Excited State Podcast

Dr. Caitlin Hanna shares her experiences on transitioning from an academic position to industry, how to know when it's time to change jobs, and how to find a work-life balance that works for you. We reminisce about the grad school days and reflect where are now.

The gang is all back together in Episode 17 to talk about classes, the candidacy exam and, of course, the final defense. They breakdown what classes were like and how they differed from undergraduate classes and give their thoughts on the whole candidacy process. Finally they talk about the capstone of your graduate journey: the Ph.D. defense. Sit back and enjoy this fun episode!

In Episode 16 of the Excited State Podcast, the gang are joined by Dr. Alex Goldberg to chat about his career at the California Institute of Technology to ZS Associates as a consultant. Alex tells us about his experiences at Caltech as well as moving to Israel for his post doctoral work. We also find out about the inspiration behind his podcast Periodic Bagel. Enjoy! 

The gang is joined in Episode 15 by Dr. Ross Koby to discuss the ins and outs of social media. We chat about some of the good and bad aspects related to social media as well as the community of chemists that exists online. 

Choosing a research lab can be one of the most important decisions of your career. Luckily the ESP team gets together to discuss what to look for and what to look out for when choosing your research lab. Enjoy!

In Episode 13, the team talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly experiences with writing papers during graduate school. They offer great tips and tricks on getting started with writing and how it can synergize with research. Come take a seat and listen to our candid conversation about writing in grad school!

In Episode 12 we're joined by the wonderful Dr. Megha Unhelkar. Megha tells us about her journey from working in industry through grad school into a consulting position after her PhD. She is now a Blavatnik Fellow at Yale University and shares her insights on how business and science can be brought together to create new and exciting products. 

In our latest episode, the gang gets a chance to chat with Dr. Mallory Hinks who was a Congressional Science Fellow that worked in the office of Senator Chris Coons. Mallory chats with us about how science policy works and the importance of communicating science to government officials. One of Mallory's major accomplishments during her time in Congress was working on a bill that awarded Congressional Gold Medals to the women from Hidden Figures!

On our 10th episode, we are joined by the awesome Dr. Victoria Lim who has taken her talents to the patent law world and fills us in on what her day-to-day work is like in that field. Vicky tells us about her path to working in patent law, what her experiences were in graduate school and how she would celebrate the wins in her work, both now and in grad school. 

In Episode 9, the gang is joined by Professor Megan Fieser from the University of Southern California (USC) to chat about her academic journey to become an Assistant Professor at USC. Megan shares stories about how she transitioned between graduate school, post doc and finally to a professorship. She also highlights the importance of a strong work-life balance while going through graduate school.