my PhD, my attention turned back to wanting to work on humans. The animal studies I did as a PhD student showed me mechanisms and helped me establish myself as a scientist, but I still desired to try something new. More specifically, I wanted to work on analyzing human clinical trial data, working in the prevention of diseases, such as cancer. One of my thesis committee members was an alumnus of the Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program, a prestigious fellowship offered through the National Cancer Institute. I was encouraged to apply. After reading their mission statement, I felt this would be a great fit for me. It would help me transition from biological sciences towards epidemiology, while allowing me to have experiences that would enhance my portfolio of knowledge and help with career development. I am currently in the third year of my four year fellowship, and it has been incredibly beneficial and fulfilling. I have met many people within the field of epidemiology who have been pioneers in the development of treatments and prevention methods of cancer development, including Dr. Harold Varmus and Dr. Douglas Lowy. I have traveled to conferences and networked with scientists and epidemiologist who work around the world and throughout the government, including CDC, NIH, and USDA. I look forward to the next steps in my career development, where I hope to continue working in the area of cancer prevention.

What have been some obstacles you’ve had to overcome in pursuit of your educational and career goals?
Many times I have had to get out of my own way. I used to worry a lot about not being smart enough, or not knowing enough about a subject, holding myself back from applying to a program or pursing an interest. I have had to learn to trust myself and understand the desire to learn is a trait that has taken me far. I continue to learn daily, and cast aside self-doubt, pursing opportunities as they become available.

What have been some sources of inspiration both in your career and in your life?
My sisters and parents have been my best source of inspiration. Watching my sisters vigorously pursue their educations and opportunities for development, as I have done to this point and time, has pushed me to continue to work hard, to be the best example for them I can be. I also appreciate the support of my parents, and how my accomplishments are a reflection of the upbringing I had and the dedication they had to raising my sisters and me.

What would you describe as your strong suit?
I think my best strong suit is my dedication to any project or task I begin working on. I push myself very hard, but not because I want to outpace anyone, but because I want to make sure this opportunity is going to make me more knowledgeable and be a useful skill in my future. When I start a project I like to give all my efforts and focus until it is completed. By giving my efforts in the manner I do, I know that my work ethic and talents will be seen in the final product of any project I work on.

How has Penn State impacted your life?
I spent a total of 10 years as a student at Penn State (as an undergraduate and graduate student). Over those 10 years I was able to see the necessity of my becoming an African American female PhD. There are so few women in the STEM fields, and even fewer minority women. To be at Penn State and be visible to both the undergraduate and graduate communities helped me to see how important my accomplishments can be and how it can help open doors to future minority females interested in pursuing a graduate degree.

What advice would you give someone who would like to pursue a career in your field?
Be patient. Projects move slow, advisors and students can give you a hard time; there are hundreds of reasons you’ll want to quit. But you are here for a purpose and part of your journey is overcoming these obstacles. Having patience is your best ally, and will help you go stronger in the long run.

What are your words of wisdom for current graduate students?
Enjoy your time as a graduate student and accept opportunities as they are presented to you. Your potential can only go as far as the opportunities you take advantage of. And although everyday can be a struggle (as usually is), this journey towards your PhD can be the example for someone else, helping them in an unexpected way.

What are your plans for the future?
I would like to stay within the government, working in the area of cancer prevention. During my time as a Cancer Prevention Fellow, I have focused on nutrients, diet, and prostate cancer. I am interested in staying in this area, as there is a lot of research that still needs to be done. I have also begun working in the area of health disparities, examining how this plays a role along the cancer continuum. Although I have veered away from academia (for now), I would like to continue to be involved with student mentoring, helping to bring minority and female students to STEM, providing a substantial impact in the field.

I asked Dr. Nelson to include a brief overview of her thesis work to hear about some of the interesting science that has happened at Penn State:
My work focused on selenium, an essential micronutrient with anti-inflammatory properties, that plays a vital role in many metabolic pathways. The true physiological significance of this micronutrient is heavily studied, where over 25 selenoproteins have been identified. The goal of my thesis was to understand the role selenium plays in anti-inflammation first using an ex-vivo model, with bone marrow-derived macrophage cells from mice fed varying selenium diets. Collected cells were treated with the bacterial endotoxin, LPS, to induce inflammation, or as the Th2-cytokine IL-4. My studies found that macrophages supplemented with adequate levels of selenium (100 uM) and treated with IL-4 increased the expression of alternatively activated macrophage markers, Arg-1, Ym1 and Fizz1. These alternatively activated macrophages are found in anti-inflammatory settings, and also play a role in wound healing.

