Post by McMaster Faculty of Science

About to graduate with no idea what comes next? Matthew Johnson says that's more than okay. "It's the only right answer. In today’s world, knowing the answer isn’t nearly as important as knowing how to figure it out.” And Johnson says knowing how to do that is a science student's most valuable and transferable skill. He made his case while delivering the closing keynote at the Biology Department's annual undergraduate symposium, capping off a day of presentations by more than 100 students. As a biology undergrad, Johnson says he had no idea that he’d fall in love with research. After graduating in 2001, Johnson spent the summer in professor Suleiman Igdoura's research group working on a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada-funded project. That summer project led to spending the next two years as a graduate student. After grad school, Johnson was as a visiting scholar at the Genomics Research Centre at Griffith University on Australia’s Gold Coast. He then became a research scientist and team leader at a medical device start-up where “other duties as assigned” were pretty much his entire job description. “Everything in a start-up is a problem that needs solving. That immersive problem-solving experience spoiled me – I realized I only wanted to be in places where there are new things to figure out.” And that’s what he’s done, building a career at the leading edge of health care and technology. Johnson is currently on the Canadian leadership team with GE HealthCare and serves on McMaster University’s Seed Fund Investment Committee. While he’s no longer a researcher, Johnson says studying science at McMaster for seven years continues to pay dividends. “Science isn’t a subject – it’s a mindset. Working in research rewired my brain. I see the world through a researcher’s eyes. That's given me the perspective and confidence to take on the unknown and do things I haven’t done before. I approach every problem, every opportunity and even my career like an experiment.” Now more than ever, the world needs scientists in leadership roles everywhere, Johnson told the students. “We live in uncertain times. Right now, the unknown is all there is. So we need people like you who know how to stay calm, curious and courageous in the face of all that uncertainty and take on big social, environmental, economic and geopolitical problems.” And it’s how science grads lead that makes all the difference, says Johnson. By championing empiricism – the cornerstone of the scientific method where all knowledge originates in experience and observations - Johnson says scientists act as an antidote to hegemony and hubris. “So what will you do with this gift you’ve been given?” Johnson asked students at the end of his keynote. “The right answer is ‘I don’t know yet’. Everything starts from there. We don’t know what’s next but we know how to figure it out.”