ICDS News

Staff Spotlight: Lesley Shaffer

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Long-time Penn Stater Lesley Shaffer has worked at the University since 2006, where she first started as a staff assistant in the Office of Senior Vice President for Research (OSVPR). She started in finance at the Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) in 2016, prior to it being named ICDS. 

Today, Shaffer is ICDS’ financial manager, where she oversees daily finances and the overarching budget to ensure that funds go to the right place. She also works to make sure software is renewed and commitments to researchers for their projects are taken care of by tracking, projecting and approving funds and travel reports. 

Shaffer is also involved in the billing process with researchers who seek allocations of resources for extended periods of time. 

“I touch a lot of different areas within ICDS,” Shaffer said. “I’ve been more involved in the allocation process to see how the researchers’ needs get inputted into the system, how their research is progressing, keep reports up to date and ensure that all of it is running and paid for.” 

Shaffer is also responsible for effectively charting institute budget information, increases in accounts and usage, and other important updates for ICDS leadership. This helps leadership to be able to share the successes of the Institute to internal and external entities. 

Wolf Hey, interim director of operations, highlighted Shaffer’s contributions across the institute. 

“Lesley has a lot of institutional knowledge about the various aspects of ICDS,” Hey said. “She has an almost uncanny ability to know where her contributions would be most impactful, and she helps because she can, without expecting recognition. She adds so much value to the everyday operations at ICDS.” 

Outside of work, Lesley volunteers at a dog rescue and is an avid reader, specifically of suspenseful and historical books, both fiction and non-fiction. 

“I’m reading three different books at the same time,” she said. 

Shaffer also enjoys participating in races. She has completed two 10K races and is working towards the goal of completing a half-marathon in Pittsburgh next spring. 

Want to learn more about ICDS-enabled research? Click here. 

“ICDS provides administrative help, project management help, but we can also read researcher budgets and aid them in getting the resources to enable their research,” Shaffer said. “All of us here at ICDS and at Penn State are a huge team to enable discoveries and research. I am honored to work here.” 

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