Friday Reception Speaker —

Ruth Schemmer
Networking Bingo
Learn how to engage in small talk (always helpful in the professional world), in a light-hearted way. Learn about your fellow attendees while sharpening your networking skills.Ruth Schemmer has been with the Texas A&M Career Center for more than 10 years, presently
serving as the Associate Director for Graduate Student Services. She works with students on all aspects of their job searches. Ruth has presented numerous workshops for graduate students, including Resume/CV Writing, Interviewing Skills, Networking, and the Academic Job Search. She earned both a master's degree and a PhD in sociology from Texas A&M.

Roxanne Jenkins
Transitioning from Academic Life into an Industrial Research Career
Dr. Roxanne Jenkins, Sr. Chemist at The Dow Chemical Company will highlight some important themes and necessary change to successfully enter the industrial research field. Roxanne will discuss her experiences, essential competencies to build a successful career, and give her perspective on how to influence your career and quality of life through your behavior. Roxanne has a BS in Chemistry from the University of Texas at San Antonio and a PhD in Chemistry from Texas A&M University. She is currently in Core Research and Development in the Organics, Polymers, and Organometallics Group in Freeport, TX.

Marcia Ory
Healthy Aging: What you can do to age successfully
The American population is aging rapidly, but how one ages depends not only on personal health habits but also on family, work, and community supports. Participants will learn to identify major principles and key determinants to healthy aging, and successful intervention strategies that can promote healthy aging. Information presented should help attendees know what they can do to impact their own aging as well as help others. With 20 years of experience leading a program on Social Science Research at the National Institute on Aging, Dr. Ory is now a Regent Professor in the School of Rural Public Health at the Texas A&M Health Science Center, where she conducts translational research on strategies for best implementing, disseminating, and sustaining evidence-based health promotion programs for older adults.

Elizabeth Lu
Moving Past the B.S.: Beyond the Confines of an Engineering Degree
Many people will give you advice about how to manage your career. At the end of the day, you have to do what works for you, and not be limited by other people’s vision. Sometimes it means taking a path that seemingly meanders until you figure out your talents and distinguishing skill sets. Ms. Lu will share her personal experience about leveraging her engineering degree in order to meaningfully contribute to and lead interesting and challenging projects in a variety of industries, including occupational health, toxicology, environment, automotive, energy, military, and information management, while accommodating a spouse in academia. The latter entailed figuring out how to keep her career on track while moving from the San Francisco Bay Area to Boston, Honolulu and finally, Houston.

Jennifer Williams
Leadership Personalities and Building Teams
In this interactive session, Dr. Jennifer Williams will introduce concepts of leadership and the role personalities play in leadership. Building teams using personality information will be demonstrated. Dr. Williams is an assistant professor in leadership studies at Texas A&M. There she researches leadership pedagogy and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in leadership theory, team development, organizational culture, and ethics.

Nina Fefferman
WISE -- Women, Ignore Silly Expectations!
Women are becoming better represented in the traditionally male-dominated STEM fields, but that doesn't mean the challenges have disappeared. Standard 'paths to success' are made more difficult by balancing personal and professional expectations in ways men might not face. Dr. Nina Fefferman will argue that since we have to be more flexible, and creative (and stubborn) in figuring out our lives, we can try to use those same skills to do more creative and innovative research. Doing this involves sometimes having to ignore good advice from benevolent people, but it can also be an exciting way to stay energized about your career while rolling with unexpected punches. Dr. Fefferman will share how having her own career plans fall apart led her to a happy and productive academic research career which she could never have anticipated at the outset. Professor Fefferman is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, and also in the Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science (DIMACS).

Jennifer Marsh
Let’s Build a Network
Building a network of connections from day one in a new job will enable your success. These networks can provide a support system, help you solve problems and be your advocate as you advance. Dr. Jennifer Marsh, a Research Fellow at The Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati will share her strategies on how to build strong networks and give examples of how they have helped her progress through her career. Jennifer Marsh holds a PhD in chemistry from Oxford University, UK, and she spent two years as a Post-Doc at Texas A&M Chemistry Department. She is now a Research Fellow at P&G in the Beauty Technology Division developing hair color and hair care products.