Math and science are integral to my success

Thanks to a blog post by a current PULSE volunteer, I was prompted to consider how math and science have contributed to my success.   (And yes, the pun in the title of this post was fully intentional.) 

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From what I've seen, children enter the world with the innate curiosity that is the hallmark of success in STEM careers.  That curiosity is often dampened or destroyed by the rote memorization that occurs in many classes, but I was fortunate enough to have numerous teachers through the years who supported my interest in the scientific method and who encouraged me to pursue a career in science or math.  I still fondly remember many of those teachers who made a difference in my high school classes, but perhaps none were more influential than Mrs. Rawls, my 9th grade biology teacher and Envirothon coach.  Her love of the natural world and amazing gift of teaching sparked my interest in even the most mundane of subjects (e.g., the dreaded leaf collection). 

In pursuing my degrees (BS, MS, and PhD) in chemical engineering, I again learned from many professors who had a passion for their subjects and for helping me stay in engineering.  I saw how science and math careers can lead to advances in medical treatment (tissue engineering and lab-on-a-chip diagnostics), improvements in energy sources (biomass to ethanol processes), and saving human lives (the Engineers Without Borders group that began at my graduate school, the University of Colorado at Boulder).  I tutored students in math, led outreach activities and taught a summer class in biotechnology, all of which honed my leadership skills, skills that are crucial to any career.

In my current role at GSK, I scale up the chemical processes and unit operations that are used to make our active ingredients and the products (e.g., tablets, capsules) in which they're used.  My engineering background helps me make rational decisions about how to run these processes in the safest, most efficient ways.  I feel energized knowing that the products I develop can make a difference in the lives of so many people all over the world.  How many people can come home from a day at work knowing that what they do every day will one day lead to one more child staying healthy enough to attend school, one more parent there to see her son graduate from high school, one more life saved?  Science and math are integral (pun intended) to my ability to develop these life-changing medicines.

There's a common misconception that STEM careers are full of anti-social nerds who are only focused on the technology and not the people.  My career to date has taught me otherwise.  I work with an overwhelming number of smart, passionate, caring individuals for whom STEM is their way of making the world a better place.

Has math and/or science knowledge contributed to my success?  The answer to that question is a resounding YES!  I hope that what I've written here can help sway at least a few more students into understanding that pursuing a STEM career is an ideal way to make a difference in the world while making a better life for themselves.

The Land of Opportunity

The other week, I had the opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of a colleague's first arrival in the US.  Much like many other immigrants from India, he left his home to come to the US to attend graduate school.  Between the friends that he made and the future life that he envisioned for himself, he decided to stay here and take the long, complicated path to becoming an American citizen.

In taking pictures at the celebration of this silver anniversary and hearing from so many people from his past, I was struck by how his story was similar to that of tens of thousands of other graduate students in science and engineering.  (I found a Congressional report that provides statistics on foreign student enrollments in graduate programs and immigration of scientists and engineers to the US.)  Having worked in the pharmaceutical industry in India, he enrolled at the University of Maryland to obtain his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences.  Thanks to an internship with Glaxo, he has now worked for Glaxo (now GlaxoSmithKline, aka GSK) for almost two decades.

In the post-9/11 world, there are many fears about terrorism and, by extension, immigration.  But allowing these fears to prevent the US from bringing in promising students would be a travesty for those students--and for the US.  A Harvard Business Review blog post focused on innovation pointed out that "76% of patents awarded to the top 10 patent-producing U.S. universities that year had at least one foreign-born inventor" and "more than 40% of Fortune 500 companies operating in 2010 were founded by immigrants or their children — including some of the most well-known brands, from Apple and IBM to Disney and McDonalds."

More important to me than the economic impact of immigration is the personal impact.  The immigrants that I've had the good fortune to meet (both at work and outside the workplace) have been caring, intelligent, humble people who are focused on the  important things in life--family, friends, and meaningful work.  My life would be much emptier without them.

Congrats to that wonderful co-worker and his 25 years in the US--and to all my immigrant friends. Thanks for making my world a better place.

