ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE
DECEMBER , 2008
A GT-BMES STUDENT PUBLICATION FOR THE COMMUNITY OF GT-BME
Consulting Career Services: Step One to your Job Interview! Willa Ni ‘12
touch screen computer and scanning in a buzzcard, fidget in plastic chairs and wait in a bare holding room. Sunlight streams in from a window down a carpeted hall revealing two chairs facing each other over a desk
! Dreaming of that beachside mansion, perfect vacation, or ultimate computer? We l l b e t w e e n p r e s s i n g a c ademic and social engagements, we forget that crucial stepping stone to those desires: a job. Taking the The Career Services Library. Photo by Chun Yong. first step on that path, I consulted with a computer, the typical inRalph Mobley, Director of Caterview room. Many of the other reer Services, on his departthirty-four rooms have their ment’s inner workings. doors shut; Mobley lowers his ! On a tour of the intervoice as he explains yet another view facilities in the basement of touch screen in the corridor. This the Bill Moore Student Success one allows the recruiters that Center, I was allowed an companies end to see if any of anxiety-free look into the entire their next appointments have sweaty-palms process of a potenalready checked in and are waittial job. Noticeably nervous stuing in the holding room. Mobley dents, after checking in on a explains that the screen shows
What’s Inside?
‣ NEW
Coffee Snobs with
Coupon!
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The Career Services Center Paul Fincannon
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Upcoming Events
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Another Crossword Puzzle!
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ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE BMES Pioneer Editorial Board
Editor in Chief Alice Chan ’10 Melody Keith ‘09 Layout Editors Chun Yong ’12 Allaine Dela Cruz ’12 Beatrice Wan ‘11 Features Editor Rebekah Hamrick ’10 Staff Writers Willa Ni ’12 Alysia Rudis ’09 Natalia Cuenca ’12 Rosemary Song ’12 Photographers Michael Glatzer ’12 Kiersten Petersen ’10 Ludmila Tsai ‘11 Development Editors Rohan Trivedi ’10
“the list of companies that were here today, but everyday it changes” and updates to a new batch of recruiting companies. ! To shed a little light on these mysterious recruiters, Mobley explains that they could be anyone. Either an “actual man-
DECEMBER , 2008
ager who has the job opening” or “a human resources type of person who does interviewing for that company… and can refer candidates towards that job opening in other parts of the company.” After an interview, the recruiter may choose to fill out a brief survey on a student’s handshake, eye contact, enthusiasm, communicaOne of the 35 private interview rooms, where many tion, verbal body language, students, both undergraduate and graduate, interview and listening verbal com- with employers "om a# sorts of companies. prehension to list a few. This survey, in addition to the trio of Optimals (OptimalRefree comment section, is esume, OptimalLetter, and OptimalInterview) is also at our dismailed to students with a line graph charting their scores from posal. Optimal interview, the “coolest” of the three allows stuall their interviews as well as a comparison to the Georgia Tech dents armed with a webcam to average. In this fashion, between record and critique their own responses to potential interview eight to ten thousand interview for potential full-time employquestions. Students can also choose job specific interview ment positions or internships in these rooms. However, this is questions. (Note: audio-only reonly a sliver of the Career Servcordings are also possible.) Once students have practiced with this ice’s resources. ! Ranked as the most use“image on the screen of a talking head asking… questions,” an ful tool by Mobley, CareerBuzz can be easily accessed from the appointment can be made for a Career Services website mock interview with a Career Services staff member through (www.career.gatech.edu) and is a the Perfect Interview program. must for any job seeker. There ! But do you yearn for are two parts to CareerBuzz: more? Perhaps the world con“job postings from… companies science student dreams of scuba that are not necessarily coming diving off the coast of Australia to campus” versus the “compaor a hike up the Great Wall. nies… that are coming onto Well, Going Global, a search for campus” under “on campus reinternational jobs, would cercruiting.” The accompanying job tainly help. For international descriptions allow students to students, H1Base, a counterpart decide which ones to apply to. A
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ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE of Going Global, can help in navigating the American job field. Other resources also include Vault, a source of free jobrelated literature downloads, internship postings, which are unrelated to the Division of Professional Practice’s P2D2, and
help a student “understand a little bit more” about himself through a “Myers-Briggs test… or a strong interest inventory” and then “go through an interpretation of it in terms of what kind of job” that student would be best suited for.
