Gerri Maxwell is an Associate Research Scientist and Project Coordinator for Texas A&M University .s North Texas Science Technology and Engineering Center . She received a master.s degree in curriculum and instruction in 1982 and is a K-12 certified reading specialist as well as having English as a Second Language certification. She received her doctor of philosophy in 2004 from Texas A&M and was a 2004 Clark Seminar Scholar. Her research interests focus on distributed school leadership. Her dissertation examined the distributed leadership role her grandfather played as a rural public school custodian for more than fifty-three years. She was a public school teacher for twenty years having received multiple district teaching awards including district teacher of the year. She brings expertise in K-12 curriculum and assessment and worked in a rural low socioeconomic school district. She co-authored the $1.2 million grant and has earned nearly three million dollars in external funding for school districts including a 21st Century Community Learning Center after-school program.