BYU PhDs Capture Top Jobs

2018 has been another outstanding year for PhD students from the BYU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry to obtain top jobs. Our PhD graduates leave BYU and continue their training as postdocs, become faculty members, or work at corporations.

2016 PhD graduate Paul Lawrence recently finished a prestigious postdoc position at the University of Washington and has now been offered a chemistry faculty position at Keystone College.

“In graduate school, my projects revolved around understanding peptide folding and how I could use chemistry to improve this process. I wanted to take the things that I learned from peptides and apply them to proteins. I eventually found and joined Champak Chatterjee’s lab at the University of Washington.” The Chatterjee lab is world renowned in the area of chemical biology of protein modification. Because of his PhD training and postdoc work, Paul is now ready to commence his independent faculty career teaching and mentoring undergraduate students. “I’m super excited to start this August." Said Paul Lawrence.

2017 PhD graduate Yu Cai is now a postdoc at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. The Scripps Institute chemistry department is ranked sixth in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report.

"I am quite enjoying working at The Scripps Research Institute as a postdoctoral fellow. My current research work is focusing on an efficient total synthesis of vancomycin and its key analogs. The pursuit of my PhD studies at BYU was an exceptional experience in my life. Thanks to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at BYU for providing a wonderful research environment as well as financial support. Overall, BYU makes me to be a "Better YU". Said Yu Cai.

2018 graduates Ying Zhang and Anupriya recently accepted jobs at Intel Corporation. Intel is the #1 employer of PhD graduates from the BYU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. This provides a wonderful alumni network to integrate at the company.

Ying Zhang commented, "I’m looking forward to joining Intel as a process engineer after my graduation from the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department of BYU. I will contribute my efforts to develop more efficient methods for semiconductor manufacturing using state-of-the-art equipment and materials.”Ying attributes finding her job to Department support and networks.“During the application process of this job opportunity, I had received lots of help from Janet [graduate program coordinator], BYU alumni, career directors, and BYU career services, including resume review, mock interviews, and career search guidance at career studio."

Over the past several years our PhDs have gone on to the following positions.

Postdoc positions:

• Baylor College of Medicine
• Brigham Young University
• Celgene
• EERE Scholar at the National Renewable
• Emory University
• Harvard University
• Johns Hopkins University Medical School
• NRC (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
• Ohio State University
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Texas A&M
• University of British Colombia, Vancouver
• University of California Irvine
• University of Colorado
• University of Illinois
• University of Maryland College Park
• University of Tennessee
• University of Utah
• University of Washington
• University of Wisconsin - Madison
• US EPA
• University of Texas - Southwestern
• Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
• Washington State University 

Full-time staff and postdoc positions at National Laboratories:

• Argonne National Laboratory
• Battelle Science & Technology International
• Dugway Proving Grounds
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• National Institutes of Health
• Oakridge National Laboratory
• Sandia National Laboratories
• U.S. Bureau of Mines
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Full-time industrial and academic jobs:

• 3M
• Abbott Laboratories
• AbbVie
• Advion
• Agilent Technologies
• Albemarle
• American Chemical Society
• Ametek
• Array BioPharma
• ARUP Laboratories
• Bayer Pharmaceuticals Corporation
• Belcan Corporation
• Berry and Associates
• Bio-Manginhos 
• Bio-Rad Laboratories
• Brigham Young University
• Brigham Young University - Idaho
• Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
• China Sinda Intellectual Property
• Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Conoco Phillips
• Corning Incorporated (China)
• Cosmas, Inc.
• Cubist Pharmaceuticals
• Diamond Analytics
• Dionex Corporation
• Dixie State College
• Dow Chemical
• DuPont Agricultural Products
• DuPont Central Research and Development
• Dura Automotive
• Dynavax Technologies
• Eastman Chemical Company
• Eli Lilly
• Epic
• European Bioinformatic Institute
• Evans Analytical Group
• ExxonMobil 
• Focus Light Ltd. 
• Focused Photonics C Hangzhou Inc
• Fresenius Medical Care
• Gardiner-Caldwell Communications (England)
• GD Searle and Company
• Gilead Sciences
• Glaxo Smith Kline
• HealthTell, Inc.
• Huntsman
• IBC Advanced Technologies, Inc.
• ISIS Pharmaceuticals
• IM Flash
• Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Taiwan
• Intel Corporation
• InSilixa
• Instructure
• Intermountain Healthcare
• Irvine Analytical Lab
• Jackson Laboratory
• Johnson & Johnson
• Jiangsu Skyray Instrument Co.
• Kalexsyn, Inc.
• Kaplan, Inc
• Kemin Industries
• Kimberly-Clark
• Lonza
• Merck
• Merck Serono (Chile)
• Metabolon
• Millenniata
• Mindwhale
• Monsanto
• Morton International
• Moxtek, Inc. 
• National Institute for Standards & Technology
• National Renewable Energy Lab
• Natural Factors
• Nature's Sunshine
• Nature's Way
• Neurocrine Biosciences
• Northwest Bioanalytical 
• Novartis 
• Nu Skin
• OLI Systems
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Perkin Elmer
• Pfizer
• Phillips 66
• Physicians Laboratories
• Prolexys Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
• Proctor & Gamble
• Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute
• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals 
• RESTEK
• SAIC-Frederick, Inc.
• Samofi-Aventis
• Sanford - Burnham Medical Research Institute
• Silk Scientific, Inc.
• Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute, NYC
• Supelco
• Swanson and Bratschun
• TA Instruments
• Tandem Labs
• Tetraphase Pharmaceutical
• Thermo Fisher Scientific
• Torian
• Unilever (China)
• Utah Valley University
• US Synthetic
• Valeant Pharmaceuticals
• Varian, Inc.
• Vertex Pharmaceuticals
• Warp Drive Bio
• Weber State University
• Westminster College
• Williams College
• WuXi Pharmatech Co., Ltd
• Young Living Essential Oils
• Zoetic Science
• Zhangjian NSB Pharm Research (China)

Writer: Taelin Wilford