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!Cornell BEST

Program

Science Policy

Governance, Risk &

Compliance

Industry, Entrepreneurship & Management

Communication

Mentoring

Rethinking training for Cornell STEM graduate students &

postdoctoral scholars Why?

Because a majority of us will end up working outside academia. It’s time to rethink, retrain and

be ready for tomorrow’s careers.

Contact: Susi Sturzenegger Varvayanis

Senior Director BEST Program: Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training

Graduate Research & Education CORNELL UNIVERSITY

S3-018 Schurman / 325 Caldwell Hall Ithaca, NY 14853

607.253.4304 sv27@cornell.edu

Sharing BEST practices A nationwide consortium

Cornell BEST Program

Broadening Experiences in

Scientific Training

www.BEST.cornell.edu

Funded by the National Institutes of Health

Many of the skills you will acquire in the BEST program will also help you in an academic career of your choice. Science Communication and Management knowledge for instance can help you run your academic laboratory and convince funding agencies.

Opportunity pathways BEST Program Science Communication

Scientific writing, editing and media skills

- weekend science communication workshop - coursework in journalism; intern with the Chronicle - write a press release, develop a podcast or blog

Science policy Learn how policy is created - externship in Albany - prepare and pitch a bill for congressional consideration - take a course in science policy

Governance, Risk & Compliance

Industry, Entrepreneurship & Management

- leadership & management courses - invite and interact with industry speakers - internship with a life sciences startup - develop the commercial aspects of your technology

Mentoring Program recruits are assigned a mutually agreeable BEST mentor from the field of their career aspiration who will meet with trainees regularly and help them navigate the program and succeed in their career of choice.

Flexibility Trainees can opt for a single pathway (through workshops, courses, customized externships/internships) and/or sample each of the pathways in less detail (primarily through lectures). Trainee initiated project experiences are encouraged, subject to program staff approval and available funding.

Metrics for success Points will be assigned for participation in each experience and an attestation certificate will be awarded to trainees who obtain sufficient points. Evaluation of the program will be extensive, to increase program effectiveness, and to gauge the effect on the scientific careers of trainees in the long and medium terms. Trainees participate in long-term impact studies.

Academic Research:

Learn how to assess bio- or agroterrorism risk - externship with the FDA or CDC over spring break - visit biocontainment facilities & learn how they’re run - workshops on quality assurance, good lab practices

Agenda March 18, 2014: Susi came to Cornell in 1988 and is currently Senior Director for Cornell’s Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training, or BEST program. Previously, she was Business Development Officer at the Institute of Biotechnology and liaison to the McGovern Center for Venture Development in the Life Sciences, the on-campus business incubator, where she helped fill the pipeline of early stage technologies and entrepreneurs emanating from the university.

Since 2009, Susi was the host city coordinator for the statewide Pre-Seed Workshop (PSW) to evaluate high tech ideas for commercial potential. She launched the PSW in Switzerland while she was Chief Operating Officer for a Swiss NSF Center for Research Excellence bringing together the fields of chemistry and biology. While there she also had responsibility for technology transfer, science communication, advancement of women in science, and education and training efforts.

At Cornell, Susi managed for six years the prestigious University-wide Presidential Life Science Fellowship (PLSF) program for first year graduate students, and the Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) NYSTAR awards for ten years.

Prior to Cornell, Susi worked in the NIH lab of Robert Gallo on retroviruses, and for Biotech Research Laboratories, Inc., a Maryland startup. She has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed publications in cancer cell biology. Her past includes managing a flow cytometry laboratory, and teaching at an international boys’ school in Switzerland. Susi earned a BA in Biological Sciences and French from Mount Holyoke College, and an MS in Microbiology & Immunology from Georgetown University.

8 Opening Welcome and Overview of the BEST Program Joel Baines, Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Education, James Law Professor of Virology at Cornell

8:15 Science Communication moderated by Bruce Lewenstein, Professor of Communication, Cornell Jon Miller, Homelands Productions (radio production co.) Martin Storksdieck, National Academy of Sciences, NRC Robert Ross, Paleontological Research Institute, MoE

9 Governance, Risk & Compliance moderated by Alfonso Torres, Professor & Associate Dean for Public Policy, Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine Philip Pellett, Wayne State University (formerly CDC) Randy Clower, Phillips Lytle (intellectual property law firm)

9:45 Science Policy moderated by Chris Schaffer, Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University Michal Freedhoff, Director of Oversight & Investigations, Office of Senator Edward J. Markey, United States Senate Jimmy O’Dea, Postdoctoral Scholar Dept. Chemistry & Chemical Biology, Cornell University

