A my Turns, ’08, environmental, health and safety engineer —developed a passion for lab safety from her professors and by accident.

Now putting her skills to use at Lincoln, Nebraska’s Zoetis, Inc.—the largest animal pharmaceutical manufacturer in the world—she learned the importance of lab safety when she was a sophomore taking inorganic chemistry. 

“In the lab, I threw every solution I didn’t need in a waste bottle,” she said. “I just figured, it’s okay. It's just a waste bottle. No, it wasn’t safe. I definitely learned this the quick way. When it started smoking, I could feel the heat from the exothermic reaction.”

That’s when Turns realized the importance of safety and chemistry.

“They’re not separate. Safety and chemistry are one of the same,” she said. “I carried that with me throughout the rest of my time at Georgia College and well into my career.”

Drs. Kenneth McGill and Catrena Lisse also made a significant impression on her. McGill was her advisor and research professor. And Lisse was her chemistry professor.

“Success is failing 99 times, but succeeding that one time,” she said. “Dr. McGill used to say that all the time. We would research something and then go down this little rabbit hole and realize, well, if that doesn't work, it’s OK. Let's start back over from either the beginning or from the point of failure.”

Turns drew from the energy and passion Lisse exuberantly displayed in the classroom. Lisse inspired her to realize women can go far in the science field. 

“We can rock it,” she said. “Dr. Lisse taught me there's strength in intelligence. That was a beautiful thing for me to learn as an 18, 19 and 20-year-old, growing up, trying to figure out my way in the world.”

Turns loved learning how women can flourish in a male-dominated field of chemistry. 

“Dr. Lisse pulled me aside and said, ‘The beauty about being a strong woman is you can literally do anything you want,’” Turns said. “My professors taught us, as women in this field, it's going to a be a hard, uphill battle, but we can do it with strength, dignity and grace.”

Turns belonged to the Women in Chemistry Alliance and the Chemistry Club. She also was a teaching assistant in the lab. Most of her time was spent in Herty Hall.

“I didn’t see my apartment very often,” Turns said. “I saw more of my research laboratory, but I loved it. That was life. I worked and breathed chemistry there. And I absolutely wouldn’t change it for anything.” 

Her first job was as a lab process chemist at Lincoln Industries, which she loved. Turns was in charge of laboratory safety for the metal finishing company.   

“The industrial manufacturing plant reminded me of why I got into chemistry,” she said. “The job was dirty, analytical and chemical-oriented.”

Although Turns loved the puzzle-piece and chemistry aspects of the job, she especially enjoyed championing safety. Since Turns was the only chemist on staff, she was the authority on chemical knowledge and interactions.

“It’s one thing to go in to work and say, ‘You need to wear safety glasses.’ It’s another thing to say, ‘there’s a reason for it,’” Turns said. “I broke it down for them on a chemical and biological level and also told them, because of that, these things will protect you. And if we can protect you from those things, it means you still get to go home to your family and live life.”

She saw how many other people were making similar mistakes to the one she had made at Georgia College—not being safe around chemicals. Turns was compelled to address the unsafe work practices with her colleagues.

“I get that,” she said. “Some people are unaware they need to take precautions, like wearing personal protective equipment and doing research on the chemicals involved and looking them up on the material safety data sheets.”

In December, Turns got her master's degree in industrial hygiene, which is the practice of safety for the occupational worker.

Today, Turns is the expert in charge of wastewater and air safety at Zoetis, Inc., She likes when her colleagues ask her for safety advice. 

“It's so fun getting people to understand why they can or can’t do something because of safety,” she said. “I've seen my colleagues get excited about safety too. I just love having that initiative and passion, and to be able to instill that in others is a great thing.”

A typical day in the office for Turns starts with safety meetings with her client group to go over any personal protective equipment issues, injuries or accidents.

“This helps keep safety in the forefront of the operator’s mind,” she said. “If we’ve had accidents or injuries, we’ll do an investigation including the area or personal assessments.”

Turns maintains safety of the company’s wastewater and air emissions. She makes sure the dust collectors are working to collect all of the active pharmaceutical ingredients.

“We want to be sure that we're capturing those, because a lot of those can be aquatic and human toxins,” she said. “The same goes for water emissions. If someone rinses a vial that has a toxin in it, we would contaminate our wastewater, because that will go out to the river.”

Her afternoons are spent checking in with employees to make sure they’re working safe in the mile-and-a-half long facility.

“A lot of times people won't necessarily come to me, but if I go to them, they’ll speak up about different safety concerns or ideas they have,” she said. “I treat those as learning experiences.”

After that, Turns meets with her colleague in charge of hazardous waste and director to apprise them of any safety issues.

Turns leads by example, just as her professors taught her.

“In chemistry, there's a certain level of respect that comes from it that I've gained from my time at Georgia College, and also in the field that it can be both beautiful, but dangerous,” she said. “I love getting people to understand the why behind working safe. That’s my favorite part of my job.”

Turns feels that the last 12 years in her career have been amazing. She’s grateful for the influence her professors had on her success.

“Sometimes there’s beauty that comes from failure,” Turns said. “It’s important to have an open-minded perspective where if you fail, get back up and try something new."