Can a Scientist Find a Rewarding Career in Industry?

by David

Absolutely!

“If you have a good science education then the world is your oyster, and you can do almost anything.” – Tanja Beshear, physicist working in industry

‘Turning Science into Things People Need,’ is a project exploring scientists who chose a career in industry instead of the ‘traditional’ academic path.  I’m interviewing 25 of these successful scientists to get their stories and understand:

  • Skills and attributes of a scientist that are useful in industry
  • Roles in a commercial organization that are suited to a scientist
  • Skills and habits that a scientist should develop to be successful in industry

As I work towards completing the book, I will post interview excerpts and other thoughts about careers in the private sector on this site.  Check back often, and thank you for visiting!

{ 3 comments }

CPIA Connects Students and Local Companies

by David

The Colorado Photonics Industry Association (CPIA) is a not-for-profit member organization of companies, universities, and government labs that do research and/or supply products and services that use photonics technologies. Their primary mission is to promote the substantial photonics industry that exists in the state and to provide resources to help their member companies grow and be profitable.

CPIA also works to connect students with Colorado photonics companies. One way it does this is with the Student Poster Contest held at their Annual Meeting in late fall. Juan Pino describes how the CPIA Poster Contest helped him get a job with Vescent Photonics:
CPIA Poster Contest connects students and companies

{ 0 comments }

Gary Shade, Failure Analysis Engineer

September 12, 2011

Gary Shade is a Senior Staff Failure Analysis Engineer with Insight Analytical Labs in Colorado Springs, CO where he performs failure analysis on PCB assemblies and semiconductor devices. He was the president of the Electronic Device Failure Analysis Society from 2006-2008 and is an expert in the field of Photoemission Microscopy. Gary has [...]

Read the full article →

Scott Sternberg, Executive Vice President at Vaisala

March 15, 2011

Scott Sternberg is an Executive Vice President at Vaisala, a global environmental and industrial monitoring device company headquartered in Finland. He is also President of Vaisala Inc., the company’s US subsidiary headquartered in Louisville, CO. Prior to Vaisala, Scott was a Business Development Manager for Roper Industries/Photometrics in Tucson, AZ. He has [...]

Read the full article →

Antoine Daridon, Product Manager at SpinX Technologies

July 11, 2010

Antoine Daridon is a Product Manager at SpinX Technologies in Geneva, Switzerland. He is also a member of the Strategic Advisory Board of InSphero in Zürich, Switzerland. Antoine holds a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from the Universität Bern in Switzerland, a masters in analytical chemistry from the Université de Jussieu, Paris VI and the [...]

Read the full article →

Jack Jewell, Founder of Picolight, Inc.

June 20, 2010

Jack Jewell sparked widespread industrial development of the Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL), by demonstrating over 1 million VCSELs on a single chip at Bell Laboratories in 1989. Building on this achievement, in 1991 Jack co-founded Vixel Corp, the first company committed to VCSEL commercialization. In 1995 Jack left Vixel to start Picolight, [...]

Read the full article →

Tom Baur, Founder of Meadowlark Optics

June 7, 2010

Tom Baur is the founder of Meadowlark Optics, Inc., a company founded in 1979 that designs, manufactures and sells precision optics for polarization control.  He is also the founder of Team Baur, a company that is developing a 75-acre business park in Frederick, Colorado. Prior to founding these companies Tom was a research scientist at [...]

Read the full article →

Ashok Balakrishnan, Director of Product Development at Enablence Technologies

May 13, 2010

Ashok Balakrishnan is the Director of Product Development at Enablence Technologies in Kanata, Ontario.  Ashok was a co-founder of Enablence Inc., and is a co-inventor on the key patents that define Enablence’s proprietary technology. He has extensive product development and commercialization expertise spanning several markets, including spectroscopy, telecommunications, and biophotonics.  Prior to Enablence, Ashok was [...]

Read the full article →

The Art of Science

May 6, 2010

I’ve always been interested in the ‘human’ side of science. The general population often perceives science as a cold calculated endeavor. I do not see it this way at all. Those of us with experience in science research know that it requires creativity and intuition in order to make progress. It [...]

Read the full article →

Peter Fiske, CEO at PAX Water Technologies

April 30, 2010

Peter S. Fiske is the CEO of PAX Water Technologies, Inc. in San Rafael, California. A native of Bethesda, Maryland, Peter has an A.B. from Princeton University, a Ph.D. in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. In 1996, he was [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries