Laura Nielsen Lammers

Laura is an environmental geochemist who received her PhD at UC Berkeley in 2012. After a brief stint as a postdoc at Stanford and a year in industry, Laura returned to Cal in 2014 as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and Faculty Scientist at LBNL. Her group studies mineral-aqueous surface chemistry to help understand and ultimately control the transport of nutrients, contaminants, and carbon in natural and engineered systems.

What inspires you to work in STEM or operations?

I have always been a lover of the outdoors and curious about the environment. As a child I was an avid rock and mineral collector. Flash forward, I'm living the dream of growing crystals for my day job!

Working in STEM gives me the freedom to think creatively at work and make discoveries (however small) while at the same time contributing to the collective goal of a safe, sustainable, habitable planet Earth for my kids and for humankind.

What excites you about your work at Berkeley Lab?

Many have said this before me, but the team science atmosphere at the lab and the communal drive to work towards a better world make LBL an incredible place to work!

How can our country engage more women, girls, and members of other underrepresented groups in STEM or operations?

As a girl growing up in Texas, social pressure was a key factor that discouraged my classmates from taking the "hard" STEM classes. One way to encourage engagement is to make STEM cool, and I'm excited to see this starting to happen among the younger activist generations in school right now. Seeing role models really helps as well, so we need to work much, much harder to promote inclusive and family friendly workplaces.

Do you have tips you would recommend for someone looking to enter your field of work?

Follow your interests and don't be afraid to change course if something is not working for you. A key lesson I've learned along the way is that there are many different paths towards a fun and fulfilling career, so don't be afraid to step off the beaten track.

When you have free time, what are your hobbies?

Haha, free time! What a dream. I have a 4 year old, a 2 year old, and am expecting another baby any day now. I guess my kids are my "hobbies" for the foreseeable future. We build a lot of train sets.