I graduated in 2015 with a PhD in Chemistry from Rice University. Along the way, I very slowly learned that my happiest research moments in graduate school came mostly from writing papers, designing and presenting slides and posters, and from teaching or mentoring others. In other words, I was not in love with science; I was in love with scientific communications. I earned a travel award for the Spring 2013 ACS National Conference in New Orleans so that I could present paper # 559 in the colloids section, a presentation called “Detailed mechanism for the polarization switching of nanorod plasmons.” Receiving this award opened my eyes to the idea that graduate school is about more than a piece of paper, more than publishing good results. It’s about gaining a unique perspective on the world, and figuring out how to let others see that perspective for themselves.<br/>During the last few years of graduate school and after, I built my writing portfolio at Rice and worked my way into scientific communications with a local small business defense contractor. Last year I moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, and am now working in Global Communications at Philip Morris International (PMI). Here, I use my multidisciplinary research background to describe accurately but simply results from our smoke-free product assessment program. Easily understanding scientific content and converting that understanding into more digestible language is a strength I bring to my position, where I am increasingly involved in developing the company’s public persona through my content. I am proud to be able to use my strengths, and happy to work in my field of interest, while working somewhere that allows me to make a positive difference in the world.

Scientific communications at the academic, small business, and international company levels

2019 Spring National Meeting

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.