Lawrence Tech President Virinder Moudgil and Harald Unkelbach, the managing director of the Germany company Adolf Würth GmbH & Co., sign agreements for four degree programs for German students to be taught at LTU and in Germany. Lawrence Tech faculty and administrators attending the ceremony are (standing L-R) Nabil Grace, Richard Bush, Elin Jensen, Ahad Ali, Jacqueline Stavros, Badih Jawad, Bahman Mirshab, and Al McCord. At far right is Bodo Wilmes, a consultant for the Würth Foundation.

Lawrence Technological University (LTU) has entered a partnership with a German foundation to offer four degree programs to German students, with half of the instruction to be at LTU’s Southfield campus and half at German universities.

The four degrees are:

•    Doctor of Engineering in Manufacturing Systems
•    Doctor of Business Administration
•    Master of Business Administration
•    Master of Science in Industrial Engineering

Instruction will begin in the summer and fall of 2014, except for the Doctor of Business Administration, which will start in 2015.

All of the courses will be taught in English with half being taught on LTU’s campus in Southfield, and half taught in Germany by German instructors who will be adjunct faculty of LTU. The degree program will also be open to American students.

The partnership is made possible by the Würth Foundation, which was created by German industrialist and philanthropist Reinhold Würth.  Würth has made major contributions to the Hamburger-Fern University and Heilbronn University, where the German courses for the LTU degree programs are likely to be taught.

The memorandum of agreement for each of the four degree programs was signed by LTU President Virinder Moudgil and Harald Unkelbach, the managing director of the Adolf Würth GmbH & Co. of Kuenzelsau Gaisbach, Germany, on behalf of the Würth Foundation. Attending the ceremony was Bodo Wilmes, the consultant who is overseeing the partnership for the Würth Foundation.

Moudgil noted that Reinhold Würth is acting as an advocate for higher education just as Henry Ford, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, did when he helped with the creation of Lawrence Tech in 1932. When the Lawrence brothers approached Ford with their idea for providing advanced education to people already employed in industry, Ford provided the building on Woodward Avenue in Highland Park that was the university’s home for more than 20 years.

The spring semester comes to an end on May 11 when LTU holds its 81st commencement.

Congressman Gary Peters (D-MI) will receive an honorary degree and give the commencement address when Lawrence Technological University (LTU) holds its 81st commencement on Saturday, May 11, at 1 p.m. at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac. LTU will confer almost 1,000 degrees this academic year.

The university will also present its Alumni Achievement Award to two graduates:

•           Frank Davis, who earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1984, is executive director of North America engineering at Ford Motor Company.

•           Vincent Dow, who earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1979, is vice president and chief engineer of Distribution Operations at DTE Energy.

Peters represents the 14th congressional district that includes Pontiac, West Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Southfield, Oak Park, half of Detroit, and the Grosse Pointes. Shortly after arriving in Congress in 2009, he worked with the Obama Administration to ensure the survival of Michigan’s auto industry, making sure that manufacturers received loans they needed. Today, Michigan’s auto industry is back and thousands of new jobs have been created in southeastern Michigan.

As a member of the Financial Services Committee, Peters has worked to hold accountable those on Wall Street who caused the recession. As one of just 10 House Democrats selected to serve on the Wall Street Reform Conference Committee, he played a central role in shaping the toughest financial reform law since the Great Depression.

For 22 years Peters was an investment advisor, helping families save for retirement and provide for their children’s college education. He was elected to the Rochester Hills City Council in 1991 and to the Michigan State Senate in 1994. He later served as the Michigan State Lottery commissioner.

Peters served as a Seabee combat warfare specialist and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, he signed up to again serve in the Reserve.

He has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Alma College, an MBA in finance from the University of Detroit Mercy, a law degree from Wayne State University, and an MA in philosophy from Michigan State University, with a focus in the ethics of development. He will be awarded a doctor of humanities degree, honoris causa, by LTU.

As executive director of North America Engineering at Ford, Davis oversees engineering for car, truck, SUV, and crossover design and development for all North American Ford and Lincoln brands. He also has the lead role among Ford’s Global Engineering directors in driving global engineering standards, policies and practices.

