Day in the Life – Page 5

Day in the Life: Program Analyst at the Office of the Inspector General of HHS

What is it like working for a government agency? What about alternatives to academe for PhD graduates? Russ Tisinger, PhD, answered these questions when he posted to @PennCareerDay about his career at the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This was a great opportunity to also get more information on careers with the government following our Policy and Government Career Fair on Friday, September 28th. To learn more about this Annenberg alum, read his bio below. To read his @PennCareerDay feed, visit our Storify page.

Russ Tisinger is a program analyst at the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), which fights waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare, Medicaid and more than 300 other HHS programs. He earned a Ph.D. from University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication. Before attending Annenberg he worked as a journalist in Washington, D.C. for Congressional Quarterly and The Center for Public Integrity.

Day in the Life: Consulting

@PennCareerDay is back! We’re excited to feature our award-winning, Day in the Life program for the third year on Twitter.

Ever wonder, what is it really like in consulting? What can I expect? What skills should I have and highlight to break into this field? Well, our first @PennCareerDay contributor, Shahbaz Alam, addressed those questions and more on Thursday, September 13th. To learn more about Shahbaz, read his bio below. To read his tweets, check them out on our Storify account.

Shahbaz Alam is a Manager in PwC’s Advisory (Consulting) practice focusing on helping companies improve their technology and operations. Shahbaz’s projects spanned from designing, architecting and implementing large scale technology solutions to helping companies redesign their business processes to assisting companies develop forward looking strategies on how to meet the demands of their changing business and/or regulatory environment.

Shahbaz graduated from Penn in 2007 (and recently attended his 5-year reunion) with a concentration in Operations and Information Manage (OPIM). While at Penn, Shahbaz was an RA for Harrison College House, a Freshman Experience Coordinator for Harrison, PHINS, Wharton Ambassador, College House Alumni Ambassador and worked for the School of Medicine.

Over the last 5 years with PwC, Shahbaz traveled throughout the US to places such as Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee, Chicago, Orlando, DC, San Francisco and the world (Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, the Netherlands). You can see Shahbaz during his multiple visits to Philly and Penn throughout the school year both in his role as the co-lead for PwC’s Advisory undergraduate recruiting for Penn and as an active alumnus.

In his spare time, Shahbaz enjoys catering to his wanderlust by jet-setting around the world (and calculating how to maximize the miles and points he earns from airlines and hotels), running, finding and eating at new restaurants (especially hole-in-the-walls) and nerding about by reading the NY Times.

Day in the Life: Business Development Leader at The Dow Chemical Company

There are a wide range of opportunities for alumni, undergrads, grads and ph.ds alike. This semester we have highlighted a ton of these options through our alumni on @PennCareerDay. To check out their feeds, visit our Storify page here. We are excited to wrap up our semester by looking at life in Business Development at The Dow Chemical Company with alum, Matt Quale, on Tuesday, April 24th! Matt will discuss a day in his life, and will address how he collaborates with Ph.D’s that chose industry over academe. To learn more about Matt, read his bio below and remember to follow him on your last day of class!

Matt Quale is a Business Development Leader in the Ventures & Business Development group at The Dow Chemical Company. Matt is responsible for rapidly assessing and cultivating strategically enabling technologies and new business opportunities to drive Dow’s growth strategies. As the commercial lead on a collaborative team including a technology and finance partner, Matt focuses on the commercial aspects of new business development projects including market evaluation, industry trends, risk assessment and business model development.

Leading up to his current role, Matt graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1998 with a Bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering and joined ExxonMobil where he worked on hydroprocessing research. In 2000, Matt joined the Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials Business where he worked on Product Development, Technical Service, and Plant Support for the slurry products used in processing semiconductor wafers. Then in 2005 he moved to the Coatings Business where he led two process development groups. In 2009, Matt received an MBA from Villanova University and became the Global Process Automation Technology Leader for Dow Coating Materials (Dow acquired Rohm and Haas in April of 2009) where he led a global team of Process Automation practitioners.

Outside of work Matt serves on the Penn Engineering Alumni Society Board and enjoys photography, playing volleyball and soccer, and spending time outdoors with his wife and daughter.

Day in the Life: Career in Academe

I have my Ph.D, now what? For an insider’s look, we welcomed GSAS ’06 alum, Michael Murray, Ph.D. to @PennCareerDay on Wednesday April 18th. To learn more about Michael read below, and read his posts from the 18th, check out our Storify account.

Michael L. Murray (PhD, Folklore and Folklife, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, ‘06) is an English Lecturer in the School of General Studies at Kean University in Union, NJ. As a folklorist, Michael’s research interests are in traditional culture in the American suburb, vernacular art and artists, and public culture studies. But, through various student teaching experiences at Penn and UNC-Chapel Hill (where he earned a master’s degree in folklore), Michael has cultivated a career as a teacher of college writing and a specialist in undergraduate general education. Following his graduation from Penn, Michael served for five years as a Lecturer in Writing at Princeton University where he taught interdisciplinary writing seminars on folklore, ethnography, and cultural studies. And he is an Associate in the Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College where he has taught the Language and Thinking Workshop for first-year Bard students and Young Writer’s Workshops for high school students from across the globe.

In his current role at Kean, Michael teaches writing-intensive courses across the curriculum–from writing studies and advanced composition for English majors to general education requirements, such as freshman composition, college success, and world literature. With a training in folklore and ethnography, Michael routinely draws on skills and methodologies he gained in the study of expressive culture at Penn to develop his teaching, as well as find his “way” as an interdisciplinary scholar in the disciplined world of an English writing program.

Day in the Life: Pounding the Pavement – Real Estate in NYC

What do I need to know if I’m moving to New York City? What is it like to work in Real Estate in one of the largest cities in the world? Alum John Contrubis posted to @PennCareerDay on Twitter, Tuesday April 10th to answer these questions. During the week of April 9th we focused on resources to help you prepare for moving to a new city, whether it’s just for a summer internship or relocating for your career. John has experience in the law and real estate industry, so brings a unique perspective to this subject. To learn more about John, read his bio below and read his posts from April 10th on our Storify account!

John graduated from Penn in 1988 with a BA in International Relations then, like so many others, attended law school. His career began as an attorney for Congress, but later took several turns as he pursued other interests. John’s work went from representing Members of Congress to negotiating contracts on behalf of TV, film and news writers to creating an online market place for filmmakers. He continued in the entertainment business by producing an educational TV series for NYC. Later, he became involved in business development in the legal services industry and a start up business. His lifelong interest in real estate took him on a different path where he is now pursuing a passion in an industry that flows through his blood going as far back as his great grandfather in Sparta, Greece.

As an Associate Real Estate Broker, John works on both commercial and residential real estate transactions. He primarily works on the sales side, but continues to handle rentals through personal referrals. His work day varies, but often includes networking, searching for property, finding leads, learning current inventory and incorporating real estate into all aspects of his life.