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Tim Carsel

People Research Scientist • Meta

Past Job Experience:

US Navy: Avionics Calibration Technician (2005-2010)
3 positions in People Analytics and IO Psychology(2016-2018)
UIC: Scientific Researcher (2014-2020)
Top Bloc: Data Scientist (2020-2021)
Meta: People Research Scientist (2021-current)

Education:

BS in Psychology & minor in Philosophy-IIT
MA& PhD in Social and Personality Psychology & minor in Statistics

Current Job Responsibilities:

Develop actionable insights through research and ML methods into how to improve employee’s careers
Improve internal mobility processes and perceptions
Identify key drivers of attrition and retention; and
Develop, maintain, and monitor company-wide performance system, predictors of performance, and performance trends over time.

Past Job experience: I don’t think any of my prior experiences would classify as an “internship,” but other than the things on my LinkedIn, I was accepted into a summer institute for the largest society for social and personality psychologists (Summer Institute for Social and Personality Psychology – SISPP).

Avionics Calibration Technician for the US Navy
3 Contract/Consulting positions in People Analytics/IO Psych that span change management, recruiting analytics, and ML/Data Science
Full-Stack Data Scientist creating ML models in the backend and front-end applications for consultants and managers
People Research Scientist at Meta (current), focusing on Careers, DEI, Internal Mobility, Attrition, & Performance

Education: BS in Psychology & minor in Philosophy (specializing in Philosophy of Science) from Illinois Tech, MA & PhD from UIC in Social & Personality Psychology with a minor in Statistics, Methods, & Measurement
Something he wants people to know: I’ve transitioned from the military, to academia, to tech, and two of the biggest things I’ve learned is how important it is to be adaptable and build bridges with people from all walks of life. One of my favorite quotes is from Bill Nye, who I had the privilege of meeting right there at Illinois Tech, “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” Be kind, be humble, and be someone others can rely on.
Current Job Responsibilities: Develop actionable insights through research and ML methods into how to improve employee’s careers (and perceptions thereof); maintain and improve the employee experience for everyone at the company so as to make people from various backgrounds feel welcome, supported, and empowered in their career; improve internal mobility processes and perceptions thereof; identify key drivers of attrition and retention; and develop, maintain, and monitor company-wide performance system, predictors of performance, and performance trends over time.

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Ryan Williams

Education:

BS in Biology at Texas A&M
MS in Natural Resource Management at Oklahoma State
PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with a minor in statistics at Iowa State

Past Job Experience:

NSF-REU at Texas A&M
Postdoctoral Researcher in Agricultural Bio Systems Engineering at ISU

Current Job Responsibilities:

Manage group of ~30 scientists working in Plant Biotechnology
Leadership over multiple discovery pipelines
Adjunct faculty in Plant Biology at University of Missouri with outreach jobs in industry with Bayer

Trait Biology Analytics Lead• Monsanto

Genomics and Data Science Lead• Bayer

Internships and past jobs: NSF REU at Texas A&M, postdoctoral researcher in ag. Bio systems engr at Iowa State U.

Education: BS, Biology at Texas A&M, MS, Natural Resource Mgmt at Oklahoma State,

PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Iowas State U., Stats minor at ISU as well

Personal info: I’m adjunct faculty in Plant Biology at MSU where I do outreach about jobs in industry and build connections with Bayer. Work-life balance is one of my top priorities, which means I’ve got too many hobbies to list on a slide!

Current Responsibility: manage group ~30 scientists working in Plant Biotechnology, leadership responsibilities around multiple discovery pipelines

Feel free to share my email and LinkedIn…sorry for typos, this was sent from a bumpy bus in rural Brazil! I’ll try to snag a good pic in the field and send it your way for the headshot.

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Yashwant Kathirvel

Education:

BS in CHE at IIT
MS in Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University

Past Job Experience:

Chem Tutor in the ARC
Research Assistant at Hong Lab at IIT
Research Assistant at the Computational Biology Department at Carnegie Mellon University
Data Science Intern at AstraZeneca

Current Job Responsibilities:

Onboard and develop new automation workflows in wet lab environment
Establishing the needs and constraints of a protocol and figuring out how it works on an automated platform

Automation Engineer • Ginkgo Bioworks

What internships/past jobs have you had?

Tutor at the ARC (Chemistry, ChemE)

Research Assistant at Hong Lab at IIT

Research Assistant at the Computational Biology Department at Carnegie Mellon University

Data Science Intern at AstraZeneca

What education have you had?

B.S. Chemical Engineering ‘21 at IIT

M.S. Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University

Is there any personal information you want to share with the attendees?

I don’t think so.

What are your current job responsibilities?

My main role is to onboard and develop new automation workflows in the wet lab environment. Involves talking to scientists, establishing the needs and constraints of a protocol and figuring out how it works on an automated platform.

My LinkedIn is: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ykathirvel, feel free to share it with the students. And my picture is attached to this email.

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Yoftahel Gebre

Education:

BS in Biomedical Engineering, Cell and Tissue track at IIT
MS in Chemical Engineering at IIT

Past Job Experience:

Engineer Internship at NorthShore University Health System
Research Internship at Metra Commuter Rail
Test Engineer at Baxter International Inc.
System Test Engineer and Senior Research and Development Engineer at Fresenius Kabi

Current Job Responsibilities:

Support and sustain plasmapheresis devices used in the field
R&D for new software or hardware development

Principal Engineer R&D • Fresenius Kabi

What internships/past jobs have you had?
I used to be a part time valet while I was in school. I do think internships make a difference and advisable.
What education have you had?
I did my bachelors in Biomedical Engineering and my masters in Chemical Engineering.
Is there any personal information you want to share with the attendees?
Not sure what to share here, but pretty open with answering questions from students about my experience with school/working /life balance ....
What are your current job responsibilities?
I currently work as a Systems Engineer, I support plasmapheresis devices that are currently used in the field. One part of the job is R&D for new software or hardware. The other part is helping sustain the devices that are in the field (Address customer, manufacturing or field consultant issues).

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