Interestingly, in macrophages treated with LPS and supplemented with adequate levels of selenium, we saw a marked decreased in pro-inflammatory macrophage markers iNOS, TNFa, and IFNg. Together these studies suggested that selenium at an adequate level can shift macrophages from a pro-inflammatory towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype. To effectively translate these findings into an animal model, we collaborated with Dr. Joseph Urban from USDA using the helminthic gastrointestinal parasite Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nb). These parasites have a short life cycle, residing in the lungs for 1-2 days before arriving in the small intestine where they reside until 14 days after initial infection. Mice infected with Nb and supplemented with Se significantly increased the expression of the alternatively activated macrophage markers Arg-I, Ym1, and Fizz1 in the small intestines, while decreasing the presence of intestinal worms and fecal eggs. We found that the experiments conducted in my dissertation suggest that optimal Se status, in the form of selenoproteins, is critical to shunt macrophage activation towards an alternatively activated phenotype that promotes enhanced clearance of gastrointestinal parasites.

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Event Recap

Science Writing 101

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Breaking from the usual format for the “Career Highlights” section of our blog, which mainly features interviews with seminar speakers from outside academia, today I come to you with some plain old career advice.

While there are many career paths to follow after graduation, one in particular is growing at a pretty fast rate. That field is science writing. Don’t know what it is? Well look no further, my friend. Welcome to Science Writing 101.

What is science writing?

If you couldn’t guess from the name, science writing is well, writing about science. More specifically, it’s about disseminating scientific research to the world. Science writers are responsible for translating newly published research into something that the general public can understand. Science writers don’t simply “dumb things down”; rather their job is to convey scientific research in a way that doesn’t use scientific jargon.

While science writing is closely related to medical writing, the two fields are NOT the same. In fact, medical/scientific writers write for a completely different audience. Typically, medical writers are responsible for research articles, grant proposals, regulatory documents, and patient education pamphlets. If such things interest you more, I highly recommend checking out the American Medical Writer’s Association (AMWA) website.

What kind of jobs do science writers fulfill?

There are two main routes one can take to become a science writer. The first way is through freelance work. Websites, newspapers, and other media outlets (like Popular Science and Scientific American) are always looking for freelance science writers to compose interesting stories for them. This is the most popular route that people take. However, some people simply write entire books for a living. However you do it, the greatest appeal to freelancing is of course the flexibility. You can work as much or as little as you want, whenever you want, from wherever you want.

For those who like more job security and the benefits of working for a company (e.g. medical, dental, vision, and 401K), then they should look for jobs as staff writers. Types of companies that have science writing staff include major publishers (e.g. Science, Nature, Cell) and research universities like Penn State. Such enterprises are always looking for science writers to compose press releases, maintain blogs, and perform scientific outreach.

How do I get started? 

The best way to break into science writing is to of course, start writing. A great way of doing this is to start your own blog (I can attest to that). If you’re still a student, you can contribute to local student publications and/or find an internship at your University’s news office. If you want to dive straight into the deep end, you can even send your best writing samples to magazines or online news outlets for publishing consideration. These articles can be about anything really, as long as they’re well-written. Finally, there are some freelancing websites you can sign-up for that help connect writers to the employers that need them. One such site is Upwork.com.

Additional Resources

If science writing sounds like your life’s calling, then the first resource you should check out is the National Association of Science Writers (NASW). While you can pay your way in as a student, professionals will need to submit writing samples and obtain personal references to become a member. Even if you don’t go for membership, there’s a lot of good free resources to check out too. A similar group calls themselves the “Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW).

If you’re on LinkedIn, then check out the group “Science Writers“. This is a great place to seek advice about science writing, and a good place to show off your skills too.

Finally, there are plenty of sites that offer all sorts of advice for newcomers to the science writing industry. Simply googling “Science Writing Resources” will direct to a few. To help you get started here’s one of them.

Event Recap

Penn State Huck Graduate Students Participate in Princeton Case Competition

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Penn State University Park’s graduate student consulting team, EmpowerSci Solutions, consisting of Archie Taylor, Melanie McReynolds (team leader) and Kerry Belton, recently participated in the 2015 Princeton University’s Graduate Consulting Case competition, facing off against 14 other groups from several top-tier universities.

