Catching Up with Science-Minded Alumni

Offering students hands-on, experiential primary research opportunities has been a hallmark of the Upper School science programming for many years. College-level classes like Organic Chemistry and Computational Biochemistry, along with programs such as Science Outreach and Science Symposium, have prepared Country Day graduates well for advanced studies in the sciences. The opening of our state-of-the-art Purdy Center for Science and Mathematics further enhances our ability to provide the highest caliber of STEM education. We caught up with a few alumni who took full advantage of Country Day’s science offerings while they were students.

As a lifer, I enjoyed every part of the Country Day science journey—from the Dino Dig in Lower School, to model rocket launches in Middle School, to Organic Chemistry in Upper School.

Cabir Kansupada ’16

College: University of Pennsylvania, BSE in Materials Science and Engineering and BS in Economics

Current: Analyst, Engineering Finance, Tesla

“As a lifer, I enjoyed every part of the Country Day science journey— from the Dino Dig in Lower School, to model rocket launches in Middle School, to Organic Chemistry in Upper School.

“Through Country Day’s Science Outreach Program, I was introduced to UNC-Charlotte’s Dr. Rabinovich and the world of solar energy research. I spent 10 amazing weeks in his lab alongside graduate students, synthesizing novel copper complexes for improved solar cell materials. Additionally, as part of Country Day’s first venture into primary research on campus, our team collaborated with college researchers through an independent study with Mr. Collins to 3D print physical models of proteins to better understand how they fold (see page 25). These research experiences better prepared me to work effectively in a lab at Penn as well as understand and clearly communicate my findings.

“I also thoroughly enjoyed each science class that I took at Country Day. Intrigued by sustainability after my time with Dr. Rabinovich, I enrolled in AP Environmental Science, which in my mind is the essential ‘connecting science’ that brought together everything I learned in biology, chemistry, and physics. The challenging AP science curricula prepared me with the knowledge and tools I needed to succeed in college-level academics.

“Currently, I work on the Engineering Finance team at Tesla. The team collaborates directly with engineers, global supply chain managers, and other business partners across the organization to reduce the material costs of our products and inform R&D investment decisions. I rely heavily on my science background in this role because we evaluate an investment not only on its financial payoffs, but on its engineering practicality as well. It helps that many times, complex energy technologies can be broken down into the simple machines we learned in Lower School for more fundamental analyses. But, even more than that, my science training gives me a rigorous way to ask questions, test hypotheses, and evaluate outcomes for the various decisions our team informs, which is a valuable skill set in any field.”

Christien Williams ’16

College: MIT, BS in Computer Science and Engineering

Current: MIT, completing Masters of Engineering in Computer Science; awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research at ENS Paris-Saclay

“All of the math and science classes I took during Upper School were important for me performing well in the STEM classes I had in college. And fortunately, I was able to take many courses: Biology 1, Honors Chemistry, AP Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Honors Physics, AP Physics, AP Computer Science, my computational biostatistics independent study, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus BC, and Calculus 3.

“My master’s research focuses on machine learning for satellite imaging to contribute to an automatic Earth perception system. More specifically, I’m building an annotation system to enable researchers to more quickly create satellite imagery datasets by granting them the ability to annotate a few pixels in an image (i.e. giving them a label); the system proceeds to learn from these limited annotations and processes the rest of the images, providing classifications for all other pixels. In practical terms, what this could look like is taking an image over California, labeling a few pixels as clouds or non-clouds, and the algorithm takes over from there segmenting the rest of the entire image into either the category of cloud or non-cloud.

“I’m also an incoming associate product manager at Schmidt Futures and will begin work full-time in the fall. Schmidt Futures is a philanthropic initiative that creates public value from private philanthropy through risk transfer— making bets on talent that others, such as government or business, can follow to scale up efforts that make the world better.

As an APM, I’ll have the opportunity to partner with Schmidt’s portfolio companies, such as Recidiviz (a nonprofit organization building a common, extensible platform designed to power data-driven interventions in criminal justice), to help them build socially impactful products at scale.”

States Lee ’12

College: MIT, BS in Mechanical Engineering (focus in design); Royal College of Art & Design/ Imperial College, MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering

Current: Design Engineer, Daye

“Since leaving Country Day, it’s been really great to see a push to revamp the science buildings on campus.

“My work is very exciting. Daye, a female healthcare and R&D startup in London, aims to eliminate the gap between innovation and research in female healthcare by examining the status quo. I work on the development of new physical products, manufacturing processes, and machines to make those products in a reliable and quality manner. When making or designing a product or a machine, many disciplines come together to take an idea to reality. There is involvement of chemistry, electronics, mechanics, mathematics, and materials to just name a few. The knowledge and perspectives I have been able to gain through a variety of courses in a few institutions, including my start at Country Day, are things that I bring to my work every day. Beyond this, the people around me during my education have helped instill values in me that make my work fulfilling.”

Vinati Kaul Potash ’10

College: MIT, BS in Chemical-Biological Engineering

Current: Automotive Territory Manager, ExxonMobil

“At Country Day, I took numerous AP science classes, including physics, chemistry, and biology. The excellent teachers and rigorous curriculum in these classes allowed me to earn credit for intro college classes and place into higher-level courses within my first year at MIT. My most memorable science experience was being a part of the inaugural Organic Chemistry class. This was a truly incredible opportunity. The hands-on lab experience I received in this class was key to securing an undergraduate research position at a preeminent bio-engineering lab and subsequent corporate research internships at several Fortune 200 companies.

“For the past seven years, I have worked for ExxonMobil in our downstream business. I currently manage a multimillion dollar sales territory for our automotive engine oil portfolio. I primarily spend my time consulting for small/medium business owners and large national clients on how to meet their customers’ automotive needs. One scientific element of this job is understanding and educating clients on industry engineering specifications, new chemical formulations, and product performance. I really enjoy balancing this scientific element with sales skills and an understanding of consumer marketing.”