This spring, Laura Trouille, PhD, Vice President of Science Engagement & Visualization at Adler Planetarium, and Bharath Pattabiraman, PhD, Senior Staff Software Engineer at Google, visited the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) to share their career journeys with 35 students, postdoctoral students and other community members, respectively, as part of the center’s monthly CIERA Connections speaker series. Both former CIERA members, Trouille and Pattabiraman advised students about ways to conduct successful job searches, the importance of networking, and their experience in non-traditional science careers.
Trouille, who presented on April 14 and was introduced by Cliff Johnson, Research Assistant Professor, discussed her experience transitioning from an astronomy PhD and CIERA Postdoctoral Fellowship to leading the Adler Planetarium’s Science Engagement Division and supporting research through Zooniverse. Rather than adhere to the traditional markers of success, Trouille allowed her values guide her decision to pursue a career in public engagement and citizen science. In addition to providing practical tips and covering skills that proved essential, she also shared how her CIERA PhD experience prepared her for her current role and responsibilities.
Trouille has led Adler’s Citizen Science efforts since June 2015. Before that time she held a dual postdoctoral position at Northwestern University and at the Adler, as an observational astronomer (examining supermassive black holes) and a science-education researcher (on the impact of lesson plans incorporating computational thinking into K-12 STEM education). She earned a Bachelor’s Degree summa cum laude from Dartmouth College and holds a doctorate in Astronomy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Pattabiraman, who presented on May 5 and was introduced by Fred Rasio, shared his journey from an Interdisciplinary PhD student in CIERA to a Software Engineer at Google in applied machine learning and artificial intelligence.
“There are fewer exciting places to start a career than a software engineer in Big Tech today,” said Pattabiraman.
Pattabirama took a deep dive into various roles in the tech industry and reviewed a day in the life of a software engineer. He included insights on life in academia vs industry and how to make the pivot to software engineering, including practical tips on how to land a job.
Pattabiraman joined Google after earning his PhD in 2014. Prior to that, he worked as an IT Engineer at Cisco Systems India Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India. From 2009 to 2014, Pattabiraman was a PhD student (Computer Engineering) in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Northwestern University. He was a member of the Center for Ultra-scale Computing and Information Security (CUCIS) and also the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA). Pattabiraman earned his Bachelor of Engineering (BE) Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani.
About CIERA Connections
CIERA Connections is organized by the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics in which STEM graduates talk about their chosen non-academic careers. CIERA Connection topics are intended to cover a wide range of career paths, such as Research Computing, Data Science, and more. The purpose of this series is to provide junior researchers with exposure to career opportunities outside academia. Speakers with a graduate degree (e.g. in physics, astronomy, or related fields) are invited to talk about their chosen non-academic careers. Events include opportunities for graduate students and postdocs to meet one-on-one or in smaller groups with the speaker before or after the talk.
by Lisa La Vallee