10:30 Industry, Entrepreneurship & Management Susi Varvayanis, Sr. Director BEST Program, moderator John Parker, The Baker Institute, Cornell University Mindy Bickel, USPTO Adam Fisher, Glycobia, Inc. Cameron Bardliving, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Food Science, Cornell University (& NSF I-CORPS)

11:15 Plenary speaker: Martin Storksdieck, National Academy of Sciences

12 Networking Lunch

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Susi Varvayanis, Senior Director, Cornell BEST Program

Dr. Baines is the James Law Professor of Virology in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and has been associated with the department since 1993. He received a bachelor's degree in Microbiology from Kansas State University in 1979 and received the VMD degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983. He then received his PhD from Cornell University in 1988 studying the molecular virology of feline coronaviruses. He obtained postdoctoral training at the University of Chicago in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Roizman studying the molecular virology of herpes simplex virus replication. He has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1995 to study herpes simplex virus assembly.

Cornell was recently awarded a $1.8 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health to give graduate students and post-doctoral scholars at Cornell University new opportunities for exploring both traditional and nontraditional career options. The Broadening Experiences in Scientific Training (BEST) program will provide information, internships, and other resources to prepare students for careers in industry, government, and communication in addition to traditional academic careers. Baines, along with Chris Schaffer and John Parker are Principle Investigators. Thanks to additional support from the Graduate School, CALS, and the College of Engineering, the BEST Program will be able to support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) students whose participation would not otherwise be supported through NIH eligibility.

Joel Baines, Associate Dean of Graduate Research and Education and the James Law Professor of Virology at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and Director of the BEST Program

Speaker Biographies:

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Alfonso Torres, Associate Dean for Public Policy at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Dr. Torres holds a DVM from the National University of Colombia. He also has an MS in veterinary pathology from the University of Nebraska, and a doctorate in medical microbiology, specializing in virology, from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Dr. Torres served as Deputy Administrator of USDA-APHIS-Veterinary Services from 1999-2002. In that capacity he was also the United States’ Chief Veterinary Officer and the US delegate to the World Organization for Animal Health-OIE. From 1996-1999, Dr. Torres was the Director of the Plum Island Animal disease Center (PIADC) on Plum Island, NY. While at PIADC he also served as chief of USDA’s Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) from 1994 to 1996.

Prior to serving at the USDA, he worked for SmithKline Beecham Animal Health from 1987 to 1991. Dr. Torres served as an Associate Professor of virology at Cornell from 1983 until 1987, and held a similar position at the University of Nebraska from 1978 through 1983. Dr. Torres returned to Cornell in 2002 as professor and Associate Dean for Public Policy. He coordinates all government relations and international programs for the College of Veterinary Medicine and supervises the College biosafety program. He teaches the Transboundary and Emerging Animal Disease course and coordinates the USDA- funded “Smith-Kilborne Foreign Animal Disease Program” that brings annually one vet student from all US colleges to Cornell and to PIADC.

Much of his work in animal health and wildlife conservation involves policy development and implementation. He is particularly interested in transboundary animal diseases with the capacity of crossing between wild animal populations and domestic livestock populations. Some of these diseases are highly contagious, and some are zoonotic.

Dr.Torres teaches disease surveillance, detection, diagnosis and control through USDA-sponsored courses for students or practicing veterinarians. His teaching efforts extend through domestic and international training workshops and seminars that are occasionally held for professionals and students interested in transboundary and emerging animal diseases.

Martin Storksdieck oversees studies that address a wide range of issues related to science education (e.g., climate change education, science learning from games and simulations, developing a conceptual framework for new science education standards, discipline-based education research). Storksdieck previously served as director of project development and as senior researcher at the not-for-profit Institute for Learning Innovation, where he was involved in research on science learning in immersive environments; models of involving researchers and scientists in science museums and science centers; and understanding the impact of science hobbyists, such as amateur astronomers, on the public understanding of science. His areas of interest include factors that influence what and how we learn when we do so voluntarily, and how this “learning” is connected to our behaviors, identities, and beliefs. This includes the role of personal and perceptual filters in science learning, particularly related to controversial topics such as climate change or evolution, and how connections between schools and out-of-school learning can create and sustain lifelong interest in (science) learning.

Before his involvement in science education and learning research, Storksdieck developed shows and programs on global environmental change for a planetarium in Germany; served as editor, host, and producer for a weekly environmental news broadcast; and worked on local environmental management systems and sustainability for the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives’ European office. Storksdieck holds a master’s in biology from the Albert-Ludwigs University (Freiburg, Germany), a master’s in public administration from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in education from Leuphana University (Lüneburg, Germany).

