Rita B. Leahy Career Series
The Rita B. Leahy Doctoral Career Series for doctoral students brings current students, postdocs, and Maryland alumni together to meet and explore career opportunities. Each session of the series focuses on one broad career area and features alumni from different disciplines doing meaningful work related to that area. The 2021-22 series features six sessions focused on careers in: research, data science, biotechnology, federal agencies, policy and advocacy, entrepreneurial ventures, communications, and public health.
Recordings of all past sessions are available on YouTube.
| Day | Date | Time | Topic | Speakers |
| Thursday | 9/23/2021 | 4-6 pm |
Consulting Demystified |
Han (XiaoHan) Hu, (PhD, Economics, 2007), Consultant, People Analytics Leader, McKinsey & Company Ruben Acevedo, (PhD, Mechanical Engineering, 2021), 1st Year Consultant, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Brandon Gaitan, (Doctoral Candidate, Bioengineering), President and CoFounder, Maryland Graduate Consulting Club
|
| Wednesday | 10/20/2021 | 3-4 pm |
Federal Careers |
Abigail Bickford, PhD (Behavioral and Community Health, 2018). ORISE Postdoctoral Fellow, US Army Public Health Command Beatrice Mao, PhD (Behavior, Ecology, Evolution and Systematics (Interdisciplinary Biology Program, 2017), Postdoctoral Fellow, NIH Ana Ana I. Sánchez-Rivera, PhD (Geography, 2017), US Census Bureau Joshua Wood. PhD (Mechanical Engineering, 2016) NASA Postdoctoral Fellow
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| Tuesday | 1/25/2022 | 4-5 pm |
Biotech in Maryland Part of Alumni Career Week |
Dietrich Ruehlmann, PhD (EMBA 2005), Berin Parambeethu Varghese, PhD, DVM (Integrated Biological Sciences, Molecular Virology, 2021) Julia Greenfield, PhD (Biochemistry, 2019) |
| Tuesday | 3/8/2022 | 3-4 pm |
Marketing, Communication, & UX Careers |
Becca Boya Xu, PhD Sylvia Guo, PhD Stanley Maxson, Doctoral Candidate |
About Dr. Rita B. Leahy
Rita Leahy received her PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland in 1989. She is very grateful for her education at Maryland because it put her in touch with organizations and people who had a big impact on her life and career. Dr. Leahy feels it is very important for doctoral students to understand the different career options that are available to them and to build a professional network. In 2018, Dr. Leahy created a fund in the Graduate School to support the professional development of doctoral students and the creation of an annual speaker series featuring UMD alumni working in exciting and meaningful careers outside of the academy.
Dr. Leahy’s own career path is a testimony to the power of networking - developing and maintaining connections with individuals. These connections along with an unstoppable spirit of openness took her career in directions she never could have predicted. She believes that success in life is “finding something that you love to do and finding someone willing to pay you to do it.” According to Dr. Leahy, success is where preparation and opportunity meet.