Davis has been with Ford for 29 years, and has held product development positions in North America, Europe and Japan. He began his career in Ford Heavy Truck Operations as a chassis design engineer. As executive director of North America Product Programs from 2007–11, he led a team that overhauled the Ford product line-up from the Fiesta through the Super Duty truck line.

Davis pursued his LTU degree first by attending evening classes and later as a full-time student. “My time at Lawrence Tech made me who I am today and taught me many life lessons, such as my work ethic and the value of teamwork,” said Davis, who also has an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy.

He credits LTU Professor Jerry Crist for inspiring him to “go above and beyond the task at hand and look to education as a journey of lifelong learning.”

“At Lawrence Tech, I learned that ‘good’ was never ‘good enough’ and the faculty always challenged me to go further. That’s what I do every day at Ford – Go further!” Davis said.

As vice president and chief engineer of Distribution Operations, Dow oversees DTE Energy’s electrical system, including new customer connections, engineering, power plant electrical equipment, and all distribution system construction. He also oversees asset optimization, distribution contract management, performance management, the Smart Grid efforts, and NERC standards and compliance.

Dow joined the company in 1979. He has served in a number of departments, including power delivery operations; customer service, billing and meter reading; IT project management; energy distribution strategy; field services; construction and maintenance; engineering; and emergency preparedness.

Significantly involved in the community, Dow’s activities include creation of DTE Energy Farms, a cooperative with Gleaners that grows food on DTE property and donates 50,000 pounds of food a year to needy residents in southeastern Michigan. He also developed Employee Resource Network groups at DTE to sponsor diversity efforts throughout the company.

He has also worked with a small team of LTU faculty and DTE employees to identify potential areas of engagement. He volunteered to be the executive sponsor and is credited with creating DTE Energy’s first formal university partnership.

In addition to his LTU degree, Dow earned an MBA in personnel management from Wayne State University.

LTU’s successful team poses for a photo at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway where the Formula Hybrid competition was held. (Photo courtesy of Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth)

The team from Lawrence Technological University finished second in the hybrid drive class of the Formula Hybrid competition hosted by Dartmouth College and held at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, NH, April 29 through May 2.

LTU finished behind Yale University and ahead of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Punjabi University of India, among others.

Dartmouth College finished first among the three teams that competed in the electric drive class.

LTU locked up second place by garnering far more points than all competitors except Yale and Dartmouth in the endurance category. It also finished second in its class in acceleration-electric, acceleration-unrestricted, and autocross.

Alex Mozeihem secures a camera in a drone. Business partner Zeran Gu and the company’s control tower are in the background.

College humanities courses aren’t usually associated with commerce, but at Lawrence Technological University students in a communications course are learning how to turn their business dreams into reality.

The course, Creative Entrepreneurship, is taught by Senior Lecturer Karen Evans. It was developed with funding from the Coleman Foundation of Chicago, IL, which has spent more than $40 million since 1981 to promote self-employment and improve the quality of entrepreneurship education in order to create a new generation of business owners.

“Since this is a communications course, students learn about pitching, networking, writing a formal business plan, and preparing a presentation,” Evans said. “They also use the course to give themselves some discipline and to refine their business model.

The highlight of the course for the spring semester was a trade show on April 30 in the atrium of LTU’s Buell Management Building. Students displayed their selling materials and made their sales pitches to a panel of judges who work in business development.

Alex Mozeihem, who is studying business administration and economics, was promoting ViVo Drones LLC, the business he has started with mechanical engineering student Zeran Gu. They plan to build and program drones for a variety of commercial and civilian uses, such as photography and tracking.

Kayla Calomeni hopes that her new business plan will bring in more customers who need her services in webpage design.

Gu is the company’s programmer and also builds the drones. He is already working on establishing a supply chain from Asia for many of the parts, although he has found that the United States is the best source of batteries.

“I need a business guy, a passion guy, to sell this product,” Gu said.

Mozeihem said the course is helping him to define the market he and Gu should be targeting and to develop a plan for meeting investors.

Computer science student Kayla Calomeni hopes the class will help her expand the website design service that she started when she is in high school. She has been designing half a dozen websites a year and hopes to ramp up to three websites a month with the help of her new business plan. Eventually she wants to build a business and hire employees.

“I want to differentiate myself by the level of customer service I offer,” Calomeni said. “Most web developers don’t want to meet face to face.”

