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Diane Wade

RA, Research, Grants & Finance Manager, Energy Science & Engineering

BioDiane is a Research Finance Manager for the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. In this role, she oversees finance, grant, and affiliate management, including faculty financial portfolios and sponsored grants through all stages, from pre-award to post-award. She collaborates with faculty on research proposals and provides training to new Research Administrators to enhance their understanding of complex financial and sponsored research processes. Previously, she managed department budgets and affiliate faculty appointments.

In addition, Diane served as Interim Diversity Officer for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, where she led strategic DEI initiatives and managed project finances during the Associate Dean’s leave.

Diane’s academic background spans advertising, art, and mechanical engineering, complemented by an internship at NASA focused on building flight simulators. She also holds an MBA with a specialization in Finance and Strategic Management.

Virginia Walbot

Professor of Biology, Emerita

Current Research and Scholarly InterestsOur current focus is on maize anther development to understand how cell fate is specified. We discovered that hypoxia triggers specification of the archesporial (pre-meiotic) cells, and that these cells secrete a small protein MAC1 that patterns the adjacent soma to differentiate as endothecial and secondary parietal cell types. We also discovered a novel class of small RNA: 21-nt and 24-nt phasiRNAs that are exceptionally abundant in anthers and exhibit strict spatiotemporal dynamics.