Martin Storksdieck, Director of the Board on Science Education at the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences

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Mindy Bickel, Innovation and Outreach Coordinator for the NY Region, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

Ms. Bickel received her undergraduate degree in chemistry from Bryn Mawr College. She also received an M.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. in biophysical inorganic chemistry from Columbia University. Prior to her current role she managed the Patents Ombudsman Program that serves as a resource for patent applicants, agents and attorneys and served as the program administrator since 2010. During 2012, Ms. Bickel served on a three-month detail to SelectUSA, a White House jobs creation initiative, where she assisted in formalizing their ombudsman program and function.

Ms. Bickel has also coordinated and conducted university outreach and partnership efforts for the US Patent and Trademark Office since 2007. As chief of staff to the commissioner for patents, she was responsible for oversight of the Office of the Commissioner for Patents, the independent inventor programs, and coordination of speaking requests and tours received by the patents organization. She also assisted the commissioner with his daily schedule and business area operations. Previously, Ms. Bickel was part of a team responsible for developing and implementing the USPTO Patent Training Academy, a program designed to train 1,200 new patent examiners each year in an eight-month training program.

Ms. Bickel began her career at the USPTO in 1989 as a patent examiner in the biotechnology area and became a supervisory patent examiner in 1995. In the Search and Information Resources Administration (SIRA), she was responsible for training programs for examiners and technical support staff, customer outreach for the electronic business center.

Throughout her career, Ms. Bickel has received numerous awards including the Department of Commerce Bronze Medal for examination and supervisory accomplishments; a Silver Medal for improvements in customer service and a Hammer Award from Vice President Gore in 1999 for work in establishing a new customer outreach program in the biotechnology group.

Dr. Clower focuses his practice in the area of intellectual property where he possesses a breadth of experience concerning worldwide patent procurement, including prosecuting and preparing patent applications in the life sciences. He is also experienced in drafting non-infringement/invalidity opinions, FTO assessments, and patentability evaluations for universities, startup companies and FORTUNE® 500 clients.

Prior to joining Phillips Lytle LLP, Dr. Clower was an associate at Foley and Lardner, LLP. He also previously assisted the University at Buffalo technology transfer office by drafting patentability assessments. Dr. Clower holds a doctorate in molecular biology and was a recipient of the NIH Pre-Doctorate Training Grant Fellowship for microbial pathogenesis during his graduate education. He earned his bachelors degree in recombinant gene technology with a minor in chemistry.

Frequently engaged with the Western New York community, Randy allocates time to volunteering as IP counsel with local Pre-Seed Workshops and business plan competitions, while also lecturing about the changing patent law landscape. Dr. Clower has been a “featured author” on JD Supra (June and July 2013), drafted articles and comments for IPWatchdog.com, Law 360, Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, Journal of Virology, and Virology.

Randolph V. Clower, Attorney at Phillips Lytle LLP

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Chris Schaffer’s research focuses on the use of optical tools for observation and manipulation of in vivo biological systems. Chris received his undergraduate degree in physics from the University of Florida and his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University, where he worked with Eric Mazur. His focus on in vivo biology began as a post-doc at the University of California, San Diego, while working with David Kleinfeld in the Physics and Neuroscience programs. His lab at Cornell develops advanced optical techniques that enable quantitative imaging and targeted manipulation of individual cells in the central nervous system of rodents with the goal of identifying interactions among cells that cause neurological disease. In particular, the lab utilizes nonlinear optical interactions between femtosecond-duration laser pulses and biological tissue to selectively ablate sub-micrometer scale structures. This technology is applied to the study of biological processes in native environments and the development of animal models of disease states. One area of current focus is the role of brain blood flow disruptions in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Prof. Schaffer is also active in developing novel educational strategies to teach science as a dynamic process for discovery. These approaches are used in outreach settings in middle and high-school science classes as well as in his undergraduate and graduate level courses. Chris also has a strong interest in science policy and spent a sabbatical in Washington, DC, working as a science policy advisor for Representative Edward Markey in the United States Congress.

Chris B. Schaffer, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University

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Dr. Fisher is an entrepreneurial scientist and graduate of Cornell University (Ph.D. 2008, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering). He is the co-author of over a dozen peer-reviewed publications in the fields of protein engineering and glycobiology. His thesis research culminated in the exclusive licensing of the resulting patents, reported in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. In recognition he was awarded the Merck Student Award at the international ECI BioChe XIV conference in 2005 and the Austin Hooey Prize in 2008, the highest student honor of the Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering Department at Cornell University. He then co-founded a startup company, Glycobia, Inc., to produce therapeutic glycoproteins in E. coli.