Memorable moments of my London 2012 Olympic Golden Ticket experience

Those who know me well (and even those who don’t) recognize that I’m rarely at a loss for words, and this once-in-a-lifetime GSK-sponsored trip is no exception.  But in case you don’t want to read all the posts, here are some of the more memorable moments:

• Watching the second half of the Team USA men’s basketball rout of Nigeria on Thursday night (August 2nd), with the Olympic record high score of 156-73 
• Being there on August 1st for the only set that the powerhouse beach volleyball of Misty  May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings have ever lost in three Olympics (compiled record of 42-1 in sets and 21-0 in matches)
• Knowing that we saw two gold medal teams play (Team USA in men’s basketball and the beach volleyball duo of Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings)
• Feeling the excitement of thousands of raucous Brazilian fans as their team came back, followed by their despair and shock when Russia hit a last-second shot to win 75-74 in their preliminary round game
• Getting a picture with a few of those game-winning Russian players (linked here)
• Hearing the British announcers ask the fans to participate in a “Mexican wave” in the arenas
• Being confused at how the British fans reacted to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” (instead of the American stomp-stomp-clap heard at every major sporting event to go with “We Will Rock You”, they did clap-clap-open your arms like the “Y” in YMCA—if you watched the Closing Ceremonies, you probably know what I mean)  
• Walking out of the basketball arena to find the Olympic Park lit up like Christmas
• Hearing the roar wash across Olympic Park on Friday anytime that Great Britain scored in their field hockey game against Pakistan
• Meeting North America Pharma employees who truly do “focus on the patient”, both in their sales jobs and in how they give back to their communities
• Being moved and humbled by the range of stories that brought my fellow Golden Ticket winners to the Olympics

If you're interested in seeing photos from the trip, check out these links:

Highlights

More London 2012 Olympics photos

Olympic fever: Day 3 of my Olympic expedition

The official GSK experience was over, but I had Olympic fever!  Someway, somehow, I was going to get back to Olympic Park one last time.  Long story short, the fantastic folks at Team GSK managed to get a pair of women’s water polo tickets that another set of GSK attendees (Joe and Ed) purchased.  Since these guys also had tickets to cycling in the Velodrome, we were able to get into the park on one of their sets of tickets.

After a leisurely lunch at Tattershall Castle (a pub on a boat) with a UK-based fellow GSK employee (Graham) and one of LJ’s work colleagues, Simon, we headed back to the hotel to meet up with Joe and Ed and head over to Olympic Park.

What a difference a day makes.  Even as we were walking up to the park entrance, the crowds were much bigger than on Thursday.  There were various street performers, from the amusing (these tall guys on stilts) to the frightening (three men dressed as nannies, complete with baby buggies).  

Street performers at the Olympics

Thanks to the first day of track and field (athletics for the Brits), there were at least 80,000 extra spectators in the park, and probably much more.  On the previous night, we had been able to walk into the London 2012 Megastore but on Friday, the line was at least 30 minutes long just to get inside.  The Olympic fever was taking everyone by storm, with roars from the crowd washing over the park anytime Great Britain scored in the field hockey arena or Andy Murray took a game at Wimbledon (broadcast into the Park on one of the Park Live jumbo screens).

Crowds at Olympic Park

We had been hoping to get into an event on resale tickets again, but that’s where our luck ran out.  Whether by design or by luck, there were no resale tickets to be had for any events.  Instead, we grabbed at bite to eat at the world’s largest McDonald’s.

The world's largest McDonald's

We were starting to run out of time to get back to the hotel for our transfer to the airport, but before we left the park, I tried my hand at Olympic pin trading.

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For those of you who have never heard of Olympic training (a group in which I counted myself until last week), the competition of pin trading is almost as fierce as that of the sporting events. 

(If you really want to learn more, Coca-Cola has published a guide about its history.  Back in 1988, they recognized the brand value of being the Official Olympic Pin Trading Center, which they have been for both Summer and Winter Olympics since then. ) 

At the Megastore, I had picked up a few pins for the specific goal of trading them.  My dream pins would be ones from Australia and Ghana, the two foreign countries in which I’ve had the privilege to live.  I thought the Ghana one would be a long shot, but I lucked into finding a guy who had a bag of pins from the ’84 Olympics featuring Sam the Eagle, the official mascot.  When I told him I was looking for Ghana, he said that I would have to know what the flag looked like.  “Red stripe at the top, yellow stripe in the middle, green stripe on the bottom, with a black star in the center,” I responded.  

