By: Courtney Keiser
Courtney is a 5th year Ph.D. student in mechanical and materials engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the FY21 Learning Content Coordinator (LCC).
Courtney is a 5th year Ph.D. student in mechanical and materials engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is the FY21 Learning Content Coordinator (LCC).
Figuring out life after graduate school can be extremely stressful and overwhelming. You may still be on the fence between staying in academia or pursuing a career in industry. If you are lucky, you might have had the opportunity to participate in an internship during graduate school to give you that taste of what industry is like. However, chances are you have been required to work in the lab during the summer and need to look elsewhere to learn about what company would be a good fit. If this is the case, you will be happy to know that after doing some searching, I have found the holy grail of opportunities that I want to share with as many STEM graduate students as possible. 3M RISE is primarily intended to introduce emerging female and/or underrepresented science and engineering graduate talent to the wide range of rewarding careers in research and development at one of the world’s most recognized innovation companies. I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Kris Richardson, senior research biologist, and Dr. Kolby White, research specialist, about RISE and got the inside scoop on what participants can expect if selected to attend the program, taking place June 23-25, 2021. I hope that after reading this you will be as excited as I am about the program and apply!
Q: What motivated you to develop the RISE program at 3M?
To paraphrase Kolby and Kris:
Kolby and Kris both participated in events like RISE while they were in graduate school and saw a lot of value in them. Plus, 3M has so much to offer that many people are not aware of. With over 90,000 employees globally and four business groups, 3M is such a large company that it is hard to communicate the breadth and depth of the technologies with which they work. Using this program to be able to share stories of different technical employees at 3M and what they are working on is beneficial for both 3M and the RISE participants.
When Kolby first started at 3M, she was overwhelmed by how many incredible technologies 3Mers were working with that she didn’t even know existed. She has been at 3M for four years now and still feels like she only knows a fraction of it! Kolby didn’t know what she was getting into when she first started at 3M, even though it turned out to be incredible. She thinks she would have loved to attend something like this at 3M when she was in graduate school. These factors all contributed to her desire to help create something to spotlight opportunities at 3M.
Kris went to graduate school at Ohio State, and talked about how 3M did not actively recruit there. His passion for the program stemmed from an opportunity to reach different schools and recruit more diverse students. He saw the program as a better way to network and build relationships with other schools. One of the main reasons Kris continues to recruit for 3M is because he wants to reach students from all over the world and show them the excitement of a career at 3M.
Q: What can participants expect from the virtual 3-day conference compared to last year?
To paraphrase Kolby and Kris:
Last summer was the RISE program’s debut. It was not intended to be virtual but was adapted because of COVID and rescheduled for August 2020. The number of core participants is purposefully small because the program includes small group mentoring, which is more productive if the number of participants is lower. This year, the planned structure is a three-day virtual symposium. The first day will be focused on a global overview of 3M with a lot of incredible speakers ranging from vice presidents and global directors to senior research chemists, biologists, and computer engineers. The second and third days will be broken down into panels and roundtable discussions with presentations by the students. At the end of the symposium, participants will have the opportunity to present their research to current 3M employees. Last year, the student sessions had over 100 3M employees in attendance at times, so this will be an exciting way for students to share their work with 3M employees. They are also trying to incorporate some interactive portions into the conference to engage participants. The conference will be hosted on Microsoft Teams.
Q: What advice do you have for graduate students nearing the end of their schooling?
Kolby: “Embrace the unknown and do not be afraid to reach out. The best thing you can do is gather many perspectives to help you shape what you want your life to look like. I was so afraid to make the wrong decision, and even though I think I made the right one with 3M it is okay to not make the right one. There is no reason to say that each choice is a binding decision. If I could go back, I would tell my 25-year-old self to breathe deeper. No one is perfect. You are going to make some mistakes, so embrace those, be flexible and make the changes you need to ensure your own happiness.”
