Diane Bennett Email & Phone Number

Minneapolis, Mn

River Falls

In this role I was responsible for supporting and overseeing all faculty and staff external grant proposals and external research contracts. This involved creating a culture supportive of research and innovation at this primarily undergraduate teaching-focused university. My work involved supporting the on-boarding of new faculty; supporting the development of research agendas and funding sources, including federal, state, and industry; working with senior administration to remove bottlenecks to fostering a competitive research infrastructure; developing and managing campus-wide research and compliance policies; and overseeing administrative management of all sponsored research activity.In my three years as the Director of Grants and Researched, I helped the campus submit over 150 funding requests, that brought in over $9M to the university. Over my three years in the role, the success rate for competitively awarded grants increased from 46% to 75% while the percent of first-time submitters also increased.

Led the creation of an innovative, one-year master’s degree program to enable recent STEM degree holders to become middle and high school teachers. This role was the culmination of 3 years of planning, outreach, market research, and grant writing. This work was generously supported by two National Science Foundation grant awards.

Prior art searching, assisting with patent claim strategies and case writing, materials property testing, accounting, and sales support of this manufacturing start-up emphasizing novel polymer technologies.

Diane spent 14 years raising a family in various locations in Germany, Turkey, and the U.S. While overseas, she earned her credentials as a USPTO registered patent agent and had her first teaching assignment as a chemistry and physics teacher in an international missionary school in Istanbul. Diane started working as an adjunct instructor in the Physics Department at UW-River Falls in 2009. During this time, she also served as the broadfield science program director, an engineering curriculum consultant, a STEM curriculum consultant and grant writer, and started working on what would become the STEMteach program.

M.S. And Ph.D., Polymer Science And Engineering

After earning a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, Diane earned a M.S. and Ph.D. in Polymer Science.

B.S., Chemical Engineering, With A Biology Emphasis

Activities and Societies: President of Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society)I graduated at the top of my class in Chemical Engineering.