Name: Roshni Ray
Age: 25
Location: San Francisco
Education: Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley
Job Title: Lab Manager of the Thoracic Oncology Laboratory at University of California, San Francisco
What She Does: Roshni works in a “translational research facility,” where she and her colleagues “focus on [bringing lung cancer research] directly from the benchtop to the bedside.” As lab manager, she collects tissue specimens, logs data, and orders lab supplies. Plus, she gets to write scholarly papers and contribute to books on her field of study.
How She Got Her Gig: “It seems almost inevitable that I would end up in science, as both my parents are biologists,” says Roshni, who, as a child, enjoyed collecting insects and visiting her parents’ labs, which encouraged her interests in science and nature. She started working in a chemistry lab by the age of 14. “I was basically hanging out in [the] lab coming up with an AP Physics project, and at the end of the school year, [they] offered me a paid summer job,” she says. “The department couldn’t figure out how to hire me because I was so young, so they put me on the payroll as a full-time grad student. Boy, did I have a fat paycheck for a 14-year-old!”
Super Scientist: A professor at the University of Rochester, Dr. Lewis Rothberg, offered Roshni that first lab job when she was 14 and still serves as an important figure in Roshni’s career. He wrote recommendations when she was applying to college, internships, and her first job after graduation. “I think what was most inspirational about him was the time that he always made for me, basically just a kid hanging out in the lab, and how much effort he put into making sure that I was learning something and enjoying it, too.” Roshni also sites her dad as an inspiration. “He loves what he does and is a really gifted teacher as well.”
Lab Life: Roshni enjoys the variety offered by her job. Though she normally works eight-hour days, last year she worked on a two-month project where 12-hour days—often with no lunch break—were the norm. “The nature of science is that sometimes, especially when you’re in the middle of experiments, your hours are dictated by living cells and available instrument time—not what you think your ideal work hours should be,” she says.
Overachiever: Outside of the lab, Roshni is training for a marathon, is working on a novel, and also plays the violin. “I love that I can do my job, do all those other things, and still have time to relax and feel alive,” she says.
On-the-Job Advice: “Sometimes people get discouraged from doing science because they weren’t the best student in science or math in high school or college,” Roshni says. But unlike your high school bio class, which required you to memorize lists of plant names and species, science in the real world is “about looking at the world around you and wanting to know how things work. It’s really an art. Some people are in awe of the world and are inspired to compose a symphony or paint a fresco. Scientists look at the world in wonder and ask, ‘How does this all happen?’”
This Job’s for You if: You have the organizational skills and a love of science. “There’s a lot of logistical stuff I deal with on a day-to-day basis, and it can get pretty tough to keep track of everything…. But it’s imperative that I do lest someone else’s research take a hit because of it.” Patience is also key, because as Roshni points out, “experiments seldom work the first time around, so you just have to try and try and try again until you get it right!”
