Nikki Humphreys wears many hats at Berkeley Lab but she’s best known as the Area Operations Deputy for the Biosciences Area. “I’m also the Operations Deputy for the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division,” or EGSB, and for the Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging Division (MBIB).
Barrelling toward her six-year anniversary at the Lab this September, Humphreys is no stranger to Berkeley and to challenges. Growing up in San Jose, she had “lofty dreams of becoming a lawyer.” Soon after graduating from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in American studies with a focus on business and economics, she gave birth to her son. Studying for law school entrance exams was put on hold as earning a living became the priority.
She worked for a real estate investment firm and as a police and fire dispatcher for the cities of Pinole and Hercules for several years. “I probably would have stuck around had they not had budget cuts, so I quit to avoid being laid off,” she said. “That’s how I started my UC career.”
Humphreys joined the University of California in 1998, and the Lab in 2018, about a year before an unplanned sitewide days-long power shutdown and two years before the COVID pandemic. Right now, she’s taking advantage of the Lab’s tuition reimbursement program to earn a master’s degree in business administration.
“This has been my journey. Overall, my time at UC and the Lab has been invaluable.”
– Nikki Humphreys
Q: Tell us about the different jobs you’ve had on your career journey, and what brought you to Berkeley Lab?
A: I started my career with UC Berkeley as an administrative assistant for five faculty members in what used to be the chemical engineering department. After about nine months, my supervisor left for another position within the College of Engineering, and I was hired into their position. A year after that I was hired into the department manager position. In five-and-a-half years, I held three different positions in a single department.
When the senior administrator for Paul Adams, who was the Lab’s Molecular Biophysics & Integrated Bioimaging Division director at the time, reached out to encourage me to apply for a position at the Lab I didn’t know anything about the Lab other than Paul worked there. I knew him from his adjunct faculty appointment in the UC Berkeley bioengineering department, where I was working as the department manager.
Initially, I didn’t apply. I looked at the job description and thought, I know nothing about this. There’s no way they’re going to hire me. But luckily I applied and I was hired.
Q: If you’ve had mentors during your career, either formal or informal, how have they shaped your career path?
A: I’ve had informal mentors and people who I recognized in hindsight as mentors. One of them is Harvey Blanch, who was the chair of UC’s chemical engineering department when I was on campus and a leader at JBEI (Joint BioEnergy Institute).
Harvey encouraged me throughout, nudging me and telling me that I had the skill set and the strengths to do it when I didn’t believe that I could. Years later, when I was working for UC Davis, I saw his car in the parking lot and left a little note to remind him of how important he was to me and my career. He has since retired, but I’ve had many other people like him in my journey who have been really helpful.
Here at the Lab, my current supervisor, Associate Laboratory Director for Biosciences Paul Adams, has certainly been a mentor. His style is very much like Harvey’s: He encourages, sees potential, and wants to give people the opportunity to participate in programs and activities that will build their careers and connections.
And you know, it makes me feel good and valued as an employee.
Q: What career setback or mistake have you experienced that you learned from or that helped your future success?
A: Before arriving at the Lab, I had a supervisor who I had a good working relationship with but I knew they were not being honest with others in the department. I had a real physical reaction to his dishonesty – I had chest pains and sometimes heart palpitations – but I felt I wasn’t in a position where I could speak up. Over time, I ended up leaving that position.
In some ways, it was a setback in my career, and maybe I could have progressed a bit faster. I’m not saying that I’m not happy with where I am, but the journey would have been different. And I learned never to let a person be a reason why I change jobs or change my journey.
In my current role, my current department, and all the people I work with I certainly don’t have any fears like that. In fact, sometimes I think I speak up too much. But this is definitely a place and an environment that I feel safe in.
Q: What’s the most important piece of career advice that you could relay to someone who is considering working at the Lab or perhaps is starting their career?
A: I find the Lab to be like a small community where you have the opportunity to make connections with and get to know a lot of people. I would recommend that people not silo or isolate themselves, because there is something to be gained by getting to know people in different areas or different divisions, across the Lab. And maybe, you know, that becomes your next step on your career journey.
A career at Berkeley Lab offers a range of opportunities supported by training, mentorship, and career development programs. Whether you choose to build a career at the Lab or take your skills to other organizations, a career path to and at the Lab sets you up for success.
