Attendees enjoyed some hot chocolate and ice cream while connecting with their fellow chemists.

 

Dr. Alan Hogg, from the Sweetland Writing Center at the University of Michigan, will talk about general paper writing for 30 minutes, then spend the remaining 60 minutes discussing thesis writing. Dr. Hogg received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Chemistry from the University of Michigan.

 

Three panelists including Professor Scott Larsen and Professor Anne McNeil from University of Michigan, as well as Kenneth Foster from Momentive shared their thoughts on presenting a successful job talk from both an academic and industrial perspective. Two students presented their mock job talks and were critiqued by the panelists. This event helped students learn the difference between a job talk and academic talk, and helped them improve their presentation skills.

 

Four University of Michigan Postdoctoral Researchers spoke to the audience about finding their positions and how Postdoctoral life is different from that of a graduate student. The panelists include Dr. Rebecca Loy (Sanford Group, Organic), Dr. Jennifer Knight (Brooks Group, Physical), Dr. Chengbao Ni (Szymczak Group, Inorganic), and Dr. Onas Bolton (Matzger Group, Materials).

 

In this installment of our networking event series, we played a networking game "four corners", which helped us to catch up with old colleagues and interact with new faces. We also got to enjoy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. 

 

Dr. Mark Ott (Jackson Community College), Dr. David Waggoner (Monroe Community College) and Dr. Victor Chen (Thurston High School) discussed their roads to their current positions and answered audience questions.

 

Attendees learned about other colors in the Drug Development Spectrum.Three managing members of Pfizer's team (from Analytical, Microbiology, and Engineering) presented a company overview and described the internal functions of Process R & D.

 

This informal event provided graduate students and postdocs an opportunity to ask questions about CPDO, learn more about joining our group, and provide suggestions for future initiatives. We also took this opportunity to recruit new members.

 

Dr. Carmen Drahl, an Associate Editor at C&E News, visited and spoke informally to students and post-docs about how to transition into science writing as well as her day-to-day life and activities working at C&E News. She also gave a presentation “Telling Chemistry's Story: A Science Writing Primer” where she spoke about science writing careers and how to work with science writers to communicate exciting science breakthroughs.

 

Three UM Chemistry postdoctoral fellows and former students, Dr. Marion Emmert (Sanford Lab), Dr. Mary Grace I. Galinato (Lehnert Lab), and Dr. Dipannita Kalyani (Sanford Lab) shared their perspectives on obtaining academic positions at various types of colleges and universities.

 

Three recent graduates, Dr. Erica Lanni (McNeil lab), Dr. Zach Buchan (Montgomery Lab), and Dr. Jenny Schnobrich (Matzger Lab) shared their strategies and experiences in seeking an industrial position in today’s economy.

 

In this installment of our networking event series, we played a networking “treasure hunt” game, helping us to catch up with old colleagues and interact with new faces, while we enjoyed Ben & Jerry’s hot chocolate floats (with ice cream!).