Is there a tried-and-true formula to drive achievement in the corporate world? For many College of Sciences alumni, the surprising answer lies in science fundamentals — particularly the scientific method.
We spoke to three alumni about the benefits of applying a scientific approach to business.
Navigating the Startup Landscape
Thomas Kim graduated from Georgia Tech in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, intending to pursue a career in academia. Instead, after earning a master’s in biochemistry and a law degree, then working as a biotech attorney, he is now president and CEO of two life science startups.
“The entire startup company process can be construed as an exercise in the scientific method,” says Kim. “In the early stage, you start with preclinical data and a thesis on how that translates to human disease. Next, you pressure test everything. Depending on confidence in your results, you continue to invest and move the program forward to translate your initial idea into a potential human therapeutic, or you pivot to a different application or drug in the pipeline.”
One of his current companies, Epivario aims to develop treatments for preventing relapse in drug and alcohol addiction and PTSD.
“We’re in the preclinical development stage, requiring constant testing – and retesting. It’s an arduous, ongoing task where not everything works the first time – or the 50th.”
In the fast-moving start-up world, decisions must be made quickly and, most importantly, accurately to stay ahead of the competition. Kim points to a background in the scientific method as foundational to making crucial business decisions. “Whether you’re responsible for research and development or company strategy, it’s a key skill to take deep analysis and translate it into quality decision making.”
On a broader level, Kim admits he sees his work more as a mission than a job.
“I feel fortunate to work in a field where our efforts can improve human lives.”
From Lab to Leadership
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in microbiology from Washington State University, Maureen Metcalfe (M.S. BIO 2014) scored her dream job as a CDC electron microscopist in 2007, then enrolled part-time at Georgia Tech to earn a master’s in biology. As part of her master’s requirements, she also conducted research in Professor Ingeborg Schmidt-Krey’s laboratory, where she attempted to create conditions to crystallize a protein involved in Alzheimer's pathogenesis. Between her full-time job, academic studies, and work in the laboratory, she averaged more than 70 hours of work each week.
“I lived the scientific method – especially the test your hypothesis part,” says Metcalfe. “Over four years, I had 600 failures.”
Those failures taught her resilience and time management – skills vital to her current consulting career.
“It’s more ingrained than step by step, but almost every time there is a problem on a client project, I rely on certain aspects of the scientific method,” says Metcalfe. "I first observe, research, and analyze the data, re-tool if necessary, and then apply that data to make an informed recommendation to the client.”
Over the years, the perseverance she developed in the laboratory has helped her push on to complete complicated client projects.
“I think the scientific process and what it gives us is unique,” says Metcalfe. “Science gives you the skill set to keep asking questions and not accept a failure or setback.”
Metcalfe can even apply aspects of her career trajectory to principles inherent in the scientific method.
“Building on what you learn and changing course is inherent in the scientific method. I realized I wanted different challenges in my life, and I left a career in government to find them. Taking my science degree into new work situations has been very gratifying. The foundation I built in science serves me well in the challenging, fast-paced, and exciting world of consulting.”
Building Career Success
A night out with friends upended and redirected Christa Sobon’s carefully constructed career plans. After earning psychology and history degrees with a minor in French from Emory University, Sobon, (M.S. PSY 1996) came to Georgia Tech to build a career in academia. Those plans changed when she talked to a friend’s wife at a party who told her that Accenture liked to hire smart people who could solve problems.
After two years at Tech in a quantitative program focused on methodology and research seeped in the scientific method, Sobon was confident of her problem-solving abilities. Forgoing academia, she accepted a job at Accenture and has spent more than 29 years leading programs that drive business success at companies including All Connect, Netspend, and Jabian Consulting. Currently, she is operations management senior director at Cox Automotive.
“I’ve been able to use elements of the scientific method in every place I’ve worked,” says Sobon. “The scientific method equips you with critical thinking skills and promotes a methodical approach to tackling challenges that works well in the corporate world.”
As a program manager for most of her career, she cites forming a hypothesis and analyzing the data as the most critical steps when figuring out how to get a product to market.
“We gather data in terms of understanding the customer pain points, then form the hypothesis (or in our case a new product) designed to solve that particular problem. When we believe we have a workable solution, we bring that product to market,” says Sobon.
She explains that they rarely stick the landing on the first try.
“I’ve led teams where we were convinced the customer would love our product…when the customer did NOT love our product, we would then refine, test in the market again, and continue to iterate until we launched a successful product – basically a mini-version of the scientific method.”
Sobon is a strong believer in a scientific education – and Georgia Tech.
“The rigor that you learn at Georgia Tech about approaching problem-solving through the scientific method has so many applications. These skills are transferable across a variety of fields and enable individuals to analyze complex problems, develop innovative solutions, and make data-driven decisions, all of which are essential in business today.”
Over 5,000 people attended Georgia Tech's Celebrate STEAM event on March 8, which showcased more than 60 demonstrations in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
Hosted by the College of Sciences at Georgia Tech, this year’s Frontiers in Science conference will showcase cutting-edge research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and the cognitive sciences — highlighting how AI is transforming our understanding of the brain, and how neuroscience and psychology are informing new developments in AI.
Attendance is by invitation only.
To suggest participants or request an invitation, please contact us here:
https://cos.gatech.edu/frontiers-intelligence
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Members of the Georgia Tech community are excited to welcome the community back to campus for the kickoff event of the 12th annual Atlanta Science Festival. Formerly known as Georgia Tech Science and Engineering Day, Celebrate STEAM will feature hands on activities for participants of all ages. Whether your interests lie in robotics, brains, biology, space, art, nanotechnology, paper, computer science, wearables, bioengineering, chemical engineering, or systems engineering, we have something for everyone. In addition to our hands on activities participants will be able to witness demonstrations, connect with student researchers, and discover the exciting advancements happening at Georgia Tech.
