Come and hear about various career paths taken by BCS graduate and undergraduate alumni!

Panelists include:

Jessica Wooton (MIT ’12, Simmons ’17) is a Behavior Analyst that currently works as a clinic manager at ABACS, which offers behavior consultation services. She uses the science of behavior to teach and study socially significant behaviors to individuals from the age of 3-23, with a special focus on social skills and conversation. Prior to entering the field of Behavior Analysis, she worked in various neuroscience research laboratories as a research technician (Tufts, Harvard) before ultimately deciding she wanted to work in a more hands-on approach to the sciences. While at MIT, Jessica lived at Random Hall, took part in the MIT Shakespeare Ensemble, and could frequently be found at Assassin’s Guild events.

Stuart Layton grew up in Utah and received a B.S in Neuroscience at Brigham Young University before joining the BCS PhD program in 2007. Stuart got his PhD under Matt Wilson where he investigated bilateral coordination of replay in the hippocampus and collaborated on the development of new technologies. After graduating in 2013, Stuart joined an early stage startup as a data scientist and a few years later he joined HubSpot as a Software Engineer. Four years after joining HubSpot he now runs the cloud data infrastructure engineering group. When he's not hacking on code you can find him running along the Charles, exploring the local woods, working in a blacksmith forge, or planning his next ski trip.

Jeff Cottrell is director of translational research at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute. He leads a group with diverse expertise focused on translating discoveries of the genetics of psychiatric disease into research programs for the development of novel, mechanism-based treatments for these disorders. Cottrell started at the Broad Institute in June 2015 after 11 years at Galenea, a biotechnology company focused on therapeutics for CNS disorders. At Galenea, he pioneered the development of high-throughput screening assays of synaptic transmission and their implementation for multiple drug discovery programs for neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. He holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from MIT and an A.B. in psychology from Harvard University.

​David Nguyen is a Principal Scientist and quantitative pharmacology lead at Sage Therapeutics. He guides a translational modeling group which aims to close the loop between discovery and development through the application of mechanistic modeling approaches. Prior to Sage Therapeutics, David spent four years at Pfizer as a Senior Manager in transnational neuroscience where he worked on developing clinical biomarker and proof of concept strategies for CNS cholinergic and dopaminergic targets. These strategies encompassed PET, fMRI, EEG, and cognitive endpoints. David holds a Ph.D in Systems Neuroscience from MIT, a Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S in Electrical Engineering from Boston University.

Isabella Espinel graduated from MIT in 2017 double majoring in course 9 & 15. During her time at MIT she UROPed for 3 years in the Tye Lab working in systems neuroscience research. Upon graduating she joined the Boston Consulting Group in their Boston office as a returning summer intern. In her time at BCG she has worked on projects in retail, the private sector, due diligence, and recently was on secondment at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Isabella will be starting business school this fall.