We dug through the pile and struck gold, finding what looked like the Ghana flag.  He turned the pin over to show the word “Ghana” engraved on the back.  I walked away close to (happy) tears as the proud owner of a Coca-cola pin with an American eagle hoisting a Ghana flag.

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After the excitement of the successful pin trading, we headed back to the Tube to start our long trek back to the US.  While my Olympic trip was drawing to a close, my Olympic fever had only begun.  The small taste of this London Olympics made me hunger for more.  I feel so fortunate to work for a company that gave its tickets to the Golden Ticket winners and their guests.  I only hope that GSK figures out a way to do the same thing for employees for the 2016 Games in Rio.

Slam dunk: Day 2 of my Olympic experience

After the late night of beach volleyball, the GSK Hospitality Team let us sleep in before we departed for our day at the Olympic Park.  As part of the package, we were given day passes to the Olympic Hospitality Center (OHC). 

When we arrived at the Olympic Park, we entered through the special tour-groups area and were led straight to the OHC, which was well-protected by the very visibly armed guards at the entrance.  The lavish spread was constantly replenished by the attentive staff, who seemed to be under strict orders to not let a single napkin sit unfolded even for a minute. 

Olympic Hospitality Center

During lunch, I got the chance to have a long talk with one of our North America Pharma colleagues (Tony).  I was thrilled to hear how interested he was in the compounds in development and how much he seemed to care about getting new medicines to patients who need them.  All my interactions with the NA Pharma attendees, including Deirdre, made me proud that they work for GSK.

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Following lunch, our hosts herded us through the park to the Basketball Arena.  The afternoon preliminary men’s basketball session pitted Argentina against Tunisia, followed by the battle between Russia and Brazil, both of whom were 2-0 at that point in round robin play.  The Argentinian team soundly defeated the Tunisians behind the stellar play of Manu Ginobli of NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.  Thanks to the lop-sided scoring, the dance team during half-time might have been the highlight of that game.

But the Brazil-Russia game was another matter.  From the start, the two teams were battling it out, with neither team managing to take a commanding lead.  Russia did pull away to an 11-point lead, but Brazil battled back to tie it up mid-way through the fourth quarter. 

The fan base in the arena appeared to be overwhelmingly in favor of the Brazilian team as the noise level grew with each basket they made.  Brazil took the lead 74-72 and the time-outs started.  Then, with only four seconds left, the Russians knocked down an off-balance three-pointer to win the game 75-74 and remain undefeated in pool play.

Game-winning shot by Russia

(Side note: Since I didn’t post this until the end of the Olympics, I now know that, of the six teams we saw play, three of them ended up in the final four of the Olympics, with Team USA taking gold over Spain and Russia pulling out the bronze over Argentina.  Pretty exciting stuff!)

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The excitement of that basketball game was followed by a nice, relaxing dinner back in the OHC.  After dinner, we wandered around the Park to take pictures in the fading light.  On our way over to the Megastore, we saw a few members of the Russian basketball team heading in.  How was I sure they were Russian basketball players?  The first hint was their uniforms, but their height really gave it away. 

After only a couple minutes, the Russian players came out of the store.  I tossed my camera to LJ and told him I was off to get a picture with the guys.

Hoping to schmooze them a little, I started off with, “I saw you guys in your amazing win over Brazil this afternoon,”  followed by the polite request of “Can I get a photo with you?” 

There was a moment of silence from them, punctuated by a sigh by one who responded with, “Okay, but make it quick.”  LJ was ready with the camera and got the shot.  (I later learned that the Olympic athletes are encouraged/told to wear their uniforms around the Olympic Park and make nice with the fans, which is probably the only reason I got this picture.) 

Me with members of the Russian Olympic basketball team

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We then spent quite a bit of time shopping for souvenirs in the Olympic Megastore.  I picked up a few Olympic pins for my collection, some to take home and some for the potential to trade the next day.  Once it got dark, we headed back over to the basketball arena to see if we could get resale tickets* to the Team USA game that night.

