Rachel Jones is organized, detailed and deliberate—traits that make her a good fit in her new role as a planning and financial controls specialist (PFCS) for the Nuclear Science User Facilities (NSUF).

Jones started in October supporting NSUF by monitoring and tracking the funding and costs of projects with budgets ranging from $50,000 to $2.5 million. She also will support the development, implementation and schedule of nuclear energy research projects awarded by the program, including nuclear fuels and materials experiments. 

“I’m a very structured person and I enjoy the structure that comes with planning and monitoring these projects,” Jones said. 

She replaces Travis Howell, who worked as a PFCS for three years. He’s transitioning to a position as an Irradiation Experiment Project manager. Howell said he will continue to support NSUF by managing awarded Consolidated Innovative Nuclear Research irradiations at the Advanced Test Reactor. 

Jones previously worked for almost three years at the Naval Reactors Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory Site as a planning engineer who did scheduling and costs for a demolition project at the facility. Before that, she worked in scheduling at a nuclear power plant in South Carolina. 

Jones said she’s excited about her new role with NSUF because she will work more directly with projects and learn more about the different experiments conducted by users and the varying facilities that are part of the projects. At first, the analytical part of her career was challenging, but now Jones appreciates learning new skills.

“I enjoy having to track something down and figure out what is going on so I can provide the data accurately for the project team,” she said.

Jones is an advocate for nuclear energy and is proud to help advance research and public acceptance.

“It’s cool to be able to be close to something like this,” she said about advances in nuclear energy. “This is something that is actually going to impact people in a huge way even if they don’t realize it. A lot of people care about the environment but not too many get the opportunity to be a part of the solutions being developed.”