Since, Glycobia was selected as a semi-finalist in New York’s Creative Core Emerging Business Plan Competition – one of the largest private business plan competitions in the country - and as the first resident of the McGovern Center for Venture Development in the Life Sciences at Cornell University.

Dr. Fisher is currently the Chief Science Officer of Glycobia and the Principal Investigator on small business grants totaling $5 million awarded to Glycobia. Dr. Fisher is an avid supporter of entrepreneurship and scientific creativity.

Adam Fisher, Founder, Chief Science Officer, and Director of Research & Development, Glycobia Inc.

Robert Ross, Associate Director for Outreach (education and exhibits) at the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) and its Museum of the Earth

Dr. Ross received his B.S. in Geological Sciences from Case Western Reserve University and a Ph.D. in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from Harvard University. He spent two years as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Kiel in Germany and four years in the Faculty of Science at Shizuoka University in Japan before coming to PRI in 1997. At PRI he is responsible for the education and exhibits programs and oversees a wide variety of grant-funded projects.

Dr. Ross's primary scientific research interests include Paleontology, sedimentology, and paleoceanography. He focuses on the diversification and distribution of life in the context of interactions of climate, ocean, and tectonic dynamics, e.g., using late Cenozoic ostracodes from the Indo-Pacific. Additionally, he studies the influence of biotas upon aquatic chemistry, climate, and sedimentation, e.g., using computer simulation of coastal ecosystems and field/experimental studies of animal-sediment relationships. Finally, he researches the nature of faunal taxonomic change through time and space, e.g., using Middle Devonian marine faunas of Central NY.

As an educator, Dr. Ross's education research includes Earth system education, informal science education, and educator professional development. He studies the integration of authentic research into education contexts to improve interest in and understanding of scientific inquiries and the integration of activities using place-based real-world to improve long-term interest in and understanding of natural science. He also focuses on approaches to improving understanding of historical sciences and systems thinking, and applications to important core science education issues (geologic time, evolutionary processes, climate change).

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Philip E. Pellett, Professor, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine

Dr. Pellett has led a diverse range of scientific projects and programs, including large-scale epidemiology studies, studies of virus genome structure and genetic content, diagnostic assay development, virus immunobiology, and molecular aspects of the cell-virus interaction. His research is aimed at understanding the biology of human herpesviruses and improving clinical outcomes of herpesvirus infections. He earned his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Roizman at the University of Chicago in 1986. He served as Chief of the Herpesvirus Section at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1986 until 2003, and was Director of Herpesvirus Translational and Basic Research at the Cleveland Clinic prior to joining Wayne State University in2007.

Of the human herpesviruses, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has the greatest clinical impact. HMCV is a leading cause of congenitally acquired mental retardation and deafness, is a major pathogen in immunocompromised patients, and may contribute to the development of atherosclerosis and other inflammation-linked vascular diseases. Dr. Pellett’s lab is engaged in basic studies of the molecular and cellular biology of HCMV, as well as in clinically oriented translational research.

Dr. Pellett’s scientific community service includes prior service as an Editor of Archives of Virology, active service on editorial boards of three journals, two terms as Chair of the Herpesvirales Study Group of the International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses, contribution of chapters to multiple editions of widely used reference books, and activity as a member of the scientific boards of foundations involved in enhancing public awareness and supporting research related to human herpesvirus infections.

Michal Ilana Freedhoff, Director of Oversight & Investigations, Office of Senator Edward J. Markey (D‐MA), United States Senate

Michal Freedhoff received her B.Sc. in physical chemistry from McGill University in 1991, and her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Rochester in 1995 (thesis title: Quantum Confinement Effects on Semiconductor Nanocrystals).

Michal has been a Congressional staff member almost continuously since 1996, when she was awarded a Congressional Science and Engineering fellowship and spent her fellowship year working for Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) with responsibility for nonproliferation, energy and environmental issues. After her fellowship, she spent 2.5 years as Professional Democratic Staff for the House Science Committee, with legislative and oversight responsibility for civilian Department of Energy (DOE) R&D, and intellectual property and other health, societal and research issues associated with genomics.

In July 2001, she returned to work for then-Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-MA), and has also staffed him on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee.

Her legislative efforts include the fuel economy provisions in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, laws to increase the security of nuclear facilities and maritime cargo, the cash for clunkers law, and a law requiring the creation of an online database of dangerous consumer product safety defects. Her oversight work has included investigations into the response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the safety of nuclear reactors following the Fukushima meltdowns, and efforts of electric utilities and automakers to protect against cyber-attacks.

