spotlight-on-success

Yodsadhorn Vinitwatanakhun’s passion for finance is driven not by a desire for wealth but instead by a desire to make a difference in the world. From his beginnings as a trader, he utilized his international background—Yodsadhorn is originally from Thailand—to work with clients from across the globe. The experience was energizing, as he shouldered huge responsibility in leveraging capital and managing risk.

Yodsadhorn now enjoys his work as a strategist at Citigroup alongside some of the most ingenious people in his field. He explained that a large part of finance involves leverage, the use of borrowed capital to dramatically increase investment returns. He employs this concept to describe his mentality toward generosity: “We can make a bigger difference by encouraging others to give back than if we do it on our own.” He cited J.P. Morgan, through his investment into Thomas Edison’s research, as an example of how capital markets can leverage investments while also contributing toward the greater good. His experience at the graduate school, where he completed the Mathematics in Finance program, helped validate and support this idea.

GSAS also provided him with a community of like-minded colleagues, motivated to build something greater. During his time as a student, Yodsadhorn pursued this goal as Vice-President for the Master’s College Program Board, and took pleasure in inviting classmates to GSAS events. He relished the opportunity to expand his horizons by interacting with people from other disciplines. Yodsadhorn so enjoyed engaging with his colleagues in graduate school that he continues to play a vital role in the GSAS alumni community, working closely with the Mathematics Department and supporting all GSAS master’s alumni as the treasurer for the MCAA. Through his work with the MCAA, Yodsadhorn gives back to his alumni community, and he hopes to inspire others to give back as well.

When considering psychology programs for graduate school, what stood out to California native Sneha Kohli Mathur about the Department of Psychology at GSAS was its openness and flexibility. Sneha found that the GSAS program offered versatility and freedom, as well as the opportunity for more than an average graduate school experience. In addition to her core coursework, she completed an internship at the McCarton School, where she was able to work with Dr. Peter Gerhardt, a pioneer in the research of adults with autism. With his guidance, Sneha conducted her own original research, which she presented at the 2012 Threesis Academic Challenge. “I’m so happy I participated in the Threesis!” she enthused. “It was such good training for what I do now.”

Unsurprisingly, Sneha secured a job in her field soon after graduation, working for Autism Spectrum Therapies in California. She completed 1,500 hours of supervised work, teaching parents and teachers crucial skills for working with children who have autism. After completing her training hours, she took time off to study for the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) exam. Through her work, Sneha noticed a lack of resources for adults with autism. “From ages three through twenty-two, individuals with autism receive state funding for certain services, but right when these young adults are ready to go into the working world, they are dropped out of that system. I began to think about different business ideas that provide quality job training and professional development skills for that specific group.” With this goal in mind, Sneha founded Spectrum Success, LLC. Set to launch in spring 2016, Spectrum Success supports equal employment opportunities by providing job training directly to the individuals who need it. “The aim is to make the program accessible and affordable while also keeping the business afloat. It’s been a challenge, but I’m purposely targeting a group of people with limited resources, because they’re the ones who need it most.”

Like many graduates of GSAS, Sneha is incredibly hard-working and driven. Her long-term plan for the business is to provide programming and training for adults with autism and to offer work opportunities for them in the center itself. “It all started at GSAS. It gave me the opportunity to thoroughly explore my options in psychology, find my niche, and gave me a great network to utilize. I love that the alumni community still reaches out and supports us in these next phases of our lives.”

Speaking from his office in Washington, DC, Walker Gunning described how a chance encounter with an elderly woman in a grocery store parking lot altered the course of his academic career forever. While an undergraduate at NYU, Walker happened upon this stranger and offered to help her with her groceries. She asked him about his studies. Over the course of their conversation, Walker uncovered an untapped interest in the Arab world. Upon his return to school he immediately signed up for Arabic classes. Walker returned to NYU to pursue his master’s degree in Near Eastern Studies at GSAS, studying the role of media in the Arab Spring in Egypt. “GSAS tested whether my ideas, research, and ability to connect with an audience were up to par.” He presented his dynamic thesis topic as a finalist in the 2012 GSAS Threesis Academic Challenge, a valuable opportunity to take solitary, research-oriented work and present it to a public audience for an honest reaction. His experience in the Threesis also taught him to effectively and concisely pitch his work.

After graduation, Walker sought employment in the U.S. capital. Through an alumni connection at a production company documenting the relationship between the United States and the Arab world, Walker found his path into the media landscape and to his current role as an Associate Editor at Al-Monitor, an online news publication focused on current events in the Middle East. Walker describes his work as “ensuring great work gets online.” He works diligently with a team of dozens of reporters and analysts in the region to uncover the trends behind the events making headlines. The website continues to garner praise and recognition, and Walker noted in particular their continuing series on women in the Middle East (find the full series here). “At Al-Monitor, we have the ability to ask the questions and pursue the stories that no one else is covering. The only limit is our own intellectual curiosity. It’s the job that I hoped existed when I graduated from GSAS.”

