MINERVA VOICES

A Conversation with Minerva Graduate Student Brian Crowder

Introducing Brian, a Class of 2024 incoming graduate student.

November 22, 2022

This is part of a series of profiles introducing students from Minerva’s incoming Fall 2022 graduate class. If you would like to learn more about our programs, please visit our website.

"I always felt like pursuing what I thought was right. Then, at some point, I realized there is no such thing as ‘right’."

Currently based in the United States, Brian Crowder completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The content, as well as the interdisciplinarity of the courses, intrigued him and he particularly enjoyed being able to challenge himself by studying under multiple branches of science throughout the degree. Conducting formal research and exposing himself to scientific methods gave Brian an invaluable perspective on uncovering what is yet unknown, which, after graduation, led him to start working as a Bioprocess Manufacturing Technician at Genentech—a biotechnology company aiming to find solutions for people facing the most difficult-to-treat health conditions.

Shortly into his career, Brian realized that manufacturing might not be the best career fit for him as he discovered a fascination with making data-driven decisions. Consequently, he pivoted from his role at Genentech to becoming a Business Analyst in the same company. In order to complement his knowledge in that area, Brian went on to pursue a Master of Business Administration at California State University, Monterey Bay.

Alongside his new job responsibilities, Brian was inspired to share knowledge on decision making with likeminded people. This led him to create and lead a community of practice centered around the Improvement Kata pattern—a model used by companies to operate in a scientific way when making decisions about vague and nebulous concepts—by coaching and guiding professionals through their experiences while activating their imagination and creativity in the process.

Given his newfound curiosity and drive for self-development, Brian decided to enroll in Minerva's Master in Decision Analysis (MDA) as its science of learning-backed curriculum resonated with his goals and objectives.

“I felt like I completed two of my degrees out of necessity. This time, I am doing it out of passion.”

Brian appreciates Minerva's interdisciplinary approach and the program’s focus on statistical analysis, which, according to him, is paramount to every aspect of data-oriented decision-making.

Realizing the pharmaceutical industry's risk-averse nature that stems from avoiding undesirable side effects of the products they provide, Brian has come to understand that there are many high-impact decisions that need to be made for Genentech to yield more optimal solutions. To do that, the company must take its mission, translate it for other people and employees, and implement various strategic objectives. With this in mind, Brian sees pursuing the MDA program as a way for him to deepen his knowledge and be exposed to different perspectives within the realm of impactful decision-making in order to aid the company in this process.

Brian plans to center his graduate thesis around making more effective decisions and self-improvement, complementing a book he has been working on for a few years on those topics. Through his project, he wants to inspire people to pursue self-discipline in a non-destructive way, without being hard on themselves, to reach their goals and fulfill their ambitions.

Brian understands that there are many more underlying choices involved in making any decision than is initially apparent at first sight. Therefore, he believes it is important for people to realize that even though there are trade-offs and sacrifices in making higher-level decisions, they need to stay true to their values and ideas throughout the process.

"If you base your decision-making on how other people feel, you are not coming with your own perspective. If you want to cultivate an idea that is unique and unconventional, you need to ask yourself first: How do I feel about this? Otherwise, you may lose your own standpoint and make your ideas stop being yours."

Quick Facts

Name
Country
Class
Major

Social Sciences & Business

Business

Natural Sciences

Social Sciences

Cognitive Science and Economics & Political Science

Social Sciences & Business

Business & Computational Sciences

Business and Social Sciences

Social Sciences and Business

Computational Sciences & Social Sciences

Computer Science & Arts and Humanities

Business and Computational Sciences

Business and Social Sciences

Natural Sciences

Arts and Humanities

Business, Social Sciences

Business & Arts and Humanities

Computational Sciences

Natural Sciences, Computer Science

Computational Sciences

Arts & Humanities

Computational Sciences, Social Sciences

Computational Sciences

Computational Sciences

Natural Sciences, Social Sciences

Social Sciences, Natural Sciences

Data Science, Statistics

Computational Sciences

Business

Computational Sciences, Data Science

Social Sciences

Natural Sciences

Business, Natural Sciences

Business, Social Sciences

Computational Sciences

Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Computational Sciences, Natural Sciences

Natural Sciences

Computational Sciences, Social Sciences

Business, Social Sciences

Computational Sciences

Natural Sciences, Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences

Arts & Humanities, Social Science

Social Sciences, Business

Arts & Humanities

Computational Sciences, Social Science

Natural Sciences, Computer Science

Computational Science, Statistic Natural Sciences

Business & Social Sciences

Computational Science, Social Sciences

Social Sciences and Business

Business

Arts and Humanities

Computational Sciences

Social Sciences

Social Sciences and Computational Sciences

Social Sciences & Computational Sciences

Social Sciences & Arts and Humanities

Computational Science

Minor

Sustainability

Computational Sciences

Computational Sciences

Computational Science & Business

Economics

Social Sciences

Concentration

Economics and Society & Strategic Finance

Enterprise Management

Economics and Society

Cells and Organisms & Brain, Cognition, and Behavior

Applied Problem Solving & Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence & Cognition, Brain, and Behavior

