She is a highly sought-after speaker and advocates for precollege Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education. She has expertise in engineering education standards development, assessment, and strategic school leadership.

Dr. Spicer served on the 2014 NAEP Technology and Engineering Steering Committee which has been a frontrunner for the first-ever national assessment of technology and engineering. Most recently, she served on the National Research Council technology and engineering design team for "A Framework for Science Education," an interim report on K-12 science education in the United States.

In January of 2010, Dr. Spicer was appointed to the Massachusetts Governor’s STEM Advisory Council and Co-Chair of the Teacher Development committee.

Spicer was instrumental in establishing the 2001 Massachusetts technology/engineering curriculum framework with Dr. Ioannis (Yannis) Miaoulis, president, and director, Museum of Science.

Concerned by how many children in the U.S. "are shut out of technology and engineering," Spicer makes a compelling case for closing the underrepresented minority gap in engineering and school leadership.

When she earned her doctorate at the University of Massachusetts Boston in 2004, her dissertation research focused on how nine African American female public school principals transformed their schools and thrived as educational leaders.

Dr. Spicer is the former Director of Career & Technical Education in Newton, Massachusetts and served as the Statewide Technology/Engineering Coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Industrial Arts & Technology from the State University of New York-Oswego.