Ep. 102 - Computational Biologist - Katherine Wilkins

Welcome back to the Joust About Careers podcast! This is the place to learn about careers from the people who are actually doing the work every day. I’m your host, Brian Bratt, and this week’s guest is 2007 Van Buren graduate Katherine Wilkins, who works as a Senior Computational Biologist. In this episode, Katherine shares advice for students looking to attend a highly selective university, how she ended up earning her PhD from Cornell, the positives and challenges of her career, and much more. Whether you are interested in a career as a computational biologist or still exploring your options, I hope that what Katherine shares today will help all of you make better career decisions and have fulfilling career journeys. Enjoy the show!1:10 - A typical day for a senior computational biologist2:47 - Katherine didn’t know this career existed when she was in high school.3:20 - Important to her to be helping others3:45 - Case Western Reserve played a big part in Katherine’s career journey.4:55 - Advice for students wanting to attend a highly selective university6:00 - Katherine doesn’t hire a person based on the university attended - there’s more to it.8:57 - Advice to students who have high academic goals, such as a master’s degree or PhD11:30 - National Science Foundation Research Experience14:02 - Success Katherine has had at Agilent Technologies16:28 - The positives and challenges of a career as a computational biologist.19:14 - Other career options related to computational biology21:45 - The pathway to a career in computational biology23:27 - What Katherine knows now about careers that she wishes she had known in high schoolQuestions?Connect with Brian on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/brian-bratt/) or e-mail ([email protected]).Connect with Katherine on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/katherine-wilkins-b2884b10/) or reach out to me for her email.