Science Club Career Talk: Alan Mowbray

John Matthews, staff writer

On Monday, April 23, PVCC’s Science Club hosted a career talk with guest speaker Alan Mowbray. Mowbray, who is now retired, was Head of Administration and Operations for 20 years at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute located in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He shared stories of his life and gave advice to those in attendance.

Mowbray discussed how to go about finding a career; he said to “find what motivates you.” Mowbray studied physics and chemistry in high school. He went to the Ohio State University with a focus on pre-engineering. Sophomore year, he enlisted in the United States Air Force ahead of the draft. Mowbray was later assigned to the intelligence department and stationed in Japan.

Mowbray moved from working in the intelligence department, returning to finish his education. He attended Kent State University, followed by graduate school at Georgetown University with a focus on diplomacy.

When Mowbray graduated, he went on to work at NASA headquarters for two years. He then transferred over to the newly created Department of Transportation. He continued to work there for the next four years. Mowbray said he enjoyed working on startups and moved onto the newly created government organization to help fix the railroad infrastructure.

After working on a couple of startup organizations, he was brought onto the board of directors for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He worked there for the next twenty years. He described how the research done there was in general form with no specification on a particular subject.

When asked why he did not get a PhD, Mowbray’s said he is a “generalist who liked solving problems” along with the fact he found no benefit of getting one at that point in his career.

Mowbray said, “Education is a lifetime pursuit.”