Science fair

By Carolina Reyes
Daily Bruin Contributor

  Illustration by RODERICK ROXAS/Daily Bruin

After a few months as the counselor for the Molecular
Developmental Biology Department, Chelley Maple noticed that many
life science students had considered only one option after college:
medical school.

But because of medical schools’ competitive admission
standards, many life science counselors feel students should have a
backup plan.

And even if they had thought about alternatives, students had
not explored the options available to them.

“They were kind of vague; it would be, “˜Well,
I’ll go to work in a lab somewhere, I’m not really
sure’,” Maple said. “They were asking me a lot of
questions about what’s out there and what’s available
and I just didn’t know.”

To educate both herself as well as students on the possible job
opportunities, Maple and other life science counselors met and
organized a career week for life science students.

Taking place throughout sixth week, the Life Science Department
sponsored event will feature a number of forums showing
undergraduates a variety of postgraduate choices.

“All of our panels, our workshops, even the job fair, have
been set up not in a narrow sense,” she said,
“They’re not exclusively biotech, they’re not
even exclusively anything. They’ve been set up to show
diversity.”

Nancy Purtill, undergraduate advisor for the department of
Organismic Biology, Ecology and Evolution, had organized several
life science presentations in the past, but on a much smaller
scale.

  Illustration by RODERICK ROXAS/Daily Bruin During this
current career week, students will have the opportunity to attend
different skill building workshops, most of which will focus on
topics such as resume writing, job searching strategies and
interviewing techniques.

These workshops can help students who often don’t have
resumes and don’t really know how to present their school
experiences sharpen their writing and interviewing abilities,
according to Maples.

In addition to what the Career Center had to offer, the
counselors wanted to organize an event that would include employers
and workshops specifically targeted toward life science majors,
said Marci Matsushita, student affairs officer for the Department
of Physiological Sciences.

The teaching industry, for example, has a high demand for
science graduates, according to Robin McArdle, undergraduate
advisor for the OBEE department, who also put together a teaching
panel for the forum. Panelists from various educational programs
will speak to students today about opportunities in their
organizations.

“There is a high demand for qualified middle school and
high school science teachers,” she said. “Those
organizations have a strong interest in coming and recruiting
students,” she continued.

  Illustration by RODERICK ROXAS/Daily Bruin

McArdle has brought together representatives from Los Angeles
Unified School District, Teach for America, California Association
of Independent Schools as well as the UCLA Science Teacher
Education Program.

Today’s health care forum will feature a diverse
contingent of health fields. Representatives from chiropractic as
well as Oriental medicine, public health and other fields will be
present to show students that there are more options than medical
school.

On Tuesday, students can obtain information about various
graduate programs ““ such as a program that offers a
master’s degree in regulatory science, which trains students
to oversee the process of bringing a medical product on to the
market, Maple said.

Panel participants will also discuss career options in patent
law, genetic counseling as well as business and MBA programs.

Patent law, according to Maple, is one of the more lucrative
career choices available to science graduates.

“You have all these fights going on today about patenting
genome work,” she said, “Somebody needs to know what
all those words mean.”

Also during Tuesday night’s industry round table session,
panelists will point out current industry trends as well as job
openings.

“It’s going to give students a broader picture about
what the professionals from those industries say is going to be
happening in the next three or four years,” Maple said.

In addition to the recruiters, alumni will also talk to students
about their current jobs and how they obtained their positions.

There will be plenty of opportunities for students to talk to
recruiters from a number of companies at the career job fair on
Wednesday, according to Maple. Among the companies that will be
present at the fair will be the Department of Justice, the Gallup
Organization, Amgen and ICN Pharmaceuticals.

At the individual information session on Thursday, students can
talk with recruiters from Genetech, KForce Scientific, Paragon
Biomedical and the California Environmental Protection Agency.

An effort is also being made by event organizers to include more
humanities-based companies at future job fairs.

Although recruiters from Scriptorium Publishing Services ““
a company that specializes in technical writing ““ will not be
at the job fair, there will be literature at one of the tables that
students can pick up.

“We hope to have technical writing representatives at the
round table next year and have tentative promises from a couple of
companies,” Maple said.

Art restoration and conservation are topics that are also being
considered for next year’s event.

Maple said all students attending the job forum are encouraged
to bring their resumes to give to recruiters.

For a complete schedule of events, visit www.lifesci.ucla.edu/careerweek.