Happy Holidays! 2016 Reflection

Published in

Agilent Careers

8 min readDec 22, 2016

Holiday cheer is in the air! Each year holds different experiences and provides us with different lessons. With all these ever changing factors, the one thing that remains consistent is our loved ones around us. The holidays are the perfect time to reflect and show appreciation. Christmas is a time of giving, but Agilent strives to live the spirit of giving all year round. To promote a strong work life balance, Agilent is proud to offer employees the flexibility and time off they need to spend quality time with their loved ones.

Agilent employees and their families enjoyed a SUPER holiday party this week!

We are truly grateful for everyone that plays a role in our company. Here are some of the things we were up to in 2016 and some amazing people who made a positive difference in our company this year…

Agilent Hope Schools

Project Hope is a global program which has been in existence for over 25 years, and encourages social efforts to help students in remote and poverty-stricken areas.

Pictured above is The Hope Primary School, located in a mountainous area in Sichuan Province, about 150 miles southwest of Chengdu. After a severe earthquake in 2008, the school was rebuilt with donations from Agilent China employees and the Agilent Technologies Foundation. We are extremely proud and grateful for our employees from our various China sites that have, and will continue to volunteer their time to help with Project Hope’s various programs every year.

The Canary Challenge

The Canary Challenge is an annual cycling event and 5km walk/run that starts and ends in Palo Alto, California. Twenty Agilent bicyclists, walkers and runners took part and raised more than $46,000 for cancer research, which included an Agilent grant as well as matching funds from the Agilent Technologies Foundation. Each year, participants fund raise to benefit early cancer detection research. Agilent took home the top prize for corporate fundraising. This event has a special place in many Agilent employees’ hearts, because so many of us have been affected by cancer in way way or another.

Thought Leader Awards

Our Thought Leader Award program promotes fundamental scientific advancements by contributing financial support, products and expertise to the research of influential thought leaders in the life sciences, diagnostics, and chemical analysis. These recipients are truly #InnovationDriven.

Rohit Bhargava

Rohit Bhargava of the University of Illinois Cancer Center received one of our Thought Leader Awards. His work has focused on the applications of spectroscopic imaging to biomedical sciences, especially on cancer biology and clinical applications by research case studies. Instruments developed in his laboratory have been used to provide new means to characterize and define cancer using chemical imaging.

Dr Scott W. Lowe

Dr. Lowe’s studies have contributed to the understanding of several important tumor suppressor genes, including p53, APC and PTEN. He has built numerous genetic screens and animal models that have played important roles in the identification and characterization of new drug targets, as well as in identifying vulnerabilities of cancer cells that might be susceptible to new therapies.

Dr. Shilin Chen

Dr. Chen is the Director at the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in Beijing. He was recognized for his work in the field of medicinal chemistry of natural products, associated with the determination of the active ingredient of traditional Chinese medicines. Dr. Chen has also pioneered the use of genomic approaches for identification of medicinal plant species.

Empowering Our Future

Future scientists and engineers had a blast at the Penang International Science Fair (PISF) with Agilent employees. The PISF is an event organized as part of the Penang Science Cluster’s mission of “Inspiring Innovation”, which focuses on developing young minds and exposing them to science and engineering through a unique, stimulating and innovative experience. PISF aligns with Agilent’s culture that is built on innovation and teamwork.

Family Science Day

About 125 employees and their families came out to the Agilent Carpinteria site’s inaugural family day this year and were treated to guided tours, lab demonstrations and hands-on activities.

The Central California site specializes in diagnostic solutions that help pathologists diagnose cancer and determine the most effective treatment plans. The facility is about 85 miles northwest of Los Angeles and has about 200 employees.

Agilent sites around the world have been holding Family Innovation Days and other events to encourage learning. By giving family members a chance to see what we do and how we do it, we hope to continue inspiring the scientists and engineers of tomorrow.

New Technology Center

The new 3,000 square-foot Technology Center in Folsom, California will be adjacent to Agilent’s existing facility and will house approximately 60 additional staff.

The new facility includes a state-of-the-art customer applications laboratory and collaboration space, as well as facilities for providing Agilent’s scientific consumables and supplies.

“This new facility expands Agilent’s capabilities for chromatography consumables and hardware, which are used in laboratories around the world and for critical health, safety and product quality decisions.” — Henrik Ancher-Jensen, Agilent president of Order Fulfillment and Supply Chain.

The new Folsom facility will particularly support Agilent’s Intuvo 9000 GC system and consumables products. With the introduction of the Intuvo 9000 GC, Agilent has transformed gas chromatography by improving ease of use, lowering cost of ownership and boosting lab productivity without compromising performance.

Society of Women Engineers Conference

Members of the Agilent Society of Women Engineers — SWE hosted an event at the Little Falls site in preparation for the #SWENational Conference in Philadelphia. The event featured presentations, a panel discussion, workshops, site tour and networking opportunities. The conference was a great opportunity for women engineers to find internships, jobs, and see what it’s like to be a part of the national SWE community.

Doing work that matters

Behind our global teams at Agilent are individual employees that propel us into success. We also had the opportunity to add great campus hires to our teams around the world in 2016. No matter where in the world an employee is located, everyone has a story. Meet some of our campus hires:

Meet Sophia — Malaysia

“I graduated from INTI International College Penang with a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting from the University of Wollongong, Australia. I have been with Agilent for a year and it is wonderful. Since the first day at work, my seniors have been very helpful and caring. If you are a new hire, don’t be nervous or afraid of managers and seniors. If you want to succeed and have a happy career here, you will need to be willing to learn, willing to be taught, to always challenge yourself to improve, be efficient, happy, positive and confident.”

Meet Greg — Canada

“I started my career at Agilent as a spectroscopy sales intern as part of my co-operative program at Concordia University. My onboarding process was exceptional and exposed me to a culture of excellence, openness, creativity, and diligence. My manager and his team truly inspired me with their knowledge and experience, both on the technical scientific aspects as well as through their sales and business acumen. It was an exciting and dynamic fast-paced environment.”

Meet Kayla — Australia

“I joined Agilent as a graduate in January 2015, less than one month after graduating from university with a degree in Chemistry. Within a year of starting as an Applications Chemist in Atomic Spectroscopy I travelled to China twice, visited customers, presented posters at a conference, conducted training and worked on projects in areas ranging from software evaluation to marketing. On my first day I never would have imagined doing so much in such a short time.”

To learn more about our employees, check out http://careers.agilent.com/employee-stories/

There’s no way we could fit all our exciting moments and great employees into one blog post, but Agilent thanks and appreciates every single person who played a part in making these great moments happen. 2016 has been a great year for our company and 2017 will only bring more excitement.

Take some time this holiday season to be also appreciative of those who are away from those they love, and those who sacrifice for our needs. May you be filled with a lot of fun and cheer and surrounded by those you love this Christmas, and the New Year bring happiness, health, and prosperity. Wherever you are in the world, and whoever you’re with, Agilent wishes you all a very happy holiday season!