“I heard it from a number of people early on in my career and definitely needed the advice to stick with it. When you are working in service of a higher goal, all of the smaller tasks are important, regardless of subject matter.”
~ Michelle Krynock, Senior Life Cycle Analyst at the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Global CO2 Initiative Advisory Board Member.
Michelle serves as part of the life cycle analysis competency on the Energy Systems Analysis Team within the Strategic Systems Engineering Analysis directorate. Michelle has been performing life cycle analyses (LCAs) at the lab for nine years and has used LCA techniques for research, policy and regulatory support across numerous energy-related industries. She currently manages LCA projects in technological areas such as carbon conversion, carbon storage, critical minerals sustainability, and chemical production.
Can you explain how you started out in this field and also what keeps you here?
I stumbled into it after I finished my undergraduate degree. I needed a job, and I happened to find this one.
What keeps me there is that it’s very interesting and challenging. It’s at the forefront of a lot of environmental issues that I care about. I’ve never been bored in this role. So that’s why I stayed.
Have you ever received any particularly good advice?
I heard from a number of people early on in my career that it is important to stick with it. When you are working in service of a higher goal, all of the smaller tasks are important, regardless of subject matter. Even if the task you are working on today is not as exciting as you would like, there is bound to be another problem soon that will be more engaging.