Dr. Ben Warlick, a biochemistry alumnus from the Class of 2013, has built a well-rounded career in industry. We sat down with Warlick while he was on campus recently to share his advice with the School of MCB community on career development, transitioning from academia to industry, and how students can prepare for their future careers.
After completing his undergraduate studies at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dr. Warlick chose Illinois for his graduate education in biochemistry. He applied to a lot of schools, but Illinois turned out to be the right fit for him. His decision to pursue graduate school at Illinois was driven by strong academic opportunities and support offered by the institution. Warlick was a part of John Gerlt’s lab, where he investigated novel functions of RuBisCO-like proteins. His research focused on analyzing these RuBisCO-like proteins using sequence similarity networks and enzymological techniques.
When Warlick began his PhD program, he was set on a career in academic research.
“I went into the graduate program thinking I wanted to be a research professor because I had a fantastic undergraduate professor. But as I progressed through my PhD, I got a better understanding of the different career paths available to me. I then started going in the direction of industry,” Warlick said. “Students should pursue what interest them, although I would recommend industry because the hurdle to start from a graduate program is much smaller and makes it an ideal place to develop other interests.”
Post-PhD, Warlick began with a position at Sigma Aldrich, the life sciences company. He started in a customer service role, which involved him helping customers with technical issues related to products. Warlick then transitioned into the lab as a production scientist at MilliporeSigma. There he worked on process development for research products. That was followed by regulatory protein production at Bayer Crop Science and most recently Cytiva Life Sciences, where he works as a Product Sales Specialist. At Cytiva, Warlick interacts with customers in the pharmaceutical industry to help them understand the complexities of purifying active ingredients for medicines.
“When you get a pill, its active ingredient had to be purified at a massive scale to produce enough for millions of people. My job is to help customers understand that process—what equipment they need, what it will cost, and how to troubleshoot challenges along the way,” he said.
When asked about advice for students considering careers in industry, Warlick said it is important to gain practical experience early on.
“I’d say get an industry internship,” he said. “You want to understand what your career path options are. You also want to have a network of people you can lean on for support. ... An industry internship can introduce you to people at different levels of their careers. It can connect you with individuals and opportunities you never thought you’d encounter."
Warlick says if he could go back in time, he would encourage himself to look for a job while in graduate school.
“One of the biggest things, especially in graduate school, is that you don't have much exposure to industry. You don't have exposure to roles outside of graduate school, so you need to take the leap to get that experience. Once you start exploring jobs, the more you are building your mindset and setting yourself up for a future career,” he said.
Throughout his career, Warlick has learned the value of staying open to new opportunities. His advice for students and young professionals is simple but important: Know what you enjoy, and don’t just take a job for the benefits if you don’t really enjoy it. If you’re unhappy doing the work, it won’t be worth it in the long run, he said. Warlick encourages students to focus on both their personal fulfillment and be open to changing course when necessary to find a role that truly aligns with their passions and goals.