Senior Product Manager, American Chemical Society/ChemRxiv
Tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from, and what did you study? Where are you currently based?
I grew up in Springfield, Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. I have slowly slid south over the years, majoring in biology at the University of Virginia before moving to Durham, North Carolina, for grad school. I studied pathogenic bacteria at Duke University, getting my PhD in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. I’ve now been in Durham for 22 years and love it!
Describe your current role and organization. What are your main responsibilities? What type of organization do you work for?
I’m a Senior Product Manager at the American Chemical Society in our Publications division. My role is to identify and solve challenges that chemistry researchers have with the publication process, helping them connect with their peers and facilitate the rapid sharing of new findings. I primarily focus on two areas: ChemRxiv, the chemistry preprint service that ACS runs jointly with four other chemical societies, and our author-submitted journal cover art program. I also work closely with colleagues and engage with our community to identify new opportunities for partnerships, programs, and services.
Walk us through a typical day in your role. What challenges do you face? What opportunities do you encounter?
It’s always hard to describe a typical day! Some days I spend answering lots of questions from ChemRxiv authors. Other days, I’m deep into Jira to manage a product roadmap and test new development. On another day, I might be leading a meeting of ChemRxiv’s Governing Board and discussing long-term strategy for the service. The wide range of responsibilities is really exhilarating, but it does mean that I have to stay quite organized. I need to track items in the very short term and the very long term. But what I love most about this range is being able to hear directly from the people that my products help – that daily interaction is really useful grounding when it comes time to prioritize new ideas.
Share your journey in scholarly publishing. What was your first role in this field, and how did you land it? What path led you to your current position? What unexpected challenges have you faced?
After graduate school, I started a postdoc, originally with the goal of becoming a professor at a small institution. However, as I thought about what delighted me most, it was teaching and the sharing of research, not necessarily performing research at the bench.
This realization led me to explore options outside of academia, where I launched an education program for international researchers at AJE, combining my teaching experience with a love for communicating science. In my time there, I moved into roles that focused on business development, communications, and product management (although without formally calling it this). Connections built at AJE led me to ACS, where I realized that an open position for a Product Manager mentioned many of the same skills I was already using. I’ve now been with ACS for almost 8 years.
What tools, websites, and organizations are essential for your career growth? How do you stay updated with industry trends and developments?
Probably not a surprise given the medium for this profile, but I rely heavily on SSP (and The Scholarly Kitchen) for my knowledge of the publishing world and for building my network. I’ve been involved in SSP since my first year in the industry, when I was invited to speak on a panel at the Annual Meeting in 2012. That led to volunteer work with three committees, where I’ve met more talented and passionate advocates for scholarly communication than I can count! Beyond SSP, the Pragmatic Institute has been a great resource for learning best practices related to my specific job as a Product Manager.
In your experience, what skills or qualities are essential for success in scholarly communications?
I think it’s really critical to understand the human elements of publishing research. It can be easy to think at scale, in terms of hundreds of thousands of papers and how they flow through the publishing process. But each manuscript is deeply personal for the authors. It’s the culmination of years of research and hard work, shaped into a paper that is one in a million in their eyes. Of course, we should always strive for efficiency, but it’s critical to remember how it feels for authors to publish new research.
What do you wish you knew more about in your field?
I’m fortunate to have incredibly smart colleagues who can help with data analysis, but I do wish that I were a bit more handy with data sets, beyond just knowing how to use Excel. It’s still on my list to learn Python and get better with statistics. It seems that we have access to more and more information every day, but sometimes finding a meaningful conclusion out of all the noise can be a challenge.
What motivates you in your work? What keeps you passionate about your role in scholarly publishing?
It all comes back to helping all the brilliant researchers around the world make groundbreaking discoveries faster. I may have moved away from the lab, but I love that I can still meaningfully contribute to the global exchange of research findings.
How do you balance your professional and personal life? Any fun facts or hobbies outside of scholarly communications?
Work-life balance can be a challenge when operating out of a home office, as I do. I try to treat my work desk like a mini office building. I only travel there when I’m ready to get started with my day, and I really try to avoid sending emails from the couch.
When I’m not working, I spend plenty of time with my wife and two children. I also love cooking (or trying new foods), running/going to the gym, playing the drum set in the basement, and doing crossword puzzles.
What advice would you give to aspiring professionals in scholarly communications?
Scholarly publishing is one of the friendliest communities I have ever been a part of. I would advise all of us to have more conversations with people we meet. Say hello to someone new at a conference; send a note on LinkedIn. These informal connections can ultimately lead to new ways to improve your work, new opportunities to collaborate, or even a new job. But mostly, they reinforce the incredible community we have, which feels particularly important these days
