March 24th: Iva Maxwell

Light, Life and the Lessons in Between: Building a Career in Industry

Dr. Iva Maxwell gave a talk on her professional journey indicating her transition from a physics student to working in the life sciences industry. She received her B.A. from Mount Holyoke College, a liberal arts school with a five college consortium similar to Harvey Mudd. During her time there, she was highly involved in campus jobs and summer internships at both Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Massachusetts. Her senior thesis project studied semi-conductor lasers, which motivated her to investigate non-linear optics during her PhD at Harvard. Maxwell’s PhD lab incorporated a femtosecond laser system into a multiphoton microscope for high resolution imaging and sub-cellular nanosurgery. She also had close collaboration with a group at the medical school studying cellular mechanics.

Maxwell entered industry by connecting with an alumnus working in a biotech company in Maryland, and her first role involved measuring protein concentrations for diagnostics. Rather than working with lasers, she performed immunoassays: a highly selective method of measuring protein concentrations in a sample. This method binds fluorescently tagged antibodies to a target of interest, which indicates the light output is proportional to the target concentration. She developed a device using ECL technology for a point-of-care use for immunoassay analysis. Through her role as a system integration lead, she learned about product development and product integration. Her current role at Roche involves DNA nanopore sequencing by expansion.

“I got very helpful insight on what to look for in employers, how to develop my career, and what kind of work would be best for me. I also felt very encouraged as a woman in physics and someone pursuing a nonlinear career path” – Student Attendee

Maxwell concluded her talk by determining that although she switched between domains, she was always learning on the job. Her problem-solving skills were always critical to her success in a new role.