Name: Phoebe Askelson (she/her)
PhD: Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 2023
What was your main area of research?
During my PhD, I used two-dimensional infrared (2DIR) spectroscopy to study how noncovalent interactions such as hydrogen bonding impacted the vibrational dynamics of small molecules in solution. I would spend several days to weeks in the lab aligning the spectrometer and collecting large multidimensional datasets, and then would spend several months analyzing the data. I learned how to use DFT calculations to support spectral assignments and mechanisms, as well as to aid in simulating the 2DIR spectra. During my postdoc, I had aimed to learn other types of multidimensional spectroscopies with visible light to access the electronic excited state; however I mostly worked with linear spectroscopy applied to polariton-mediated chemistry.
What is your current job?
I am a Senior IR Spectroscopist at Kalman & Co, Inc., and I work remotely.
With this job, I work on a team to use pattern recognition and machine learning to identify chemical compounds in the atmosphere using a passive FTIR spectrometer mounted on an aircraft. I help to develop new classifiers for identifying chemical compounds as well as towards getting an estimation for a quantity of compound in the area sampled.
It's really exciting to be doing something totally new compared to what I did during my PhD - -my love of learning is what originally compelled me to go to grad school, but towards the end I lost some excitement. Doing something different is a great way to remember my love of science!
How did you find this position? What were the career steps you took to get to where you are now?
I found this job through LinkedIn.
PhD graduate ➡️ postdoctoral fellow ➡️ Sr. IR Spectroscopist
Why did you decide to not pursue a career in academia?
I attribute my decision to leave mainly to finances – I had a lot of debt going into my postdoc due to circumstances outside my control, and there was no money to enjoy life after I had paid my rent and my loans. I was growing increasingly worried about whether I'd be able to afford food when my undergrad loans entered repayment. The postdoc itself was also bad in a comically stereotypical way – I was catfished into working for my advisor's spouse instead, the industry collaborators/other postdoc on the project were sexist and insulted me whenever my advisors weren't present, my project was based on preliminary results that turned out to be artifacts of improperly devised control experiments, my advisors announced they were moving to a different country 2 months after I had started etc. etc. I started looking for industry jobs 3 months in and left for my new job just shy of 6 months after starting my postdoc.
I really struggled to decide to leave and to come to terms with the decision. In some ways, I feel like I was pushed out more than anything. Ultimately though, I'm really glad I left, and even if I get a bit of conference or paper FOMO hearing about my friends still in academia, I don't really want to change anything.
What advice do you have for someone getting their PhD and looking to pursue a career outside of academia?
My first piece of advice is to not get discouraged, even if you don't get many hits at first. I've heard it's difficult to get your first job out of college, and that applies even for grad students. Applying to industry jobs is an art of its own, and since most of us don't have experience in that skill, we'll be a bit wobbly to start. I was applying to 2-3 jobs a day in the ~3 months where I was very actively looking for work. I got 3 initial interviews, 3 second interviews, and 1 offer.
If you can get trained on standard instrumentation in your field, you should get that training. In the chemical industry, I have always seen listings where knowing how to use, maintain, and troubleshoot instruments (such as HPLC, GS/MS, and NMR) is considered a plus or a must-have to get an interview. Likewise, in more recent months there's been a boom for folks with any type of machine learning experience. If you can take a class or do some type of ML project, I think that will be a boon in the current job market.
I used two books to help me write my cover letters and resumes, "Knock 'Em Dead Cover Letters" and "Knock 'Em Dead Resumes" by Martin Yates. These are useful because they have a lot of examples and templates, so you can get ideas for formatting/wording/etc. I didn't follow the advice in the books word-for-word, but it really helped me get into a rhythm for my job applications.
This is an extra tidbit of advice for women specifically, which I got from my dad but also overheard some recruiters mentioning in a restaurant – lots of women, myself included, are unsure about applying for jobs where we don't meet 100% of the "requirements". Really, if you meet about 70-75% of them, you should apply if you're interested in the position. I wouldn't have applied for my current position if I had wanted to meet 100% of the qualifications, but I had other aspects that still made me a good hire.