Episode 83. Anand Muthusamy is a fellow at Convergent Research, where he's building a focused research organization (FRO) to monitor the real-time activity of biomarkers. Anand is a chemist and neuroscientist. He recently completed his PhD at Caltech, worked at Janelia Research Campus, and did his undergrad at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Check out his recent paper on Bioarxiv: 

Episode 82. Alexander Titus is a professor at USC, doing research at the intersection of biology and AI. He completed his PhD in Quantitative Biomedical Sciences at Dartmouth. He's also the founder of Bioeconomy.xyz and advises the U.S. Government on AI and national security. Titus spent time at McKinsey and Google and helped build Colossal Biosciences and Form Bio. 

Episode 81. Ashley Ruba is the founder of After Academia and a Human Factors Engineer at Arthrex. Ashley did her PhD in developmental psychology at the University of Washington and her  undergrad degree at Duke University.  

Show Notes: 

Infant language and emotional development lab  [02:00]

NIH NRSA Institutional Postdoc Training Grant (T32) [03:48]

Ashey’s academic story [01:45]

Leaving academia [07:12] 

Human Factors Engineer [9:35]

Arthrax [10:37]

Working in augmented reality  [10:43]

Attachment styles [13:10]

How do you get your first job out of academia [16:05] 

Pivoting into UX research and Human Factors Engineering and the process of making the change [24:21]

Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive  [28:44]

Pivoting from big tech for stability and more growth opportunities  [29:40]

Career coaching [32:22] 

Getting over self doubt, internal roadblock, and imposter syndrome [34:39]

How do I get recruiter to look at my resume [38:32]

Tactical tips on how to structure a resume [40:08]

Motivating factors beyond salary and benefits [44:22]

Being honest with yourself [47:11] 

Core values - growth  [48:21]

Most unexpected change and realization [49:37]

Listen to yourself [52:57]

What advice would you give to your younger self? [54:09]

The myth of being stuck in academia [57:06]

Episode 80. Amy Kruse is Chief Investment Officer at Satori Capital and a Venture Partner at Prime Movers Lab. Amy completed her PhD in Neuroscience at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. After leaving the bench, Amy spent time as a Program Manager at DARPA and has worked in various operating roles in the neurotech industry.

Episode 79. Sammi Sison is co-president of Nucleate, an international student-led organization designed to help scientists kick off careers in entrepreneurship, business development, and venture capital. Sammi is a PhD student at UC San Diego where she studies translational processing in the brain. 

Episode 78. Kim Edwards, my partner, is the guest interviewer. We talk about motivations for starting a company. Check out the journey in real-time on my newsletter: 

transitionstates.substack.com

Episode 77. Jun Axup is Chief Operating Officer at E11 Bio, a Focused Research Organization. She is an entrepreneur and former Chief Scientific Officer and Partner at IndiBio. She's also a musician, artist, and community builder. Jun completed her PhD in Chemical Biology at Scripps Research. 

Check out some of her awesome projects at her personal website: 

https://junaxup.com/

Episode 76. We turn the table in this episode. William Marks, a longtime friend, interviews me in 2020 on the motivations behind getting into neuroscience and starting a podcast

Episode 76. Aiden Aceves is a Vice President at Insight Partners, an investment firm. Prior to entering VC, Aiden completed his PhD in Bioengineering at Caltech and a bachelor's degree at UC Riverside. 

Episode 75. Andrew Akbashev is a Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland. He holds a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University and completed a postdoc at Stanford University. If you're not already, follow him on LinkedIn, X or YouTube for insights into navigating academia and science careers

Timestamps: 

00:15:14 How to pick a thesis advisor

00:28:06 Evaluating student-advisor compatibility

00:36:31 When doing a postdoc makes sense

00:52:15 How to offer more career opportunities to PhDs

01:12:01 How to incentivize higher risk research

01:20:27  Increasing communication skills among scientists

01:25:21 Role of social media in science

01:26:32 The pressures many group leaders face

01:34:00 Importance of mentorship and the need for strong mentors in public forums

01:41:31 Fostering a collaborative (rather than competitive) mindset