What drew you to the Coon group?

I was interested in doing more hands-on applied science. There were a couple groups in the department at UW that did hands-on work, including Coon, so that’s how I started looking at him. The emphasis on programming with instrumentation and the close connections with industry the Coon lab had were really heartening to me, since I knew I wanted to go into an industry job after graduate school. When I moved out to California it wasn’t like I was starting a completely new job, I felt more at home than that. I also have to say it was clean and nice—things an organized person like myself can’t help but feel drawn to.

What do you do now?

I’m a software scientist in instrument development and instrument control. I work with scientists who are designing experiments and help them implement those experiments using software, from program design to support. It’s not just software for applications, but also involves innovation with hardware; we’re working with mechanical and electrical engineers to envision and design a whole product. I enjoy how integrated the work is.

Getting this position at Thermo Fisher Scientific was the direct result of an internship I did while in grad school. Indirectly, and I think this might be unique to the Coon lab, the emphasis on professionalization, how to interact with other scientists, present your work, get grants and papers accepted, etc. has served me well in my work after grad school.