270 NATURE | VOL 427 | 15 JANUARY 2004 | www.nature.com/nature

As I approach the halfway point in my PhD,the question about what to do aftergraduate school is becoming morepressing. My decision is between pursuingmy academic research further, or taking an entrepreneurial path. The choice mayultimately depend on the success of myresearch — altering the catalytic propertiesof enzymes, an important aspect inbiocatalysis. If my experiments succeed,they may open academic doors; if not,there are other options that I would like to explore, such as founding a company.

The entrepreneurial bug comes fromfriends and colleagues who have startedtheir own businesses. This was particularlyendemic before the bubble burst two yearsago, but Switzerland still seems to have theright spirit and infrastructure for biotech tothrive. I can envisage setting up a companyhere with similarly motivated people.

Starting a company requires furtherskills in addition to the chemistry andbiology with aspects of physics that myresearch involves. So I have not only hadto go back to school, but I am also learningto communicate with people from otherdisciplines who have expertise in differenttopics to me. I am sure this experience willbe of use in the future — regardless of thechoice I make when I finish my PhD. ■

Philipp Angerer is a second-year PhD student in

biotechnology at the Swiss Federal Institute of

Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland.

GRADUATE JOURNAL

At the crossroads

Naturejobs Career View

Last month, what willbecome one of thelargest environmental

science centres in Europeopened its doors in Britain. When it’s fullystaffed, the LancasterEnvironment Centre willemploy some 300 scientists,including graduate students and postdocs in five departments.

The facility, costing £25 million (US$46million), combines fiveenvironmental-sciencedepartments fromLancaster University withthe Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, run by the Natural EnvironmentResearch Council (NERC).

The centre is designedto emphasize amultidisciplinary approachto environmental science,says its director, Bill Davies.For example, its fivedepartments can approachdifferent aspects ofcomplex problems, such as

how the genetic make-upof different plants canaffect their nitrogen uptake,or how persistent organicpollutants — volatilecompounds released bypaints — build up in theatmosphere, move aroundthe world and end up inhumans’ fatty tissue. Theproject is noteworthybecause of the way itcombines both governmentand academic labs, takes amultidisciplinary approachto environmental science,with a strong social-sciencecomponent, and creates a critical mass ofenvironmental scientists.“We’re one of the biggestgroups of its kind inEurope,” says Davies.

The building, fundedjointly by the NERC andLancaster University,includes controlledenvironment facilities,15 glasshouses andequipment to allowintegrative studies ofterrestrial, aquatic andatmospheric systems.

It is also taking the

kind of computationalapproach to environmentalscience that has been thenorm in physics and isbecoming increasinglycommon in biology.

Davies says that he isnow recruiting a chair ininformatics and wants todevelop environmentalinformatics as a specificunit for the centre, with the possibility of adding a new wing to the centrelater.

Davies also envisagesspinning out somebusinesses from the site, inmuch the same way thatbiotech companies springfrom university life-sciencedepartments. For instance,scientists at the centrecould do contract work onenvironmental chemistry,or computer modelling ofregional environmentalproblems such as floodprediction. “We can seeways of building on thatcommercially,” explainsDavies. ■

➧ www.lec.lancs.ac.ukPaul Smaglik is editor of Naturejobs.

&BRICKS MORTAR

When Sixto Gonzalez left theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) for his

native Puerto Rico midway through hisundergraduate education, little did herealize that it would benefit his career.

Gonzalez left, he says, becausealthough he had little difficulty adjustingto a different language, he struggled with the heavy workload in a highlycompetitive environment — not tomention the long, cold winters, at odds with his native tropical climate.

But a choice based partly on cultureshock was served up with a healthy

dose of serendipity. While at theUniversity of Puerto Rico he was able towork at Arecibo Observatory, home ofthe world’s largest and most sensitivesingle-dish radio telescope — and hehas remained there ever since. He saysthat if he had stayed at MIT, he wouldnever have had the opportunity to workat the observatory.

The opportunities were plentiful. As an undergraduate, he was able to present papers at internationalconferences based on his findings atArecibo. As a graduate student, he wasable to base his thesis on data hegleaned from a summer spent at theobservatory. And as a postgraduate, his familiarity with the instrumentation at Arecibo led him to getting a job there— making him the first native-bornPuerto Rican to become a staff scientist at the facility.

His latest appointment extends that honour to the directorship of the

observatory, although Gonzalez hasmixed feelings about distinctions basedon his nationality. On one hand, he isproud of his heritage and is happy torepresent it. But on the other, beingsingled out by his nationality makes him uncomfortable. He is more excited about having two more Puerto Ricanscientists joining him at the facility than about becoming the first director to hail from the country.

Gonzalez says that he is enjoyingbeing in a position to help others to deal with the difficulties he faced early in his career at MIT. Young scientistsneed a support network, mentoring,ideas for projects and help to bringprojects into fruition.

He sees his latest role as helping toprovide all these things. “When you’re in a position to make a difference forpeople, you have to provide them withas many opportunities as you can givethem,” Gonzalez says. ■

MOVERS Sixto Gonzalez, director,Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

2001–2003: Assistant director of Spaceand Atmospheric Sciences, NationalAstronomy and Ionosphere Center,

Arecibo, Puerto Rico1999–2003: Senior research associate, AreciboObservatory, Puerto Rico1993–1999: Research associate, Arecibo Observatory

CV

Lancaster Environment Centre

15.1 Jobs Career View MH 12/1/04 10:27 am Page 270

© 2004 Nature Publishing Group

© 2004 Nature Publishing Group