Post-PhD Career Pathways Panel and Reception

Provost Diversity Fellows Panel and Social 2024

Thursday May 2, 2024 | 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Butler Library, 522/523

Please join the Inclusive Faculty Pathways Initiative in the Office of Faculty Advancement for the Post-PhD Career Pathways Panel and Social, taking place on Thursday May 2nd at 3pm, in Butler Library 522/523. A panel of four Provost Diversity Fellows alumni will share their success stories in academia and in the industry. 

You will hear from Sebastian Heilpern, (GSAS ‘20), who is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University; Andrew Pinkard (GSAS ‘18), Technology Specialist & Patent Agent at Wolf Greenfield; and Makeda Tekle-Smith (GSAS ‘19), Assistant Professor at Columbia University.

The panel will be followed by a reception to celebrate the end of the semester.

Panelists:

Sebastian Heilpern,

Eric & Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, Cornell University

Sebastian Heilpern is an ecologist and sustainability scientist focusing on understanding the causes and consequences of biodiversity change. He is particularly interested in the intersection between aquatic ecosystems, fisheries and food security. Currently a Eric & Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University, he received a PhD from Columbia University, an M.S. from the University of Chicago, and has worked with the Wildlife Conservation Society for over 10 years on issues related to freshwater conservation in the Amazon.

Andrew Pinkard

Technology Specialist & Patent Agent, Wolf Greenfield

Andrew Pinkard works as a Technology Specialist at the IP boutique law firm Wolf Greenfield. Wolf Greenfield has offices in New York, Boston, and DC. He primarily reviews inventions related to chemistry and materials technologies. In addition, Andrew is a Patent Agent preparing and prosecuting patent applications across a diverse set of technical areas, including life sciences, physical sciences, and mechanical technologies. Andrew holds a BS in Chemistry from California State University San Marcos and a PhD in Chemistry from Columbia University. He is also completing his final semester of Law School at Fordham Law University in Manhattan.

Makeda Tekle-Smith

Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Columbia University

Makeda Tekle-Smith was born and raised in Santa Barbara, California. She obtained her BA in chemistry at Pomona College in 2014. She then obtained her PhD. with Prof. James Leighton at Columbia University in 2019. There she developed new methods to construct asymmetric C(sp3)–C(sp3) bonds and applied these technologies to the total synthesis of non-aromatic polyketide natural products. Makeda then went on to conduct her postdoctoral research with Prof. Abigail Doyle first at Princeton University and then at the University of California Los Angeles. Makeda's postdoctoral work has focused on generating and harnessing reactive radical intermediates through photoredox catalysis to unveil new reactivity platforms. Makeda began her independent career at Columbia University in 2022.

Past Events

Provost Diversity Fellows Panel 2023 

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 | 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Butler Library, 523

This panel featured Mario Cancel Bigay (GSAS ‘21), who is now a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia; Ashli Carter (Business School ‘19), a lecturer in the Columbia Business School; Elise Myers (GSAS ‘21), from Boston Consulting Group; John Pamplin II (MSPH ‘14, ‘20), Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health; and Rayven Plaza (CSSW ‘18), who now works at Google. The panel was be moderated by Adina Berrios Brooks, Associate Provost for Faculty Diversity and Inclusive Pathways, and followed by a reception to celebrate the end of the semester.

Panelists:

Mario Cancel-Bigay
Core Lecturer, Columbia University

Ethnomusicologist, singer-songwriter and poet, Mario Cancel-Bigay was born in Puerto Rico in 1982. He learned to play the Puerto Rican cuatro, the archipelago’s national guitar, at age twelve at public music school Libre de Música in San Juan. In 2005, he earned a B.A. in Modern Languages (Portuguese and French) from the University of Puerto Rico, and in 2014, an M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies at New York University. In 2021, he earned a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology in the Department of Music of Columbia University. His research revolves around anticolonialism, decoloniality and cross-cultural encounters as heard through Puerto Rican nueva canción, chanson québécoise and related sounds of resistance from Puerto Rico and Québec during the 1960s and 1970s. Currently, he is a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University where he teaches Contemporary Civilization. He is the proud father of a brilliant Puerto Rican-Haitian girl named Gabriela.

Ashli Carter
Lecturer in the Management Division, Columbia Business School

Ashli Carter is a Lecturer in the Management Division at Columbia Business School. Currently, she teaches topics in leadership, negotiations, team decision-making, managing difficult conversations, and cultivating a growth mindset in the MBA and Executive Education programs, as well as for CBS administrators and staff. Prior to joining CBS faculty, she taught MBA and undergraduate courses in leadership and professional ethics at NYU Stern where she was an Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow of Management and Organizations. Ashli studies how seeing the “forest” (thinking more abstractly) versus seeing the “trees” (thinking more concretely) shapes how individuals respond to unexpected or unwanted outcomes in the workplace. She is also interested in stereotypes regarding different groups’ ability to think more abstractly and examines how these stereotypes shape opportunities in the workplace and in society more broadly. In addition to her teaching and research, she works with professionals one-on-one and in small groups as a leadership coach. Ashli Carter received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Management from Columbia Business School and a B.A. (with honors) in Psychology from Stanford University.

Elise McKenna Myers
Consultant, Boston Consulting Group

Elise Myers works at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in DC, where she works on climate change and clean energy technology strategy for both private and public sector clients. In recent projects, Elise developed strategy for US competitive advantage in emerging clean technology and designed strategy to ensure a just and equitable retirement of coal and natural gas plants. Before BCG, Elise received her PhD from Columbia University / Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in Feb '22 with a dissertation focused on water quality in the Hudson River Estuary. In her dissertation research, Elise developed methods to predict microbial sewage contamination in urban waters using a combination of models, experiments, field work, and satellite data analysis. Elise was committed to making her research publicy-accessible through community organization partnerships, public talks and workshops, educational videos and media appearances. Elise is passionate about DEIA and, while at Columbia, was also co-chair of Students of Color Alliance.

John R. Pamplin II
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health

Dr. John R. Pamplin II is a social epidemiologist who studies the consequences of structural racism and systemic inequity on mental health and substance use outcomes. His program of research investigates drivers of racial patterning in major depression, emerging racial trends in adolescent and adult suicide, and the mental and physical health consequences of the hyper-policing of Black and Brown neighborhoods. Dr. Pamplin's research further explores policing as a determinant of racial inequities in substance use and carceral outcomes by exploring how variations in police enforcement may lead to differential effectiveness of public health laws, including those intended to reduce harms of the overdose crisis.

Rayven Plaza
Quantitative User Experience Researcher, Google

Rayven Plaza earned her Ph.D. from the Columbia School of Social Work in 2018, then worked as an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin for a year. She currently works as a Quantitative User Experience Researcher at Google. She lives in New York.