Iowa State University

Graduating with a BS in geology at the tail end of the early 80s oil glut and then getting my MS at the tail end of the mid 80s oil market crash, I was fortunate to have been recommended for an Oak Ridge Associated Universities fellowship with the US Dept. of Energy. I was assigned to the Project Management division at PETC (now part of NETL) where I helped manage DOE grants to universities. At the end of the fellowship I took a project manager position at Virginia Tech in a research center. When the financial administrator left for a full time gig as “Mom”, it was Tag…you’re it! With little proposal development and accounting experience I cultivated close friendships in the VT sponsored programs offices and dove right in. These two experiences launched what is now a 35-ish year research admin career with stints as sponsor, departmental/center administrator and, currently, central office contract negotiator at Iowa State University.