Diane's father was a country doctor who kept a skeleton in his medical office. Diane found it hilarious when he would dress the skeleton in a costume on Halloween. Little did she know that bones were in her future.

Diane got hooked on science at an early age. She often borrowed her Dad's microscope and kept a chemistry set in the basement, where she amazed her friends with homemade stink bombs and invisible ink. A tomboy who loved animals, Diane brought gophers and tadpoles home and hated Barbie dolls so much she buried them in "coffins" made out of grass clippings.

Diane earned excellent grades in school. She was the high school class salutatorian (the graduate with the second highest grade average).

When Diane started college at Colorado State University, she thought she would study marine biology—inspired by her love of animals and the famous underwater explorer, Jacques Cousteau. But then she discovered bones!

Diane decided to become a forensic anthropologist, a brand new field of study at the time. To help pay for her degree, Diane worked two backbreaking summers at her hometown sawmill—the highest-paying work she could find.