A connection to industry-and a woman in it

Vidya has reassured me about the prospect of finding work I love.

Karri Haen graduated from Kansas State University with bachelor's degrees in microbiology and biochemistry and recently began graduate school at North Dakota State University in Fargo. She's pursuing a master's degree in genetics through the Department of Plant Sciences there, a decision she made with the help of her mentor, Vidya Pai, a research engineer in the central research and development group at DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware. Vidya signed on with DuPont three years ago after finishing her Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Virginia.

"Vidya's been very helpful in guiding my choices about graduate education. It's nice to talk with someone's who gone through the whole process, who knows the tricks of getting into the right place. I already knew where I wanted to study, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to go for a master's degree or a Ph.D.," Karri says. "I've worked in plant genetics for more than three years as a research assistant, and I like it but don't know if I want to do it for the rest of my life. Vidya advised me to give myself some time to decide whether that's the area I want a Ph.D. in and helped me decide that a master's program is best for now."

Exposure to industry

Karri signed up with MentorNet to increase her understanding of scientific jobs in industry.

I hoped that sharing my experiences might give her a balanced sense of what it's like to work in industry. -- Vidya Pai

"In my experience, the more academic-oriented research labs don't point students towards industry because they're geared more towards pure science than applied science. So I didn't have a lot of exposure to industry during my undergraduate years," she says. "Being paired with a MentorNet mentor as a senior was my chance to become more aware of the scientific issues in industry today without any bias from people in academia.

"For example, I'm interested in companies doing genetic engineering, and people have discouraged me from pursuing that career, saying the job stability isn't there, saying it's at the same stage as dotcom startups in terms of constant change," Karri continues. "Vidya doesn't work in the biotech industry per se, but her job involves biochemical processes, and she's up to speed on related issues. It was nice to discuss that with her and see that she was wary but optimistic."

Vidya also gave her a broader sense of the day-to-day life of a working scientist, she says.

"Another of my concerns about finding a job in industry is that I want to work in an area in which I have a personal interest. As an undergraduate, I spent 40 hours a week in the lab on top of classes-I practically lived there-and I know that if I don't believe in what I'm doing it will be awful," Karri says. "Vidya has reassured me about the prospect of finding work I love. She's showed me how she's been able to shape her research projects to jibe with her interests, and how after a few years of researching one thing, she was able to change to something else that captured her imagination."

What it's like to work in industry

For Vidya, a MentorNet "veteran" of three years who was matched with two protégés last year, mentoring is a natural and gratifying experience.

"When I was a graduate student, I hadn't worked in the U.S. before, and although I tried to connect with people in industry, I found it very hard to make contacts other than alumni from my university. When I did connect with someone, it was hard to keep in touch, and it usually was hit or miss," she says. "I'm a mentor now because I want to provide that contact for students, and I like the formal program that MentorNet provides. I also wanted to stay in touch with student life in some way to keep my interest in academics alive-I've always thought I might like to teach, and this is a way to commit at the moment to the academic world."

When it came to opening a window into industry for Karri, Vidya relied on her own experience.

"Ours was a pretty personal relationship, and I learned that even though Karri was often caught up in her lab, she also had a good set of friends. She knows my life is like that, too-work hard when you need to, and then have fun," Vidya says. "Karri didn't come to me so much for help in solving problems as she did for my input regarding graduate programs, and for checking out her impressions of industry. She'd say, 'This is what I think industry is like. Is that true?' and I shared my own experiences, which sometimes corroborated her impressions or refuted them. Even though Karri is more focused on pure science and I'm focused on engineering, I hoped that sharing my experiences might give her a balanced sense of what it's like to work in industry."

"I don't feel so alone"

The connection Vidya provided was not only to industry but, importantly, to another female scientist, Karri says.

"As a woman scientist, I sometimes feel very alone. I had support from a professor in the biology department at KSU, and if I hadn't had her to talk to over the last few years, I'd be so dejected right now. It was important to have her as a model and to hear her say about some insensitive professors, 'They're just not used to having women in the program. Hang in there,'" Karri says, striking a note familiar to many female science and engineering students.

"The main thing about this year with Vidya as my mentor is that I don't feel so alone. It's hard to express this, but when I started out in science, I felt that most of the world was ignorant about the world of hard science, but Vidya understands what I'm talking about. She feels like a colleague," Karri says. "I no longer feel like an outcast, like I'm strange. I can strive to go ahead, and go for more."