Lauren Eaton is a designer who began her career focused on custom, high-end homes, with an emphasis on classicism. Transitioning into lab space planning and design, she held close those roots, introducing concepts such as proportion and natural light. As private and institutional sectors deal with an inventory of dark, outdated windowless labs, she focuses on how to make labs beautiful and inspirational places for scientists to work. Her solutions involve opening up visibility and natural light, materiality changes, sustainable strategies and flexible designs to change over time. She thinks it is important—where possible and safe—to engage passers-by in the lab’s work with a goal of inspiring young people to explore STEM fields. She understands the value of pleasant working environments to attract and retain potential researchers, as well as donors. She likes to introduce color on everything from walls to fume hoods to casework and give users choices they never had before. Her parents taught her the importance of getting involved. “...to be part of something bigger is what brings me to work every day.”

• Bachelor of Architecture, University of Notre Dame

“Some people in these older labs spend 15 hours a day in there and have no idea of the time of day, if it’s raining or the sun is shining. That takes an emotional toll. I want to create environments where people feel at ease.”