Related Flyer:
2026_04_01_marsha-rolle_seminar-lecturer-abstract.pdf
Exploring new paths: a career in progress
Location: 108 Snell Engineering Center
Abstract: For decades, graduate trainees have framed their career trajectories as a binary choice between “academia” and “industry”. However, there is a breadth of opportunity and need for life science and engineering talent across a variety of sectors. This talk will cover one person’s technology and discovery journey and a series of pivots along an ongoing life sciences career path.
Marsha Rolle, PhD is Director of Advancement at Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives (MBI), a non-profit founded to build a globally-competitive life science cluster in Central Massachusetts through economic and workforce development and business incubation. She joined MBI following 3 years as Associate Director of Life Science Programs at the Roux Institute in Portland, ME and Research Professor of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University. At the Roux Institute, she built “BioPILOT” a membership-based mixed use lab facility that supported faculty research, biotechnology instruction, and early-stage life science companies. Prior to joining NU, she was a tenured Professor of Biomedical Engineering at WPI where, over her 16-year faculty career, she built a research program focused on vascular tissue engineering and extracellular matrix-based biomaterials funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), and Manufacturing USA institutes. She holds 10 issued U.S. patents and over 50 peer-reviewed publications with industry and international co-authors.
