Michele Pollio

As a senior laboratory planner, Michele is full of surprises. She thinks of her job not only as providing solutions to meet clients’ needs, but also “solutions they never would have imagined.” It’s part of the reason she enjoys designing teaching labs, ticking off the ways she can surprise and delight: making labs attractive to students who might not otherwise take a science class and rethinking assumptions to make spaces more inclusive. Michele’s career path surprised her. When fate led her to design science and technology projects, “I found myself fascinated by what the scientists do,” Michele recalls. “Every project is an opportunity to learn something new and exciting. I geek out on the technical aspects of lab design, but I also swoon over sublime details.” Michele also gets a little swoony over her Philadelphia home, where she enjoys hiking, cycling and even swimming in the Schuylkill River.