Depth of Fields
Today's science grads find vast opportunities.
Patrick Piemonte (BS '04, Computer Science) took a job with Motorola after finishing his degree but has since left to attend graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University
Other recent grads have headed straight to the labor force as well: Vanessa Richard (BS '05, Geology) is working as a meteorologist with 3D Research Corporation in the South Pacific's Marshall Islands; Melissa Kay Smith (BS '03, Biology) is an associate pharmaceutical chemist in Sterility Assurance Validation at Eli Lilly & Co.; and Nishant Kothary (BS '05, Computer Science) is using his computer science degree at Amazon.
Patrick Piemonte (BS '04, Computer Science) also took a job right out of college, but now he's heading to graduate school. "Right now I'm a programmer, and the software engineering program at Carnegie Mellon will help me be more like a software architect," explains Piemonte, who left his job at Motorola last spring to prepare for his move to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Heading straight to graduate school was the right path for Katie Schreiner (BS '06, Chemistry). Schreiner was accepted to law school but ultimately decided to pursue graduate school in earth and atmospheric sciences at Purdue. While she had always planned to be a pediatrician, she changed her mind during college. She attributes her decision to both an environmental policy course she took and research she performed with science professors. "My dad is an atmospheric scientist, and so he got me interested in the more environmental or atmospheric side of it," she says.
Bertina Scott (PhD '05, Biological Sciences) also decided to go back to school - middle school. Through the Teach for America organization, which strives to ensure educational equality to all students, Scott accepted a position teaching 8th grade earth science in the Atlanta Public School System. Scott incorporates her own personality into her classroom by using the abbreviation PhD to encourage her students to Pursue High achievement with Diligence.
Bertina M. Scott (PhD '05, Biological Sciences) is an 8th grade earth science instructor with the Atlanta Public School System. Scott plans to continue her commitment to education by pursuing funding to develop science enrichment programs that will provide middle school students with opportunities to do hands-on research projects and activities.
Although a scientist by training, Scott has always desired to inspire young students. "I believe that teaching students to achieve academically will positively influence their ability to overcome other challenges in their personal lives," she says.
Continued education is in many graduates' plans, including: Tonye Teme (BS '05, Biological Sciences), who's attending medical school at the University of Wisconsin; Olivia Johnson (BS '06, Chemistry), enrolled in the University of Wisconsin- Madison's PhD program in bio- and organic chemistry; Anna Treaster (BS '06, Physics), who's starting the University of California-Berkeley's PhD program in astrophysics; Elizabeth Blythe (BS '05, Computer Science), who's in Purdue's graduate program in computer science; and Scott Burdick (BS '06, Physics), studying seismology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"In my freshman year I did work at PRIME Lab, the accelerator lab in the basement of the physics building," Burdick says. "A professor told me about geophysics field work, so I did a summer internship in seismology." Deploying seismometers in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and researching the thickness of the crust, Burdick discovered his niche. Right now, he's leaning toward the academic side of the field.
"I'll probably get a postdoctorate position and then a professorship," he says. Still, offshore oil rigs lie out there on the horizon. "I'll at least do an internship to find out if I like it," he muses. Like his peers, Burdick knows that a world of science opportunities awaits.