Professional Physicists - Research Management

Physicists who provide leadership by managing scientific operations:

Government
Industry
Non-profit
University

Government

Job title:
Manager of the Guest Observer Facilities of two NASA space observatories.

Educational background:
B.S. in Astronomy and Astrophysics with minors in physics and philosophy
Master's and Ph.D. in Physics and Atmospheric Sciences

What do you do?
I manage the activities of a group of scientists and programmers who write and maintain software for processing, analyzing and maintaining science data. I also organize and run the proposal peer reviews where groups of scientists converge to discuss and rank observing projects. A fraction of my time is devoted to my own research: analyzing data, writing proposals and supervising summer students.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
When I was a teenager, the things that most interested me were Carl Sagan's Cosmos TV series and the companion book, Star Trek and science fiction in general. We had a cheap, small, barely functional telescope in our basement and I would often ask my dad to take it out so we could check out the phases of the Moon, craters, etc. I loved looking into the night sky during summer nights and on camping trips. When I discovered, rather late, that one could actually major in astronomy in college, I knew I wanted to give it a try. During my senior year of college, I knew I wanted to study gravity and the early universe for my Ph.D. thesis work, which led to choosing a physics department for graduate school.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
Physics is all about learning how to solve hard problems, trying creative solutions if the first option doesn't work out, and analyzing data carefully before drawing conclusions. I think these skills are helpful in any field!

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
It was a random walk more than an actual balancing act, but it has seemed to work out. I got married about a year before I defended my thesis and my husband had a postdoctoral position in a city about 2 hours away, so he and I could both concentrate on research all week and be together on the weekends. I was lucky to get my first postdoc in the same metropolitan area where he was. Each of our postdocs led to more permanent, stable positions.

We had one child when in our mid-thirties. Our workplaces are both family-friendly, and we found a wonderful childcare provider close to our home when he was an infant, so we were able to return to work with peace of mind. I didn't really travel to any meetings during the first two years of his life, and published next to nothing during those years. I found it wasn't too difficult to ramp back up when I had more energy to commit to research again. We have no family support, no grandparents, aunts or uncles in the area who can help pick up the slack, so I would say trying to find an acceptable balance between family and career is a continuous challenge. But if you keep being flexible and thinking creatively you can make it work out.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Physics is a small field. Find a good group of people to study with, and consider them family. There is a good chance they will remain in your professional and social network for many decades if you continue on the physics path. Don't be intimidated or get frustrated if and when the subject matter gets challenging. If your textbooks are opaque to you, go to the library and find other ones. There are so many resources out there, and some will be the right ones for you. Remember that your professors were once students. Ask them questions; they will remember what it was like to be unfamiliar with new material and they can help you to understand. If you think physics is for you, then don't get off the path when you get frustrated. You can always choose to do something different next week. Give it your best and complete shot!

Job title:
Director, Fermilab Neutron Therapy Facility

Educational background:
B.S. in math
Ph.D. in physics

What do you do?
I operate a cancer treatment clinic that uses neutrons to treat cancer.

When did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
During my first course in physics in my sophomore year in college.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
It helps me in every way. The part of my job that is not directly physics still involves the need for good problem-solving skills.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
I opted not to have children. I did not marry until age 35.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Get involved with applied physics. Also, get some courses in basic engineering, CAD drawing, machine shop.

