Careers in Industry Panel

Interested in learning about the daily work life of chemists starting their careers in industry? Come to a panel discussion to hear about the inner-workings of industrial jobs, getting jobs in industrial research and development, and have any questions you want answered!

Featuring:
  • Julia Allen | Infineum
    Julia received her PhD from the Lambert group at Columbia in 2011. She is now a Research Technologist in the polymer components group at Infineum, a joint venture by Shell and Exxon that produces oil and fuel additive packages. Currently, she’s working on several projects with a particular emphasis on new dispersant design and understanding how dispersant structure impacts our product production and performance.
  • Tim Cernak | Merck
    Tim received his BSc in chemistry from Okanagan University College before moving to McGill University in Montreal where he obtained his PhD studying the total synthesis of palau’amine. He then moved to the Lambert group at Columbia where he explored new strategies for multicatalysis. In 2009, Tim joined the medicinal chemistry team at Merck’s Rahway site. He has worked on metabolic and cardiovascular disease at Merck and is engaged in research on new methods of catalysis and high-throughput experimentation in drug discovery.
  • Ferenc Kontes | ARMGO Pharma
    Ferenc received his PhD from the Snyder group at Columbia University in 2011. He’s now a research scientist at ARMGO Pharma, where he primarily works as a medicinal chemist designing and synthesizing compounds for the treatment of cardiac and skeletal muscle disorders. His responsibilities also include developing methods for large scale synthesis and purification of clinical candidates, and assisting biologists by providing tool compounds for in vitro and in vivopharmacological studies.
  • Steve Silverman | Bristol-Myers Squibb
    Steve received his BS from Johns Hopkins. He began his graduate studies at The Scripps Research Institute where he received his MS under the supervision of Barry Sharpless before obtaining his Ph.D at Stanford University for his work in the Trost group on asymmetric TMM reactions. Steve began working at Bristol-Myer Squibb in New Brunswick this year as a process chemist, concentrating on early-phase chemical development.