In the six months leading up to his graduation from the Department of Information Science’s Master of Professional Studies (MPS) program, Matthew Roohan ’23, MPS’ 24, took networking to an admittedly absurd and caffeinated extreme.
By his count, he logged close to 300 “coffee chats” with Cornell alumni and industry professionals he connected with on LinkedIn and Handshake, a platform that connects employers with college students – or met at career fairs. The chats, mostly remote, were roughly 30 minutes apiece. That’s at least one meeting per day – weekends included – and assuming one cup per chat, that puts his coffee consumption during that time just south of 19 gallons.
“It was an absolutely absurd amount of chats with a wide array of alumni working in the food service industry, big tech, finance, consulting, and others. I’d talk to one person who’d encourage me to talk to another person, and that kind of had a domino effect,” said Roohan, a native of East Greenbush, New York, outside of Albany. “The chats were not just to try to find a job but to figure out exactly what kind of role I was looking for.”
He discovered both. Roohan officially landed a job on June 1, one week after graduation. Today, he’s a biotech management consultant for Qral Group, a life sciences consulting firm that specializes in supporting pharmaceutical and biotech companies to bring innovative treatments to market. Qral assists companies in areas such as market entry strategies, business implementation, and information management, with a focus on impactful therapies, including those for rare diseases. Based in New York City, Roohan’s role is on the data analytics team, poring over health care data to help clients identify potential markets and strategies for optimized success.
How did the MPS program prepare him for success in industry? First, “the faculty,” he said. “I was able to connect with faculty on a more personal level. That was key for me.”
“The MPS program stands out due to being very hands-on, giving its students special opportunities to work closely with real clients on projects that have an immediate and real-world impact,” he said. “This experience applies across several industries, most importantly as technology continues to transform many fields. Lastly, personally, it's hard not to love studying in Ithaca, as Cornell's beautiful campus and surrounding nature create an inspiring atmosphere to learn and grow together.”
In his undergraduate studies at Cornell, Roohan majored in animal science and discovered information science during his junior year. “Way too late to completely change majors,” he said, “so I tried to take as many information science classes as I could.” He ultimately completed minors in information science and business.
Consecutive summer internships doing data analytics for a health care company in upstate New York showed Roohan how the life sciences, data analytics, and business can overlap in industry. After earning his bachelor’s, he opted to stick around Cornell for another year and pursue an MPS in information science, with a concentration in data science.
“I loved the information science program from the classes I took in undergrad, and I was close with Gilly [Leshed, MPS director], who encouraged me to come back,” he said. “It was a perfect fit and something I really wanted to do.”
During his two semesters in the MPS program, Roohan chipped away at his course work and served as a teaching assistant in Leshed’s Human-Computer Interaction Design course (INFO 3450/5255). For his MPS Project, Roohan collaborated with the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business MBA students via the Digital Technology Immersion. The team of four students developed a go-to-market strategy for Capital One’s authorized user system to help improve financial literacy among teens and college students.
His job search got rolling in November, which is just past the typical recruiting months for the consulting industry, he said.
“But I was able to find ways to overcome this disadvantage by utilizing networking,” Roohan said.
Thus began his networking blitz. For career help, he leaned heavily on Rebecca Salk, MPS career services advisor and “a gamechanger” who helped him tweak his resume and cover letters, and practice for job interviews.
“The job search process is already so stressful. When you're balancing classes, coffee chats, and interview prep, it can all be overwhelming,” he said. Having a dedicated staffer like Salk to help with job readiness proved critical, he said.
“Honestly, I feel so bad for how much time I took from her,” he joked.
To new and prospective MPS students, Roohan encouraged them to take advantage of all that Cornell has to offer – from world-renowned faculty and a rich alumni network to student clubs and career resources.
“Looking back, the time in the MPS program flies by. Use your time to truly know faculty [and] your peers, and form relationships that you'll use the rest of your life,” he said. “These connections I've made have been invaluable, and I'm extremely grateful to have such inspiring, world-changing people in my network.”
New and current MPS students with questions about networking or other aspects of the MPS program are encouraged to get in touch with Matthew via LinkedIn.
By Louis DiPietro, a writer for the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science.