Nominated by Jennifer Schwartz |
During the October – December quarter of 2023, Tawni Mondragon (aka Tawni Voyles) has provided much of the mentorship for our newest employee, has managed a full load of lab safety evaluations, has worked on several resources for lab personnel, and has taken on and continued to develop the lab start-up process. Though everyone in Lab Safety and some in Biological Safety have been involved in training our new employee (Benjamin Chapman) on the laboratory safety evaluation process, I asked Tawni to take a lead in this because she is really good at the whole process. Specifically, Tawni is very good at keeping track of the various complex steps of conducting a lab safety evaluation, starting with the documentation review before the visit, and including meeting with the contact, writing up the findings, completing data entry afterwards, and finally reviewing and processing follow-up documents that the lab sends in response to our evaluation findings.
Tawni is also very warm and personable, and is good at establishing rapport with the lab safety contact she’s meeting with, addressing their questions and concerns before moving into specific questions she has for the lab and then looking through the lab. Because of her excellent process for the lab safety evaluations, she was the natural choice to take the lead in showing this process to Benjamin and he has, thanks go her guidance, developed a very thorough (yet warm) approach himself. In addition to showing Benjamin the lab safety evaluation process, Tawni managed a full load of lab safety evaluations during this time period, and managed several other projects, document reviews, and investigations. One that stands out is finalizing a new safety guideline for Acrylamide, a commonly used lab chemical, and getting that posted online. She has started work on another chemical safety guideline and a hazard alert, both of which will be finalized at some point in 2024. Tawni’s new resources are thoroughly researched, and the references are well-documented, so we will be able to look back if there are any questions about our recommendations.
Finally, Tawni also worked with Angie Vreugdenhil-Hayslette to learn the lab start-up process, which she took over early in the quarter. Tawni has continued to streamline the lab start-up process and I’m sure will continue to develop it as time goes on. In particular, she has brought her warm personality to the initial meetings with PIs and her thorough document review skills into the start-up realm. She provides a very thorough summary of the hazards expected in the new lab to the Lab Safety staff member who will do the startup walkthrough, simplifying that person’s preparation for the in-person visit. For her exceptional performance and contributions to the Occupational and Environmental Safety Office, Tawni was recently named Employee of the Year!