Her business plan includes pay-per-click advertising on the Internet and discounts to customers who give her referrals.

Anthony Kadzban explains how to load and shoot the Nerf guns that he provides for war games.

The business model that got the most attention at the trade show was Lasagna Blaster Ops, which offers to set up war games with Nerf guns that shoot foam pellets. Anthony Kadzban has set up games for students groups on LTU’s campus and he wants to expand to other campuses.

He hopes to catch the interest of fans of video games, and has also modified his service to capitalize on the strong interest in zombies among college students. His brochure promises that the war games are a stress reliever for overworked college students and also provide an opportunity to develop leadership and teamwork skills.

Evans points out that her course can be useful for students who don’t end up starting their own businesses. “It’s good preparation for anyone going into the business world because you will always have to sell an idea,” she said.

Bridget Lorenz Lemberg

Bridget Lorenz Lemberg, lab director and toxicologist at Forensic Fluids Laboratories in Kalamazoo, has been named the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.

The award was announced at an April 25 reception at Lawrence Technological University, which co-sponsors the annual award along with Grant Thornton LLP and WWJ NewsRadio 950. Lemberg was chosen from nearly 50 nominees profiled during the past 12 months on Tuesdays in the WWJ NewsRadio 950 Technology Report. The profiles are edited by WWJ NewsRadio 950’s Matt Roush, who served as master of ceremonies at the reception.

The Leaders & Innovators program was developed in 2005 by Lawrence Tech to recognize Michigan business executives who are engaged in cutting-edge professions and industries expected to be key to Michigan’s economic future.

Lemberg has perfected a reliable method of conducting drug tests using saliva, not urine, and her company has evolved into a national leader in the field. Forensic Fluids now has 46 employees, and its revenue is projected to grow from around $10.6 million in 2012 to $17 million this year.

In the test developed by Lemberg, a subject wets a pad with his or her saliva. The pad is placed in a sealed tube and bar-coded by the subject, and then sent in a tamper-resistant envelope to Forensic Fluids, where it’s logged and analyzed with sophisticated equipment called mass spectrometers. One standard scan is for 10 commonly abused drugs, but the company can test for literally hundreds of drugs, from synthetic marijuana to prescription drugs.

The company carefully tracks every sample with barcoding, closely enough that its “chain of custody” of samples stand up in court. The courts are Forensic Fluids’ biggest customers, testing people who have been ordered to stay clean of drugs.  In addition to working with the courts, Forensic Fluids also does therapeutic drug monitoring and workplace drug testing.

Testing for drugs and other chemicals with oral fluids is quick, easy, simple, and dignified. No special facilities are needed, and “it’s the most accurate drug testing you can get … you can’t cheat on it,” Lemberg points out.

“Bridget is a true pioneer in a pioneering field,” said Jim Trouba, audit partner, Grant Thornton LLP, who introduced Lemberg at the awards ceremony.

The offices of Forensic Fluids are in the former headquarters of the Gibson guitar company on Kalamazoo’s north side, including a room paneled in every kind of wood Gibson ever used to make guitars. Privately owned, Forensic Fluids placed made the 2011 Inc. Magazine 5000 list and was among the Michigan 50 Companies to Watch.

Lemberg received her bachelor’s degree in agriculture and her master’s degree in toxicology/pharmacology from the University of Kentucky.

The following executives were profiled in the WWJ NewsRadio 950 Technology Report for the Leaders & Innovators program during the past 12 months:

