prospective
students
DCU has over 25,000 graduates working in more
than 30 countries in leadership positions in
industry and academia, both in the private and
public sector. Below are just a sample of the
successful, rewarding career paths that
graduates of our science and health degrees have
pursued.
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It's
perhaps not the most obvious career choice
for a science graduate, but Breandán de
Gallaí, BSc in Applied Physics,
is currently wowing audiences around the
world as lead dancer with Riverdance. When
Riverdance entered his life in April 1994,
Breandán was teaching science and religion
in Tallaght VEC. The day job was dropped as
Riverdance got bigger and started touring,
and Breandán estimates that he's now danced
the lead more than 1,700 times around the
world. |
Gerry Shaw, BSc in
Applied Physics, MSc in Physics, works for Teredyne Connection
Systems. Having held several
engineering and operational roles he
is currently on a two-year
assignment managing Total Quality
Management/Total Safety Management (TQM/TSM).
His jobs entail promotion of the
tools and processes around TQM and
introducing a TSM scheme in the
Dublin and Cavan Plants. He has just
been requested to take a 2-year
assignment as TQM/TSM manager at
division level and he is moving to
New Hampshire in August. Gerry
previously worked in test and
process engineering roles for Amdahl
and has taught operations management
for Trinity College Dublin/Irish Management Institute.
Cait Ní Chleirigh,
BSc in Applied Physics, is a senior
integration engineer with Analog Devices in
Limerick, where she has worked since
graduation, developing and implementing new
processes in the company's semiconductor
fabrication facility. In the autumn of 2002,
Cait moved to Boston to pursue a PhD at
MIT's electrical engineering department
working on next generation semiconductor
devices. Cait received an MengSc in
Microelectronics from UCC in 2000.
Clare Higgins, BSc in Applied Physics, joined Logica after graduation as a
research engineer in the R&D section. She
has since been promoted to software engineer
with Logica. Her responsibilities include
designing and developing telecommunications
applications, presenting the applications to
customers and staff and training staff on
these products.
Dr John D. Coates, BSc in
Biotechnology, is associate professor
of microbiology at University of California,
Berkeley. His major area of interest is
geomicrobiology applied to environmental
problems. John was the recipient of the 1998
Oak Ridge Ralph E. Powe Young Faculty
Enhancement Award, the 2001 US Department of
Defense SERDP Program Project of the Year
Award, and the 2002 Southern Illinois
University College of Science Researcher of
the Year Award. He has authored and
co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed
publications and book chapters and he sits
on the editorial boards of the journals
Applied and Environmental Microbiology,
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, and
Geomicrobiology Journal. He is also
co-founder and president of BioInsite LLC -
a bioremediation company geared towards the
use of microorganisms for solutions to
environmental contaminant problems. John
obtained his PhD in 1991 in Microbiology
from University College Galway, Ireland. |
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Dr Ena Prosser,
BSc in Biotechnology and PhD in Biotechnology, is
appointed director of BioResearch Ireland (BRI), a
government agency set-up in 1987. BRI is part of
Enterprise Ireland (EI), the Irish state agency
responsible for promoting Irish business. In
her
role, Ena leads a team located in five universities
and they work with the universities and EI to
promote new opportunities in university based
Intellectual Property (IP) as well as playing a key
role with the university technology transfer groups
in facilitating new start-up biotechnology companies
directly based on research from Irish universities.
Before joining the agency, Ena was Director,
Corporate Office of Technology at Elan Corp. PLC.
Ena is also on the Board of Invent, DCU's innovation
centre.
Dr. Allan B Masterson, PhD in
Biotechnology, is a publication planning
executive in the Strategic Publication Planning
Department at Excerpta Medica Medical Communications
(a subsidiary of Elsevier) where he coordinates the
publication of data from global patient registries
in the area of venous thromboembolism (deep vein
thrombosis). Following a brief period of
postdoctoral research at the National Cell and
Tissue Culture Centre in DCU, he moved to the Vrije
Universiteit Academic Hospital Amsterdam, the
Netherlands in August 1999 to continue postdoctoral
research in cancer immunotherapy at the Departments
of Medical Oncology and Experimental Pathology. In
autumn of 2003 he was a senior research scientist to
the Department of Experimental Haematology at the
famous Leiden University Medical Centre. With an eye
on further education he began studying for an MBA in
Life Sciences and Health in autumn 2004.
Peter Berry,
BSc Biotechnology, is
currently working for the Irish Equine
Centre in Johnstown, Co. Kildare. The
company supplies
diagnostic, research, educational,
pharmaceutical, quality control services to
the Irish equine industry. Over the last
number of years, the company has diversified
and now provides a range of commercial tests
for the food and agriculture industries
including a western blotting based test for BSE which Peter is involved with. Prior to
joining the Irish Equine Centre he worked as
a part-time lecturer and research assistant
at IT Sligo.
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Dr Damien Boyd, BSc in Analytical
Science and PhD in Chemical Methodologies, joined SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Cork in
1994 as an analytical chemist responsible for new
drug product introductions. He stayed in this role
for 5 years during a very aggressive production
period at the Cork plant. Following this, he joined
the safety team at GlaxoSmithKline in 1999 as
occupational hygienist and completed a two-year
Diploma in Health, Safety and Welfare in University
College Cork to supplement knowledge for this role.
His major aim in this field is hazard control in all
its forms. |
Conor O'Flynn, BSc in Analytical Science,
has worked for Schering-Plough (Brinny) in
Innishannon, Co.Cork since leaving DCU. His current
position is technical scientist in the materials
department of QC technical services. His core
responsibilities are to co-ordinate all monograph
updates to comply with the current pharmacopoeia,
supervise the release of drug substance and raw
materials to meet production requirements, and
perform all third party vendor audits.
Deirdre Foxe, B.Sc.
in Chemical Sciences,
is a research lab manager
for the MEG lab at
Massachusetts General
Hospital. At the MEG (Magnetoencephalography)
lab, non-invasive techniques
are used to measure magnetic
fields resulting from small
electrical currents produced
when cells in the brain are
active. The lab has many
users from Harvard Medical
School, MIT and MGH. Deirdre
is also part of a clinical
team that studies
pre-surgical patients with
medically intractable focal
epilepsies.
Sandra
Sweetman, Bachelor of Nursing Studies, is
a Children's Nurse in Temple Street
Hospital and is currently
undertaking a Higher Diploma in
Nursing (Sick Children's) in Temple
Street. Her mother Mairead
Sweetman also graduated
from DCU in November 2002 with a BNS
in Nursing. She is currently an
Assistant Director of Nursing
(Psychiatry) in St. Itas Hospital
Portrane, Co Dublin.
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