Designing Societies & New Ventures

Strategic Finance & Data Science and Statistics

Brand Management and Designing Societies

Data Science & Economics

Machine Learning

Cells, Organisms, Data Science, Statistics

Arts & Literature and Historical Forces

Artificial Intelligence & Computer Science

Cells and Organisms, Mind and Emotion

Economics, Physics

Managing Operational Complexity and Strategic Finance

Global Development Studies and Brain, Cognition, and Behavior

Scalable Growth, Designing Societies

Business

Drug Discovery Research, Designing and Implementing Policies

Historical Forces, Cognition, Brain, and Behavior

Artificial Intelligence, Psychology

Designing Solutions, Data Science and Statistics

Data Science and Statistic, Theoretical Foundations of Natural Science

Strategic Finance, Politics, Government, and Society

Data Analysis, Cognition

Brand Management

Data Science and Statistics & Economics

Cognitive Science & Economics

Data Science and Statistics and Contemporary Knowledge Discovery

Internship
Higia Technologies
Project Development and Marketing Analyst Intern at VIVITA, a Mistletoe company
Business Development Intern, DoSomething.org
Business Analyst, Clean Energy Associates (CEA)

Conversation

This is part of a series of profiles introducing students from Minerva’s incoming Fall 2022 graduate class. If you would like to learn more about our programs, please visit our website.

"I always felt like pursuing what I thought was right. Then, at some point, I realized there is no such thing as ‘right’."

Currently based in the United States, Brian Crowder completed his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The content, as well as the interdisciplinarity of the courses, intrigued him and he particularly enjoyed being able to challenge himself by studying under multiple branches of science throughout the degree. Conducting formal research and exposing himself to scientific methods gave Brian an invaluable perspective on uncovering what is yet unknown, which, after graduation, led him to start working as a Bioprocess Manufacturing Technician at Genentech—a biotechnology company aiming to find solutions for people facing the most difficult-to-treat health conditions.

Shortly into his career, Brian realized that manufacturing might not be the best career fit for him as he discovered a fascination with making data-driven decisions. Consequently, he pivoted from his role at Genentech to becoming a Business Analyst in the same company. In order to complement his knowledge in that area, Brian went on to pursue a Master of Business Administration at California State University, Monterey Bay.

Alongside his new job responsibilities, Brian was inspired to share knowledge on decision making with likeminded people. This led him to create and lead a community of practice centered around the Improvement Kata pattern—a model used by companies to operate in a scientific way when making decisions about vague and nebulous concepts—by coaching and guiding professionals through their experiences while activating their imagination and creativity in the process.

Given his newfound curiosity and drive for self-development, Brian decided to enroll in Minerva's Master in Decision Analysis (MDA) as its science of learning-backed curriculum resonated with his goals and objectives.

“I felt like I completed two of my degrees out of necessity. This time, I am doing it out of passion.”

Brian appreciates Minerva's interdisciplinary approach and the program’s focus on statistical analysis, which, according to him, is paramount to every aspect of data-oriented decision-making.

Realizing the pharmaceutical industry's risk-averse nature that stems from avoiding undesirable side effects of the products they provide, Brian has come to understand that there are many high-impact decisions that need to be made for Genentech to yield more optimal solutions. To do that, the company must take its mission, translate it for other people and employees, and implement various strategic objectives. With this in mind, Brian sees pursuing the MDA program as a way for him to deepen his knowledge and be exposed to different perspectives within the realm of impactful decision-making in order to aid the company in this process.

Brian plans to center his graduate thesis around making more effective decisions and self-improvement, complementing a book he has been working on for a few years on those topics. Through his project, he wants to inspire people to pursue self-discipline in a non-destructive way, without being hard on themselves, to reach their goals and fulfill their ambitions.

Brian understands that there are many more underlying choices involved in making any decision than is initially apparent at first sight. Therefore, he believes it is important for people to realize that even though there are trade-offs and sacrifices in making higher-level decisions, they need to stay true to their values and ideas throughout the process.

"If you base your decision-making on how other people feel, you are not coming with your own perspective. If you want to cultivate an idea that is unique and unconventional, you need to ask yourself first: How do I feel about this? Otherwise, you may lose your own standpoint and make your ideas stop being yours."