Director of R&D Gives Tips for Career Prep You Should Do Now

Name: John Watkins (he/him)

PhD: Chemistry, University of Bath, 2012

What was your main area of research?

I studied electrochemical organic synthesis of simple molecules at liquid / liquid phase boundaries. With different mixing methods, I developed an electrolyte-free microreactor to do simple reduction reactions.

What is your current job?

I am the Director of R&D at NovoLINC Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

I lead the scale up of a new lab scale deposition process of a thermal interface material towards product introduction and the associated R&D efforts for improvement and commercialization of these materials.

It's a start-up, so my favorite thing is being able to innovate rapidly and have control over R&D towards company objectives. It means I get to learn a lot in a broad range of topics outside of technical R&D such as project management, business development, process development, customer interaction and supply chain development.

How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?

I was laid off from a previous start-up and asked to join by a previous colleague who had become the CEO of the company. I approached the CMU entrepreneurship office looking for new start-up opportunities and it turned out she was looking for scale-up support for a new start-up.

PhD Graduate ➡️ Post doctoral research associate ➡️ ORISE Research associate with DOE ➡️ Start-up Founder and Head Scientist ➡️ Head of Materials ➡️ Director of R&D

Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?

Easy decision. I always wanted to make an impact outside of fundamental research, and it always annoyed me that we would stop and move on after generating interesting data and writing papers.

I found the science fascinating but academia never offered a good avenue to go further and make the research into a product that could affect the world.

What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?

I see a lot of resumes from fresh graduates and academics trying to leave academia. Make sure to tailor your resume to the industry or sector you are looking at. I don't care what your publication record is, or how many conferences you spoke at. Tell me about problems you solved, value you generated and make it easy for me to see what your value would be in a start-up. In an interview, the number 1 thing for me is enthusiasm, I want to see that you care about what you do.
Always be building transferable skills, don't shy away from writing or presenting, practice as much as you can. Try writing different styles, try writing a white paper instead of a research paper, volunteer to do grant writing, or patent writing - it's all different styles. Treat your PhD like a project to manage, read about best PMP practices, use Gantt charts, set deliverables and milestones for yourself, write a project Charter, run your research like it's an industrial project and keep yourself accountable. Then tell interviewers like me about your approach.
Get out of the lab, try and do an internship or placement with a company. Try to establish a relationship with companies, maybe they will collaborate with you. Offer to visit their site, see how they do things. Networking is easier said than done, but start by posting on LinkedIn about your research, what cool thing did you find out.
1. If you're looking for advice, reach out to me and we can chat. Maybe I know someone who can help you. I take the approach of paying it forward, if I help you with advice or connect with someone helpful, you don't owe me anything, you owe the future young scientist asking you for help later in your career.

Are there any components of your identity you would like to share, including how they have impacted your journey?

I have always had an anxiety problem which I saw as a burden. It made things harder for me but didn't stop me moving continents, taking big career risks on start-ups and developing myself by taking things one step at a time. I used to hate public speaking and writing, but with practice it's now something I enjoy and am good at.

I'm still an introvert so doing these social things costs me energy, but I learned to manage my energy levels with activities that boost me as well.