Visit the 2025 Atlanta Science Festival Launch at Georgia Tech event webpage for more information!
For general questions, contact Georgia Tech Research Events.
The Atlanta Science Festival, returning Saturday, March 8, 2025, is an annual public celebration of local science and technology. Curious people of all ages will explore the science and technology in our region and see how science is connected to all parts of our lives. Learn more.
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We are excited to invite you to our upcoming BRAIN-Industry Session, a virtual event designed to foster collaboration between industry professionals and the faculty at the BRAIN (Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology) Partner Site at Georgia Tech. If you’d like your work to be highlighted, or are interested in working with industry, contact Michelle LaPlaca at michelle.laplaca@bme.gatech.edu.
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Second-year biology students Giuli Capparelli Sanabria and J’Avani Stinson are pursuing Georgia Tech degrees with fewer financial worries, thanks to the G. Wayne Clough Tech Promise Scholarship. Created in 2007, this need-based scholarship is the first of its kind offered by a public university in Georgia. It allows qualifying Georgia students to pursue a degree debt-free by filling the gap where other scholarships and financial aid options leave off.
From Johns Creek to Georgia Tech: Capparelli Sanabria is studying to become a veterinarian, a dream that was inspired by an internship at a veterinary clinic during high school. Read Giuli Capparelli Sanabria’s story.
From Stone Mountain to Georgia Tech: Stinson, a NASA Pathways intern and Gates Scholar, hopes to obtain an M.D. and Ph.D. to study chronic pediatric diseases, a goal first discovered during his sister’s own diabetes diagnosis when she was 9 years old. Read J’Avani Stinson's story.
Abstract: The ability to tell time, anticipate future events, and produce accurately timed motor behaviors, are among the most fundamental computations the brain performs. Speech and music perception, for example, provide sophisticated examples of temporal processing as they require the ability to parse the order, duration, and the global temporal structure of complex stimuli. Precisely because of the importance of time and timing to brain function, we have proposed that timing on the scale of seconds is a general property of neocortical circuits. I will present experimental and computational studies that suggest that the ability to tell time relies on the inherent dynamics of neural circuits in the form of neural population clocks. To test the hypothesis that neocortical circuits are intrinsically capable of temporal processing we have shown that cortical circuits in a dish can learn temporal patterns and generate timed predictions. Finally, I will present experimental and computational studies suggesting a relationship between timing and working memory, and their potential reliance on the same neural representations.
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Abstract: Since the dawn of life, evolution of novel metabolic pathways has enabled new strategies for exploiting environmental resources and manipulating competing and cooperating organisms. Bioinformatic evidence suggests that organisms evolve novel metabolic pathways by patching together existing enzymes with promiscuous side activities into new combinations. However, many questions remain. What promiscuous enzymes were available in the organism in which a new pathway evolved? Why did one pathway emerge rather than other possibilities? Did the first pathway to be discovered “win”, or did subsequent evolution allow a better solution to emerge?
We define “protopathways” as the earliest stage in the evolution of novel pathways. At this stage, promiscuous enzymes are serving new functions as well as their native functions and proper regulation has not emerged. We have developed a model system that allows us to follow the emergence of protopathways. We delete pdxB, a gene required for synthesis of the essential cofactor pyridoxal 5’-phosphate (PLP, aka vit B6) in g-proteobacteria. Complicated population dynamics occurred during laboratory evolution of ∆pdxB E. coli as competing clones rose and fell in abundance. Within 150 generations, a dominant clone (JK1) had evolved a four-step protopathway that bypasses the block in PLP synthesis caused by deletion of pdxB. We have identified the order in which four mutations arose in JK1 and the physiological effect of each. Interestingly, the second mutation created a cheater that was less fit on its own but thrived in the population by scavenging nutrients released from the fragile parental cells. The dominant lineages at the end of the experiment all derived from this cheater strain. We have also evolved ∆pdxB strains of Salmonella enterica, Alliivibrio fischeri and Pseudomonas putida. In some cases, different mutations led to the same novel protopathway. In others, a different protopathway emerged.
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Abstract: As genomic datasets grow in size empiricists are faced with the daunting task of making sense of a flood of information. To keep pace with this explosion in data, computational methodologies are being rapidly developed to best utilize genomic sequence data from hundreds to tens of thousands of individuals for the purposes of evolutionary genetic inference. In this seminar I will talk about work done by my group to leverage supervised machine learning techniques for population genetic inference. In particular I will cover recent applications of deep learning on unreduced genotype matrices for a number of population genetic tasks including recombination rate estimation, geographic prediction, and spatial population genetic inference.
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Abstract: Adaptations to divert the attacks of visually guided predators have evolved repeatedly in animals. However, few studies have examined how invertebrates have evolved to use ultrasonic hearing against bats. Over the last 12 years, our research team has synergistically conducted behavioral experiments, phylogenetics, and functional genomics to examine how the more than 140,000 moth species evolved to escape bats – their primary predator at night. Over the last 60 million years, moths have evolved ultrasonically sensitive ears and ultrasound-producing organs to combat bat attack. Some moths to have gone a step further and gained the ability to jam bat sonar using tymbals on their thorax or by stridulating their genitalia, allowing them to inhabit new environments. Others generate acoustic diversion with spinning tails to deflect echolocating bat attack. This presentation will include high-speed infrared videography of moths and bats to elucidate the function and evolution of anti-bat strategies. The presentation will also include a discussion on lab research on the impact of human-driven light pollution on moths and bats.
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