A LENS on transitions: Academia to Industry

It’s 'back to school now for our interns, STEP students and tech-aides who worked alongside many of us in the labs this summer. Interacting with students is a highlight of summer at 3M. We also had the opportunity to connect with participants of the inaugural ASCEND program for undergrads, and the second annual RISE symposium for those in graduate school. Over the years, 3M State of Science Index data has shown that the global public believes exposure and access are among the challenges that underrepresented minority students face in STEM. 3M is committed to taking action in that regard and increase engagement with science education and STEM careers.

3M ASCEND – Accelerating Student & Candidate Engagement, Networking & Development, is a program primarily intended to provide freshmen and sophomore students with the skills needed to successfully navigate the internship recruitment process.  It introduces emerging, underrepresented talent to the wide range of rewarding STEM career options through interaction with 3M STEM professionals. The students learn about different careers, receive advice from recent graduates on how to search for internships and get tips on how to best represent themselves during the recruitment process. The event is open to individuals in the first or second year of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in STEM fields. 

3M RISE – Raising Influence in Science & Engineering, provides emerging female and/or underrepresented STEM graduate talent exposure to careers in Corporate R&D fields. Students present their own academic research and network with a community of emerging and established scientific talent and hear about their journey and industrial research experiences. Participation in these events does not obligate the participant to apply for employment nor does it guarantee future consideration for employment by 3M. The key objective of both these programs is to provide exposure and access to a wide range of careers and professionals. I can personally attest to the important role exposure and access have played in my journey. 

I had the opportunity to talk about that, and my work, and interact with the students at these summer events. My role as Chief Science Advocate always draws attention and I shared the reasoning, our research on the global perception of science and our efforts around STEM advocacy, and my personal point of view on these topics. Many of the questions during both sessions were also about career success and work life – questions about a typical day in my life as a scientist at 3M. In addition, for RISE students much of the discussion this year was around the transition from pursuing PhD or Post Doc in graduate school to working in industry, in a corporate environment. 

Schooled in degrees 

In the last few years, I have reflected upon my own graduate school journey often. To answer the questions around the transition, from working in an academic lab in university setting to research in corporate environment, I basically drew from my own experiences and associated learnings. I highlighted the fact that a lot about the transition and its relative ease can depend upon the specific nature of the research, relationship with advisor and lab-mates in the research setting, the environment and culture of the academic lab and fit with one’s mindset, interests and working style.

When I was in graduate school, there were professors in my department who interacted with their students often and those who seldom met their students. Some of my peers were actively involved in helping their advisors with grant proposals, some were involved in running the labs, while others also interacted with undergrads in their role as Teaching Assistants. Moreover, the research work in graduate school can range from very basic sciences, to quite applied, and to combinations within the same lab. So, given the range of experiences in graduate school environment – the transition experience to industrial setting can also vary. 

In my case, there was a more applied sense to my doctoral work and admittedly instead of going into depth of just one particular aspect, my work revolved around growing the breadth and exploring possibilities, which worked well for my interests and problem-solving mindset. I had switched labs from my masters to my PhD project – from theoretical modeling to a hands-on project where I could build a stronger problem-solving context, and work in a more collaborative environment, with consistent interactions with my advisor.  

School’s out 

The transition in graduate school set me up well for adjusting to corporate environment - working in a Division lab at 3M as more of a generalist. In this role as an incoming product development engineer, what I particularly liked was the opportunity to be a part of teams, specifically cross-functional teams with people not just from the various lab functions but also manufacturing, marketing etc. The RISE participants appreciated hearing that as they look to enter the workforce they can chose to work in the same area as their advanced degree and become a subject matter expert within the organization, they could work in an environment where they leverage what has been learned during graduate work and extend it further within the area and to other areas, or, as in my case – I never worked in the area in which my doctorate is and have just relied on the basic skills learned during graduate school - to dig deep and solve problems. A lot depends upon what you are more inclined to do and what you are willing to learn, and what you are open to – including people management and even business leadership. 

At the end of the day, the Industry setting is shaped by the fact that the work has to lead to tangible business results in solutions for the customer, through product and process improvements and related innovation. In contrast, in graduate school obtaining a degree is the end goal and is largely driven by the student and their understanding with their advisor. Given the primary objectives, in an Industry setting there are a larger number of collaborators and stakeholders, timelines and deadlines, decision matrices and metrics and transition is largely about understanding the roles and responsibilities and appreciating the interrelationships and interdependencies. The net you cast to get anything done is typically much bigger, the pace of work is bound by time, driven by the deliverables, rigor and discipline, and the work and the resulting network is typically more interdisciplinary. With that comes an appreciation for what are often referred to as ‘soft skills.’  

I covered information from my own experiences just like I did at the inaugural RISE event last year and it resonated with the students. I assured them that if they pick Industry jobs, they will likely not give it a second thought few months down the road as they on-board and learn how to navigate. Most organizations have formal orientation processes, buddies, mentors and supervisors that help new graduates transition and on their way to the day-to-day life of a scientist in Industry. Many of the questions around what my own typical day is like also centered around the comparison with what they do on a daily basis in graduate school setting. To provide deeper insight, I took the opportunity to give some concrete examples of things in the listed areas I might do on a typical day in my role as a senior scientist:

 •        Find problems to solve. Collaborate to solve problems.

•        Develop technology. Commercialize products.

•        Invent. Patent.

•        Bench-scale planning to Factory-scale experiments.

•        Plan for data. Generate data. Analyze data. Digest data. Communicate data.

•        Interact with customers. Understand trends. Build strategy.

•        Lead projects. Direct teams. Chair committees.

•        Learn, unlearn and re-learn…

• Read, Classes, Seminars, Trade-shows, Conferences…

•        Mentor. Teach. Coach. Participate.

•        Internal presentations. External communications.

•        Meetings. More meetings.

• 1-1, Teams, Group, Function, Lab, Business, Corporation…

This peek into the day-in-life gave the students a good appreciation of what a career in Industry could entail. Hearing from other 3M speakers from different functions and at various levels gave good exposure to a multitude of careers and roles. 

School of thought 

As the students complete the homestretch with their graduate work, I hope their RISE experience helped to shed some light on what life is like in a corporate setting. Call me old school, but regardless of where a student ends up – working in academia, government labs, as an entrepreneur or in a corporation – at the end of the day it is often more about the mindset and where you focus the LENS. For those of us who are in Industry we find ourselves constantly learning, and leveraging what we learn, as we apply science to life. These learnings cast a wide net and so does our work, and network, as we find what works for us to advance our skills and develop expertise. The balance of these elements become the focal point for our journey:      

Learning and leveraging

Engineering of applications and applied research

Net, work and network

Skills and subject matter expertise

My parting message to the students was to gain exposure and as many experiences as they can while they are working towards their education. Learn about other areas and fields and collaborate with people from different backgrounds and functional expertise – this helps to hone your skills and helps you learn more about yourself as well.

As for back to school, the learning never ends… that’s the key to ASCEND and RISE.