Biophysical Society Bulletin | February 2024

Communities

Clemens Anklin Membership Committee

Clemens Anklin

events. Academia is not always able to prepare the students well for this major step in their career. If I can make a contri bution as a volunteer with the Society, it is all worth it. Do you have advice for others who might be thinking about volunteering? Just do it. Collect information up front on issues such as time commitment. As a volunteer you almost always join a team of other volunteers who rely on their peers to get the work done. To accomplish this, the committees are dependent on equal contributions of all members. Therefore, it is important not to overcommit and as a result leave your fellow commit tee members hanging. There are volunteering opportunities of all sizes. When not volunteering for BPS, what do you work on? My main position is heading the applications laboratory for Bruker BioSpin, a manufacturer of NMR spectrometers. This job brings me in contact with a large number of researchers in the biophysical community. When not working or volunteering I like to travel and birdwatch or both combined. Birdwatching is a wonderful way to be out in nature and connect with the natural world while still being aware of the science. One can, for example, wonder if the colors of a bird are due to refrac tion or pigmentation.

Is this your first volunteer position for BPS? If not, what other positions have you held?

This is my first volunteer position for BPS. I was asked to rep resent the non-academic or industry segment of BPS on the membership committee. I got involved with BPS quite late. I am not a biophysicist by education. My involvement started as an exhibitor at the annual meeting. As the Society aligns quite well with the work I am involved with and I have known many members of the community for years, I joined right away. Why do you volunteer? The honest answer would be because I was asked. But I immediately saw volunteering on the Membership Committee as an opportunity to be a voice for scientists in non-academic positions since the Biophysical Society and many other similar organizations are predominantly oriented towards academia. What has been a highlight from your volunteer experience? The industry panels, both online and in person at the Annual Meeting, have clearly been the highlight. This direct inter action with members and attendees has been very reward ing. To be able to help young scientists better navigate the transition from academia to industry by trying to answer their questions has demonstrated that there is a need for such

The Biophysical Society is grateful to its Industry Partners.

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For Industry Partner Membership information, contact alevine@biophysics.org. SILVER

February 2024

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