From a background in the world of tech start-ups, Adam sought to expand his skill set to data analysis through the Applied Quantitative Research program. When considering GSAS, the location, diversity of student body, and the quality of the professors convinced Adam to join the Graduate School. His commitment to finding ways to explain complex information in simple, comprehensible ways made Adam a perfect candidate for the 2015 GSAS Threesis Academic Challenge. He competed as a finalist this spring with his presentation on the effectiveness of digital protest tactics. Surprisingly, he discovered that passive methods of online protests can actually prove more effective than offline methods in certain circumstances. The experience forced Adam to confront the challenge of simplifying the language of his research. He also enjoyed the performative aspect of the Threesis, which required him to present on a stage before hundreds of attendees. “It was a little terrifying, but also rewarding to share what I’d been working on in front of so many people,” Adam told the Quarterly. “Doing the Threesis was probably the best part of my whole grad school experience.”

A graduate of the European and Mediterranean Studies program (CEMS), Erica Lee currently works for the Department of Defense in Washington, DC, where she finds herself drawing on her graduate experience on a daily basis. “All I do in my job is write, write, write. I write and research every day, so my time at GSAS really helped hone and polish those skills.” During her program, Erica found a community who supported one another. “My cohort and I used to call ourselves the ‘CEMS gems,’ and we still stay in touch.” It was this intimate association of scholars that really appealed to her; although she was also accepted to other prestigious master’s programs, she chose GSAS because, “It was for masters students, and it focused on us. The whole college was dedicated to our cause, and that really stood out to me.” And so did the opportunities that came along with it.

During her program, Erica not only took advantage of an internship offer to go abroad, but also participated in the acclaimed GSAS Threesis Academic Challenge, in which she was a finalist in 2013. She spent the last semester of her master’s program in Paris, where she researched advocacy organizations through Le CRAN (Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires). “The experience was so eyeopening,” she recalls, “I met with and interviewed politicians to discuss their focus and agendas.” This fieldwork became her thesis, which explored race politics in France. Erica also highlighted the professional benefits of competing in the Threesis. “I often give presentations in my job, so Threesis really helped equip me in that professional regard. It forced me to assume no prior knowledge of my audience and taught me how to synthesize crucial information in a way that is understandable. GSAS has opened up a lot of doors, not just for me but for my cohort as well, and we are all grateful for that.” Erica is an active member of the MCAA Washington, DC chapter.

Audience choice award winner of the 2013 GSAS Threesis Academic Challenge, M.J. Ruzmyn Vilcassim had a great deal to say about the benefits of the Threesis experience. “It pushes you to continue in your field…you get more passionate about your own research.” Ruzmyn’s Threesis topic was a study on the presence of black carbon and other particulate matter in the subway system of New York City. His results showed potentially dangerous levels of particulate matter present in the below-ground stations. Ruzmyn went on to present his findings at conferences and publish his research as first author in Environmental Science and Technology. “I measured particulate matter and black carbon levels at selected stations along four subway lines in Manhattan and one in Queens. It was a challenge.”

More recently, Ruzmyn was credited as a second author on a study of the air quality in New York City hookah bars. Currently, he is pursuing his doctorate in Environmental Health Sciences. Ruzmyn also volunteered some time in March to mentor current Threesis contestants. When asked for general Threesis advice, he offered a basic framework for a successful presentation: “What are you trying to find? How did you find it? What did you find? Why was it important? Fill those in and you have a presentation.”

Ruzmyn continues to pursue his passion for environmental health science, expanding his research on particulate matter to mass transit in other cities and developing a study of the effects of travel on respiratory health. “People say, ‘Oh, I went here. The air was clean, and I felt great.’ But how do you quantify that? Does it result in a change in lung function?” Expect to see Ruzmyn’s name in future published research!

Read Ruzmyn’s study on particulate matter here and the article on hookah bars here.

Yun Emily Wang is fascinated by sound. Her interest was originally rooted in the study of music, but has since broadened in scope to sounds of all kinds as they relate to social processes. In her 2012 Threesis presentation, Emily explored the connection between “noisy-hot” social sounds (“basically a dense soundscape of human social sounds: talking, walking, bargaining, etc.”) in the night markets of Taipei and “how these sounds are used to articulate my interlocutors’ versions of Taiwanese identity.” She decided to participate in the Threesis Challenge because, “it sounded kind of fun and certainly less stressful than giving a conference paper.” She found the interdisciplinary environment and challenge of conveying her research to a broad audience a rewarding experience that taught her valuable skills. These skills have carried on in the years since the competition. “The Threesis was a low-stress but high-reward experience, and I think it continues to be–I am probably waxing poetic here, but I think the challenge of explaining a complex project succinctly and in relatable ways continues long after the Threesis event has concluded. I’ve had to tap into these skills, which I only started thinking about developing for the Threesis, every time I apply for a grant, ask a fieldwork interlocutor for an interview, or see my family.”

