How did your Penn State graduate studies prepare you for your career?  

I think my graduate studies helped me prepare by providing the methodological coursework on conducting research so I know how to lead projects or assist students. Similarly, I really enjoyed having the experience of being a teaching assistant in several classes, which gave me a lot of teaching experience. And finally, I enjoyed being able to work or observe different types of research projects which helped me figure out the topics I enjoy. 

In 2-3 sentences, describe what you do in your profession. 

I am a tenure-track faculty member in computer science at a liberal arts college. This means that my focus is on teaching, service, and advising with lesser focus on research. I do engage in all of these tasks every day. What makes it fun and rewarding is being able to impact students of color directly, doing research with undergraduate students, and teaching smaller, inclusive classes where I get to connect with students. 

What’s the one thing you wish you knew as a graduate student that you know now? 

I think there are many things I wish I knew! Perhaps one thing that stands out to me is being more open to different experiences because that is where you learn about yourself. You learn about the things you enjoy and do not enjoy. You may surprise yourself too! And the second thing that stands out is to make sure you have a group of friends you can connect with to bounce ideas or just have down time with recreationally. This is tremendously helpful when those stressful moments arise, (which they do), and you can have a support group. Knowing this now, connecting with folks sooner feels like something I would do if I had a second chance. 

What ways do you stay engaged with Penn State today, and what inspires you to stay involved? 

As soon as I graduated, I was looking for ways to stay connected. As of now, I am serving a 3-year position on the Penn State Graduate School Alumni Society as part of the professional development committee. I support career and professional development programs that help connect graduate students to Penn State alumni to explore a wide range of topics related to careers, industry insights, and networking. I have come back to assist in event efforts and sit on panels to help our graduate students. 

I also hold an alumni membership and stay subscribed to several publications from Penn State Alumni, and the College of IST so I can keep up to date with what is going on. 

When I do visit State College, I also try to connect with my advisor and the current students in my lab which is a very rewarding and fun experience. 

What career accomplishment are you most proud of?  

Right before I started my dissertation work, I took a year to work in industry. I am very proud of my time at Honeywell Aerospace as a researcher. I was thrust into a domain space that I was super unfamiliar with (aerospace). However, the team there really embraced me. Regardless of that lack of knowledge, they were confident that I could pick that up along the way. What was more important, and that became very clear to me, is the methodological knowledge I carried from my graduate studies. All of the graduate coursework I took to some extent prepared me to do research in this industry setting. Although there are major differences, the core concepts of human factors and human-computer interaction were still the same. I was able to apply those methods and concepts to conduct really interesting studies on pilots using software and tools for emergency situations through simulated cockpit environments. The work I did was recognized in various organizational levels of the company and contributed to more funding to continue that work. 

When you were a graduate student, did you envision yourself having this profession? If not, tell us about the journey. 

I did not envision being a faculty member at a liberal arts college. AT. ALL. Primarily, I saw myself as working in industry. I think there were several reasons for this. I just never thought I could sustainably become faculty and be happy at the same time. I think at Macalester, I found a really unique environment with the location, students, faculty, and institution type that made me very excited. To me it was very surprising, but now that I am here, I am thinking more about how being at this type of institution complements my way of being and who I am!  

What professional development tip would you recommend to current students? 

I feel grateful that I was able to attend conferences during my studies. My main recommendation is to build relationships and connections and maintain those networks. This is really difficult to do! Even just attending conferences can offer some guidance or affordance of the academic spaces and you can observe how others network, give talks, present themselves. Especially if you are interested in academia. At the same time, conferences can be a really steep financial commitment, and so, taking advantage of online events where you participate in lectures, panels, or something can help too.