The Career Discovery Series is a program consisting of various career panels, which aim to educate students on the different career possibilities that they might consider. Panels are held during winter quarter and are comprised of UCI alumni and community members from various industries. Each panelist will discuss their current position, career path, and any tips and hints for students wanting to navigate into that career field. A time for questions and answers will follow where you can learn even more. This is a great opportunity for UCI students to learn from successful professionals who have “walked in their shoes” and can provide sage advice.

The Career Discovery Series panel recordings are now available for select 2021 CDS panels. Click on the name of the panel for recording information.

2021 Career Discovery Series

  • Public Health | Wednesday, February 3

    • Eric Mangahis, Environmental Health Officer with the Commissioned Corps of the US Public Health Service
    • Robert Kim-Farley, Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
    • Shruti Kothari, Director of Industry Initiatives, Health Care Reform at Blue Shield


    CDS: Public Health – February 3, 2021

  • Education | Thursday, February 4

    • Emily Arms, Faculty in the English Department of Santa Monica College
    • Carolina Brockway, Principal in the Los Angeles Unified School District
    • Cian Mitsunaga, COO at SCHOOLAB
    • Iván A. Ibarra Mora, Director of Student Services, School Board Member at the Alder Graduate School of Education and the Soledad Unified School District


    CDS: Education – February 4, 2021

  • Healthcare | Tuesday, February 9

    • Katherine Ahn Wallace, DDS
    • Ahmad Amir, MD (Ophthalmologist)
    • Jonathan Yim, Occupational Therapist at AltaMed
    • Iris Lee, DO  at Kaiser Permanente


    CDS: Healthcare – February 9, 2021

  • Criminology and Law | Wednesday, February 10

    • Kjehl Johansen, Commissioner in the Los Angeles Superior Court
    • James Borkman, Senior Counsel and Director of Procurement at the Pacific Building Commission of Chicago
    • Chahira Solh, Attorney & Law Firm Partner
    • FBI

    This event was not recorded.

  • Data Science | Thursday, February 11

    • Alyssa Columbus, Data Governance Specialist at SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union & NASA Datanaut
    • Julian Newell, Senior Manager, Quantitative Analyst at Magid
    • Mark Nguyen, Manager, Sales Analytics and Data Science at Chipotle


    CDS: Data Science – February 11, 2021

  • Public Service | Tuesday, February 16

    • Dahnish Shams, Program Analyst at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
    • Mitch Winans, Senior Advisor, Enterprise Digitalization at the Internal Revenue Service
    • Aurora Paik, Senior Policy Advisor and Press Secretary in the U.S. House of Representatives
    • James Borkman, Senior Counsel and Director of Procurement at the Pacific Building Commission of Chicago


    CDS: Public Service – February 16, 2021

  • Arts & Entertainment | Wednesday, February 17

    • Sandra Nguyen, Internal Communication & Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at Hulu
    • Doyle Dean, Production Manager & On-Air Host at North Country Public Radio
    • Steve Chivers, Screenwriter & Actor
    • Nicki Sun, Owner at Nicki Sun Media Tech Host & Filmmaker, TechNicki Speaking


    CDS: Arts & Entertainment – February 17, 2021

  • Marketing & Communication | Thursday, February 18

    • Andrew Almendras ’09, VP of Global Creative Marketing at IMAX
    • Brett Shahian ‘09, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications at Loyola Law School
    • Katrina Nguyen ‘15, Advertising Operations Specialist at Buzzfeed
    • Linsey Tran ‘16, Marketing operations manager at Inari Medical
    • John Skelly ‘09, Copyrighted and Editor at Tiege Hanley LLC


    CDS: Marketing & Communication – February 18, 2021

  • Project Management | Tuesday, February 23

    • Kaiser Permanente
    • The Walt Disney Company
    • Ingram Micro
    • Vertoch Design Architects

    This event was not recorded.

  • Business Careers in Healthcare | Wednesday, February 24

    • Lisa Levitt, Principal at Panorama Health LLC
    • Chad Collings, Senior Physician Outreach Specialist, Strategy & Business Development at Hoag Hospital
    • Mark Oshima, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Solutions at Private Health Management
    • Chris Argate, Talent Acquisition Consultant at Kaiser Permanente


    CDS: Business Careers in Healthcare – February 24, 2021

  • Psychology | Thursday, February 25

    • Dr. Gary Bruss, Department Chair at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
    • Heather Schmidt, Clinical Social Worker at the UC Irvine Counseling Center
    • Marte Matthews, MFT at Child & Family Counseling Group
    • Natalie Sardarov, Behavior Interventionist at Easterseals Southern California


    CDS: Psychology – February 25, 2021