Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Career Exploration at Brown University

Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Career Exploration at Brown University Lizzie and Jonathan Tisch Center for Career Exploration at Brown University Where figuring it all out begins with hello.

We’re here to help you plan for a future that is customized to your own version of success. From resume prep to a lending ear - and all of the internship and job prep in between - you’ve always got us to see you through your career journey during and after Brown.

Feyza Achilova '26 (Economics) was a Brown Generated (UTRA, Signature Internships) Student Researcher with Dr. Abid at R...
09/02/2026

Feyza Achilova '26 (Economics) was a Brown Generated (UTRA, Signature Internships) Student Researcher with Dr. Abid at Rhode Island Hospital's Cardiothoracic Surgery Division, Warren Alpert Medical School, during the summer of 2025.

Feyza shares her experience:

"This summer I worked on cardiovascular biology research focused on endothelial dysfunction and therapeutic strategies involving extracellular vesicles and mitochondrial-targeted antioxidants. My responsibilities included both bench work and conceptual contributions.

This summer, I conducted translational cardiovascular research on a recently developed nitroxide drug known as JP4-039 as a Mitochondria-Directed Strategy to Address Cardiovascular Dysfunction in Preeclampsia. My independent project arose while reviewing my lab's body of work on JP4-039 as a therapy for cardiovascular disease and myocardial infarction.

At the bench, I gained hands-on experience performing cell lysis, western blotting, and functional endothelial assays, as well as contributing to translational animal protocols. Building on these techniques, I developed a project that integrates both basic and clinical science, establishing collaborations with Brown's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and external institutions.

Over the summer, this project gained national visibility: it was accepted for presentation at two national conferences and advanced to the semifinals of the American Medical Association National Research Challenge. I also drafted and submitted a grant proposal from scratch to support its next phase.

Conducting this work within the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery was formative for me both scientifically and personally. It not only deepened my understanding of cardiovascular biology and translational research, but also solidified my commitment to pursuing medicine, with the goal of integrating research into my career as a future surgeon."

It is inspiring to learn and hear about Feyza's experience. To learn more about career opportunities, click on the link in our bio. 🐻

92% of you answered correctly!TRUE or FALSE: Unpaid internships are worthless.A. TrueB. FalseA: FALSE They're not ideal,...
08/27/2026

92% of you answered correctly!

TRUE or FALSE: Unpaid internships are worthless.

A. True
B. False

A: FALSE They're not ideal, but they can still be worth it depending on the org and the access it gives you, especially in fields like nonprofits, arts, or politics where funding is tight. Brown funding exists specifically to make these viable.

Just be honest with yourself about whether the experience and mentorship justify working for free, and apply for funding whenever you can.

Darren Duan '27 (Physics) was a Brown Generated (UTRA, Signature Internships) Research Assistant with Jennifer Roloff du...
08/26/2026

Darren Duan '27 (Physics) was a Brown Generated (UTRA, Signature Internships) Research Assistant with Jennifer Roloff during the summer of 2025.

Darren shares his experience:

"Over the summer I was tasked with the relocation of a probe station setup designed to take IV and CV curves on silicon sensors for particle physics. I also worked on the analysis code, collected data on sensors we had irradiated with the probe station, and fixed some LabView code. My second project was to help some people at Brookhaven with a study on SEB events in silicon sensors.

Professor Roloff was very helpful and kind in guiding me in my projects this summer. I hadn't had a lot of experience with coding or hardware, but the project gave me much more confidence in my abilities in both. A number of group meetings in the lab helped me feel situated in a team that I felt comfortable asking questions in, and having to present at times helped with my confidence in conveying my work to others.

My biggest breakthroughs were when the probe station finally stopped straining the sensors with an extra 6 seconds of compliance voltage when it was supposed to stop, and when my graphs successfully distinguished breakdown voltage on several IV plots consistently.

