Person-to-person: Alexa Dembek
Versatility is a quality highly sought after by employers— whether in science, business, or academia. The complexities of globalism, new discoveries, and the changing nature of how we do business today require a workforce of innovative problem solvers with diverse toolkits at the ready. Alumni of the Eberly College of Science graduate equipped with a diversity of skills, an innovative mentality, and a versatility derived from experience that will enable them to lead the workforce in tackling society’s most pressing challenges.
Throughout her career, Chemistry alumna Alexa Dembek has held a range of roles—starting as a research chemist and later moving into supply chain, operations, sales, marketing, and business leadership.
Now overseeing multiple functions and regional organizations as the chief technology and sustainability officer for the Specialty Products Division of DowDuPont, she works to increase the impact of science-based innovations by aligning business, innovation, and investment strategies.
In her broad success, Dembek credits her doctoral training from the Eberly College of Science.
“The real benefit of a Ph.D. is that you learn how to solve complex problems, and that skill-set is unchanged no matter what the problems are,” said Dembek. “Understanding what problem we’re solving, devising a hypothesis, running an experiment, collecting data; I think it’s a really strong skill base.”
For Dembek, finding big and valuable problems to solve to benefit people and collaborating with the right team to do so is the most important thing.
“We do a lot of things to benefit people—from safety and protection, to health and wellness, to electronics and other materials that allow people to better connect in the world,” she said. “There are many examples, but I think the basic element of what we do is creating innovations and solutions to help people thrive.”
Dembek brings this mentality, along with the richness of her experience, to the Eberly College of Science Dean’s Advisory Board, to which she was elected in September 2017.
“I think a multidimensional view is really important, bringing together thought partners to improve the quality of education and the quality of the outcomes for the Eberly College of Science,” she said. “We come together with different points of view, and this diversity in the way that we collaborate gives us a much better outcome than one or two people trying to solve it alone.”