I’ve been curious how many working researchers we’ve got in this community, and what you all do!
If you’re working in science (physical or social), engineering, etc in a research capacity, give a shout in the comments and let us know what you work on! Same goes for students and amateur scientists at any level. (And by amateur I mean those of you who are working on your own experiments but just not being paid for it / not working on a degree; I’m upset that “amateur” has a negative connotation, it shouldn’t.)
I’m currently a PhD candidate, working on transmission electron microscopy and electronic materials (mainly ferroelectrics). In the past I’ve been involved in research / product development in a few different industries, including medical devices, aerogels, and materials for RF devices.
I have my PhD in physics with a background in material science and primarily work in Pharma developing early stage biologics programs (antibodies, gene therapies, etc). That means basically any of the molecules I have worked on are maybe 5+ years away from reaching the market. I don’t meet many other physicists in this field, instead it is primarily chemical engineers and biochemists. Even working in industry, I still have the chance to publish and attend conferences though.
A lot of my classmates from undergrad chemical engineering went into pharma, so I’m not surprised there are a lot of them around!
That’s good! One of the things I’ve liked most about my time in grad school has been attending conferences and getting to meet the other people working in the field face-to-face. I hope that wherever I land after this will be happy to let me continue to attend conferences.