G-RISE Career Talks

Thank you, Dr. Briggs!

Thank you, Dr. John!

Thank you, Dr. Perez Taliaffero!

Thank you, Dr. Baptiste Brown!

Thank you, Dr. Scott-Johnson!

Thank you, Dr. Banta!

Thank you Dr. Calo for presenting “The role of low complexity repeats in the structure and function of biological assemblies”.

Thank you Dr. Kaminker! Dr. Kaminker has worked with Genentech since 2004, and is currently interested in using bioinformatics approaches to understand how transcriptional changes at the cellular level impact disease biology. Janerra Allen, the Genentech Meyerhoff Fellow awardee for the 2023-24 academic year, listed Dr. Kaminker as a person that she would like to invite to campus give a talk. For more information on Dr. Josh Kaminker, please visit:  https://www.gene.com/scientists/our-scientists/josh-kaminker

Thank you Dr. D’Souza! Dr. D’Souza is a former UMBC doctoral student, “studying the structural determinants of reverse transcription and gene translation in retroviruses like HIV, Human T-cell leukemia virus and Moloney murine leukemia virus (MLV).” Visit her profile to read more about her research: https://www.mcb.harvard.edu/directory/victoria-dsouza/

Thank you, Dr. Dove!

Thank you, Dr. Raines-Isler!

Quita Highsmith, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at Genentech visited UMBC and met with President Valerie Shears Ashby and UMBC leadership.  Ms. Highsmith also gave a talk on her journey and diversity efforts at Genentech. For information about Quita Highsmith, please visit https://www.gene.com/diversity-inclusion/chief-diversity-officer

Thank you, Krystle, for your talk on Personal Branding and your Digital Footprint. Krystle operates a production company (KC Media Co.) based in Atlanta focused on story-telling around compelling individuals, companies, and communities. KC Media Co. specializes in productions focused on community development and compelling narratives through documentaries/docuseries, interviews, and audio experiences. Krystle’s pre-entrepreneurial background was in the clinical and public health research space and has 7+ years of experience in community related public health issues and large scale NIH funded research projects, with specific knowledge in informatics work at top research institutions such as University of Pennsylvania and Emory University.

Follow Up from Krystle:

• Article on how to create any Wikipedia page (it is suggested that you do not create one for yourself but that someone creates one about the person so as to maintain a neutral point of view): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:How_to_create_a_page
• Personal Branding perspective by a fellow scientist –  I thought this article was interesting and goes along with the question from the other professor that was in the second class, she was asking about LinkedIn and precedent for posting articles there. I thought finding an article written by a peer would be helpful for her on the topic of personal branding: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6192652/
• Website cookies (this is really more of a cybersecurity area that does relate to digital footprint but is beyond by expertise): https://us.norton.com/blog/how-to/what-are-cookies#
• More case study examples (in science): Dajae Williams (Former NASA Engineer) and Neil Degrasse Tyson (Astrophysicist and Author)

Thank you, Dr. Longinaker, for your talk!

Nyaradzo Longinaker is a well-rounded lead epidemiologist and managing health research analyst with a decade of experience in applying principles of public health research and advanced biostatistics to handling client requests. Her research focuses on taking data available in medical, organizational, and policy areas and using it to solve problems in healthcare equitably. Highlights of her work include training CDC researchers on machine learning techniques for Medicare research for four consecutive years; serving as a mentor for Black Girls Code; and participating in the Cochrane Review congress. In 2021, Nyaradzo was recognized by the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) as the Most Promising Scientist in Industry for her work as a statistician Adviser for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid’s Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse. She currently works as a Senior Analyst Consultant at Elavance Health (formerly
called Anthem Inc) where she serves as lead biostatistician and subject matter expert on numerous evaluations of clinical and programmatic outcomes. You can email Nyaradzo at nlonginaker@gmail.com

Thank you, Dr. Spiro, for your talk!

Thank you, Dr. Charalambakis, for your presentation! Links shared at the talk:

FASEB Directory of Science Policy Fellowships:This comprehensive directory includes fellowships offered by FASEB’s member societies, but also others that I mentioned this afternoon, including Research!America and the National Academies Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellowship Program. Please note that the directory is organized according to eligibility (open to all, open to U.S. citizens only, etc.)

1. 1. The NASEM Mirzayan Fellowship application period typically opens around August 1 and closes at the end of October, so if students are interested to maybe do this fellowship in 2024, be on the lookout for when applications open next August! There is a way to subscribe for e-mail updates about this fellowship—just look for the subscribe button on the far right panel of this link. 
   2. The fellowship itself usually takes place between March and May.

Thank you, Dr. Lorenz, for your talk!

Thanks Dr. Rand-Yadin, for your talk! Dr. Rand-Yadin, is a MedTech Entrepreneur and Founding Director of SeeTrue Technology, an industry leader in creating novel Glass and 3D-Nanoprinted Microneedles, revolutionizing the microinjection industry. Dr. Rand-Yadin has a PhD in Cell Biology, completed  postdoctoral work at NIH and  has 10 years’ experience working in a laboratory.  Dr. Rand-Yadin has also gained experience with global operations and manufacturing in a GLP/GMP environment, as well as clinical trial management for pharmaceutical drugs. Dr. Rand-Yadin has experience developing biochemistry and cell biology products; from R&D to commercialization and product launch, and is known for developing a portfolio of bioassay, antibody & protein products – with total revenue exceeding $10m.