Job title:
Group Leader of the Global Standards and Information Group

Educational background:
B.S. Physics
M.S. Optics
Ph.D. Electro Optics

What do you do?
I have left my physics and engineering practice, however, it is likely that I would not have the position I have today had I not started with physics. I presently manage for the U.S. government a group of professionals that deal with technical standards to open markets for U.S. companies. My provides technica and policy support both nationally and internationally on standards related issues that allow the U.S. to gain their products and services accepted overseas.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
The reasons were two fold: (a) I am an immigrant to the U.S. and my parents, especially my mother, wanted me to get a practical education that would allow me to have a solid background in life so I could be employable; and (b) I was good in math and was very curious about nature and how things worked. Physics was the perfect degree to accommodate a curious mind.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
As I said earlier, having a degree in physics gave me a solid background for my graduate studies in engineering. Now, as a manager in a scientific institution, I can be an effective leader to a group of technical professionals.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
It has been difficult. I am a single parent and until about two years ago, my parents lived not far from me and thus I was able to have them watch my daughter when I traveled. However, that is not the case anymore and I must manage on my own. I have to be very organized and rely on a larger community of people that I hire and rely on so I can take care of my daughter.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Physics is an excellent background to have, whether you end up as a practicing scientist, engineer, academic or a professional in another discipline. The foundation that physics instills in you will serve you for a lifetime. As a person starting in physics, I would suggest remaining flexible and open to all kinds of applications that stem from physics. That is to realize that academia is not the only choice for physics graduates. There are many other branches that a physics degree serves quite well.

Job title:
Director, Condensed Matter Science Research (at a DOE National Laboratory)

Educational background:
B.S., Physics
Ph.D., Applied Physics

What do you do?
I am responsible for an organization of about 175 people. About 70 of those are "principal investigators", meaning that they have significant responsibility for their own work. They often work closely with students, post-docs, and/or technicians. These principal investigators often collaborate, each bringing his or her own expertise to the problem so that, together, they can solve it. The managers who report to me and I are responsible for setting the course of the organization - determining what fields of study we pursue, what mission areas of the laboratory we work in, and identifying sources of funding for the organization. We seek to develop a mixture of long range (10 to 20 years or more) and short range (less than 1 year) efforts so that most of the staff work on very fundamental areas of research and also apply their research and knowledge to areas of immediate mission need. Perhaps most important, we also hire for the future, finding those candidates who are not only excellent young scientist, but who also are excited about the world around them, enjoy working with other excellent scientists, and want to make a difference.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
In high school, I liked the fact that there were definite answers in science and math, unlike other subjects. I also liked the fact that science and math are very logical and build on one another. When it came time to decide on my first science courses in college, I chose physics because it was the most fundamental of the offerings and would be required if I were later to switch to chemistry or biology. Somehow, I never switched. Physics was pretty difficult in college, but the feeling of accomplishment when I managed to solve a very difficult problem was incredible. Later on, the struggle of making an experiment work, and then seeing something that no one in the world had ever seen before was even better.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
The ability to think logically and quantitatively is useful in every aspect of life, and it's something that the U.S. population, as a whole, is not very good at. In my career, I have always stayed fairly close to physics, although the work I engage in now involves chemistry, materials science, a little biology, and various types of engineering. Physics is an excellent background from which to approach all of these other fields.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
For quite awhile after my Ph.D., I was not married and had no children. My first child was born about nine years after my Ph.D. By then, I had established myself and had a good reputation in my field and had also developed excellent organizational skills. I was therefore able to spend a number of years working a standard work week so that I could spend a significant amount of time with my children. Both my husband (another scientist) and I had sufficient pay that we were able to have a nanny live with us. This gave us a great deal of flexibility before the children were in school. Each stage of a child's life brings different challenges, but I have been fortunate enough to feel fulfilled by concentrating on two things (in order): (1) my family and (2) my career. Looking back, there is nothing important that I would have done differently!

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Get experience doing research as soon as you can - in a lab or working with a theorist or modeler. The "book learning" is an important foundation that you will use, but actually doing physics yourself or in a small group is what physics is all about. It definitely hooked me.

Industry

Job title:
VP Products and Engineering

Educational background:
Ph.D., Physics

What do you do?
Lead a company's R&D organization.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
Although my job utilizes my training in physics, I would not call it a physics-related career.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
My analytical and critical thinking skills.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Be bold, resilient, aggressive, and follow your instincts.

