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 “It was the job no one wanted, but I took it up and actually ended up really liking it.”
Brittany Armstrong leveraged her safety background as a Chemistry graduate student at UC Davis into a new career as a lab safety specialist at Princeton University, and she wants other students to know that they can do the same.
Brittany studied organic reaction methodology and mechanistic studies in the Franz Lab, working with a large variety of chemicals and processes. As a result of her research, she became familiar with many different safety issues. She was eventually assigned as the designated safety officer for her lab. "It was the job no one wanted," Brittany remarked laughing. “But I took it up and actually ended up really liking it.”
As part of that job, Brittany participated in the Chemistry Standard Operating Procedure task force and on the departmental safety committee. She also completed a chemical hygiene internship with campus Chemical Hygiene Officer, Chris Jakober, and shadowed experts in biosafety, industrial hygiene and radiation safety - to get more of a feel for the career possibilities in safety.
Chemistry Safety Officer Debbie Decker, suggested that Brittany present at the American Chemical Society’s Division of Chemical Health and Safety (DCHAS) meeting. Coming from a data-driven scientific background, Brittany decided that she needed data as the foundation for her talk. This led her to create a survey measuring researchers’ perception of safety, specifically in relation to the safety measures stemming from the settlement agreement that resulted from the death of Sheri Sangji at UCLA.
The Director of EH&S for Princeton, Robin Izzo, was in the audience for Brittany's presentation. Izzo approached Brittany after her talk, encouraging her to apply for what's now her current position at Princeton.
Brittany loves the fact that she works with many different types of people on a day-to-day basis, including professors, grad students, undergrads, and facilities workers. She likes making safety something people think about often, and separating safety from a tedious checklist.
Brittany's advice for others interested in a safety career is to, “keep an eye out for opportunities, and don’t be afraid to reach out and introduce yourself.”
If you are interested in a chemical hygiene internship, please reach out to chem-safety@ucdavis.edu
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