Creating a Roadmap to Global Opportunities
After completing an undergraduate degree in mathematics in her home of New Delhi, Ishpreet Kaur Sethi, MS’23, data analytics engineering, came to Northeastern’s College of Engineering to earn a master’s degree and maximize the co-op experience by working as a data analyst at the UK-based Alchemab Therapeutics. Now she is poised to pursue global opportunities.
Whether she lands a job in Boston, where she is earning a master’s degree in data analytics engineering; in the UK, where she completed a co-op; or in New Delhi, where she grew up, Ishpreet Kaur Sethi says she knows she will succeed because her Northeastern education has her covered.
“Northeastern has given me the confidence so I know I can step anywhere in the world with the right skills,’’ says Sethi.
Before applying to Northeastern, Sethi completed an undergraduate mathematics program at the Delhi University in New Delhi, and then worked for nearly three years as an analyst at a New Delhi-based automobile company. She decided to pursue a master’s degree abroad because she wanted to grow personally and expand her employment opportunities.
Sethi was impressed that the College of Engineering not only offered a master’s program in data analytics engineering, which was not available at other universities she toured, but also made co-op opportunities available to graduate-level students. She was thrilled that she would be able to create a personalized learning experience by selecting from a wide range of electives and applying for a variety of co-ops.
“I could set up my road map so I could go into data analytics or data engineering from here,” Sethi says.
Her co-op at Alchemab Therapeutics in Cambridge, England, improved her data analytics skills and readied her for the workplace. Alchemab’s work focuses on identifying unique antibody responses of individuals deemed resilient and uses that data to develop drugs for difficult-to-treat diseases.
The co-op exposed her to the medical and biotechnology industry, and she was so intrigued that she now hopes to find a job in this field. As a member of Alchemab’s database development team, Sethi worked on data hygiene for the company’s primary database by reviewing data records and removing errors. 
The task was a giant one; a good deal of data had been derived from hardcopy reports.
Significantly, the co-op helped her develop critical people skills. Her supervisor and team members were friendly and supportive, and she was encouraged to ask questions and speak up.
“I learned how to present myself as an individual to the team and the whole company,” she says.
She also improved her time management skills. On occasion, her daily to-do list would abruptly change with the addition of an urgent assignment. She learned to adjust her workload and frequently reset priorities.
When Sethi began her coursework at Northeastern, she wanted to pursue a local co-op to get more exposure to the U.S. market, but the Alchemab opportunity seemed like a great fit. Because she had already journeyed from New Delhi to the Boston campus, she was comfortable pivoting and going to the UK.
“I did not expect to go to another country or to make this an international experience,” she says. But she is happy she did. The international work and academic experiences she acquired will lead her to global opportunities.
“I see the data world blooming and there’s so many new innovations coming,” Sethi adds. “There are so many opportunities for a data analyst … So, wherever I find the best opportunities, I would like to pursue that.”