The goal of the competition was for advanced graduates and professional (non-MBA) degree students to be immersed in the fast-paced and stimulating work of management consulting. The competition was prepared in a way for teams to tackle complex and cutting-edge consulting problems faced by the top consulting organizations. Judges sought insight from intellectuals in various disciplines to provide innovative and effective solutions. This competition offered a great opportunity for graduate students to experience first-hand large-scale business management consulting cases as well as the chance to receive a $1000 prize and recognition. Teams were given 48 hours to review case materials and create presentation slides within this time period. Teams readied themselves for the competition by developing strategies and in-depth business analyses.

Teams were grouped into three sets of five for the first round presentations (10 min. talk and 5 min. Q&A). After assessing each team individually, judges decide to advance two teams in each group to the second round. The judging panel was composed of consultants from premier management consulting firms.

EmpowerSci Solutions members (from left to right) Kerry Belton, Archie Taylor, Melanie McReynolds and Competition Judge.
EmpowerSci Solutions members (from left to right) Kerry Belton, Archie Taylor, Melanie McReynolds and Edward Percarpio (competition judge).

 

 

Feedback on the experience:

 “So, it was a really good experience! We were selected to participate in the 2015 Princeton University Graduate Consulting Case Competition! We were selected out of numerous groups throughout the country, and now have the opportunity to compete against mostly Ivy League graduate students who have started consulting firms. Where there is a will, there’s a way, ” said BMMB student Melanie McReynolds.

“The experience of preparing for a large-scale business management consulting case and presenting before a panel of judges were great opportunities to test my analytical thinking abilities,” said molecular toxicology student Kerry Belton. “Diving into a completely foreign field can be daunting, but it is a relatively small part of the process compared to the short 48 hours we were given to prepare for our fifteen-minute presentation.”

“This opportunity opened my eyes to alternative career opportunities for scientists. For me, this opened up other windows and alternatives I had no idea even existed. Also, to do this with people I have known for years made it even better. We matriculated through undergrad together and the Bridges program. This allowed us to gel together and work together very well and represent the diversity of our university,” said molecular medicine student Archie Taylor.

What was participating in the competition like?

“The Application process and being selected for the competition was really intriguing. We studied and attempted to learn what consultants actually do and what consulting really means. After getting the case problem and putting together our solutions, recommendations and presenting before the judges, this process really gave us conformation that we are on the right track. The feedback from the judges was unbelievable and remarkable! This gave us the chance to see that our ideas and approaches were on the right track and up there with the best of the best. The judges, who were top consultants in their fields, gave us critiques right-away telling us what to fix in our approach and exactly what we needed to do right way. This experience really solidified that consulting could be a goal that we could accomplish. The overall experience was authentically rewarding, we made many great connections, and we witnessed first-hand what the ivy leaguers do. The issue with consulting is that nobody really knows exactly what to do, how to format or how to go about it. But we found that the Ivy League consulting clubs have information and templates that they passed down year- to -year for their graduate students. They are prepared and can go in to the field and get these jobs. So for us to be there was like we had a front row seat to see and understand exactly what consultants do and to learn from consultants currently in industry. I want to bring this information back to Penn State graduate students, so that we too can be prepared for consulting jobs. The experience from the beginning to the end was beyond amazing. We got to see our visions become reality the exposure was the most valuable part of the experience. I still believe and passionate that T-Mobile would love our pitch, we have a plan that will revolutionize T-Mobile in today’s market!” –McReynolds

“For the most part, I found it very challenging—one of the most challenging things I have done in my life in the sense of preparing for it. But after going to the competition, I found it no different than any other presentation; whereas, it was a different audience, but I was more comfortable after realizing I was around similar people. Most of the other people were scientists as well. This feeling allowed me to adapt easily. I found that preparing for it was the most difficult part and participating in it was the most rewarding part, because it gave you the chance to step outside your comfort zone—to be challenged and to push yourself. That’s one of the things Penn State wants right: to always promote the ability for its students to be productive outside our Penn State community…” –Taylor

“I really enjoyed the challenge and pressure. Our case was about T-Mobile and how to improve its network quality and profitability. You know the thrill of working feverishly towards a very close deadline gets your heart pumping. I really valued the feedback from the judges the most. I never expected to get such great feedback seeing as this was our very first try at a consulting case ever. Cramming in all the business details along with the lingo and jargon of the field was my favorite part. The competition itself was the most nerve-wrecking part, but shortly after we started to present for the judges, I was at ease. Even though we did not win, I am pumped and excited for another try next year. Participating in this competition really broaden my horizons as far as career choices go. Based on the judges’ feedback, consulting is definitely a career I would consider…” –Belton