Life After PhD

It was my great pleasure to interview Dr. NiLa Austin for the first episode of Season 2! Dr. Austin holds a BA in Psychology from George Mason University, a research fellowship at Howard University, an MA in Applied Developmental Psychology from George Mason, and a PhD in International Psychology from the Chicago School. Dr. Austin is an innovative educator who spends her time creating creative curriculum and advocating for middle schoolers welfare. She leverages her background in psychological research to ensure that all students have the opportunity to develop critical thinking and research skills that will benefit them throughout their life. I mean, I'm not joking: to date, Dr. Austin has created 15 youth programs/initiatives including cosmetology, barbering, high school/college prep , digital photography, young writers, doctors pathway, public speaking and more. These programs are completely FREE for students, with the majority scheduled during the school day and aligned with Common Core State Standards. I had such a great time chatting to Dr. Austin, and I hope you also enjoy our conversation! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nila-austin-phd-0a58a06a/ Giveland: https://www.givelandfoundation.org/ Want to be my next guest? Please get in touch on email (brielle.stark[at]gmail.com) or via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brielle-c-stark-phd-10726516/) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

Dr. Sitathani and I go back many years -- mostly as competitors in the sport of rowing at Cambridge University! He graduated with his PhD in 2016 in physical chemistry, studying gas emission from diesel engines. Then, he embarked on a career in financial tech (you'll hear Krit say "fintech," which is what this is), and now is an Assistant Managing Director at a large bank in Thailand. His job now comprises both research and financial consulting, largely on environmental-related fund management. As he says in this podcast... he started doing something (fintech) that had nothing to do with his PhD in Chemistry, but has now suddenly found himself with a research-related role in a banking institution that's focused on many of the topics he researched in his PhD. It's fun how life can come 'full circle'! Hope you enjoy. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/krit-sitathani-phd-44922a50/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

Dr. Angela Quiroz works in Diversity and Equity, is a professor at a community college, and also runs her own consulting business! She holds a PhD in International Psychology, and a BA and an MA in Criminal Justice. It was a pleasure to chat with her and better understand her journey to where she is today. I hope that you enjoy! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-quiroz-phd-87290878/ --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

It was a real pleasure to chat with Dr. Beejal Oza, a psychologist and counselor working full-time as the Global Director of Counseling & Coaching Center & Assistant Professor at SP Jain School of Global Management in Dubai, UAE. Dr. Oza is also a Global Mental Health Consultant. She's got a spectacular outlook on life and emotional intelligence, and it was such a pleasure getting to spend some time with her! I hope you enjoy. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-beejal-oza-29030611/ https://www.spjain.org/faculty/profiles/bijal-oza --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

It is my pleasure to host Dr. Kacy Barker on this episode of Life After PhD! Dr. Barker has a PhD in International Psychology with a concentration in Trauma Services, a Master's degree in Forensic Psychology, and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. She spent approximately ten years working before returning for her PhD, and shares some great life experiences that helped to motivate her to get a PhD, and also how her life experiences shaped her PhD and the time after it. She is a tireless social advocate, and shares a lot of information about her research on destigmatizing sex work and more globally on harm reduction. Please check out the links below for more information on these topics. I hope you enjoy listening to Kacy as much as I did! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kacy-barker/ Dr. Barker's PhD, " How Values Shape Attitudes: The Stigma of Sex Work in Amsterdam, The Netherlands": https://www.proquest.com/docview/2740277790?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true Harm Reduction Coalition: https://harmreduction.org/about-us/principles-of-harm-reduction/  Recommended further reading on sex work: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317386939_Sex_Work_Criminalization_Is_Barking_Up_the_Wrong_Tree If you're interested in being featured on Life After PhD, please reach out to Dr. Brielle Stark at brielle.stark@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

Welcome back to Life After PhD! Dr. Michele Veldsman is currently the head of Research & Development in Neuroscience at Cambridge Cognition, based in the UK. She graduated with her PhD from Cambridge University, and completed several postdoctoral roles / research scientist roles before taking her current job. She is a well-known mentor in the field of human neuroscience, especially to women and persons from marginalized and minoritized groups. She's gone out of her way to help others seeking a change from academia, and in her spare time (I joke, I joke), is about to go live with her startup, Playroom! Learn more about Michele, below. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/micheleveldsman/ Playroom: https://www.playroom-app.com/ (and nice write-up: https://www.forwardpartners.com/latest/michele-veldsman-founder-of-playroom) Dr. Veldsmans' courses: https://stan.store/DrVeldsman Interested in being on the podcast? Reach out to me (Brie) at brielle.stark@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

Dr. Alexandra Moussa-Tooks and I talk about her trajectory from a clinical psychology PhD, to a clinical internship, postdoctoral fellowship, clinical education professorship and now her role as a first-year tenure-track Assistant Professor. She has some great insight into her own favorite parts of doing a PhD (creativity! being interdisciplinary!), and great takes on lessons learned along the way. Dr. Moussa-Tooks academic page: https://psych.indiana.edu/directory/faculty/moussatooks-alexandra.html Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jhX8qzcAAAAJ&hl=en Some terminology we use: PI = Principal Investigator NIH = National Institutes of Health PBS = Psychological and Brain Sciences Wet Lab = a type of laboratory where it is necessary to handle various types of chemicals and potential "wet" hazards, such as with animal models If there's ever a word/phrase you're unfamiliar with, let me know and I'll add it to these notes. I'd love to host you next! Send me an email: brielle.stark@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

It's my pleasure to bring you this conversation with Dr. Saajan Bhakta, who I met many years ago during our time serving on the youth board of a non-profit. Dr. Bhakta received his PhD in International Psychology and applies many of those skills into the Mergers & Acquisitions industry. He also holds a role as a Associate Professor in a medical school, enabling him to stay close to the psychology research world. Join me in learning more about Dr. Bhakta's path -- and spoiler alert, he's probably been to more countries than all of us combined! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saajan-bhakta-ph-d-4a154076/ Apologies for a few audio blips; let's blame the WiFi! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

Join me in chatting with Dr. Emily Beswick, who graduated with her PhD in 2022 and is now about to start her second postdoctoral position. Learn about how she decided to stick with a postdoc, but also learn about her interests in industry and next steps. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-beswick-digitalresearch/ Some acronyms we mention on here: PI = Principal Investigator, usually director of a lab --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support

Dr. Neal Fox is Founder and Executive Director of Sierra STEM, which runs experiential learning, educational consulting, and professional development programs in the beautiful Sierra Nevadas. Dr. Fox holds a PhD in Cognitive Science from Brown University. Following a very successful 'traditional academic path,' Dr. Fox found joy in high school teaching and then morphed his love of the outdoors and his science training to start Sierra STEM. Learn more about Neal: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nealpfox/ Sierra STEM: https://www.sierrastem.com/ I mention a little audiobook in the podcast. It's this one! "The National Parks" by Dayton Duncan and Ken Burns. It has a segment on Hetch Hetchy which then lead me to read/learn much more about the social and political history of the area. Some acronyms we mention on here: NSF = National Science Foundation NRSA = A training grant NIH = National Institutes of Health ECOG = Electrocorticography PI = Principal Investigator, usually director of a lab --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brielle-stark/support