Thanks to another GSK couple (Court and Holly) who spent over two hours in line, we scored a pair of resale tickets for the second half of the Team USA men’s basketball rout of Nigeria, which started with Team USA up 78-45 and only got worse.  Starters like Kobe and Lebron had already finished playing, but we still got to see Carmelo Anthony knocking down threes and Anthony Davis using his huge wingspan on defense. 

The previous Olympic record of 138 points by Brazil was shattered by Team USA, who managed to rack up 156 points, more than double the 73 scored by Nigeria.  With that kind of thumping underway, the feeble team USA chants never took off, as the only time it seemed respectable to chant was when a three-pointer was sunk to bring the score to 139.

On the way out of the Park, we had our first chance to experience the London Tube during the Olympics.  Even with thousands of fans pouring onto the trains, there was plenty of space for everyone.

Throughout our experience, the Olympic volunteers did a stellar job at keeping things moving.  The lessons they had in crowd control really paid off when trying to move tens of thousands of people around the park.  (If you’re really interested in the many ways that they’ve contributed, try reading this story.)  The security and police presence was also well-organized and as unobtrusive as uniformed, armed people can be.

*At this Olympics, there’s been quite a bit of complaining in the news about tickets.  On the one hand, early rounds of events have had tens of thousands of empty seats, especially for games outside London.  On the other hand, getting tickets seems to be nearly impossible.  LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) sold tickets that allowed entry into the Olympic Park for fans who hadn’t gotten tickets to the events.  But they had a chance to see events by purchasing resale tickets.

Resale tickets are tickets sold at vastly discounted prices for the second game of a session.  Since the Thursday night session started with Great Britain, a number of fans left after that game.  On the way out, their tickets are scanned and resold to new attendees for five pounds each.

Bump, set, spike: Day 1 of my Olympics trip

After a breakfast buffet at the Marriott Heathrow, we headed down to the lobby with our bags to meet the GSK Hospitality team member waiting for us.  With her GSK Orange polo shirt and clipboard, she wasn’t hard to pick out.  The “private coach” (translation: high-class bus) was running a bit late, but by noon we were on our way into the city. 

Some background about this trip: A total of 100 GSK employees won Golden Tickets and were split into ten separate groups.  Each winner was allowed to bring one guest for a total of twenty people per group.  The ten GSK employees in my group were split between North America Pharma (aka sales) and US R&D. 

Driving into London, we passed by GSK House, which had this multi-story ad shown below.

GSK House during the London 2012 Olympics

Similar ads were found in a few places throughout London, but overall, GSK’s presence at the Games was understated.  I saw GSK listed on a board within Olympic Park as one of the many “Suppliers and Providers for the London 2012 Olympics”, but that was it.

London was much less busy than on a typical London weekday.  LJ (my husband and the lucky person who joined me on this adventure) said that there are way fewer people in London than he’s seen on past trips.  The news programs said that typical tourist travel is down 50% and it hasn’t (yet) been made up for by Olympic travelers.  I later heard that the entire civil service was told to work from home for six weeks. 

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After checking in at the Hilton Tower Bridge, we had some down time before meeting at the GSK Hospitality Suite for drinks and a welcome from…. Deirdre Connelly, the lucky CET member who was given the opportunity to attend the Games with us.  She said as much during her opening remarks when she made it abundantly clear that it was thanks to us being there (probably more specifically the NA Pharma folks) that she was there.

During this intro reception, I got to play with the Scientists in Sports kits under the direction of a “fake scientist” (not my description) who was running the experiment table.  My lab skills were in evidence as I remembered to ask him for a pair of gloves in addition to the lab coat and glasses.  The group photographer, Ian, took plenty of pix of me working in the lab but, unfortunately, I don’t have them yet.)

Post reception, our hosts led us to dinner, giving us our first chance to see the London Tower Bridge with the Olympic rings.  

LJ and me in front of Tower Bridge

Throughout the two-day affair, our hosts had to herd twenty of us around London and the venues with nothing more than a small GSK placard.  Combining the sign with the nametags we each had hanging around our necks, we drew lots of interested stares from passers-by—kinda reminded me of the Intel “our rock stars are different from yours” campaign.

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Arriving at Horse’s Guard Parade, we were dropped off at the group entrance and went through the airline-style security screening that is a fixture of all Olympic venues at this Olympic Games, including the rule that no full water bottles could be brought in.