Currently, Emily studies at the University of Toronto as a PhD student in ethnomusicology. Her current research “explores the roles of sound music in the everyday homemaking processes among Chinese diaspora in Toronto.” In addition to her work within Toronto, she will be traveling to Taiwan for three months this summer on the Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement grant. Her advice to future Threesis competitors? “Have fun. Literally tell your three minutes to your grandma. If you can’t squeeze everything in three minutes, it’s probably because you don’t understand your project enough, and not because your project is impossibly complex.”

When Sara Storer joined the Graduate School to pursue an M.S. in biology, she hoped to leverage her degree into an acceptance to dental school. Her hopes and hard work have come to fruition. Today Sara is pursuing a doctorate in dental medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. Along with her master’s concentration in oral biology, she credits her participation in the 2014 Threesis Challenge, in which she was a finalist for her presentation on dental implants, with helping her during the dental school application process—and beyond. “The Threesis helped me to come up with a really accessible and simple explanation of my research, which was crucial during dental school interviews. I also was fortunate to research a topic that was really relevant to dentistry, so some topics that I learned about are giving me an edge up in my classes now.”

Sara just returned from a mission to Ecuador with the Dental Community Fellowship to, in her words,”set up a clinic for five days and treat a variety of different dental problems, and also provide education in oral hygiene and preventative care to children….It was a great chance to take a step back from the day-to-day stress of dental school and to remember why I go into this field—to help others by improving their health and smiles.” In addition to her volunteer work and rigorous studies, the former Secretary for the Master’s College Program Board carries on the GSAS spirit as the head of the South Carolina chapter of the MCAA. Though dental school can be challenging, Sara is grateful for the experience and the opportunity. “I am so fortunate to be living out my dream.”

Kasey Hemphill is a force of ambition by any stretch of the imagination. Her success story begins at NYU, where she completed both her B.A. (2011) and her M.A. (2012) in politics through the B.A./M.A. program between College of Arts and Science and GSAS. At first motivated by witnessing the power of voting in the Bush v. Gore presidential election of 2000, Kasey chose to study the theory and psychology of politics, topics she appreciated because they allowed her to feel engaged with history. After graduation, Kasey found herself working on the admissions team at the national headquarters of Teach for America, where she learned about the organization’s selection model and core values of teaching. Later, she implemented those values in her own classroom in Las Vegas. “I felt informed by the coursework from my B.A./M.A.,” she recalls. “Studying politics but working in the education sector helped me understand the different layers and internal dialogue of people who worked in the organization.” The job didn’t come without its challenges, though. After experiencing a particularly distressing situation with the family of one of her students whose brother was shot and killed due to gang violence, Kasey observed the issues present in under-served areas that critically affected the lives of victims of this violence. While she valued the impact of being a teacher to these students, she also began to realize the impact she could have as a legal advocate for them and their families outside of the classroom. Thus, she applied and was admitted to NYU Law School, where she currently studies.

As she looks back on her past experiences, she sees how her time in the B.A./M.A. program really prepared her to think about the role she wants to play as a professional. Recalling her Threesis experience of 2012, where she made it to the final rounds, Kasey explains, “I was initially attracted to it because I did speech and debate in high school…but doing the Threesis taught me how to present a topic that I am personally connected to, to an audience that may not be, and how to speak to their interest by speaking the language of humanity…that’s something I will keep in mind when I practice law, whether at a law firm or in courtroom litigation.” As she looks ahead toward her future goals, Kasey also hopes to mentor current students participating in the Threesis. Her best words of advice? “Anticipate questions. Dare to ask yourself questions you’d be afraid to answer. It’s so relevant—it even came up in an assignment I did today in class. Think about what you are passionate about and what you want people to focus on.”

As the first place winner of the second annual Threesis Challenge and John W. Draper alum, Chris Cappelluti has volumes to speak on his experiences at GSAS and the Master’s College. Chris first participated in the Threesis Challenge in its inaugural year. At the time, he was President of the GSAS Master’s College Program Board and pursuing his M.A. in humanities and social thought, which he said gave him the freedom to explore the subjects that interested him from a scholarly perspective. Building on that foundation, he participated in the Threesis again the following year and won the grand prize for his presentation, “The Dual Ulysses Tradition.”

Now, Chris works at the Expository Writing Program at NYU while also pursing his M.F.A. at Brooklyn College. When asked about his experience in the Threesis Challenge, he explained, “The first year, I only made it to the qualifying rounds; but that was valuable because the experience resembled that of job interviews, and prepared me for the real world in that sense. The next year I was actually a finalist, which I couldn’t believe at the time. I almost couldn’t bring myself to do my presentation,” he confessed. But the supportive atmosphere and energetic leadership of the Threesis encouraged him to “just go out there and say what I had to say. And I did. And now I know that if I can stand up in front of more than a hundred people and explain to them something I had studied all year, then I can give a lesson or deliver a lecture to a group of fifteen freshman when I teach a writing class with confidence. A big part of Threesis is learning how to be prepared. I’m confident that I am prepared to lead a class with certainty.” As he looks forward to teaching, Chris is also working on a novel, Babylon Fading (working title).

Read some of Chris’ work here.