Integrated Field Scientist, Corteva Agriscience
Adam P. Gaspar earned his PhD in Agronomy in 2016 working with Dr. Shawn Conley. Now with Corteva Agriscience, the goal of his research is to increase crop production in an environmentally and economically sustainable fashion by improving crop management through the adoption of new practices and technologies.
Alumni Careers
Andrea Bernstein
Hours Against Hate program coordinator for Milwaukee Jewish Federation
Andrea Bernstein earned her master’s degree in social work from UW–Madison in 2003, specializing in school social work. After graduation, she worked as a treatment foster care therapist before having her first child. She then stayed home for 12 years, but got involved in volunteer work in her community that directly led her to the job she has now.
Sasānēhsaeh Pyawasay
Native American Student Success Coordinator, University of Wisconsin System
Sasānēhsaeh Pyawasay is an enrolled member of the Menominee Nation from the Menominee Indian Reservation of Wisconsin. She attended UW–Madison as an undergraduate majoring in Sociology and American Indian Studies and continued to earn a master’s degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA) in 2009.
Justin Brumbaugh
Assistant Professor, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, University of Colorado Boulder
Justin Brumbaugh earned a PhD in Biochemistry in 2011. After completing a postdoc in Boston, he is now an assistant professor in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. There, Brumbaugh has worked to start his own lab, building and managing a team that applies stem cell biology to explore fundamental aspects of biology, development, and regenerative medicine.
Katherine Paulsen
Product Manager – FITR Spectrometers, Materials & Structural Analysis Division at Thermo Fisher Scientific
Katherine Paulsen earned a PhD in chemistry in 2013. She studied heme-containing proteins in Judith Burstyn’s research group. Immediately after graduating, she began working for Thermo Fisher Scientific, a Madison-based company that designs and manufactures scientific instruments.
Fernanda Lopes
Ruminants Business Manager at Adisseo South America
Fernanda Lopes received her PhD in Dairy Science in 2014, studying with Professor David Combs in the Department of Dairy Science. She now works for the South America division of animal feed nutrition company Adisseo SA, where she is responsible for the ruminant business. Lopes is based in Brazil but travels throughout South America as part of her work. The scientific knowledge she gained at UW–Madison has been key in helping her talk to clients about Adisseo’s products.
Alejandra Huerta
USDA-National Institute of Food and Agriculture Postdoctoral Fellow in Plant Pathology, Department of Bioagricultural Sciences and Pest Management at Colorado State University
Alejandra Huerta earned a PhD in Plant Pathology from UW–Madison in fall 2015. As a student, she worked in Caitilyn Allen’s laboratory studying intraspecies competition in plant pathogenic bacteria. Huerta is now a postdoctoral fellow investigating bacterial-rice interactions.
Adam K. Schneider
Nurse Practitioner for UW Organ and Tissue Donation
As a DNP student who was also working at UW Organ and Tissue Donation as an organ procurement coordinator, Adam Schneider leveraged evidence-based strategies on organ donation to inform his team’s protocols, resulting in more viable organs from donors. He earned his DNP in 2017.
Jessa Valentine
Managing Consultant for DVP-PRAXIS LTD
With a passion for applied social science research, Jessa Valentine earned a PhD in Sociology from UW–Madison. She now works as a managing consultant for DVP-PRAXIS LTD, a consulting firm focused on higher education and the workforce.
Michelle Buchanan
Deputy Director for Science and Technology at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory
After earning her PhD in chemistry from UW–Madison in 1978, Buchanan went on to become the Deputy Director for Science and Technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.