Jack Aronson,    Founder, Chairman and CEO,    Garden Fresh Gourmet, Ferndale
Dan Barcheski    ,  Founder and CEO, Axios Inc., Grand Rapids
Kenneth Bassey, Chairman and Founder, Saphran, Inc., Franklin
Brad Baxter, Founder and President, Automated Pet Care Products Inc., Pontiac
John Baysore, President and CEO, Dematic Corp., Grand Rapids
Keith Brophy, CEO, Ideomed    , Grand Rapids
Luanne Brown    , Founder and President, eTool Developers , Grand Rapids
Brad Byrnes, President and Owner, Xpert Technologies Inc., Sterling Heights
Kevin Choksi, Co-founder and CEO, WorkForce Software, Livonia
Ian Clemens, Chief Technology Officer, IDV Solutions, Lansing
Tom Cullen, Founder and President, Facility Solutions Inc., Clinton Twp.
David Doyle, Founder and CEO/President, CRT Medical Systems Inc., Novi
Adam Duke, Co-founder, Go Green Energy Consulting, Southfield
Peter Farner, Partner, TGap Ventures, LLC, Kalamazoo
Patrick Fehring, Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, Level One Bank, Farmington Hills
Paul Ferrier, Co-founder, Mindscape, Grand Rapids
Jennifer Ferris, President, Federated Service Solutions, Farmington Hills
Bryan Finnerty, Co-founder and CEO, ProtectCell, Novi
Blake Helppie, CEO, JobApp Network Inc., Bloomfield Hills
Matthias Horch, CEO and Co-founder, Secure-24, Inc., Southfield
Chris Jackson    , Vice President, DaySmart Software Inc., Wixom
Gary Jackson, President, SunTel Services, Troy
Ronald Jasgur, President, Woodward Asset Capital, LLC, Southfield
Jay LaBine, Owner and CEO,  Dynamic Captioning LLC, Grand Rapids
Bridget Lorenz Lemberg, Founder and Lab Director, Forensic Fluids Laboratories, Kalamazoo
Mark Lundquist, Founder, President and CEO, Fulcrum Edge, Bloomfield Hills
Bob Masterson, President and Co-Founder, Family Mint, Inc., Ann Arbor
Thomas McGraw, President, McGraw Wentworth, a Marsh McLennan Agency LLC, Troy
Perry Mehta, President and CEO, FutureNet Group Inc., Detroit
Rishi Narayan, Co-founder, Underground Printing, Ann Arbor
Godfrey Nolan, Founder and President, RIIS LLC, Southfield
Patrick    O’Keefe, Managing Member, O’Keefe & Associates Consulting LLC, Bloomfield Hills
Vik Patel, President and CEO, Future Hosting, LLC, Novi
Prabhu    Patil, President, PROLIM, Farmington Hills
Tim Petersen, Managing Director, Arboretum Ventures, Ann Arbor
Mark Petroff, President and CEO, Marketing Associates LLC, Detroit
Bala Rajaraman, Co-founder, President and CEO, Marvel Technologies, Inc., Novi
Christopher Rizik, CEO, Renaissance Venture Capital Fund, Ann Arbor
Meg Roberts, President, Molly Maid, Inc., Ann Arbor
Tom Sesti, President , Bandals International, Inc., Rochester Hills
Tim Smith, President and CEO, Skidmore Studio, Detroit
Brig Sorber, President and CEO, Two Men and a Truck International, Inc., Lansing
Bob Sutherland, President and Owner, Cherry Republic, Glen Arbor
Kelly Sweeney, CEO, Coldwell Banker Weir Manuel, Troy
Paul Wieland, President and CEO, Frontier Computer Corp., Traverse City

Lawrence Technological University (LTU) Provost Maria Vaz and Xue ke Luo, vice president of Northern China University of Technology (NCUT), sign an agreement to bring Chinese students to LTU to complete the requirements for a bachelor’s degree and then a master’s degree in architecture or interior design. Attending the April 30 signing ceremony are (L-R in the back row) Ali Barnard, marketing and support manager for LTU’s College of Architecture and Design; Nabil Grace, dean of LTU’s College of Engineering; Amy Deines, chair of LTU’s Department of Art and Design; LTU Assistant Professor Kun Hua; and Congpeng Zhang and Yongchang Zhang of NCUT.

Congpeng

Lawrence Technological University (LTU) and North China University of Technology (NCUT) in Beijing have signed agreements to enable Chinese students to earn master’s degrees from LTU in architecture or interior design.

The agreements were signed on April 30 at LTU’s campus in Southfield by LTU Provost Maria Vaz and NCUT Vice President Xue ke Luo.

Under the first agreement, Chinese architecture students will come to LTU for their fifth and final year of study for a bachelor’s degree. LTU credits will count toward the completion of their bachelor’s degree at NCUT. Graduates of that program will then be eligible to complete the master’s degree program in architecture at LTU in an additional year.

