After graduating from Georgia Tech in 2016, I joined the National Institutes of Health as a Scientific Program Analyst at the National Human Genome Research Institute. As a Program Analyst, I am responsible for a variety of tasks, but my underlying purpose is to ensure the efficiency and to measure the efficacy of large research initiatives, like the Undiagnosed Diseases Network and Genotype-Tissue Expression Project. My job has exposed me to an incredible array of science-based careers and given me an in-depth understanding of NIH funded research. Through these experiences, I found a passion for genetic counseling and will start at the Augustana-Sanford Genetic Counseling Graduate Program in the fall of 2018.
My Biology degree has been invaluable for my job. Not only did it provide me with a strong genetics foundation, it also taught me a lot about collaboration and coordination. Science is now almost exclusively team based, and Georgia Tech prepared me well for the complicated social and information networks within research consortia. Through team based labs, group assignments, and student work groups at Georgia Tech, I learned how to navigate professional relationships and ensure that the science progressed.
My biggest advice would be to take a chance! Ask that special guest speaker to meet for coffee after class, apply for that competitive research scholarship, email that genetics professor to see if you can get a spot in her lab- you never know what it could lead to.
And it’s okay to not have it all figured out yet. Georgia Tech can be a difficult place sometimes, because you’re surrounded by brilliant people, doing brilliant things, who all seem have their next 5 years mapped out. If you’re a planner who knows what you want and where you’re going, that’s great! If not, that’s great too! Take time to explore your academic and non-academic interests and passions. Even if they don’t pan out, you will gain vital insight through those experiences.
