After nine straight years of post-secondary education, PhD student Philip Britz-McKibbin
will mark the end of his academic journey at this month’s Fall Congregation
and embark on a journey of a different sort — through the wilds of South America.
“I plan on spending the millennium in the Amazon,” laughs the affable 27-year-old
chemistry researcher.
With no definite plans as to what he will do once he arrives in South America
next month or even where he may stay except for a vague reference to “distant
family in Brazil,” Britz-McKibbin sees the trip as his own version of a “practical
post-doctorate program.”
“In some ways it is kind of hard to step out from academia and all the expectations
that once you get your doctorate you should go on to a post-doc or into industry,”
he says. “But it’s necessary that I take a break and reflect on what I want
to do with my life.”
In many ways Britz-McKibbin’s upcoming adventure should come as no surprise
to those who know him well. The young man who recently completed his thesis
on “Designing separation systems in capillary electrophoresis based on fundamental
physiochemical properties of analytes,” is the same individual who lists among
his interests languages, world music, mythology, poetry, philosophy, martial
arts, sunrises and sunsets.
“There is a lot to life,” says Britz-McKibbin, who has always tried to maintain
a balance between the classroom and the world outside. “There are other ways
to learn besides school and travelling allows you to see life as it really is
in the world.”
Already fluent in French and proficient in German and Spanish, he is currently
brushing up on his Portuguese for the trip. And although he’s unsure what he
will do on his sojourn south, Britz-McKibbin knows that he will return to the
world of academia at some point.
“I love to teach,” he says, admitting that he will likely return to teach
at either the university or college level. And that passion for teaching manifests
itself beyond the classroom and chemistry lab — he instructs a yoga class twice
weekly for graduate students at UBC.
Britz-McKibbin says he got into yoga and meditation as an undergraduate student
at the University of Toronto and immediately embraced the philosophy of searching
for “self-understanding through contemplation.” Not only does it provide balance
in his busy life but he firmly believes that it has also helped in his approach
to research.
“I like the discovery process and being open to unusual phenomena and being
humble enough to know you don’t know everything,” he says. “Science is not wholly
a rational thing.”
His UBC doctoral research supervisor can vouch for his creativity.
“He is very creative in designing experiments,” says Chemistry Assoc. Prof.
David Chen. “Philip has the ability to relate the different things he does and
put them together and make sense of them.”
Chen relates how he and Britz-McKibbin were able to change focus during the
course of their research from studying how molecules migrate to actually being
able to control their migration through electric charges. Their research has
applications in biomedical research, and environmental and pharmaceutical analyses.
For Britz-McKibbin, who was attracted to UBC because of its strong reputation
for research, Chen’s encouragement and support throughout the past five years
has been invaluable.
“Working with David has been great,” he says. “He gave me a lot of freedom
to explore and really encouraged me to write and attend conferences and symposiums.”
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