MUW STEM Alums Hold Career Conference for Students
On Fri 26 Sept 2025, a group of MUW alums from a variety of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) backgrounds held a conference for current students to let them know about options for STEM careers that the students might not have considered.
The conference consisted of two panel sessions, hosted by alums from both the Dept. of Sciences and Mathematics and other departments, and social gatherings before and after.
At the panels, six in-person alum, and another eight alum who joined in via Zoom, took turns telling students about their own careers, future prospects for new-comers to their fields, advice about skills that are valued in their fields, and information about how to find and apply to jobs in their fields.
Before the panels started there was an informal pizza lunch for students and alums. After the panels there was an early evening mixer with snacks and drinks. At both get-togethers students and alums were able to talk more informally to one another to find out about individual career interests and offer personalized advice.
The participating MUW alums had varied careers, including an Entomologist working for the FDA, an Embryologist working at a fertility clinic in NY state, a Technician repairing advanced chemistry instrumentation at labs across the south, a high school biology Teacher in Mississippi, and others. At the panels and mixers, the alums were able to describe STEM career options that many students were unlikely to have heard of, let alone consider for their own futures. The alums were also eager to create contact networks with current students to allow the students to benefit from advice and mentoring from the larger universe of MUW alums and their own networks of contacts.
The conference was largely organized by two alums in particular, Shannon James (Biology major, class of 1995) and Lisa Shrestha (Biology major, class of 2019.) They, and the rest of the participating alum and additional alum who expressed interest but couldn’t make it this time, want to make STEM Career Conferences a yearly event in the Department.
MUW and The Department of Sciences & Mathematics are indeed lucky to have such committed and active alums eager to help the upcoming generations of MUW students.