Taking part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery is something Marine Corps veteran George Maltez will never forget.

“When you go to war, you don’t know if you’ll come back, and no one wants to be forgotten,” said Maltez, who served 10 years in the Marines and is now pursuing an accounting degree at The University of Texas at Arlington. “It’s a great concept to know they’re always remembered and honored.”

For more than three decades, Dr. Jennifer Rood has been a driving force at Pennington Biomedical, building a career defined by scientific rigor, leadership and impact. Since joining the Center in 1993, she has served in a range of leadership roles, most recently as Associate Executive Director for Cores and Resources, where she oversees the critical infrastructure supporting the Center’s basic, clinical and population research.

Over the years, she has led several of these core functions herself – including the Clinical Chemistry, Exercise Testing and Mass Spectrometry cores—advancing the specialized expertise and technologies that power the Center’s discoveries. Her work also extends beyond the lab as co-director of the Center for Military Performance and Resilience, where her Department of Defense-funded research focuses on nutrition, metabolism and human physiology to enhance performance and readiness.

Now, as senior vice chancellor and interim executive director, Dr. Rood is helping lead Pennington Biomedical through an important period of transition – focused on supporting its people, strengthening collaboration and continuing the momentum of research that improves health in Louisiana and around the world.

Labeled glass containers full of liquids stirred by spinning magnets are connected to humming machines with neatly organized tubes. Here in this lab space at the Idaho National Laboratory, scientists are pioneering ways to extract critical materials from recycled waste products.