Helping Universities Train PhDs & Researchers For A Better Return on Education
We offer specialized training programs and strategic consulting that serves your entire academic institution.
What happens when scientists try to enter (or partner with) industry, without proper preparation?
Rejection. Confusion. Frustration.
Not because they lack expertise, but because they don't understand the rules of the game.
"We have a number of PhDs on the team, but they just don’t understand what we need from them. We need results, not endless analysis. We don’t hire many PhDs anymore." — R&D manager in the medical industry
TurningScience was founded to solve this problem.
After 25 years working in industry—hiring, managing, and mentoring countless PhDs—Dr. David Giltner identified the critical gap in how scientists are prepared for careers beyond academia.
Universities excel at developing research expertise. But they struggle to equip graduates with the practical skills needed for industry success.
We bridge this gap with specialized training and consulting.
Our Values
Practical
We deliver frameworks refined through decades of lived experience, hiring and managing scientists in business settings. Meant to be instantly implemented.
Adaptive
Scientists don't need to become different people to succeed in industry. They need to translate their existing skills into language business folks understand.
Evidence-Based
Our methods come from analyzing 1,000s of successful and unsuccessful industry transitions, identifying exactly what works and what doesn't.
Measurable
We strive to deliver quantifiable outcomes: improved job placement rates, increased industry funding, and stronger corporate partnerships.
Transformational
We believe in creating long-lasting, transformational relationships between academia and industry that benefit both worlds, not just one-time transactions.
Impactful
We're educators at heart, always committed to delivering information in ways that transform understanding and create lasting impact.
Our Unique Approach
What distinguishes TurningScience is lived experience on both sides of the academia-industry divide.
Academic career services lack industry experience. Business consultants lack scientific backgrounds. We understand both worlds intimately.
Our workshops provide concrete tools:
The "Game Not A Formula" Framework
The psychological shift from seeking perfect answers to making effective decisions
Research Translation Tools
Practical methods for communicating complex scientific work in business language
Industry Partnership Architecture
Structured approaches to building corporate collaborations
We understand what's at stake for your institution: maximizing the return on your investment in research training, securing valuable funding partnerships, and ensuring your graduates get hired for roles they’re actually qualified for.
Dr. David Giltner
David delivers specialized workshops and training programs that help PhDs, postdocs, and faculty transform scientific expertise into industry impact. Author of 3 books and holder of 7 patents, David has taught over 2,500 researchers successfully bridge the academia-industry gap.
Dr. David Giltner's Story
When David completed his Physics PhD, he faced a critical choice: pursue the increasingly scarce academic positions or venture into the unknown territory of industry.
With no roadmap and little guidance, he chose industry—and discovered a troubling truth.
His academic credentials impressed no one. His technical brilliance didn't translate to job offers. The rules of success were entirely different than what he'd learned.
Through painful trial and error, David eventually built a 25-year career developing cutting-edge laser technologies for optical communications, remote sensing, and directed energy applications. He earned 7 patents and led multi-million dollar projects.
But the revelation came when he started hiring other PhDs.
Meeting candidate after candidate with the same fundamental misunderstanding of business environments, David recognized a systemic problem: brilliant scientists trained in a system that didn't prepare them for where 90% would actually work.
This wasn't just a career issue—it was a massive economic inefficiency. Universities were investing millions training researchers who couldn't effectively transition to industry. Companies were missing out on incredible talent because scientists couldn't communicate their value.
David developed the "It's A Game, Not A Formula" framework to solve this exact problem. It addresses the psychological shift scientists need to make: moving from seeking perfect answers to making effective decisions with incomplete information.
This framework has now transformed thousands of scientific careers across four continents and helped over sixty of universities improve their industry partnerships and graduate student outcomes.
Bridging scientific excellence and business impact with proven leadership experience.
Transformative training programs consistently delivered at premier institutions across continents.
Empowering researchers to thrive in industry with practical career frameworks.
Trusted globally to bridge the academia-industry gap for measurable success.