Job title:
Entrepreneur, CEO

Educational background:
Ph.D. Chemistry
A.B. Chemistry (physical chemistry, so straddled chemistry and physics and ended up participating in professional societies of both worlds)

What do you do?
I recently founded a start-up company making industrial lasers based on optical fiber technology, and I run the company now. The responsibilities include financial management, customer management, fundraising, and overall product management.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related education?
I loved the physical sciences and had early exposure since my mother is a physicist and was working in medical physics.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
The disciplined thinking process and approach to questioning new things and discovery are universally helpful. If you are in technology, like I am, the state of the art is constantly changing, and you have to be comfortable with learning new things all the time. I think a physics background makes this a naturally comfortable process.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
I have a son under the age of 5 and a very involved husband/father who also has a job at a start-up. We invested in very good childcare to ensure that we could both have meaningful careers and a healthy and happy child. We were willing to economize elsewhere. I was often advised by professional women that the most critical decision you make is who you marry, because it really impacts whether you will be able to have a career or not; your spouse's support is crucial. I would concur with this, although I do have friends who are single parents, but they rely on a lot of support from friends and family (and they have a lot of stress).

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
1) Push yourself to take as much math as possible. American students get shortchanged on this and then get creamed by foreign students when they get to graduate school. It becomes a real differentiator.

2) Make sure you have an outside mentor (i.e. outside your immediate academic sphere) that you can talk to without inhibitions, because you will go through tough times. Tough times tend to be lonely when you are female, because there are not that many people to talk to. I had a mentor at Bell Labs when I was in grad school that really helped me through the rough spots. You can try to find one through Mentornet or the Association for Women in Science. Note: mentor does not need to be female, just a good listener.

3) You have many options in life with a physics degree, even if professors want to steer everyone to an academic career. You can have a meaningful career in industry, law, government, etc.... Don't be afraid to try new things, and don't listen to people who tell you that you "can't" do something. They are usually losers with an axe to grind.

Job title:
Energy Efficiency Coordinator, Entergy Corporation (regional utility based out of New Orleans, LA)

However, will be starting work as an independent consultant (energy efficiency, environmental consulting, marketing and communications) in November, 2007.

Educational background:
Physics B.A.
Environmental Policy M.S.
MBA in Finance

What do you do?
I coordinate energy efficiency programs for a major utility across a 4 state area.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related education?
I liked the combination of math and theory that it provided.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
I also worked in the transmission system at this company as the environmental manager, and it helped to know electricity basics. Plus, having a technical background shows that you can do analytical work (having an MBA in finance doesn't hurt, either!).

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
This is a big deal! I don't think that you have to choose not to have a family, but a family does affect your career. Finding part-time work is very hard and I'm actually in the process of leaving my company to do so. I will be contracting back to the company for the short term, however, which is an ideal situation.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
It's a very interesting way to get a solid education, strong analytical skills and show to potential employers that you are up to the intellectual task of most work they can give you. I don't know anything about going further than an undergraduate degree in this field, however.

Non-profit

Job title:
President and CEO

Educational background:
B.A., Physics
Ph.D., Earth Science

What do you do?
I am the director of an oceanographic research institution.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
I always loved math and physics.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
As a researcher for the first 20 years of my professional career, I applied physics to the study of the solid Earth beneath the oceans as a marine geophysicist. Although I am primarily an administrator now, I need to constantly make decisions on research directions and engineering projects, for which my physics background is very helpful.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
My family has always been very important to me. My husband has a very flexible job, so I was able to relocate to take advantage of career opportunities that I was offered. I have three brilliant, beautiful, and accomplished daughters who make me very proud.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Good choice!

University

Job title:
Director of a research center and Professor

Educational background:
Ph.D. in Physics
M.S. in Mathematics

What do you do?
I am the leader of a ground-breaking research group and director of a research center.

Why did you decide to pursue a physics-related career?
Wonder, challenge, passion, discovery, pride, etc. was why I chose it. I was 12-years-old when I decided to become an astrophysicist.

How has your physics background helped you in your career?
Passion, perseverance, excellence and integrity are important ingredients to success.

How have you balanced family and career commitments?
I married a physicist and love pets. It was an obvious choice for me. I have no regrets.

Do you have any advice for college students who are interested in pursuing careers in physics?
Believe and follow your passions, always. Physics is not easy but it can be very rewarding and special!