 honor to receive the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award from Purdue University. It means a lot to be acknowledged by a university that has given me such a strong base and enabled me to accomplish so much and for that I'm grateful. So I want to share a little bit about my Purdue journey. Early in my career I was fortunate to be awarded a full fellowship to graduate school with the option to attend one of many prestigious engineering institutions and Purdue was at the top of my list. I actually wanted to attend Purdue as an undergraduate student but I missed the application deadline while I was in high school and I was devastated. Although I had stellar grades and a strong attitude for engineering, as a teenager I just didn't have the guidance or support to ensure I followed all of the steps needed for the admission process. And don't get me wrong, I had excellent parents, they were very supportive, however this whole process was foreign to them as well. My father was a successful business owner of an automotive shop which he achieved through hard work and perseverance and he had a very strong analytical mind but he didn't go to college and my mom, she was an absolute wizard with numbers, she was an educator but she only took a few college classes via night school. As together they both, you know, raised me along with my two older siblings. So as part of the graduate fellowship requirements I had to be accepted into a minimum of five Ivy League institutions and then I had an opportunity to interview with each of them so I could decide which one I wanted to attend. So when I arrived at Purdue's campus to interview some of the faculty and staff I was immediately impressed with one professor in particular. He was very casual in his approach but his brilliance and passion for dynamics and vibration it drew me in. He spoke to me as if I was already part of the Purdue family and I remember his enthusiasm when he began talking to me about potential research that I could do and the great space that I would have in the Herak Labs and his entire disposition was impressive to me and that professor was Dr. Chuck Crossbrill who also became my major professor for my graduate research and I've been asked many times like who's your favorite professor which is a tough question because I've had great experiences with so many for different reasons. However my relationship with Dr. Crossbrill was exceptional. He was tough and that's for sure but I knew he was completely invested in my success. I remember one semester I was just overwhelmed with the engineering curriculum and I just needed something to help balance the demand and so I signed up for a tennis class. Now I will take to my grave the method I used to get Dr. Crossbrill's approval without his knowledge. However one day I had to come clean. I was meeting with him reviewing some test results when he decided to have a full-on lecture with me regarding a complex vibration method and I kept watching the clock. I kept glancing over the clock because I needed to make it to this tennis class because getting a grade in tennis class was easy. You got an A if you made all the classes and you weren't late. If you missed any classes or was late your grade dropped to B you missed multiple classes you know down to a C so I just couldn't afford you know to get anything less than an A in this class but it was clear that Dr. Crossbrill was not even close to wrapping up you know this impromptu lecture and he caught me looking at the clock and I remember he asked if there was somewhere else I needed to be and I confessed and told him about the tennis class and he graciously let me go so I could be on time but little did I know that he would collect on that bill. The next time I met with him he significantly increased my workload and I remember he kind of gave me the smile and said you know I figured any grad student that had time for tennis you know I must be grossly underestimating the amount of workload that could handle and that was Dr. Crossbrill right he took full advantage of a teachable moment because he later explained to me if I had just been transparent you know that he would have supported you know me taking the tennis class however since you know I was not forthright you know there were consequences to my behavior and I've told that story before because for me I learned a great lesson which I carried with me in my professional career it's just far better to be upfront and argue your case than to attempt to be elusive and disingenuous so Dr. Crossbrill in addition to engineering concepts and methods thank you for teaching me about integrity and discipline and grace it's very evident why you have been the recipient of so many best teaching awards so now fast forward after obtaining my masters of science and mechanical engineering with a concentration in noise and vibration my career continued to progress through you know a variety of different roles but there were two in particular that were most memorable for me the first is when I was selected to return back to Purdue University on a one-year special assignment as a visiting professor or i.e. an engineer in residence program I taught the introduction to mechanical engineering design in me for 263 and then senior design in me 463 and I supervised a graduate student research project and I also participated in a ton of outreach activities including the inaugural year for the diversity council for mechanical engineering um it was an honor to bring my industry experience back to campus and helped shape the minds of college students um it was also great to experience the university in a different way I saw firsthand the passion and commitment of the faculty and staff to provide a quality education and stellar experience to the students and why Purdue's reputation as a prestigious world-class engineering institution is so important as well as very well earned um so it was after this assignment when I was asked and eagerly accepted an opportunity to be a member of the mechanical engineering advisory board and it's been my pleasure to serve the university in this capacity and then my second most impactful career achievement was my appointment to the executive global chief of staff for the electrical systems infotainment and electrification of automotive vehicles um I had oversight of the execution of a new global advanced battery laboratory and at the time it was the largest and most technological advanced automotive battery lab in the world um and this state of the art test facility was critical to expediting the introduction of electrical and hybrid vehicles during a very tough time in the automotive industry and as part of this role I also served as one of the technical liaison to high level government officials including president obama's automotive task force um the governor of michigan and an array of senators and members of congress um the influence of this role contributed to the acquisition of multi-million dollar government incentives um as well as the automotive government bailout so um a little bit more about my background um I've worked in research and development uh creative design product development engineering manufacturing and portfolio planning I've led global teams in north america and south america asia and europe and in addition to my automotive career I've had an exciting career in the plumbing industry where I served as vice president of new product development and engineering for global faucets uh for a coler company and later appointed to their vice president of advanced development for their global kitchen and bath group um and I just recently accepted an exciting role as the senior vice president of technology and global r&d for weber grill so um I attribute much of my amazing career to my Purdue foundation um it challenged the way that I think um it helped me possess a spirit of curiosity and innovation and um an ability to demonstrate a strong technical competency um I'd like to close by expressing my gratitude to Dr. Patricia Davies and Dr. Stuart Bolton for nominating me for the distinguished engineering alumni award Dr. Davies has been a shining example of phenomenal leader in engineering she was my first exposure to a leader who was a bold and unapologetic advocate for women in engineering and I channel her more than one occasions in my career and so Dr. Davies I thank you for blazing the trail for so many of us and to Dr. Bolton who is an amazing expert in acoustics I appreciate your mentoring and the patience you showed me as a student and also while I was uh an engineering residence on campus um I'm much appreciative of the committee for selecting me as one of the honorees um however I didn't make this journey alone um none of my achievements could be possible without an army of people who helped shape my life um my family and my friends mentors and sponsors who stood by my side through all the peaks and valleys um and most importantly to my parents now deceased provided me such a solid foundation they allowed my voice to be heard they encouraged me to challenge the status quo and they convinced me that I could do absolutely anything I desired I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to realize a dream and to not only graduate from but also be of service to such a great university um I will forever hold Purdue uh in my heart thank you and Boiler Up