Dr. David Beck earned a PHD in Biomolecular Structure and Design and is the eScience Institute Director of Research and a Research Associate Professor in Chemical Engineering. Dr. Beck has been associated with eScience since 2009, formerly serving as the Director of Research for the Life Sciences. Beyond his biology and chemistry domain expertise, Dr. Beck provides experience in scientific data analytics and mining, parallel programming techniques for data intensive computing and high performance computing applications, and general software design & engineering support.
[1:10] What does post-doc mean: undergrad->PHD->post-doc (2 to 3 years to polish your skills): Biomolecular structure and Design (DNA/RNA/Protein design). How can you design new proteins/molecules.
[3:05] Why start with computer science. Grew up when computers were becoming a commodity, so knew he wanted to do something with computers. His internship shaped his direction into biology/chemistry. The degree today would be bioinformatics, using computing with biology.
[5:45] How David is leveraging his computer science degree, they use computers to find hidden structures in experimental data around biomolecules.
[8:40] what is bio-informatics – a lot of data is generated, you need to know the right statistical models to apply to the data.
[9:20] Opportunities exists in the pharmaceutical companies and also design microorganisms to remediate a contaminated site are some examples for careers.
[12:10] What has David fired up is the broad adoption of data science methods in all domains of technology. There is a data revolution – called data science.
[13:20] Getting through college: try new things, don’t get stuck with just the classes to get your degree expand outside of the core classes. We joked about gaming, but check out Foldit Game
[15:50] ah ha moment – during graduate work was focused on simulation of proteins, he wrote those simulations. So he thought if we simulated thousands of molecule simulations and generated tons of data – but in the end the data was not really knowledge, they just had a lot of data.
[18:40] – Best advice – you are not an impostor, this is a self-inflicted wound – it is all in your head and no true. And a habit – make sure there is something everyday in your job that you really love to do.
Favorite Books both by Richard Rhodes:
“Making the Atomic Bomb”
“Energy: A Human Story”
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96: PHD Nanomedicine – Embedding messages into Nano Particles – Joy Wolfram
95: PHD In Quantum Chemistry and Quantum Mechanics-From Professor to Sales-Eva Vankova
93: PHD Biomedical – Nano Technology For Medicine and Drug Delivery – Alessandro Grattoni
92: PHD Chemical Engineering – Stretchable Electronics – Michael Dickey
91: Aerospace Engineer – You will fail a test or class along the way – Erin Young
90: Mechanical/Robotics/Computer Science – Nothing Cooler than Being a Woman in STEM – Alexis Block
89: Mechanical Engineer – From Sales to STEM Ambassador – Jay Flores
88: Chemical Engineering in Additive Manufacturing 3D Printing – Stacey Delvecchio
87: Bio engineering, Biomedical, Mechanical – Try as many new things – Juhanna Robberts
86: Digital Design Architect – Electrical Engineering – Do what you commit to – Nathanael Huffman
85: Epidemiology and Biostatistics – Stop Starting and Start Finishing! – Rebecca Carter
84: Physics and PHD in Solar Physics studying the Sun – Stephanie Yardley
83: Computer Science and Entrepreneur: You need to architect your career – Chris Smith
82: Civil Engineer – Was not aware of STEM until after her first degree – Mel Butcher
81: Mechanical Engineer focused on Sports Biomechanics – Alison Sheets
80: Science Geek to Management – Biology and MBA – John Heltemes
79: Data Scientist at Facebook – Don’t be afraid to try something new – Brandon Rohrer
78: Computer Science – You need to focus on the human side to solve complex problems – Zoey Gagnon
77: Chemical and Electrical Engineer with some great insights – Stephanie Chin
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