Safety Spotlight: Teddy Prompichai & Joshua Miller

When asked how they divide work between themselves, Miller laughed and said, “The first person to get there.” The two use a central listserv, where all facility requests from the building’s occupants go. From there they work on or delegate requests to administrative teams, lab teams, or building teams. Prompichai began, “Most of the issues can be picked up and resolved by the appropriate persons. And then for things that require finer orchestration, either one of us will self-identify as taking the lead, or one of us will pull in the other and say, hey —”

 “I need help,” Miller chimed in.

Prompichai said that he’s  “a firm believer in cross-training,” and his goal is for Miller to be familiar with all the aspects of work in his own field, and vice versa. Prompichai emphasized that they don’t “offload work onto each other unnecessarily,” but by cross-training they build in resiliency and flexibility in their work. “I know where my weaknesses are and often seek out resources internally within the department.”

Miller emphasized that “it's vital” to be in “constant communication” to do their jobs effectively. He verbalized that throughout the day, they are either talking to each other in person or on Google Chat. Prompichai proudly added that when he forwards a request to Miller, because of their continuous contact, Miller usually responds within the hour.

Without frequent communication, Miller said inefficiencies would quickly pile up, and requests would inevitably get dropped. “If we get a new piece of equipment, I need facilities there to support . . . and I need Teddy to help me do that.” Miller elaborated, “There's not such a clear division between the lab and the building. We need to work together to make it all happen.” 

Prompichai seconded Miller’s comment. “I need my lab guy to explain to me what the intention of this equipment is.” He added, “There should always be some sort of communication between an individual manager directly involved with the lab and an individual directly involved with the facilities.”

Prompichai recognized that Miller being “a very flexible, capable, competent individual who cares,” is a huge help in their ability to collaborate. They each have areas in which they specialize in. For example, Miller is currently taking the lead on all centrifuge requests. If Prompichai receives a centrifuge request first, he lets whoever contacted him know that he has an answer, but if they want the most up-to-date and substantive response, they should contact Miller.

“I think we're both dedicated to the job,” Miller said. He noted that his role had been unfilled for a year, so Prompichai had to shoulder a lot of responsibility before he started. “I've been trying to do my best to offload some of Teddy's burden,” he said.  The two make a good team because they “both care and both want the best for the building.”

When asked about their shared career accomplishments, they expressed pride in being approachable to scientists, optimizing space, and developing the IGI’s own lab alert system.

To stay approachable to the 400 scientists in the IGI, Prompichai, and Miller have organized quarterly safety meetings with lab managers. “People know who we are and what we can offer them.” He added that the meetings help the scientists “feel more comfortable coming to us at a later time.” 

Regarding space, Prompichai mentioned that at the IGI you can suddenly get a large influx of people coming in due to a brand new multi-million dollar grant.

“This building is at capacity,” Miller said. “Everybody wants more. They're bursting at the seams. They want to hire more people. It's great. They're growing and they have the funds to do so, but we don't have the footprint to allow it.” Some of Miller and Prompichai’s best accomplishments come from reaching compromises with labs, resulting in reorganizing and sharing some of the equipment in the IGI.  “We've added two BSCs (Biosafety Cabinets) to the Women in Enterprising Science (WIES) Lab. I have plans to add two more on the second floor. We're constantly moving equipment around,” Miller said.

A recent accomplishment they are particularly proud of is creating the IGI lab alert system. One of Miller’s first ideas to improve the IGI was to develop a lab alert feature for cold storage units in the building. If there’s any issue with their temperature or power source, Miller wanted himself, Prompichai, and the scientists to know immediately. 

This involved working with IT to set up firewalls and the physical installation of cables throughout the building’s walls to track the status of the units. Prompichai initially thought the installation process would be fairly simple, but they were quickly met with both physical and technical difficulties. 