Under the second agreement, students in environmental design at NCUT can come to LTU after either two or three years of study. After completing their remaining coursework at LTU, the students will be awarded a bachelor’s degree from NCUT. Those students will then be eligible to earn a master’s degree from LTU in interior design upon completion of 39 credit hours.

“These two agreements extend the reach of our master’s degree programs in architecture and interior design, which already enjoy a good reputation in China,” Vaz said. “North China University of Technology is well known for the high quality of its students, and we look forward to welcoming more Chinese students to our campus.”

According to Vaz, the two universities plan to extend the agreement to cover degree programs in LTU’s College of Engineering. “We have started a conversation to accomplish that goal soon,” she said.

All courses at LTU are taught in English, and the Chinese students must satisfy the English language requirements at LTU or else enroll in English language preparation classes.

These agreements may require approval from the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Schools and Colleges and the appropriate government authorities in the People’s Republic of China.

Lawrence Tech already has agreements with several other Chinese universities for student and faculty exchanges.

Assistant Professor Steven Coy (L) and student Jared Patterson film LTU’s WorldShare sequence with librarian Gretchen Weiner looking on in the background.

Last year Lawrence Technological University was one of the first libraries in the Midwest to join the OCLC WorldShare Management Services System, a cloud-based network for sharing library resources. So when OCLC put together a video to celebrate the 100th library going live on the system, the LTU librarians wanted to get involved.

Each library was sent a WorldShare beachball with the challenge to come up with an idea to show the ball bouncing into the picture on the left and bouncing out on the right.

The Lawrence Tech segment can be seen at the 3:30 mark of the OCLC promotional video.

Librarian Gretchen Weiner had the idea that the ball should bounce down a “staircase” of the many items you can find at the LTU library via the WorldShare system – from books and journal articles to videos, to games, etc. Librarian Sheila Gaddie came across an animated video of blocks and wondered if that could inspire the LTU entry.

The library enlisted Assistant Professor Stephen Coy of the College of Architecture and Design to give advice, and he invited one of his students, Jared Patterson, to work on the idea.  After meeting with Weiner and Library Director Gary Cocozzoli, they decided to film in the Kahn Library.

Cocozzoli said it was fascinating to watch them film and put together the ten-second sequence, which used both live filming and stop-animation. It was photographed backwards, including a rotating globe that would remind viewers that WorldShare is used by libraries across the globe and is a primary method of interlibrary sharing of resources.

“The filmmakers edited the elements into a cogent form that is both amusing and amazing to view,” Cocozzoli said. “Special thanks are in order to Professor Coy and to Jared Patterson for their creative efforts.”

Worldshare topped the charts in new contracts among library automation companies in 2012, according to Library Journal, with 163 libraries contracting for WorldShare.  With 67 more institutions already signed to go live in 2013, what will OCLC do for an encore when it hits 200 libraries?

I have been waiting over ten years for this game. Avid Luigi’s Mansion fans never quite gave up hope for a well-deserved sequel to finally come to fruition. Some of us even daydreamed about using the Wii Remote controls to fight ghoulish phantoms, but it turns out the next game was never meant to be on that console. Nintendo has decided to put Luigi’s brand-new haunted house expedition right in the palm of your hands – by bringing it to the 3DS.

I was elated to discover how much content Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon is brimming with. There’s a whopping five different mansions to delve into this time around. Meticulously investigating every nook and cranny of each one to uncover the surplus of secrets and treasure can take hours. And then after that, you’re allowed to go back to each mission in an attempt to improve your score. The campaign’s longevity and replay value considerably enhance the game’s vitality.

Of course, we wouldn’t necessarily want the game to be so lengthy if we had to wade through it with second-rate controls. Thankfully, Dark Moon hits the nail on the head when it comes to a workable control scheme. Luigi’s movements using the Circle Pad are all fluid and responsive. The true control marvel present here, however, lies in the utilization of the handheld’s built-in motion sensor. Tilting the 3DS system to aim your vacuum nozzle is an idea that’s both interesting and surprisingly effective.

