{"id":1182,"date":"2021-08-18T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/?p=1182"},"modified":"2026-03-23T17:27:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T17:27:01","slug":"alumni-spotlight-james-rebenski","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/news\/alumni-spotlight-james-rebenski\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumni Spotlight: James Rebenski"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

James Rebenski graduated from NC State in 2016 with a B.S. in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology. He then went on to earn a Master\u2019s of Microbial Biotechnology (MMB) in 2018. Since his time at NC State, James has had a successful career in communications at Galaxy Diagnostics, Inc<\/a>. He is currently the Communications Manager at Galaxy Diagnostics, where he runs sales and marketing for the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We reached out to James to find out about his experiences since graduating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any news to share about your career or life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“My company, Galaxy Diagnostics, is going through an exciting growth phase right now with new tests for vector-borne disease being released every few months. These tests are especially important right now with it being tick season.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you enjoy most about your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Even though my main role is in marketing and inside sales, I get to wear a lot of different hats since Galaxy is such a small company. Some days I may be booked on calls talking to different customers about our services and other days I get to spend my time writing content for our marketing collateral, website, etc.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you consider to be your biggest accomplishment in your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our lab and office moved to a new location in the height of the pandemic (April 2020). I was very proud of playing a large role in making sure our customers were updated and our customer facing documents were ready to go to make the transition as smooth as possible.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you miss most about NC State?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Seeing classmates and having access to the amenities (Gym, library, etc).”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have any advice for current MMB students?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Network as much as possible.<\/em> It may seem awkward, but it could give you your best opportunity for a job shortly following graduation. I applied to over 50 jobs, and the first one I got (which I am still at now) was because of the connection I made with the CEO during my masters program.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you do for fun?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I enjoy spending time outdoors at the beach or hiking with my dog. Also, during COVID-19 quarantine I acquainted myself with gardening during my spare time. I currently have a small, yet thriving, tomato and pepper plant box in my backyard.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there anything else you would like to share with us?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was recently promoted to communications manager at Galaxy Diagnostics. I am looking forward to furthering Galaxy’s mission of educating patients, healthcare providers, and researchers on the role of subclinical vector-borne infections in chronic diseases.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James Rebenski graduated from NC State in 2016 with a B.S. degree in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology. He then went on to earn a Master’s of Microbial Biotechnology in 2018. Check out what James has been up to since he graduated!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,26,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-newswire","category-people"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1182"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2301,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1182\/revisions\/2301"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/units.cals.ncsu.edu\/master-of-microbial-biotechnology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}