DECEMBER , 2008 free planners and publications. These planners also contain dates of information sessions, an un-mined gold field of helpful tips, Career Fairs, and Majors Fairs(November 4th in the Student Center Ballroom). Though CareerBuzz is the “main way” to get interviews, companies do “set up interviews through career fairs and through information sessions.” In fact, this year’s career fair had “220 companies a day for two days!” ! Despite this veritable tsunami of resources, the pessimistic naysayers of BME may still cite our buckling economy
Mobley’s Top 3 Resources CareerBuzz Ralph Mobley, Director of Career Services
SimplyHired, a “web crawler” for job listings. All these are linked under the career tools tab of the Career Services website. ! Internet resources make up only half the arsenal of the Career Services. From the fumbling first-year to the almost-out fourth (or fifth or sixth) year, career counselors and walk-in hours are available. Not only can students figure out a post-college path with career counselors, but they can also sit down and figure out the crux of a college career: a major. A career counselor can
! Walk-in hours, on the other hand, provide an outlet for those career questions or unedited resumes vital to the job search. Immediate feedback from professionals should be incentive enough, but when the word free comes in, students should come running (and not walking!) to Career Services. Other key resources can also be found in the Career Services Library, which contains books arranged by job type, encyclopedias of jobs and graduate schools, and, most importantly,
Visit http://career.gatech. edu/careerbuzz/students.php for career opportunities, info, advice, and more!
Workshops Visit http://www.career. gatech.edu/ to check for the latest events!
Walk-in Hours Monday 9-11 a.m. Tuesday 2-4 p.m. Wednesday 2-4 p.m. Thursday 9-11 p.m. Friday 1-3 p.m.
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ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE and BME’s relatively recent appearance to conclude doom and gloom for a graduate’s job prospective. Fortunately, Mobley sees a brighter future for us as our alumni base, which “helps feed the job market to some degree,” increases yearly. And regardless of BME’s specific alumni base, Georgia Tech already has an overall massive source of alumni from which Career Services can utilize for any job aspirations, from Hollywood to pharmaceutical. Though BME students usually go to graduate school, medical school, industry, and non-profit, remember that industry is an enormous umbrella that covers a wide range of jobs. According to Mobley, the typical medical student “comes to Tech already wanting” to be a doctor. On the other hand, the crux of the decision between graduate school and industry is the student’s love for school, which “takes being here
obviously and experiencing the academic environment” before making that decision. ! So wherever you are on the academic timeline take some time to look through the Career Services website, talk to a computerized head, or even a real person. All these services are
DECEMBER , 2008 free and waiting for students to use them. Next time you surf the internet or find yourself in front of the Student Success Center, why not apply for a job, conduct a mock interview, talk to a career counselor, or research your future?
Career Buzz Glossary
CareerBuzz: Ralph Mobley's number one resource that lists job postings for on and off campus. OptimalResume: Helps students with resume writing. OptimalLetter: Helps students with their cover letters. OptimalInterview: Allows students to practice and record their inter‐ views with an on screen dummy interviewer. Perfect Interview: Allows students to make an appointment for a mock interview with a Career Services staff member. OptimalInter‐ view is pre‐requisite. Going Global: Search engine to Iind international jobs for American Students. H1Base: Search engine and guide to Iind American jobs for Interna‐ tional Students
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ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE
βζΘΜΣĐ: A History Allaine Dela Cruz ‘12
The human body is one of the most complex machines engineered. With that in mind the marriage between medicine and engineering becomes not only practical, but also crucial to the betterment of society. As early as ancient Egypt, humans have constructed devices to advance both health and comfort. Such devices range from crutches and wooden teeth, to more mechanical complexities such as artificial organs and advanced prosthetics. In the academic world, biomedical engineering ties in with the development of electrophysiology and famous scientists such as Hermann von Helmholtz and Wilhelm Roentgen. Helmholtz use of engineering concepts helped to discover muscle and nervous tissue electrical resistance. While Roentgen’s observations pioneered research into X-rays- labeled “X” due to the unknown identity, leading to the development of the machines radiologists use today. In the early twentieth century biomedical engineering’s unique blend of medicine, engineering, chemistry, and biology tied its emergence with biophysics and modern medicine. This provides the potential for biomedical engineers to succeed in research and development for specialized companies. These historical bonds remain strong, a likely reason why many undergraduate students who claim pre-med status choose biomedical engineering as a major.
DECEMBER , 2008
Profiles in BME: The man behind all the emails Rosemary Song ‘12
! Before attending Tech, my inbox was mostly filled with e-mail notes from friends and Facebook notifications, but after becoming a full time BME student, I got message after message from one Mr. Paul Fincannon, or Paul as he likes to be called. Who is this man and what right does he have to keep me informed of the going-ons in the biomed department? I went to his office in the UA Whitaker building, room 1109 to find out. But before an in-depth discussion of his position as undergraduate academic advisor for Biomedical Engineering at Tech, I talked to him some about life outside of work. I learned that this Elkin, NC native, born October 30, likes the color blue, spends time working at home with his wife, and enjoys petting his cat. When he used to have more time, he used to enjoy film and reading, but now spends most of it meeting with students like me. Q: Hey Paul! So before I ask you about what you do now, I'd like to now a bit more about
your background and how you got to Tech. What college did you attend and what did you major in? A: Well, I attended Wake Forest as a history major, but I didn't enjoy it. And because I didn't enjoy it, I didn't really do well, and ended up quitting. I then worked for 6 years, but since I didn't have a college degree, I didn't make a lot of money. I realized that the only way to change my situation was to go back to college. I was accepted at UNC Greensboro, and held a full-time job at the same time I attended class. I then went to Canton, NY to get a Masters degree. Q: What did you want to do after college? A: I had no idea. While I was in school, I wanted to enjoy it, but I was a history major, didn't want to teach, and, as I said before,
Paul Fincannon wants to help you with your classes. Photo by Rosemary Song.
