Unique Combination of Training Leads to a Unique Career Opportunity

By Matt Kennedy, PhD, Associate Director Molecular Virology at Oncorus and UR Alumnus

As I progressed through grad school and my postdoctoral training, I became both engrossed and inspired by my basic research, but there was always a lingering thought that I had diverged from my original intention: production of therapeutics for unmet human disease. This therapeutic direction had always been there, and as I considered the immediacy of the impact of my work, I gave serious consideration to industry scientist jobs in fast moving startups / small biotechs  where I could directly contribute to new medicines. 

How Being Open to Change Can Lead to an Unexpected Place: Teaching at a Community College

By Teresa Sukiennicki, PhD, Associate Professor at Genesee Community College

Had you asked me long ago what I would be doing today, never in a million years would this somewhat introverted nerd have said that I would be living east of the Rockies and teaching at a community college. Life, however, sometimes leads you down unexpected paths, and I am happy that it has brought me to where I am now.

Sharing the URBEST Mission With Popular Media

News Article by Tracey Baas, URBEST Executive Director

I was offered the opportunity to be interviewed by a journalist from U.S. News & World Report about the topic What You Can Do With a Biology Degree. She was OK with the idea that I worked primarily with PhD graduate students, not undergrads, whose fields were not only biology but a variety of biomedical programs. Although the journalist and I weren’t able to schedule a phone interview, she let me provide some ideas and talking points through email for her article. When I first started reading her piece, imposter syndrome hit me, but then I let it go. I realized I did a pretty good job of sharing the mission of the URBEST program, after four years of practice. 

A Summer Adventure in San Francisco as an Insight Data Science Fellow

News Article by Binshuang Li, PhD Candidate in Biology

Data science had not been on my radar until about two years ago, when a program director at Insight Data Science Insight visited UR. During the seminar, I immediately realized it could be a great fit for me. At that time, I had already started doing an online master degree in computer science while pursuing my PhD in Biology. I knew that an industrial job would be a better fit for me, yet I was not entirely convinced that I wanted to be a programmer. After the seminar, I did more research and found that data science is a fast-growing, in-demand field that has attracted a lot of people from academia. I decided that I was going to apply to this program once I was in the final stage of my PhD.

Research Roundup: Dealing with Failure and an Unfunded Grant Application

News Article by Steve Dewhurst, Vice Dean for Research

Dealing with failure and an unfunded grant application is a horrible feeling.  A private hurt that’s immeasurably hard to share with colleagues, family and friends. That’s because the narrative is one of failure. But, I’ve chosen to write about it anyway – because we’ve all been here.  Because shame thrives in secrecy and loses its power when we talk about it. It’s also true that a life in science requires resilience -- the ability to pick oneself up after a fall and to learn and improve from failure.  No one ever said that it would be easy.