Meet Michelle Rau

Can you tell us how the work you do is helping deliver critical solutions for our clients?

Our team is helping to rewrite how the space industry handles nuclear-enabled missions. We’re on the leading edge of figuring out how to create efficiencies using nuclear systems in space, which is becoming more and more critical as they’re trying to do these bigger missions. 

When I say we’re rewriting the book, I mean that literally — we wrote a handbook for NASA on the handling of nuclear materials in the NEPA process. It's a reapplication of resources, time and money, so they’re now able to reallocate that time and money into more critical components of a mission. 

You recently were named a co-recipient of NASA’s Blue Marble award, which honors excellence in environmental and energy management. Can you tell us more about that? 

I actually have the award on my desk! I was recognized as part of a team that helped find efficiencies in this system. Our work ensured environmental safety and compliance while resulting in considerable cost savings for NASA missions. 

I also earned the 2024 President’s Service Award through the National Association of Environmental Professionals for the work I’ve done to help support NEPA professionals, including serving as the chair of the education community where I was responsible for developing webinars and serving as a trainer for the Advanced NEPA workshops.

How can we work together to achieve environmental compliance? 

Environmental compliance gets a bad rap because it can take a lot of time if it’s not done effectively and appropriately. Clients are so used to the old way of doing things – they think they just have to accept that this process will take years. 

But my team comes in with a sense of empathy and a willingness to listen, which means we’re able to help these programs succeed – and even put the environmental assessment and environmental compliance processes in a good light. 

We work with so many different stakeholders, and even though everybody might want to work in the same direction, they might be talking past each other. Because everybody comes to these projects wanting to serve their own stakeholders, right? NASA is driven by the mission, but we also have to work with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is driven by safety. We also work with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, which is driven by the protection of endangered species – and we work under a National Historic Preservation Act, which means we also have to account for the preservation of historic resources. 

So it means taking the time to understand what motivates each one of those main stakeholders and being able to speak their language. And we have people in Jacobs with 20-30 years of experience doing this work – so our success is a matter of bringing the right person to the table, who has that background and expertise and can translate between our client and the regulator. 

What excites you about the future of how we tackle environmental compliance and assessments? 

We are living in a time of unprecedented change; “permit reform” is a topic hitting the front page of the news, on a nearly weekly basis. It is not just the space industry that needs people to keep track of the changes in environmental compliance requirements. At Jacobs, we’re encouraged to be thought leaders and are given the tools to stay on top of what’s happening with environmental regulations. This investment creates practitioners who are adept at solving problems, and we can help our clients when they feel the most vulnerable. The NEPA process particularly can be scary, because of the public engagement requirements; my team has the experience, the skill set, and a culture of caring that serves to navigate our clients through high-profile and complex situations.

Can you share one piece of advice you’ve learned through your work at Jacobs?

Learn how to say no. It takes confidence – not to mention years of experience in my field – but by now, I’m expert enough to know when to say, No.  For example, “No, we can accomplish this compliance work in less than a year, or No, we don’t have to spend time on issues of little consequence.” 

What’s the best part of your job?

I love space, and so I love getting to work at the forefront of space technology and being able to influence such huge programs. I love that we can take the unique skill set that Jacobs offers and apply that to these programs, and really affect change. That’s really motivating. 

When you’re not at work, what can we find you doing?

I love spending time with my husband (Brian) and son (Adam) reading science fiction novels, and spending time outdoors and in nature.