Diana Spencer, Ph.D., is the George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Research and the Biotechnology Co-Coordinator at Tulsa Community College (TCC) in Oklahoma.  Diana serves as coPI on the NSF IUSE grant Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI): Creating a Culture of Change.  Diana has served as principal investigator for the NSF Advanced Technology Education grantStimulating Enthusiasm, Exploration and Discovery Through Biotechnology Education (SEEDBEd), and the National Institutes of Health grant Medicines, Explorations and Discoveries in Biotechnology Education (MEDBEd), and an Oklahoma State Regents of Higher Education economic development grant.  Additionally, Dr. Spencer serves as the Oklahoma INBRE Community College Lead Coordinator and as coPI on an NSF SSTEM grant.  These grants have totaled more than $1M to the region.  Dr. Diana Spencer earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Education from the University of Houston/ Clear Lake.  Diana obtained her Masters of Science Degree from the University of Tulsa and her Doctorate of Philosophy in Biosciences from Oklahoma State University in 2004.  Diana was awarded the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association College Teacher of the Year in 2011 and the Tulsa Community College Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence in 2012.  Recently, Diana was selected as a National CUR Biology Councilor, and she was awarded the OKBIO Community Recognition Award in 2014.  Diana’s research interests include quantification of cellular transcripts, DNA barcoding and bacterial ribosome genes.