interview with a CFN staff member January 19, 2021 Essala Lowe outside Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials, where she is the assistant director of operations. In May 2020, Essala Lowe joined the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (CFN)—a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven National Laboratory—as the assistant director of operations. In this leadership role, Lowe is responsible for overseeing day-to-day administrative and operational functions, ensuring the efficient, effective, and safe operations essential to CFN success. Lowe, a trained microbiologist, brings nearly two decades of experience in research administration, environmental health and safety regulatory compliance, and science operations at various academic and nonprofit institutions. She earned a master’s in public administration (MPA) with a concentration in nonprofit organizational leadership from Norwich University and a bachelor’s in psychology with a minor in biology and a postbaccalaureate certificate in environmental management from the University of Maryland.