Kris: “The beauty of graduating with a master’s or Ph.D. is that if you choose to work in industry and do not like it you can still go back into academia and be in that environment. That is always an option. There is no make or break. When you pick a company, you cannot let that company dictate what you want to do for the rest of your life. And I think every company is going to have a different culture. If you start at a small company and you do not like it, go to a bigger company and see how you feel, and vice versa. It is a matter of figuring out what you want from your career and finding the environment that fits you.”
If you are interested applying for 3M’s RISE program, please follow the link below. Applications must be submitted by April 5, 2021!
Link to apply: go.3m.com/3MRISE
Q: What motivated you to develop the RISE program at 3M?
To paraphrase Kolby and Kris:
Kolby and Kris both participated in events like RISE while they were in graduate school and saw a lot of value in them. Plus, 3M has so much to offer that many people are not aware of. With over 90,000 employees globally and four business groups, 3M is such a large company that it is hard to communicate the breadth and depth of the technologies with which they work. Using this program to be able to share stories of different technical employees at 3M and what they are working on is beneficial for both 3M and the RISE participants.
When Kolby first started at 3M, she was overwhelmed by how many incredible technologies 3Mers were working with that she didn’t even know existed. She has been at 3M for four years now and still feels like she only knows a fraction of it! Kolby didn’t know what she was getting into when she first started at 3M, even though it turned out to be incredible. She thinks she would have loved to attend something like this at 3M when she was in graduate school. These factors all contributed to her desire to help create something to spotlight opportunities at 3M.
Kris went to graduate school at Ohio State, and talked about how 3M did not actively recruit there. His passion for the program stemmed from an opportunity to reach different schools and recruit more diverse students. He saw the program as a better way to network and build relationships with other schools. One of the main reasons Kris continues to recruit for 3M is because he wants to reach students from all over the world and show them the excitement of a career at 3M.
Q: What can participants expect from the virtual 3-day conference compared to last year?
To paraphrase Kolby and Kris:
Last summer was the RISE program’s debut. It was not intended to be virtual but was adapted because of COVID and rescheduled for August 2020. The number of core participants is purposefully small because the program includes small group mentoring, which is more productive if the number of participants is lower. This year, the planned structure is a three-day virtual symposium. The first day will be focused on a global overview of 3M with a lot of incredible speakers ranging from vice presidents and global directors to senior research chemists, biologists, and computer engineers. The second and third days will be broken down into panels and roundtable discussions with presentations by the students. At the end of the symposium, participants will have the opportunity to present their research to current 3M employees. Last year, the student sessions had over 100 3M employees in attendance at times, so this will be an exciting way for students to share their work with 3M employees. They are also trying to incorporate some interactive portions into the conference to engage participants. The conference will be hosted on Microsoft Teams.
Q: What advice do you have for graduate students nearing the end of their schooling?
Kolby: “Embrace the unknown and do not be afraid to reach out. The best thing you can do is gather many perspectives to help you shape what you want your life to look like. I was so afraid to make the wrong decision, and even though I think I made the right one with 3M it is okay to not make the right one. There is no reason to say that each choice is a binding decision. If I could go back, I would tell my 25-year-old self to breathe deeper. No one is perfect. You are going to make some mistakes, so embrace those, be flexible and make the changes you need to ensure your own happiness.”
Kris: “The beauty of graduating with a master’s or Ph.D. is that if you choose to work in industry and do not like it you can still go back into academia and be in that environment. That is always an option. There is no make or break. When you pick a company, you cannot let that company dictate what you want to do for the rest of your life. And I think every company is going to have a different culture. If you start at a small company and you do not like it, go to a bigger company and see how you feel, and vice versa. It is a matter of figuring out what you want from your career and finding the environment that fits you.”
If you are interested applying for 3M’s RISE program, please follow the link below. Applications must be submitted by April 5, 2021!
Link to apply: go.3m.com/3MRISE