The biggest impact the experience had for me was that it helped develop a fascination for particle physics that I hadn't really had before. This field is fairly far removed from an undergraduate, since it required QFT and several other prerequisites before you were really able to understand what was being shown to you. It is a rare opportunity to be able to dip your toes into the field like this, and I am fully convinced that particle physics holds the weirdest and most curious theories in all of physics.

Also, a BOOST conference was held at Brown while I was here, and Professor Roloff and Professor Leblanc hosted the event together. It was very special to see all of these 'competing' physicists in the particle physics realm all mingling like old friends."

It is inspiring to learn and hear about Darren's experience. To learn more about career opportunities, click on the link in our bio. 🐻

84% of you answered correctly!TRUE or FALSE: You should follow up a second time if you don’t hear back after your first ...
08/21/2026

84% of you answered correctly!

TRUE or FALSE: You should follow up a second time if you don’t hear back after your first follow-up.

A. True
B. False

A: TRUE (once more, then stop) One follow-up after a week or two is expected. A second one after another two to three weeks is fine and still reads as persistent, not annoying. After that, move on and treat the silence as your answer.

Each follow-up should add something new, like a project update or renewed interest, not just “just checking in.”

Isabella Xu '28 (Undeclared) was a Brown Generated (UTRA, Signature Internships) Research Intern working with Elena Shih...
08/18/2026

Isabella Xu '28 (Undeclared) was a Brown Generated (UTRA, Signature Internships) Research Intern working with Elena Shih / One-Forty during the summer of 2025.

Isabella shares her experience:

"I was an intern at One-Forty, a Taiwanese nonprofit focused on educating and empowering Southeast Asian migrant workers. For One-Forty, I conducted international marketing research and wrote grants, while for Professor Shih, I researched how CSR programs affect nonprofit operation.

Walking into One-Forty's office, I was struck by how much it resembled a startup: glass-walled meeting rooms, lounge chairs, sleek branding. The resemblance wasn't accidental — over a third of One-Forty's funding comes from corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs, which now dominate NGO financing. Because individual donations can't sustain operations, nonprofits must mimic corporations to survive, distorting both who gets helped and how success is defined.

I noticed how 'acceptable' victims on donor platforms are almost always children or women, rarely adult men or migrants. At One-Forty, this meant prioritizing female domestic workers over factory workers, even though the latter make up the majority of Taiwan's migrant population. Migrants were framed by their utility rather than their dignity or rights.

Metrics reinforced this too. To attract CSR donors, NGOs must present impact through big, clean numbers, and harder-to-measure realities like migrants' sense of belonging fall away.

I felt this firsthand preparing presentations. The small victories I witnessed — like a migrant proudly completing her first essay in Mandarin — could never compete with bold statistics on income growth. Human stories were consistently backgrounded in favor of 'scale.'

This creates a double-bind: NGOs either reduce lives to data points, or fall back on sentimental appeals that infantilize their constituents. Either way, migrants' humanity is subordinated to the demands of donors."

It is inspiring to learn and hear about Isabella's experience. To learn more about career opportunities, click on the link in our bio. 🐻

93% of you answered correctly!TRUE or FALSE: Informational interviews are a waste of time if there's no job opening.A. T...
08/14/2026

93% of you answered correctly!

TRUE or FALSE: Informational interviews are a waste of time if there's no job opening.

A. True
B. False

A: FALSE. Those conversations are how you find out about roles before they're posted. People remember who reached out thoughtfully, and referrals often come from someone you talked to months earlier.

Ask about their path, not for a job.

Hellie Chen '27 (Materials Engineering) was a Student Generated (LINK, Advanced Undergraduate Research) Research Intern ...
08/11/2026

Hellie Chen '27 (Materials Engineering) was a Student Generated (LINK, Advanced Undergraduate Research) Research Intern with the Morphing Matter Lab at UC Berkeley during the summer of 2025.

Hellie shares her experience:

"This summer, I had the opportunity to conduct my independent research within the Morphing Matter Lab. Within an interdisciplinary group of members, I developed a research project to design pH sensitive, hygroscopic polymer films for wildfire response seed dispersal applications. From designing experimental setups to ordering materials, I learned a lot about what self-driven research looked like.

