Samantha J. Westcott has been in the field of research administration since 1992. She is currently the senior Grant Manager for the Division of Biology at Caltech. She works in research administration within the Biology Division, including pre-award and post-award functions; recruitment and training of Grant Managers; and working on areas of compliance and policy within the Institute that impact the Division. She teams 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 began in research administration at Northwestern University preparing proposals and then negotiating agreements for an applied research laboratory. Within two years, she was recruited to work in NU's sponsored research office as a research administrator and was responsible for many pre-award and post-award activities for the schools of medicine, dentistry and law. Desiring a change in climate, she left Northwestern for UCLA in 1996, and there served in many capacities at both the departmental and central levels including: managing a pre-award office, supervising the grant proposal and data management teams, working on system review and implementation, and developing training programs. After starting a family, Sam moved to the California Institute of Technology to be closer to her home near Pasadena. Sam is highly-dedicated to the field of Research Administration and to those who do the work behind the scenes, making it possible for the researchers to do their work.

Sam is a long-standing member of NCURA, beginning in 1992 to attend her first regional meeting. She became an active member and eventually began presenting at the local, regional, and national levels. Sam has served NCURA since 1995 as presenter, discussion leader, speaker, and TV panelist. She has served on and chaired both the Region VI Outstanding Achievement Award committee, and the Region VI Travel Award Committee. She has also served as an NCURA ERA Cookbook Editor in the past.

She has led workshops on wide-ranging aspects of research administration, and for many years conducted a workshop on professional presentations and public speaking. Sam served as a Regional Officer as Secretary-Elect for 2007 and Secretary of Region VI in 2008. In serving the organization for business and program meetings, Sam has been a member of the program committee for regional meetings, the 2000 ERA meeting, and the 51st Annual Meeting. Sam is thrilled with the opportunity to serve her many NCURA Departmental Administration colleagues as a member of the DRA traveling Workshop faculty.