Introducing the Biological Sciences Career Initiative
Thirty years ago, it was estimated that 21% of PhDs were pursuing careers in industry; now the percentage has risen closer to 50% with other non-academic careers including science communications, government, and non-profit. The Biological Sciences Career Initiative, or BSCI, was founded by two former Columbia Biological Sciences PhD students, Chineweike Okegbe and Jennifer D’Arcangelo, to reflect this shift in PhD students’ career interests. They wanted to address the reality that pursuing a PhD in the sciences no longer necessarily means a professorship.
Today, BSCI is a graduate student-run group that seeks to provide current students with information on post-PhD career pathways. Self-described as a “group run by graduate students for graduate students,” BSCI fosters career connections by hosting information sessions and networking events with former alumni and PhD graduates in the mid- to late stage of their careers.
Currently, BSCI is headed by third-year Biological Sciences PhD student Jee Hun Kim and fourth-year PhD student Pedro Bak-Gordon. “I think as a career initiative group,” he says, “the number one goal is to offer students embedded in research the opportunity to develop tools to help market themselves to the jobs they seek in both academia and industry.” He notes that in addition to academic jobs,” those who hold a PhD can pursue careers in industry research, pharmaceuticals, administration, outreach, medical or science communications and journalism, and venture capital. “I hope to have a diverse reflection of opportunities following the PhD.”
Bak-Gordon has ambitious plans for BSCI, including seminars, Q&A sessions, career panels, and development workshops. “We plan to host an event every six weeks during the semester, which would equal ten events per year,” says Bak-Gordon. The goal is to connect students in the Biology Department with professionals from a wide variety of fields. This September, for BSCI’s first event of the year, they will be hosting Dr. George Farmer, a Managing Director of Biotechnology at Scotiabank, who received his PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from Columbia University in 1996.
BSCI’s seeks to connect current Biological Sciences PhD with networking and career opportunities beyond academia, and as a student-led group it is uniquely poised to reflect the interests and curiosities of our students.