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Six Things To Do in NYC over the Holiday

12/23/2019

Words by Nicole Parada
Edited by Jessica Sharrock

There is nothing like being in New York during the holiday season. Here are five things to do in the city with you family and friends to get into the holiday spirit…

Instagram-able Christmas Trees

While the Rockefeller tree is world-famous (and totally worth seeing), we have a couple of other favorites to see.
If you want to see a less traditional tree, there is the American Museum of Natural History Origami tree. If you want to see a more traditional tree, the nativity scene decorates the base of the Christmas tree at the MET.
If you are looking to venture into Brooklyn, the tree in Downtown MetroTech is beautiful and right next to the NYU Tandon campus.
Also, don’t forget about the holiday window displays at major department stores like Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Holiday Train Show

Every year the New York Botanical Garden hosts a holiday train show that roams through the hall. This is a family friendly event. However, if you still want to see the train but with less kids around, maybe try one of their Bar Car Nights. If you are not into the train (or the Bronx might be too far), maybe try Gingerbread land. It’s a best-kept holiday secret and hosted by the New York Hall of Science.

Holiday Markets

If any of you are last minute holiday shopping and looking for something unique for that special someone, then the holiday markets are the place to look. Both parks transform into a maze of shops at the Union Square Holiday Market and at the Bryant Park Holiday Shops.

Ice Skating Rinks

There is nothing more romantic than gliding on ice, or frequently falling but then being helped up by that special someone. A few of our favorite rinks include, Wollman Rink at the heart of Central Park, the rink at Rockefeller Center, and pop-up rink at Bryant Park, and the hidden rink overlooking the Hudson river at Brookfield Place. If you are looking for something totally new and fancy a trip to Brooklyn, Industry City also has an Ice Rink open.

Light up the night sky

While the Manhattan streets have been decorated with twinkle lights, nothing compares to the massive light shows outside of the island. Go on the Christmas lights tour in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, where there are houses (and even mansions) decorated beautifully with holiday lights. Another is the Winter Wonderland in Staten Island.

One more favorite: Warm-up with a holiday inspired cocktail (or two)

Huddle in one of the heated igloos at the 230 Fifth Igloo Bar with a view of the Empire State Building or gather together in a holiday gem like Rolf’s.

Happy Holidays from all at INet-NYC!

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'Non-academic Career Tracks' Networking Reception hosted by INet NYC

12/6/2019

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Words by Vacha Patel
Edited by Ipshita Zutshi

INET NYC hosted a formal roundtable discussion and networking reception, “Non-academic career tracks for International scientists” on November 13th, 2018, at the New Science building, NYU. The room had ten round tables, each with an assigned mentor of specific career expertise. The attendees could sign up for three out of nine available topics, allowing them to rotate around tables and meet three different mentors for 20 minutes each.

We are indebted to our star mentors who made time from their busy schedule and graced us with their presence, knowledge and shared with our audience their insights.

Thomas Clozel at the Entrepreneurship/Data Science table, an international scientist from France, is the CEO and co-founder of Owkin, a company that integrates AI with medical research; also, the first to be backed by Google. Clozel is a Doctor and was an assistant professor in clinical hematology. He enlightened his audience with counsel on the transition from academia, guidance on entrepreneurship and an informal discourse on how to start a company from scratch.

Jan Philipp Balthasar Müller at the Data Science table an international scientist from Germany is a physicist by training, with an insightful sense of white-collar independence. By various means like freelancing, he has been self-reliant since his graduation. He’s waiting on his green card through the national waiver program, a topic of great interest in the audience.

Vesna Tosic at the Finance/Equity Research/Investor Relations table an international scientist from Serbia, got a Ph.D. from the USA in immunology. Tosic at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, is responsible for the investors' relations while divergently talking to the wall street. Being an international STEM graduate student, she is familiar with the struggles faced by a similar crowd and happily talked about it.

Sloka Iyengar at the Science communications table an international scientist from India has done work in research, consulting, science writing and teaching. Iyenger is currently a medical director at Phase Five Communications and she also teaches medical communications at NYU and an online course for educators, ‘Seminars on science’ at the American Museum of Natural History. On being asked by an interested audience how she got the job at the museum, she casually said, “because I know people.” Just again demonstrating the virtues of networking.

Matthew Cotter at the Pharma table, an international scientist from the U.K. accomplished his Ph.D. internationally, moved to Canada for a post-doc and then the USA earning two other postdocs. He has been working with Pfizer, a research-based biopharmaceutical company for the past ten years. After spending a fair amount of time as a medical director in oncology, his tenure extended to the position of a senior medical director of global medical affairs. He explored further on the transition to pharma industry and green card opportunities.

Upal Basu Roy at the Non-profit table, an international scientist from India is the sui generis from non-profit, has a one-off trajectory with Ph.D., Postdoc at NYU and a master’s in Public health. His work has given him the opportunities to work with a diverse range of people from academia, Pharma industry to the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).

Christy Kuo at the Pharma table, an international scientist from Taiwan, with insightful subjectivity on J1 visa affairs and J1 waivers transfiguring to green card opportunities. Kuo has a Ph.D. at Weill Cornell University and later pursued a postdoc at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She is now a senior scientist at Pfizer.
Valentina Schneeberger at the Consulting table is a life science consultant, who explained the elemental brass tacks of consulting. Her academic narrative is a Ph.D. in cancer biology and postdoc at Sloan Kettering cancer center. Schneeberger’s take on this profession is that, “Consulting is a good way to get to another place if you are not quite sure what to do.” She evinces of at least two speakers whose careers were aided by the patronage of consulting.

Prakrit Jena at the Entrepreneurship table, an international scientist from India, is a CEO and co-founder of a fast-growing company, LipidSense. Jena’s transition from a postdoc at the Sloan Kettering is a pioneering descriptive essay about a lipid sensor they made. He duly credits his success to the Elab NYC program, funded by New York City for biotech startups. His word to the wise for startups is the importance of board members and/or mentors who are also CEO's of at least two companies.

Yukie Takabatake at the Biotech table an international scientist from Japan, has a Ph.D. in cancer biology and postdoc from Mount Sinai. Takabatake is currently a principal scientist at MouSensor, Inc. Being an international scientist and now a green card holder, she hustled into the tangled realm of visa issues bagging a room full of affirmative nods.

On the one hand, as different origins, nationalities, and cultures, these mentors have experiences and backgrounds worlds apart. On the other hand, they had worlds in common through their struggles, challenges, in a country and city that’s grim, relentless yet magnificent, vivid, divine. Hence keep watching this space for more events by us, for New York City is full of opportunities and it’s all about being in the right place at the right time.

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Six Things To Do in NYC over the Holiday

'Non-academic Career Tracks' Networking Reception hosted by INet NYC

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