Melanie Stewart sits down in her Durham Research Center office to talk about her job with a visitor when two maintenance men stop by.
Stewart excuses herself to step out and talk to the men.
When she returns, the visitor asks what the men wanted.
“Key cores that go into the door handles in the labs, they’re replacing some of them,” Stewart said.
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Melanie Stewart, the recipient of the Chancellor’s Gold ‘U’ for January, essentially serves in a landlord role for both Durham Research Center Towers. |
Such is life for Stewart, research resources manager for both Durham Research Center towers and recipient of the Chancellor’s Gold ‘U’ for January.
Stewart is basically a landlord for the towers. She is a liaison between researchers and maintenance staff.
Of course, typical landlords don’t help maintain super-charged freezers that reach temperatures of negative 140 degrees and other expensive research equipment.
Before she took her job in 2008, she worked as a research technologist in the laboratory of Tom Rosenquist, Ph.D., vice chancellor for research.
As such, she understands the needs of researchers and how to balance them with the abilities of the maintenance staff.
Stewart’s skills were on full display last year as she coordinated the move of more than 200 scientists into the Durham Research Center II.
“Melanie was the perfect person to coordinate … the move to DRCII, a monumental task involving labs from all over the UNMC campus,” one of her nominators wrote. “Her knowledge of research labs and equipment was invaluable. Her calm and pleasant demeanor through the whole process was very much appreciated.”
Stewart said the move was quite smooth and went off without major issues.
In fact, she said, major issues tend to sneak up on her.
Hours pass quietly, then something starts to leak and the day goes in a new direction.
But Stewart actually likes it that way.
“There’s no monotony to this job,” she said. “Every day is different. You never know what’s going to happen.”
A couple of years ago, we were tasked with starting a new lab from nothing on a minimal budget. I was put in contact with Melanie, and within two weeks she had alerted me to several "close-out sales" from labs that were moving, and we were able to equip our lab with more than the basic essentials for less than $500. Over the course of the next few months, she even made several follow-up calls to see it we needed anything else. Congratulations, Melanie. This is most deserved.