Chris Rongo is a Professor at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Genetics at Rutgers University. He obtained his B.A. in Molecular Biology (1990) at the University of California San Diego. He did his graduate studies with Dr. Ruth Lehmann at the Whitehead Institute, earning his Ph.D. in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1996. He then trained as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. Joshua Kaplan, initially in the Department of Molecular Biology at MGH/Harvard Medical School, but subsequently moving to the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology. Chris started his own research lab at the Waksman at Rutgers in 2000. He is the recipient of the Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences Award and the 2012 American Heart Association Researcher of the Year Award. His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the New Jersey Commission on Spinal Cord Research, the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research, and the New Jersey Commission on Brain Injury Research. During his training, he was a National Sciences Foundation Predoctoral Fellow and a Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellow. Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Chris now enjoys living close to the Atlantic ocean and New York City.
My Job Is To Guide And Mentor New Scientists Through The Journey of Discovery
The best part of my job as a PI is to create an environment where undergraduates, graduate students, technicians, and postdoctoral researchers can work together on exciting scientific projects that will help them achieve their career goals.
I use mentorship approaches that foster both independence and collaboration. I expect trainees to be in the driver’s seat for their own project (I do not micromanage), but I will be at their side guiding them every step of the way. They will learn the fundamental skills required for their future careers, including effective written communication, oral presentation, experimental design, data analysis, and working with others as part of a team. My hope for undergraduates in my lab is that they are operating at the level of a Ph.D. graduate student by the time they graduate. My hope for graduate students and postdocs is that they are operating at the level of a PI by the end of their training period. I tailor my mentoring style to the unique needs of each trainee, and I aim to forge mentorship bonds that last a lifetime.
Each member of my lab works on their own project, where intellectual ownership, commitment, engagement, hard work, and professionalism are all key. I work together with my trainees to choose the main questions they would like to pursue. We then design the studies together. Our lab works across multiple subjects and technical approaches, and no person can be an expert in everything. Thus, projects move forward in collaboration, with lab members expected to help and mentor each other.