The audio quality of Dark Moon is also nothing to sneeze at. The catchy background music is worthy of being hummed along to (proven by a certain lead protagonist doing just that). All the ghostly grunts, gasps and guffaws suit the general playfulness of the game’s tone. The fact that it’s been over a decade since the release of its GameCube predecessor shows in the monumental graphical improvements as well. Nowadays, Luigi’s expressions and animations are much more lively and highly-detailed, making him into a very relatable and charmingly comical hero. And yes, the 3D is still an option for adding depth, but even without this feature, the game is gorgeous, especially for a handheld title.

However, I do need to take off my rose-colored glasses for a moment and realize that the game’s definitely not flawless. My biggest gripe has to be the fact that you’re only allowed to save your progress after you finish each mission. There’s nothing more frustrating than making it 90 percent of the way to completion only to get bested by eerie specters and have to start all over again. It wasn’t enough to ruin everything, but it certainly discouraged me at times. Maybe I just need to brush up on my skills?

I’ve always seen myself as a Nintendo fan at heart. However, there are times where I lose the impulse to always be a cheerleader for them, especially when looking at the disheartening lack of blockbuster titles for Wii U. However, games like Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon always manage to invigorate my devotion. There certainly was a long hiatus before Nintendo finally stuck the younger Mario Bro back into some spooky scenery, but rest assured, this game proves it was worth the wait.

Members of the LTU Baja SAE team celebrating the conclusion of the endurance race are (L-R) Zach Darwin, David Czarneck, Brian Bills, Tom Nowakowski, and Aaron Peck.

The Baja SAE team from Lawrence Tech finished 31st in a field of 100 in the regional competition at Tennessee Tech University April18-21.

LTU scored in the top half of the field in almost all of the categories, and finished 37th in the biggest event, the four-hour endurance race.

Accomplishments of this year’s team include:
•    Lightest Baja car in LTU history, 420 lbs.
•    First belt-driven transmission (belt-driven final reduction) in LTU history.
•    Thermoformed ABS plastic body.
•    Carbon fiber belly pan, and body components.
•    Completed car for earliest competition possible (10-month build).
•    Headlights.

LTU’s Baja SAE vehicle performed well in the four-hour endurance race.

Members of this year’s team were Zach Darwin (powertrain), David Czarneck (team captain), Brian Bills (brakes and CAD designer), Tony Nowakowski (body design), Aaron Peck (suspension),  Joshua Jackson, Robert Gandolfo, and Roxanna Hasanet (graphic designer). Joe DeRose was the team’s faculty advisor.

Several works by artist Ema Harris-Sintamarian are on display at LTU through the end of August.

The work of artist Ema Harris-Sintamarian is now on display through Aug. 31 in the College of Architecture and Design’s LEVEL Gallery by the elevators on the first, third, and fourth levels of the University Technology and Learning Center.

Harris-Sintamarian is an artist originally from Romania whose work is informed by the relationship of her identity to her sense of displacement, and the ways she has devised to reconcile these incongruous elements. Her intricate yet expansive drawings tackle the dichotomy between containment and liberation by infusing a static diagram with a charge that propels it into motion.

Here is the artist’s commentary on the exhibit:

“While a name is a cosmic prison, identity is its guardian. As a Romanian immigrant to the United States, I live in and between two diametrically opposed cultures; from a totalitarian regime to a society in which individuality and information are emphasized. I often dwell upon the relationship of my identity to my displacement, and the ways I have devised to reconcile these incongruous elements. To translate this dilemma formally, my current body of work tackles the dichotomy between containment and liberation by infusing a static diagram with a charge that propels it into motion.

“The elements I incorporate in my visual lexicon are either borrowed directly or paraphrased from several disparate arenas including Eastern European folklore, architecture, and topography. Collectively these references create complex and fractured allegorical “maps” of my physical, emotional and intellectual journey. I regard these maps as a means to explore loss itself as a form of identity, an identity that transforms the schema of containment into ritualized forms of self-expropriation.”

Harris-Sintamarian is represented by Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco, and her work has also been shown in New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Sweden, France, Canada, Austria, Italy, and Romania.

She is the recipient of the 2013 Eureka Fellowship/ Fleishhacker Foundation, and the 2010 Silicon Valley Arts Council Award 2008 ArtShift Award, and has participated in the residency programs at the Djerassi, Vermont Studio Center, and San Jose ICA.  She received an MFA in Printmaking from the University of Delaware and an MFA in Painting from San Jose State University where she is now an adjunct instructor.