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Special Event
How a PhD in Physics prepares you for an exciting career in industry
Ken Urquhart
Luxoft
How a PhD in Physics prepares you for an exciting career in industry
Oct 03, 2019 at 12PM
Synopsis
After receiving a PhD in Physics, SFU alumnus Ken Urquhart went on to a long and successful career in data science. Ken has previously held executive positions at Sun Microsystems, IBM and Microsoft, and is now 鈥淐hief Data Alchemist鈥 at the company Luxoft, where he advises startups and larger companies on technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and blockchain. As you will see from his colloquium abstract below, Ken is particularly keen to let our students and postdocs know how their physics-archive training can have important impact in industry.
A doctorate degree from SFU enables you to carry out original research in Physics鈥ut what else can it help you do? How about creating the world鈥檚 first airline ticket sales system on the Internet? Or building new technologies like Java and keeping competitors from destroying them? Or create new business strategies for the world鈥檚 biggest technology companies? Add a billion dollars to a company鈥檚 bottom line? Or transition effortlessly into the worlds of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and 5G wireless? In short, your PhD in Physics prepares you to be a valuable and lasting contributor in any industry - and sometimes lets you spend some quality time with CEOs, major political leaders, and Hollywood executives because you can explain amazing things like superconductivity to a non-technical person in under 30 seconds. Carrying out research and publishing papers in pursuit of tenure is just one path鈥ome and hear about some of the alternatives鈥
Pizza lunch provided.