Margot Lee ’15: College Student One Day, Biotech Professional the Next
Three days after graduating from Gordon, Margot Lee ’15 began her biotechnology career in the Boston office of a multinational healthcare company. She’s now one of the youngest research associates at Siemens Healthcare.
Posted on October 11, 2016 by College Communications in Alumni Stories, Featured.
Three days after graduating from Gordon, Margot Lee ’15 began her biotechnology career in the Boston office of a multinational healthcare company. She’s now one of the youngest research associates at Siemens Healthcare.
Of her fast job placement, Lee says, “It’s about being assertive and proving you’re qualified.” That same eager attitude marked her Gordon experience as well.
As a student, Lee made a point to extend her learning outside the classroom and into the wider world of science by spending time with faculty and other professionals in the biology and biotechnology fields, including a long-term research project with expert plant biotechnologist Dr. Ming Zheng.
Lee assisted Dr. Zheng with research on accelerating crop breeding using plants produced from immature pollen, a process that helps crop breeders in developing countries develop new cultivars and produce food more efficiently. Dr. Zheng says that her work in monitoring cell divisions and development leading into plants was integral to his research.
“When you graduate and are looking for a job, employers look at how you perform as a person, and what kind of person you are—your character, your quality, whether or not you can get things done,” Dr. Zheng said.
The experience she gained under Dr. Zheng’s tutelage was vital to the future of her career, Lee says. She recalled one scientist who commented, “Wow, it speaks volumes that you were in the same lab doing research with the same professor for so long. It shows your commitment to the project.”
Lee also traveled to Belize as part of a course taught by Biology Department Chair Greg Keller, worked in the campus greenhouse with Assistant Professor of Biology Jennifer Noseworthy and took a course on business and biotechnology at Endicott College through the North Shore Biotechnology Consortium, a collaborative network established by Endicott, Gordon, North Shore Community College, North Shore InnoVentures and Salem State University.
Through these experiences, Lee says her professors became mentors and invested in more than her classroom success. “I’ll never forget when Dr. Zheng called me into his office one afternoon and asked me to sit down,” she said. “I was a teaching assistant for him at the time and thought maybe he had some work for me to grade, but instead he told me he had been praying for me and that he believed in me. I’m pretty sure I left his office teary-eyed.”
But Lee received more than emotional support from her mentor. Additional research for her biology lab courses helped her gain experience in microscopy, chemical analysis and medium preparation.
As this young scientist enters her field, she says, “Passion and skill are the two things that I think are needed to succeed in this industry. I have the passion and Gordon provided me with the skills.”
By Dan Simonds ’17, communication arts
Share
- Share on Facebook
- Share on X (Formerly Twitter)
- Share on LinkedIn
- Share on Email
-
Copy Link
-
Share Link
Categories
Categories
Archives
- April 2025
- March 2025
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014