Samantha Westcott has been in the field of research administration for over fifteen years. She has worked in both Departmental and Central Administration at Northwestern University and UCLA. Sam joined Caltech in 2001 and is currently the senior and lead Grant Manager for the Division of Biology at Caltech and truly enjoys being a Departmental Research Administrator. She is responsible for all areas of research administration within the Biology Division, including all pre-award and post-award functions; recruitment and training of Grant Managers; and working on compliance and policy within the Institute that impact the Division. She works closely with the Office of Sponsored Research, Project Accounting, Gift & Endowment Accounting, and the IT group to help develop policies, procedures, and system changes or reports that make the areas of research administration better not only for her Division but for all Research Administrators within Caltech.

Sam has been an active member of NCURA since 1994 and has served as panelist, moderator, and workshop faculty for both National and Regional Meetings, as well as at content-specific conferences. She has also served as a Regional Officer. Sam is a member of NCURA's Departmental Research Administration Traveling Workshop Faculty. Sam credits NCURA for introducing her to some of her favorite people, including her spouse with whom she shares the joy of raising two daughters.