Jeanne Jackson DeVoe

May 22, 2025

Title & Department: Database Administrator, Information Technology  

Year started at PPPL: 2018

Priya Durairaj describes the work of information technology (IT) staff at the ​​U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) as “solution providers,” and, in a sense, it’s a more apt job description than Durairaj’s actual title of database administrator.

“I think of IT as providing support throughout the Lab,” she said.

Durairaj was a team of one when she first joined PPPL to support a business system that provided accounting, procurement, inventory control, asset management and budget modules. She also oversaw several other legacy in-house applications and databases, such as the work planning system and the computer-aided design and drafting (CADD) database, which involved constant updates. “I took it as an opportunity to learn,” Durairaj said.

She recently worked with a large team to implement a new, cloud-based business management system: Oracle Cloud. She played a key role in supporting the conversion of the data held in Great Plains software to the Oracle Cloud system. The upgrade to Oracle Cloud was lauded by DOE officials in the most recent Performance Evaluation and Measurement Plan.

Durairaj has also designed and developed new web applications. When PPPL staff were returning to the office after primarily working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, Durairaj developed a questionnaire form and database to track staff schedules and working locations. She also worked with Danny Ascione, deputy chief information officer, to develop a web application for an ethics questionnaire that staff must fill out annually. The application automates the workflow of approvals and reports instead of using a PDF. The two won an employee SPOT Award for their work on the project.

“Even though I came as a database administrator, I was also given the opportunity to engage in other areas as well to develop new skills,” she said.
 

Administers employee training databases

As the only database administrator for IT, Durairaj maintains all the databases for operations. She oversees training data that tracks required employee training, a complex and crucial set of information at a national laboratory where highly technical jobs require a great deal of safety and technical training. Durairaj develops and maintains the interfaces between web applications for the business, documents management and business travel systems and manages data transfers from Princeton University to PPPL. She is also IT’s primary support for Concur, the travel management system used to record, approve and track all business travel at PPPL.

Durairaj was born in India and moved with her family to Edison, New Jersey, when she was 10. She earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s in information systems from the New Jersey Institute of Technology. 

Durairaj has worked for various companies during her more than 20-year career. She was an intern at NJ TRANSIT as an undergraduate. She went on to work for Gillespie Advertising (now the Gillespie Group), an advertising company then located in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where she designed and implemented new databases that recorded and analyzed the results of client advertising. 

For several years, Durairaj was a consultant in New York. She worked for Future Information Research Management, a professional consulting company. While working with FTI Consulting, a company that analyzed database information to support attorneys, she helped process large amounts of data for legal cases. 

Durairaj worked on and off for four years for SPEX CertiPrep Inc., part of Fisher Scientific in Metuchen, New Jersey. The company manufactures equipment reference materials and equipment for spectroscopy and chromatography. In that role, she supported all of the company’s IT needs, including requisitions, payroll and accounting. 

Durairaj and her husband, Chirag, a network architect, and their daughter, Jaya, 17, live in Princeton, New Jersey. Their son, Shyam, 20, is a student at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.
 

An advocate for people with disabilities

Durairaj took a few years off when Jaya, who has cerebral palsy, was born, and again when she was in elementary school. Her experience with her daughter has made her a passionate advocate for people with disabilities. Durairaj said she admires the persistence of her daughter, who uses a wheelchair, in doing tasks that others take for granted. “She’s such a delight. She’s always smiling, laughing and very engaged,” Durairaj said. “It’s very inspiring.”  

Durairaj and Jaya regularly participate in the Children’s Specialized Hospital Foundation Walk n’ Roll fundraising event. Durairaj previously served as a board member of The Need2Read Program Inc. and on the board of her daughter’s school, Bright Beginnings Learning Center.
 

Describe your job 

“I manage database systems and the flow of the data between different applications to support our operations. I make sure that everything runs smoothly between systems. I also develop and support in-house applications.”
 

Three things about yourself

1. “I’ve always been afraid of dogs most of my life, but now we have a goldendoodle named Riley, and I love her! She is super playful and loving. It’s funny how things change.”
    
2. “I learned Bharatanatyam, an Indian classical dance form, from childhood through college, and I now really enjoy attending performances. It’s a passion that has stayed with me.”
    
3. “I enjoy traveling. My husband and I traveled to Spain and Paris with my son and daughter for my daughter’s 16th birthday.”
    

What does safety mean to you? 

“I think we’re all so fast-paced right now. We need to stop and think, ‘OK, am I doing this correctly? Am I being safe?’ You have to take it seriously. It’s part of everyone’s job.”
 

What does working at PPPL mean to you? 

“I personally feel like fusion energy is a great way to give back to the world. I’m a small part of that, and that gives me a great sense of pride. One day, this is going to happen, and it’s going to help everyone. It’s going to be clean energy. There are people around the world in some places that don’t even have electricity, and this is going to be huge.”