“I can be near the people I care about most”  

Lexi, you work in Lafayette Indiana, but you live in Austin Texas, which is not around the corner. Can you tell us how you manage it?  

Of course! In 2023, I decided to move back to Austin – where I grew up – to be closer to my family and finacé. With lots of help from my manager and many other great people at Tippecanoe, we were able to find a way to make remote work feasible. This really would not have been possible without all the support from my team on-site. 

I’m really lucky to be part of a group that has been willing to work with me to find a balance between what I needed in my personal life and professional life. This situation is really the best of both worlds for me at this time in my life and career, where I can be near the people I care about most and at the same time continue to gain valuable experience at Evonik.  

I transitioned from working as a plant engineer supporting one of our established small molecule manufacturing buildings to supporting the Lipid Innovation Center. So, most of my work as a plant engineer for now is paperwork: commissioning and qualification, change controls, SAP GUI initiatives. Since COVID, almost all the meetings I need to attend already have the option to join via Teams, so staying involved has been easy. 

Are you working on a project right now?

The scope of my current work in the Lipid Innovation Center is the construction and mechanical completion of a new commercial-scale lipid facility. I am reliability lead and part of the plant engineering team. We’re focused on the management and care of process equipment, instrumentation, and other mechanical systems for the new building. Our top priority is to ensure that everything is working as intended to meet our high quality and safety standards.  

As reliability lead, I am working with a team of Evonik employees and contractors to generate and execute comprehensive preventative maintenance plans for the new facility. A good preventative maintenance plan will extend the life of the equipment it’s tied to. By investing in regular maintenance, we can avoid more expensive, invasive, and unplanned fixes in the future.  

What makes the work you do so important and valuable for society outside of Evonik?  

I believe that the work we do at Tippecanoe is something to be proud of! Making pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical components helps people and improves lives. It’s important to me to be able to work on products or processes with a net positive impact. 

The production of lipids for mRNA delivery mechanisms will increase vaccine preparedness and support other ongoing innovations in epidemiology and biotech spaces, and I’m happy to be able to support it. 

Improved preparedness can lead to greater public confidence and, simultaneously, enhance the company's ability to produce and deliver vaccines effectively and safely.