This summer I was incredibly lucky to work at the Morphing Matter Lab at UC Berkeley with funding from the SPRINT/LINK award. Working under the PI, Lining Yao, and a grad student, Semina Yi, I was able to develop my own project on hygroscopic polymer films. I hadn't realized how much research builds upon what exists, and how lengthy a process it is to find a specific niche among the applications that already exist.

The second half of the internship turned a lot more hands on, buying materials, doing safety trainings, orienting myself in the wetlab and starting to cast films and build the experimental setup. From developing code for an arduino humidity controlled chamber to building a procedure for dissolving chemicals and consistently making films, I learned an enormous amount in the realm of developing the procedural aspects of an experiment in addition to the literature search and ideation component.

Mentors for the project gave their advice and expertise in what ideas made sense, what already exists, and what could be interesting to investigate with their greater wealth of knowledge in the research field. Overall, it was incredibly beneficial to be able to go through a research process while understanding each part of the process. I'm excited to further pursue research in the future!"

It is inspiring to learn and hear about Hellie's experience. To learn more about career opportunities, click on the link in our bio. 🐻

68% of you answered correctly!TRUE or FALSE: You need a reference from a former boss.A. TrueB. FalseA: FALSE Professors,...
08/06/2026

68% of you answered correctly!

TRUE or FALSE: You need a reference from a former boss.

A. True
B. False

A: FALSE Professors, research advisors, club leaders, and coaches all count, especially early on. What matters is that they can speak to how you actually work.

Just ask before you list them, and give them a heads up when you’re actively interviewing.

Napintakorn Kasemsri '28 (International and Public Affairs) was a Student Generated (LINK, Advanced Undergraduate Resear...
08/05/2026

Napintakorn Kasemsri '28 (International and Public Affairs) was a Student Generated (LINK, Advanced Undergraduate Research) Research Assistant Intern with the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) during the summer of 2025.

Napintakorn shares her experience:

"My responsibilities included synthesizing trade data into insights, highlighting key risks and opportunities for the private sector in the second half of 2025. Through data from the Ministry of Commerce, integrated tariff databases, policy reports, and state updates, I analyzed over 4 years of standardized 6-digit harmonized system (HS6) codes to create data visualizations and provide supporting comments.

In this process, I learned to utilize Microsoft Excel, a goal of mine due to its integral nature in nearly every profession involving quantitative analysis. I then produced presentation materials that would be compiled with those of other researchers to formulate the final briefing material for July's seminar: 'Macroeconomic Update: Thai Economy amid Mounting Threats'.

I gained wide exposure to international trade dynamics and Thailand's economic positioning. I began my internship during a period of heightened geopolitical tensions and the second Trump administration's aggressive trade policies, which made the work especially fast-paced and relevant.

I found this experience to be incredibly enriching, as I gained deep insights into the global economy and where and how I ought to look for 'leads' in hypothesizing how trading partners may engage and shape policy. From this, I was able to streamline the process of analyzing trade data to generate insights, immensely improving my ability to produce a compelling narrative around imports of NVIDIA's AI chips.

Overall, this internship sparked my interest in international work and provided me with a clearer understanding of Thailand's economic position in global affairs."

It is inspiring to learn and hear about Napintakorn's experience. To learn more about career opportunities, click on the link in our bio. 🐻

45% of you answered correctly! But let’s clear up this misconception.TRUE or FALSE: It’s okay to ask a recruiter about s...
07/30/2026

45% of you answered correctly! But let’s clear up this misconception.

TRUE or FALSE: It’s okay to ask a recruiter about salary in the first interview.

A. True
B. False

A: TRUE (if they bring it up first) Most recruiters ask about your expectations in the screening call anyway, so have a range ready. If they don’t mention it, it’s fine to ask about the posted range near the end.

What to avoid is leading with it before you’ve shown any interest in the actual work.

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