How do scientists present themselves differently when they begin to interact more frequently with the corporate world? For Glenn Prestwich, who spent half his time as a chemistry professor and the other half as the director of the Stony Brook Center for Biotechnology, the switch between roles involved a costume change that was partly practical, because he rode his bike between the chemistry building and the Center, which were on opposite sides of Stony Brook’s campus, and partly psychological.
Glenn Prestwich, interviewed via Zoom on June 20, 2023
Interviewer: Antoinette Sutto
Glenn: I said, “I’m not going to spend more than 50% time at the Center,” and so I would have my bicycling clothes ready, and I would get out of the lectures, put my biking clothes on, ride my bike over, arrive, put my bike in the office, change clothes in the office, I could close enough to be able to change clothes, and put my nine-piece suit on and look like a biotech guy. That was me going back and forth on a bicycle between nerd professor and biotech guy.
Interviewer: Did it really feel like a big costume change to have to navigate in one world and then navigate in the other?
Glenn: It really was. The costume change, as any actor will tell you, is important because you are what you present yourself as.”