When Susan Sorum walks into the Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center each morning, she has a smile on her face as she looks forward to the challenges of the day ahead.

“No two days are the same,” Sorum explained. “They fly by quickly, and you are never bored.”

Sorum works closely with Center Director James Roemmich, Ph.D. as a consultant. She assists with marketing strategies, represents the Center to stakeholders and works on matters relating to the analysis of the Center’s pertinent processes. In other words, Sorum stays very busy.

Sorum felt it was a natural transition to return to the Center as a consultant after she retired. Sorum began her career at the Center and worked for the government for over 46 years. During that period, she also worked in another ARS facility for 17 years. Clearly, Sorum enjoys being part of the Center team.

“I have garnered a lot of institutional history as it relates to processes,” Sorum said. “I am able to jump in and help out the director, the administrative officer and others when they have issues that need that kind of information and advice.”

Sorum credits her motivation to the people at the Center.

“Over the years, I've had all kinds of opportunities to interact with individuals at the Center and help them not just solve a problem but also find ways to make their jobs easier,” Sorum said. “Helping people do what makes them happy in turn makes me happy. Those smiles have been my motivation, and it makes it such a pleasure to come to work each and every day.”

Sorum recommends involvement with the Center to all—either by participating in a study or through an exciting career. Both involve taking part in groundbreaking research.

“The studies are important,” Sorum noted. “The great part about government nutrition research is that it’s not driven by creating a product that makes money. They are really working on coming up with what can be done to stop obesity and the comorbidities that include cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis. It is good to be a part of that effort.”

According to Sorum, the day-to-day benefits at the Center are working alongside the staff, whom she says are “kind and thoughtful to work with,” and getting to use state-of-the-art equipment.

“I would highly recommend working at the Center,” Sorum said. “It is so much fun to be a part of important research—every employee, whatever their role is. Apart from that, the facilities are beautiful, and the equipment is second to none.”