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Bruce V. Lewenstein, Professor of Science Communication in the Departments of Communication and Science & Technology Studies, Cornell University

Bruce Lewenstein earned an A.B., general studies in the humanities in 1980 from the University of Chicago; and a Ph.D., history and sociology of science in 1987 from the University of Pennsylvania. He works primarily on the history of public communication of science, with excursions into other areas of science communication (such as informal science education). He has also been very active in international activities that contribute to education and research on public communication of science and technology, especially in the developing world. In general, he tries to document the ways that public communication of science is fundamental to the process of producing reliable knowledge about the natural world. In 2013-2014, he has been an advisor to the NSF-funded “#gradscicomm” project looking at how science communication can be integrated in graduate STEM education.

Among his major accomplishments, from 1998 to 2003, Lewenstein was editor of the journal Public Understanding of Science. He was co-chair of a U.S. National Research Council study, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, edited by Philip Bell, Bruce Lewenstein, Andrew W. Shouse, and Michael A. Feder (2009). In 2012, he was the first Presidential Fellow at the Chemical Heritage Foundation (Philadelphia), where he worked on issues of public engagement. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2002, and in 2011 served as chair of the AAAS’s section on societal implications of science and engineering.

He is co-author of The Establishment of American Science: 150 Years of the AAAS (1999), editor of When Science Meets the Public (available online at AAAS), and co-editor of Creating Connections: Museums and the Public Understanding of Research (2004). He has been an active evaluator of informal science education projects, especially in areas of “citizen science”.

Dr. John Parker received his veterinary degree from the University of Glasgow in 1983 and his Ph.D. in virology from Cornell University in 1999. John worked for 9 years in clinical practice as a veterinarian from 1983 to 1993 in the UK and Australia. His graduate studies at Cornell focused on the cellular and viral determinants of host range. As a post-doc at Harvard Medical School, John worked with Max Nibert on mammalian reoviruses in the Department of Microbiology and Genetics. His current lab at the Baker Institute for Animal Health studies the cell biology of viral infection with a particular interest in how viruses usurp normal cellular processes for virus replication. The lab works with several viruses, but primarily uses mammalian reoviruses (REOV) and feline caliciviruses (FCV). Current areas of investigation include virus entry into cells (FCV), virus interaction with the cellular translational machinery (REOV), virus-induced programmed cell death or apoptosis (REOV), virus assembly and cellular chaperones (REOV), and virus effects on host translation.

Dr. Parker is the recipient of a Burroughs Welcome Fund Investigatorship in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease and a Pfizer Award for Research Excellence. He served on the council of the American Society for Virology as councilor for Veterinary Virology from 2010 to 2013. He is currently the Director of the Cornell Leadership Program for Veterinary Students and the Director of two NIH training grants.

John Parker, Associate Professor of Virology in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology within the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University

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Jonathan Miller, Executive Director, Homelands Productions

Jonathan Miller has reported from Asia, Latin America, Africa, Europe, and the USA for NPR, BBC, CBC, Marketplace, The World, and PBS News Hour. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Condé Nast Traveler, Parents, Christian Science Monitor, and many other publications.

Since 2006, he has been executive director of Homelands Productions, an independent, nonprofit journalism cooperative that specializes in public radio features and documentaries.

Most recently, he directed the “Food for 9 Billion” project about the global challenge of keeping ourselves fed at a time of rapid social and environmental change. Before that he produced “WORKING,” a series of audio profiles of workers in the global economy, and “Worlds of Difference,” exploring the responses of traditional societies to the threats and opportunities of globalization. He lives in Ithaca, New York.

Jimmy O'Dea’s research focuses on mapping how charge moves in materials at the nanoscale. He has applied this interest to investigate charge motion in batteries, solar cells, and fuel cells. At Cornell, O'Dea has been involved in campaigns to divest the university's endowment from holdings in fossil fuels and to increase access to academic publications. O'Dea received his Ph.D. in chemistry from UCSB and B.S. in chemistry from the University of Puget Sound.

Jimmy O’Dea, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (A&S) at Cornell University

Cameron Bardliving, Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Food Science (CALS) at Cornell University

Cameron Bardliving has a doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering, focusing on development of cGMP grade cancer vaccine antigens for phase I clinical trials on pilot scale for the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR).

Other research focuses include aptamer-sensor and molecularly imprinted polymers based on polymer-gold nanoparticle composite microspheres for the detection of pesticides using Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MIPs) for targeted release of doxorubicin, and high capacity and cost effective manufacture of chloroperoxidase and Aspergillus niger.