“It was a nightmare,” Miller said. “Installing them [cables] in the units is hard because you have to defrost to minus 80, run a physical probe, and then connect it to the gateway.” He explained that on the software side, there was a ton of “interference from all the other things happening,” and initially their readings weren’t reliable. The program took eight months to finish. 

They both expressed their gratitude for their department’s IT team, and mentioned that IT was indispensable in creating the IGI lab alert system infrastructure. 

Prompichai explained that with the new infrastructure he, Miller, and the scientists “can identify the most critical units, and receive alerts when they go down.” He added, “It's a huge accomplishment, I would hope that all labs have some form of monitoring, but they don't.” Now that a scientist can reach out and easily “set up lab alert devices on their cold storage units,” or use lab alert for any other instruments they want within the lab alert ecosystem. 

When asked how they manage the stress of their jobs, Prompichai recalled a time before the lab alert system when the building's chillers failed.

“When something's not working, their [scientists] anxiety peaks. And our job is to be able to receive that anxiety and then consult and reassure them.” Prompichai stated that this is important even if they don’t always have an immediate response. He also emphasized that during these times of crisis, teamwork is essential. “Josh is able to see things that I can't see. And address things that I can't address or can't even conceive of.”

Prompichai said that when they can solve these crucial problems, they feel like heroes to the scientists. Miller agreed.

However, even when everything runs smoothly, fully meeting the requests of all IGI scientists and external departments remains a challenge.

“I don't think I can feasibly keep everyone happy here,” Prompichai said. 

“That's a realization that we came to,” Miller added. 

That being said, they find the work incredibly satisfying. “There's something rewarding about not necessarily receiving all the accolades and being the one that publishes the paper, but being able to support that,” Miller said. “Sometimes on the way home I just feel fulfilled, like that was a good day. I was able to do all these great things to further the research of the institute.”

“The goal is really to ensure that you're able to come in and do your work effectively. Have a safe space to collaborate, move, grow . . . if we can achieve that I’m happy.” Prompichai said.

After discussing their work at the IGI, Prompichai and Miller shared what they liked most about working at UC Berkeley.

“I love being around scientists,” Miller said. He finds that the people in Berkeley are passionate, motivated, and intelligent.

Prompichai spoke in depth about how much he values the discussions at UC Berkeley. “I think what I like the most is, the diversity of not just the people themselves, but the perspectives and the experiences that they come to campus with.” He values how people at Berkeley are willing to share “their actual lived experiences,” even when they are sharing their thoughts about something he doesn’t personally agree with. He ultimately feels good that folks trust him to carry their concerns. “Amongst each and every organization, department or team, there are outstanding individuals therein, which make it a real joy to work on campus.”

Outside of work, Prompichai has a cat, takes care of over 100 houseplants, and keeps a nonprofit bike shop in South Berkeley. He has been volunteering at the bike shop for over 10 years and has been enjoying training new volunteers. If he were to gift someone a book, it would likely either be The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber, or Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The Dawn of Everything describes theories on the development of early human societies, criticizing some historical arguments of human development. Braiding Sweetgrass is a collection of essays, focusing on traditional ecological knowledge, the gift economy, and biology. Prompichai expressed pensively that Braiding Sweetgrass “reads like poetry,” and that when reading it during a camping trip he found it had a “very calming effect on him.”

Miller has a dog, enjoys snowboarding, golfing, and hiking. For more casual fun, he likes to play board games with his partner. Terraforming Mars is his favorite, and playing with the Venus expansion is a must. “There’s 50, 60, 70 different ways that you could win . . . it’s my escape! When I'm playing a board game, I don't think about anything else. It's all the game theory and winning.”

Before the holidays, it was requested that Prompichai and Miller add more plants to the IGI lobby. They recently formed a plant committee, and are looking forward to beautifying the space.

If you're interested in learning more about the Innovative Genomics Institute at UC Berkeley, visit the IGI website. 

If you would like to listen to the full interview, please reach out to us at ehs@berkeley.edu.