Women's History Month Profile: Marisa (Arnold) Stuart

Marisa (Arnold) Stuart supervises the Structural Materials Team within the Materials Engineering and Manufacturing directorate of NETL’s Research & Innovation Center.

Since graduating from Western Oregon University with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry, Marisa has completed nearly 19 years of service at the NETL site in Albany, Oregon. In her role at NETL, Marisa serves as the chief point of contact and primary advocate for the Structural Materials Team.

Marisa is responsible for carrying out supervisory/managerial duties and providing the leadership and direction to meet the mission, goals and objectives of Materials Engineering and Manufacturing and the U.S. Department of Energy. She also serves as the project manager for field work proposals for the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (Advanced Alloy Development and eXtremeMAT) and 11 other reimbursable projects.

Her NETL career has included multiple accomplishments and exceptional work in various leadership roles. She attributes many of her successes to lessons learned from valuable mentors she met as a junior scientist.

Who were some of the mentors who supported or influenced you the most?

I was fortunate to have some incredible mentors early in my career. From day one, Dale Govier (a former colleague) inspired me to build a solid foundation as it pertains to work ethic, confidence and the tact to ask a multitude of questions if that’s what it takes to understand or learn something new.

One of my most influential mentors was Cindy Powell (former executive director for the Office of Research and Development), a strong, competent woman in a leadership role who taught me self-reliance, confidence and the skills to communicate and lead a team.

Cindy shared with me her professional and personal experiences as both a strong leader in the professional world and a mother in the personal world. She provided me advice, words of encouragement and empathy along the way, and I was able to gain important networking and career-building opportunities. 

Such mentoring relationships foster empowerment for the next generation of women to pursue and succeed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

Women need to support other women, build confidence and propel each other to become future leaders and reach their fullest potential on a personal and professional level. I don’t think I would have climbed so quickly in my career, from a GS-4 laboratory analyst to a GS-15 supervisor, without the support, inspiration and encouragement I received.

Marisa (Arnold) Stuart