Dr. Lara Campbell is a Program Director in the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), where she facilitates engagement with the Middle East and Africa, serves on the inter-agency Innovations at the Nexus of Food/Energy/Water Systems (INFEWS) working group, serves on the Engineering Research Centers working group, and coordinates NSF collaboration with USAID and the World Bank.

Prior to joining NSF, Lara served as Director of the nonprofit CUBRC Center for International Science and Technology Advancement, where she developed, managed and supported international cooperative research activities primarily funded by the U.S. government (USAID, DOS, DOD). Lara is particularly interested in the interrelationships that help connect research and education to entrepreneurship and from 2008-09 was a Fulbright Scholar conducting regional research on innovation development in the Middle East (Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Jordan). Prior to working for CUBRC, Lara was part of the Research Competitiveness Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), where she led teams providing advice and guidance on science and technology infrastructure improvement and capacity building. Lara holds a BA in chemistry from Rice University in Houston, Texas and a PhD in synthetic organic and biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin.