Callie Miller joined the first researcHStart cohort in 2015, and she returned this summer to help plan the ten year anniversary and moderate the alumni panel.
“Being in that inaugural researcHStart cohort, I could feel the energy that it was going to be a long-lasting program,” Callie said. “It was very special to come back and celebrate what the program has become.”
Today, Callie is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern University, where she works with Dr. Amy Rosenzweig.
She traces the spark of her scientific interests back to researcHStart.
Callie Miller, 2015 researcHStart alumna
“ResearcHStart was one of the biggest foundations of my career,” she said. “Having the exposure to a lab setting as a high school student was so valuable. Being able to see the differences between bioengineering and biochemistry, cancer biology and drug design— that was really influential.”
Her first research project, in summer 2015 during researcHStart, explored nanoparticles for cancer drug delivery. “Watching a chemist run cell assays on what we built pulled me toward chemistry and biochemistry,” she shared.
That curiosity carried through to a biophotonics project at Illinois, early lab work at Miami University on enzymes tied to antibiotic resistance, graduate training at the Colorado School of Mines on enzymes for pesticide bioremediation, and now to Northwestern, where her work connects structural biology and enzymology, and she is building expertise in cryo electron microscopy.
“Some have said your postdoc is the best time in your career, and so far that has been true for me,” Callie said. “I am starting to think about next steps, including tenure track positions and research focused roles.”
Callie’s path reflects how researcHStart equips young students with the skills and confidence to pursue research careers, advancing the CCIL mission to inspire and train the next generation of scientists.
Editor’s Notes:
Callie Miller is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern University. She can be reached at callie.miller@northwestern.edu.
This story was written by Javeria Malik, CCIL Communications Intern