Our group was split across two sections of seats up in the upper corner of the stadium, giving us a fantastic view of the stadium as the sun set.  The British announcer for the beach volleyball games was in rare form, spouting all sorts of British phrases, such as “Looks like this is gonna be a cracker!”  The atmosphere was more Carnival than competition, with swimsuit wearing dancers at every break and an occasional impromptu Conga line.  A short rainburst late during the night barely put a damper on the fun.

Sunset during beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade

The beach dancers

Two men’s games were followed by two women’s games, giving us plenty of opportunities to see with amazing dives into the sand and massive blocks at the net in these preliminary matches.  Since it was a night session, the women’s teams were wearing long sleeves and long pants.  All except the Austrians, that is, who made a calculated move and turned all undecided fans to their side when they pulled off the long pants to reveal their bikini bottoms.  Between that and the rumors that the US women’s team skipped their usual warm-up, we saw Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lose their first (and only) set in three Olympics.  Luckily, they still won the match handily 2-1.

"Inspire a generation"

This motto for the London 2012 Olympics seems like the perfect title for a blog post about how I won the amazing opportunity to attend the Games.  My once-in-a-lifetime trip is being paid for by my company, GlaxoSmithKline, which also happens to be the "Official Laboratory Services Provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games".

Back in January, GSK set up an internal contest for employees to nominate their co-workers for the opportunity to win a pair of Golden Tickets to the London 2012 Olympics.  In 150 words or less, the person submitting the nomination had to describe how the nominee demonstrates a set of ideals associated with the Olympics, namely Integrity, Friendship, Equality and Excellence.

One of my colleagues (who I won't name in case he doesn't want the publicity) decided that nominating me for this competition would be a great way to recognize the way he sees me model these behaviors both inside and outside work.  One day in early January, he asked me to come by his office to talk.  When I arrived, he said that he had seen the contest on the GSK website and wanted to nominate me to win the Golden Tickets.  I was stunned that someone would take the time to nominate me, much less when that person had no vested interest in me winning the competition.  He offered to let me see the nomination before it was submitted to help him make it as clear and powerful as possible. Having kept up with my PULSE assignment and having watched the activities I started up or joined after I returned, it was difficult for him to condense down his thoughts to the 150-word limit.  But after a few iterations, we arrived at the text below:


Building Relationships to Advance Science in GSK and Around the World

Michelle Wobker has a passion for science and engineering and a desire to give back outside of GSK. She is recognized for her excellent contributions to R&D projects through her role as an accomplished Chemical Engineer and her strong teamwork and people skills. She mentors college women through GSK Women in Science Scholars program. Last year as a PULSE volunteer in Ghana, Michelle trained middle school teachers to use the Internet to find relevant science and math lessons and to build sustained partnerships with US teachers. Since then, she led the launch of RTP Science in Schools, which supports GSK employees in sharing science in the community, and is on the Board of Advisors for Give Back Africa Foundation, a non-profit started by a fellow GSK employee. Through these activities, she is improving learning and development opportunities for less-advantaged children. She is a strong believer in people, the power of appreciation, and the value of a simple thank you.

I was truly surprised that he had noticed these activities, especially since I participate in these endeavors not to be recognized for them but out a sincere desire to make a difference in the world.


The efforts put into writing up this nomination must have touched someone on the reviewing committee for on a day in late March, I received an email telling me that I was one of the select few to have won a pair of Golden Tickets.  I read the email a few times to make sure that the 36-point font of the email really did declare me to be a winner.  My next move was to head upstairs and thank the guy who nominated me.  (Side note: I'm still trying to figure out what to bring back for him.  Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.)

Over the next few months, the team organizing the winner's trips contacted me to sort out travel details and to let me know that LJ and I would be attending Women's Beach Vollyeball and Men's Basketball Preliminaries.  Unfortunately, it looks like we'll miss Team USA, but I'm not sure that it really matters to me.  Just experiencing the Olympics is a phenomenal opportunity.  I am incredibly thankful to both the unnamed co-worker and my company for giving me this trip.  I'm sure that I'll have a million memories to share from this Bucket-List-worthy trip.