diff --git a/gracedb/query.py b/gracedb/query.py
index f5c00fe9ea38c7a5195951e0148c177ce6b9c0d5..44b06c18c945bfe6648b9e669bbca9df7639f1c1 100644
--- a/gracedb/query.py
+++ b/gracedb/query.py
@@ -161,7 +161,8 @@ midQ = Optional(Suppress(Keyword("mid:"))) + (mid^midRange)
 midQ = midQ.setParseAction(maybeRange("mid", dbname="id"))
 
 # Submitter
-submitter = QuotedString('"').setParseAction(lambda toks: Q(submitter__username=toks[0]))
+# 6 Dec. 2016: Tanner and Alex added icontains functionality for submitter to enable simpler search patterns. To be more specific, users will have to use more complex search patterns. Last name matching functionality is primarily for searching for robot users.
+submitter = QuotedString('"').setParseAction(lambda toks: Q(submitter__username__icontains=toks[0]) | Q(submitter__last_name__icontains=toks[0]))
 submitterQ = Optional(Suppress(Keyword("submitter:"))) + submitter
 submitterQ = submitterQ.setParseAction(lambda toks: ("submitter", toks[0]))