This past spring, my advisor informed me that I would be graduating in the coming year. Most graduate students would be ecstatic to hear this news, but I was nervous. After the conversation, I was left wondering whether I have enough data to graduate, if my committee would agree that I am ready, and what on earth I am going to do next.
My name is Chris Lowe and I’m a 5th year PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering department. I’m advised by Dr. David Shreiber and my work is focused on developing novel biomaterials for nervous system regeneration and repair.
Have friends and relatives asked you questions like: “How long does it take to get your postdoctoral degree?” or, “Oh, so when do you finish your postdoctoral training position and actually get a job?” 
My name is Ina Nikolaeva. I was born in the small country of Bulgaria in 1989, from where my family moved to Canada, via South Africa. I am fluent in two languages, Bulgarian and English, with some knowledge of French left over from my time in Canada. I completed my Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology and a Chemistry minor at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada.
I am Myka R. Ababon, currently working on my PhD in the Cell and Developmental Biology Program at Rutgers. Outside the lab, my interests lie in music and physical activities.
I was an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico when I had my first research experience in neuroscience. Dr.
“Where a door closes, a window opens.” But what happens when you stretch to keep the door and the window open at the same time? Even after being “in school” for more than two decades, narrowing the field of opportunities to pick just one career still seems like a daunting task. All science is exciting. Every good research presentation leaves me pumped and wishing I was breaking into that field.
By Chris Lowe Kenilworth, NJ – On April 29, 2015 30 iJOBS participants from both Newark and New Brunswick campuses had the opportunity to tour Merck’s Kenilworth facility and learn from a panel of experts from many different walks throughout the company. The theme of the day was “A view from inside pharmaceutical development: perspective on career paths” and it certainly delivered on both counts.
As part of the iJOBS Career Panel Series, on April 14th 2015, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Biogen and NPR sponsored the Scientific Writing and Journalism career panel held at Rutgers University, Newark campus. I was excited from the moment I found out about this event. Science communication is something that has always been in the back of my mind, but I didn’t quite know how to pursue it. Writing about science for the general public is something that you are not trained for during graduate school, not even while you are a postdoc, unless you learn it on your own.
With the successful first year of the Rutgers Interdisciplinary Job Opportunities for Biomedical Scientists (RU iJOBS) coming to a close, one of the events I wanted to commemorate was the very first iJOBS Annual Symposium held last April 20, 2015 at the Busch Student Center in Piscataway.