Trainee Leadership Council

The CEMB is committed to providing professional development training to all our members. The goal of the Trainee Leadership Council (TLC) is to create initiatives that meet the needs of all CEMB trainees.

If you would like to become part of the TLC and help shape our programs, please email Ariel Parker at: pariel@seas.upenn.edu.

TLC Current Members

Rhonda DrewesPhD Student
University at Buffalo

President

Website
Suraj SahuPhD Student
University of California, Merced

Professional Development and Marketing

Website

TLC Alumni Members

Natasha Bilkey, Dixit Lab, WUSTL (Founding Member) Him Shweta, PhD, Goldman Lab, UPenn (Founding Member)
Stephen Coscia, Holzbaur Lab, UPenn Taimoor Qazi, PhD, Burdick Lab, UPenn
Nikolas Di Caprio, Burdick Lab, UPenn Gabriel Vega Bellido, Shenoy Lab, UPenn
Claudia Loebel, MD, PhD, Burdick Lab, UPenn (Founding Member) Claire Witherel, PhD, Burdick Lab, UPenn
Abigail Loneker, PhD, Wells Lab, UPenn

Niranjan Sarpangala, Gopinathan Lab, UC Merced

Huiyong (Morgan) Li, Foston Lab, WUSTL

Ghiska Ramahdita, Genin Lab, WUSTL

 Kiera Yankson, UPenn

Vyankatesh Zambare, Anderson Lab, Penn State

Sung Yeon Kim, Mauck Lab, UPenn

Recurring Events

Research in Motion (RiM)

Monthly Meeting

1st Wednesdays of the Month
2pm-3pm ET | 1pm-2pm CT | 11am-12pm PT

We are seeking current CEMB trainees to present for 2024 – 2025 !

If you would like to present, sign up here!

Upcoming Dates

(Email a current TLC member for the Zoom Link!)

  • Oct 2, 2024
  • Nov 6, 2024
  • Nov 1, 2024
  • Dec 4, 2024
  • Jan 8, 2025
  • Feb 5, 2025
  • Mar 5, 2025
  • Apr 2, 2025

Past Events

Contact Annie Jeong at: annjeong@seas.upenn.edu to request recordings or slides of the workshops below.

Academic and Science Career Talk

Academic and Science Career Talk

May 31, 2023 @ 1pm ET / 12pm CT / 10am PT

List of speakers:

  • Claudia Loebel (currently Assistant Professor at U Michigan)
  • Taimoor Qazi (currently Assistant Professor at Purdue)
  • Angela Schlegel (currently Scientific Technical Editor at Red Nucleus)

CEMB TLC Academic Entreprenurship Seminar
  • Three sessions with expert speakers
  • August 12th: Start-ups (11:00 am-12:30 pm ET)
  • August 19th: From idea to tangible product (11:00 am-12:30 pm ET)
  • August 26th: Full panel discussion with a focus on the balance between academia and industry (11:30 am-12:30 pm ET)

    We expect that at the end of the three sessions, you will have been exposed to career paths involving entrepreneurship, the process of turning a concept into a tangible product, and ways to maximize your chances of success along the way.

    SPEAKERS:

    August 12th:

    Guy Genin, Ph.D.-Professor of Mechanical Engineering & Chief Technical Officer, Caeli Vascular

    Scott Crick, PhD – Director of Research and Applications, Auragent Bioscience

    Cheryl Stoddard, MEng, PMP– President & Owner T.I.E. Consulting Engineers

    Kritika Katiyar, PhD– Director, R&D at Axonova Medical

    August 19th:

    Jacob Brenner, MD, Ph.D.–Assistant Professor of Medicine & Associate Director, Penn Health-Tech

    Qishui (Tracy) Chen, PhD- Assistant Director, Technology Licensing

    Bhavana Mohanraj, PhD– Associate Director, PCI Ventures

    Kacy Cullen, PhD–Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Bioengineering, Founder of Axonova and Innervace.

    August 26th:

    Jason Burdick, PhD– Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering & Prohibix founder (University of Colorado Boulder)

    Kacy Cullen, PhD–Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Bioengineering, founder of Axonova and Innervace. (University of Pennsylvania)

    Oladayo Adewole, PhD– Postdoctoral Researcher & Co-Founder/CTO (InstaHub) (University of Pennsylvania)

    Jay Patel, PhD– Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopedics, Forsagen Co-Founder & NovoPedics consultant (Emory University)

  • Friday, November 12, 2021, 1:30pm EST
  • Panelists: Minna Chen, Daphney Chery, Andrei Georgescu, Claire Witherel

  • April 21, 2021, 1:30-2:30pm
  • Presented by Lyndsi Burcham, Financial Wellness @ Penn

      • Friday, March 26, 2021, 1:30-3:00pm ET
      • Presented by Vincent Walford, PhD (Psychologist, UPenn CAPS)

View Recording

  • February 24, 2021; 2021 CEMB Annual Retreat
  • Presentation led by: Judith Swan, Associate Director for Writing in Science and Engineering, Princeton University

  • October 30, 2020, 1:30-3:00 pm ET
  • Town hall discussion on diversity and inclusion at the CEMB
  • Moderated by Marina P. Gross, MA, Current Doctoral Candidate at Washington University in St. Louis, and a passionate higher education leader specializing in diversity, equity and anti-racism programming

  • July 14, 2020; 2020 CEMB Boot Camp and UExB Program
  • Presentation led by: Joel Boerckel
  • Activity developed and led by: TLC

  • April 10, 2020, 1:30-3:00 EST, online
  • Recording available upon request
View Recording

  • January 9, 2020
  • Presentation led by: Kate Bradford, PhD, Johns Hopkins Professional Development and Career Office
  • Elizabeth Haswell (WashU)
  • Caroline Bartman, PhD, Princeton University
  • Recording & slides available upon request

  • November 22, 2019
  • Presentation led by:
    • Jason Burdick (UPenn)
    • Melike Lakadamyali (UPenn)
    • Lucia Strader (WashU)
    • Nathaniel Huebsch (WashU)
    • Murat Guvendiren (NJIT)