Graduate / 'to use the innovation and creativity' - Why a business in science degree? [2]

When I started XXX, I knew exactly what I wanted to study - biology. I have always been fascinated by the mechanics of life especially the complexity of the human body. In college the drive to understand the mechanics of the biological systems led me to courses in molecular biology and genetics and to work in research labs that specialized in protein engineering and tissue regenerative technologies at NYU and a medical center respectively. However, while I am thrilled with the idea of making a lasting contribution to science through research, I find myself wanting something more. I want to be involved in fast-paced field where I can use innovation and science in a more practical, real world setting. I like working with people and would like to do something business related. While my lab experience both inside and outside the classroom has prepared me for work as a laboratory assistant, I know that a good education is a well-rounded education and my coursework as it stands hasn't effectively prepared me for managing technologies or explaining them to non-specialists about them. In order to effectively run a company one not only needs specialized knowledge about the field but also public speaking and leadership skills in order to communicate with non-specialists. The MBS program is a perfect fit for me because it can help me apply the knowledge I acquired in the lab to a real world setting and integrate skills I have acquired both inside and outside the classroom.

Communication and leadership are important qualities in any industry. I learned the value of communication as a sales associate at Anna Belen, a jewelry store on the Upper East Side, where it was my responsibility to help customers find jewelry that best suited their needs. As I was working on commission and supporting myself through college at the time, I had to sharpen these skills especially with the chatty older clients that we served. As a lab technician "small talk" was not necessary in order to finish an experiment. As long as you understood the facts, the only questions asked are procedural. However at Anna Belen the customer was the primary interest and small talk became essential. With kindness, patience and a keen attention to body gestures and facial expressions, I was able to satisfy each client's tastes in jewelry. I had a talent for marketing and store revenue increased from the previous year during my stay there. Furthermore I was often placed in the management roles in hiring and training new associates, opening and closing the store and checking the register. This experience not only allowed me to sharpen my communication skills but helped reveal a side of me that I was unaware of.

I learned the value of leadership as a tutor at the Urban Assembly Institute of Math of Science for Young Women. Many of these young women were from low income families and came from a myriad of educational backgrounds i.e. some were immigrants, some missed years of schooling. Working with the girls was both inspiring and frustrating at times. It inspired me to see so many of them manage school and work to support their families. It frustrated me to see girls with potential giving up on school because they believed they couldn't do science because it was "too hard". They needed role models to show them with diligence and passion they could accomplish anything. With a little encouragement, faith and patience I was able to help many of them understand seemingly complex scientific principles and math concepts. In fact I was very proud when I learned that one of my 9th grade students who moved to the United States from Barbados and had attention deficit disorder managed to improve her algebra grades from a D to a B.

While I enjoyed working with customers and students as a sales associate and a tutor, I was not focusing on the innovations made in biological research and technology. This experience I acquired while in the classroom or working on projects in various university research labs ranging from protein engineering to tissue and cell culturing. During the summer before my sophomore year at XXX, I had the opportunity to work on a project that sought to create bacteria capable of targeting organophosphates. The goal of the project was to develop a way of safely destroying organophosphates whose current methods of degradation have many terrible environmental consequences. Here I learned about the fundamentals of genetic research and bacterial cloning. I learned how to perform a variety of procedures including DNA sequencing, PCR, protein expression, how to manage and maintain bacterial colonies etc. At the end of the summer I made a poster presentation about my experiment at SEAM conference at NYU and was learned a great deal about genetic engineering. I have also worked in tissue culturing and tissue engineering laboratories at both XXX and medical center. At the medical center, I worked as a research support specialist for various projects allowing seeking to understand the complement factors expressed after myocardial infarction in C57black wildtype mice and C3 and Factor B knockout animals. This experience taught me basic research techniques in clinical laboratories including assisting on animal surgeries on C57 black mice specimens, using antibody staining techniques on heart tissue and immunoglobulin quantification. This research could be crucial to pharmaceutical companies in developing drugs to prevent any autoimmune response on healthy and dying heart tissue after a clot is removed. As a part of my research class at XXX, I learned basic cell culturing techniques for fibroblast cells and neural cells and worked on a project that sought to create better scaffolds that would be improve cell-cell signaling and ultimately cell growth.

Working in the laboratory is a rewarding experience but it is so highly specialized that it is not readily understood by businessmen and politicians whose support funds these projects. Poster presentations and ceremonies attended by only scientists and engineers each with his own field of expertise is limiting. Science is no longer a field that belongs solely to the realm of academia. The advent of biotechnology and biomedical companies is a testament to that. Researchers need to be experts not only in their field but also on the business plane. I would like a profession where I can integrate my marketing, sales and mentoring experience with my scientific training.

I want to use the innovation and creativity, the scientific principles and discipline I learned to develop profitable products and services in biotechnology and biomedical sectors and to educate and understand how the general public responds to these products. With the combined skills I will acquire from an MBS I know I can contribute valuably towards any biotechnology, pharmaceutical companies. I would like to integrate the skills that I have acquired over the past four years in a professional business setting to develop products in the biomedical science sector. I am especially excited by regenerative technologies such as the magic pixie dust that can re-grow fingers and I believe that this degree would not only allow me to specialize in a field I am interested in but will give me the skills I need to manage it as well. In the future I hope to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering and/or an MD and whichever direction I choose, I know that an MBS will prepare me for the real world challenges that lay ahead.