First Annual Mathematics and Natural Sciences Career Forum Thursday, October 18, 2007 University of St. Thomas First Annual UST Mathematics and Natural Sciences Career Forum Fall 2007 Program Student Sign In Anderson Lobby 12:30 - 1:00 pm Keynote Address David M. Eagleman, Ph.D. 1:10 - 1:50 pm Neuroscience Department, Baylor College of Medicine Anderson 103 Careers in Biology Careers in Chemistry Careers in Computer and Biochemistry Science, Engineering Andrew Dennis, and Mathematics Ph.D. Eric Buxton, Ph.D., Office Technology Manager of Discovery David Dewsnap, Ph. D Commercialization, Informatics DeVon Workman U. Texas, M. D. Lexicon Inc. American General 2:00 - 2:50 pm Anderson Kristen Kulinowski, Richard Myers, Ph.D. Jason Moore, Ph.D. Center for Advantica, Inc. M. S., M.B.A., Biological and Plx Pharma Environmental Nanotechnology, Rice University Robertson 213 Robertson 116 Robertson B114 Networking Session and Reception 3:00 -3:25 pm Anderson Lobby Alternative Careers/Going to Graduate School Gayle Slaughter, Ph.D. Assistant Dean of Graduate Education, Baylor 3:30 - 4:10 pm College of Medicine Anderson 103 Medical Schools and the Medical Profession Wallace Gleason, M. D., U. T. Houston Medical School 4:15 - 5:00 pm Rodolfo Oviedo, M. D., Methodist Hospital, Houston Anderson 103 Farewell Reception 5:00 - 5:45 pm Anderson Lobby Keynote Address David M. Eagleman, Ph. D. Neuroscience Department, Baylor College of Medicine Anderson 103 1:10 PM David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine. He directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action, and is founder and director of BCM’s Initiative on Law, Brains, and Behavior. He has published dozens of papers in scientific journals, and has authored 4 neuroscience books coming out in 2008: /Ten Unsolved Mysteries of the Brain/ (Pantheon Press), /Dethronement: The Secret Life of the Unconscious Brain/ (Oxford University Press), /The Kaleidoscopic Brain of Synesthesia/ (co-authored with Richard Cytowic, MIT Press), and /The Dynamically Reorganizing Brain/ (Oxford University Press). He is additionally the author of an upcoming book of fiction, /Sum/ (Pantheon Press). His work has recently been featured on the Discovery Channel, BBC, and PBS, as well as in Discover Magazine. He earned his undergraduate degree in British and American Literature at Rice University and Oxford University, and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine. Careers in Biology Andrew Dennis, Ph.D. Office Technology Commercialization, U. Texas, M. D. Anderson Jason Moore, M. S., M.B.A., Plx Pharma Robertson 213 Andrew P. Dennis graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. in Biochemistry from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh in 1998. Immediately thereafter, he entered into the prestigious doctoral program at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX, where his doctoral thesis focused on progesterone receptor-dependent transcription and how the proteasome degradation pathway is involved in the process of gene expression. During his doctoral education, he was awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship from the Department of Defense, and concomitantly was awarded the Dean’s Award. Andrew also published several peer-reviewed journal articles on his work during his time as a graduate student. In 2004, he successfully defended his thesis and earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences. Andrew’s financial and business interests led him toward a career in the technology transfer field within the Office of Technology Commercialization at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX, where he initially worked to conduct patent and literature searches, and evaluated the market potential of new invention disclosures to gauge the commercial value of each invention. This initial role also included providing guidance to inventors regarding patentable claims and research activities that would lead to commercially valuable patents. Currently, Andrew has been with the Office of Technology Commercialization for three years, and has been promoted twice, most recently to the position of Licensing Manager, where he creates and negotiates exclusive license and option agreements on intellectual property-based subject matter. He also works closely with the office Vice President and the Director, Active Venture Development, to evaluate business opportunities for creating and funding start-up companies. Jason Moore, M.S., M.B.A. Vice President Jason has a decade of biotech industry experience, having managed a spectrum of new- drug development and registration activities for both established and emerging biotechnology companies. Jason's drug development experience includes both small molecule and biological therapeutics and spans preclinical and CMC related projects, domestic and international clinical trials, major and minor regulatory submissions, financial modeling and strategic alliances. Prior to his move to PLx Pharma, Jason was director of industry programs at BioHouston, where he was responsible for a range of programs to accelerate Houston's emergence as a top biotechnology cluster. Among the previous companies for which Jason has worked are Amgen, Antigenics, Aronex Pharmaceuticals, and Introgen Therapeutics. Jason has also been a consultant in regulatory affairs, strategy, and medical writing for biotechnology companies and academic research labs engaged in new drug development. He earned an M.S. in Science and Technology Journalism from Texas A&M University and an M.B.A. from the C. T. Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston. Careers in Chemistry and Biochemistry Eric Buxton, Ph.D., Lexicon Inc. Kristen Kulinowski, Ph.D. Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology, Rice University Robertson 116 Eric Buxton, Manager of Discovery Informatics at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., The Woodlands, TX, earned his B.S. in chemistry and math with a minor in theology from the University of St. Thomas in 1990. After earning his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1996 he started work at Lexicon as an automation and DNA sequencing specialist. After completing the automation and production of OmnibankTM (Lexicon's proprietary mouse knockout gene library), he transitioned to assay adaptation and optimization for High Throughput Screening (HTS) in 2002. In 2004 Eric became a liaison between chemists and biologists involved in drug discovery and became the manager in 2005. Eric has served on the advisory board for the North Harris Montgomery County Community College Biotechnology Program since 2001 and was board chair from 2003-2005. Kristen Kulinowski is Executive Director for Education and Public Policy of the Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN), Director of the International Council on Nanotechnology (ICON) and a faculty fellow in the Department of Chemistry at Rice University. She obtained a B.S. in Chemistry with Honors at Canisius College and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Rochester. After serving on the faculties at CalPoly (San Luis Obispo) and Rice University, she left academia to serve as 2001-02 Congressional Science Fellow of Optical Society of America and SPIE-The International Society for Optical Engineering. During her time as a fellow, Dr.Kulinowski worked as a legislative assistant and science policy advisor to Rep. Edward J. Markey (MA) and was instrumental in enacting legislation that protects public health in the event of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plants. She returned to Rice University in 2002 and has been active in educating the nanotechnology workforce of the future and promoting the responsible development of nanotechnology through sound public policies regarding health and the environment. Careers in Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics David Dewsnap, Ph. D, DeVon Workman American General Insurance Co. Richard Myers, Ph.D. Advantica, Inc. Robertson B114 David J. Dewsnap graduated from the Aircraft Maintenance Technician Program, Confederation College, Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1984. Employed by Air Canada as an aircraft mechanic for two years in Winnipeg and Toronto before returning to college. Graduated BSc. Mathematics in 1990, and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics in 1996, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada. After graduation, I taught mathematics at Emory & Henry College, then Southeast Oklahoma State University where I was awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor before moving to Houston to teach at the University of St. Thomas. For the past two years I have been employed as an actuarial statistician at AIG, American General working in financial reporting and product development. DeVon Workman graduated from Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (Major: Spanish, Minor: Mathematics). Graduated from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, Sacramento, California with a Juris Doctor degree. Practiced law primarily as a county attorney in northern California from 1980 to 2000 Changed to actuarial field and moved to Texas in 2000 to work for American General Currently an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and a member of the American Academy of Actuaries I have been employed as a pricing and product development actuary by AIG, American General Life for seven years I am married and have three children and a cat. Richard Myers is a research scientist at Advantica, an asset management consulting and software development company. He holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics(2000), a M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics(2002), and a Ph.D. in Mathematics(2005);