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ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE didn't really like it. So I sold electrical parts for a year, earned a few bucks, but that wasn't satisfying either. While getting my Masters, I had figured out I wanted to be a guidance counselor, but there weren't many job openings of that type where I was in northern New York. Instead, I moved to Michigan and worked in admissions at University of Michigan for 10 years. Then for family reasons, I ended up in Georgia, and worked in admissions at the Emory School of Law. Q: So Emory is pretty close to Tech, but how exactly did you end up here? A: Comparing my experiences at my past two jobs, I knew I wanted to work with students as undergraduates, and I liked working at a public school. There was a job opening in a
DECEMBER , 2008
great department at Tech, so I took it.
timating from about 10-20 a day? But I really have no idea.
Q: What do you do as undergraduate academic advisor for the department of biomedical engineering?
Q: Is that a big change from last year or from when the department was first starting up?
A: I mostly deal with scheduling issues and registration, but do some personal advisement and help students with faculty petitions, degree petitions, permits, and other forms such as grade substitution and change of major. I'm also the one they come to about re-admission and textbooks. The most important aspect of my job, though, is to keep students informed and keep up with how they're doing. Q: How many people do you think you've seen this year? A: Wow, I have no idea. Maybe 50 per week? I'm es-
A: Oh yes. The numbers of undergrads keeps increasing, and we keep adding faculty to accommodate our growth. Actually our biggest challenge is that we've outgrown our building. All the classrooms are basically taken, but the lab space available is OK so far. Q: What other changes can we expect soon? A: We have changed the curriculum, the most obvious being the addition of the BME 1000 class, which is basically an introduction to the world of biomedical engineering, and allows the
Systems Physiology (with some variation)
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ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE
DECEMBER , 2008
Student Voice #1
Student Voice #2
“It really bothers me when people come to class late or leave class early. I can just feel the discomfort in the professor’s face as they walk out in the middle of a lecture. It’s unbearable...
“As I was looking up classes for n e x t s e m e s t e r, I f o u n d o u t something very, very cool... Did you know that there’s a professor called Yoda here?”
...even though I do it too.”
Q: What about new classes or class changes? only one EE course requirement, versus the previous few that we had them take.
freshmen to see what they are getting into and what they can expect to do after graduating with a biomed degree. I think this class has been a success. Another change for the better has allowed for our students to take labs in the summer and do research for credit. There is also Sunday
of research for the BME technical elective requirements as long as you work in the same engineering lab for at least two semesters. [You can find more information at http://www.acad.bme.gatech.edu /undergraduate/research.php ]
Q: So how does the “research for credit” work? A: Basically you can use up to six hours
Monday
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A: Like I said before, our students can now take labs in the summer since we separated the physiology lab from the
December 2008
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Holiday Break!! First Day of Spring Semester! Don’t Forget!
Check the Georgia Tech website and the Career Services website for more upcoming events!
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ISSUE TWO VOLUME THREE lecture class. There is also a new Biological Networks and Genomics class for spring, BME 3500 has become a Biological Systems Modeling course, BMED 3510, and a clinical research practicum with a professor from Emory will be available. This class will allow students to work with patients in the Grady Hospital Emergency Room. They will enroll patients in clinical trials and shadow the emergency room doctors. Enrollment will be limited to 35, with preference going to students going to students who have
taken at least one physiology course. [More information about specific class changes and new class descriptions can be found a t http://www.acad.bme.gatech.edu /undergraduate/ and clicking the link on the left “Curriculum Changes for Fall, 2008”]. Oh, also, something that is going to affect mostly freshmen in the spring semester is that there are not enough spots for everyone to take BME 1300, so some will have to take it next fall.
DECEMBER , 2008 Q: Well thanks Paul for letting me come interview you! But in case people want more information, or just want to stop by and say hi, when are you available? A: I'm here all week from 8-5, but my official hours are 9-12 and 1:30-4:30 Monday through Friday. Just e-mail me or schedule a meeting online http://www.advising.gatech.edu/ scheduler/. Thanks for coming by!
Tha New nk y for sle ou ˜ sem an tter est awe sta er! som ff e
Photo and Co#age courtesy of Melody Keith and facebook.com
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