Meet Michelle Lee BWXT Lynchburg Technologies Center Plant Manager

Although Michelle Lee has a chemistry degree, she has had at least three positions that at the time of her graduation did not exist.

 “Be flexible and available to opportunity even if it is not exactly what you planned. You may miss the perfect opportunity by keeping too narrow of a focus on your end goal,” she said.

 Now, she is a part the BWXT team that is working to send a rocket into cis-lunar space via a nuclear reactor and fuel.

 The BWXT Lynchburg Technologies Center Plant Manager grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee with her mom, dad and two older brothers and attended the Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences and played basketball, ran track and cross country, and performed ballet and dance throughout high school and middle school. She attended college at East Tennessee State University where she received a degree in chemistry with a minor in math.

 While she initially planned to go to pharmacy school, she later decided to pursue a chemistry degree then began working at BWXT’s Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) in Erwin, Tennessee.

 “At the time of my graduation, NFS was hiring large groups of entry level employees with one of the requirements being completion of one year of college chemistry,” she said. “Recognizing the opportunities at NFS, I viewed this position as an opportunity to get my foot in the door. It worked.”

 Lee wakes up around 4 a.m., packs lunches for her two children (who could pack it themselves, but she says it is one of her pleasures in life) and makes other preparations for the day. Then, she heads to the gym from 5 to 6 a.m. followed by an efficiently choreographed mad dash to get ready and head for work.