What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
I was a physics and chemistry teacher in an all-girl high school. I realized that I wanted to become a professor in an university so I could see directly how students utilize the knowledge I provide to them to help shape and develop their career.

Who is your hero, mentor or person you most admire? Why?
There are many that I view and admire as heroes and mentors. Two people that I greatly admire are Madame Curie and Albert Einstein. Madame Curie was the only women scientist that I knew of when I was growing up. Albert Einstein has always been a person that I admired for many reasons, including a special elegance about the way he carried out his work and the effect that he has directly and indirectly had on promoting science and related disciplines.

What is your favorite book?
Richard Feyman's book "What Do You Care What Other People Think?"

What advances in your field do you envision over the next 10 years?
This is a difficult question to answer as the field of electronics, optoelectronics and micro systems technology continues to make advances at a mind -boggling pace. Things that were viewed as impossible or impractical only a few years ago have or are now becoming commonplace. I envision even more ingenious, smaller, lighter weight (compact), lower cost, and sophisticated electronics, optoelectronics and microsystems devices and systems that create, enable, and enhance technology for the betterment of society.

What do you see as the single most interesting element of your work?
To me the most rewarding and interesting part of my job is the wonderful interactions with students who I teach, guide, and try my best to provide the support that they need. This element of my work is often times extremely challenging (and certainly never dull). I truly hope that I may positively affect the students and people I come in contact with and maybe, for some, even become their role model.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
Inspired the students' interest in my fields of specialty, i.e., RF and Optical Micro Systems Technology.

What was your greatest challenge and what did you learn from it?
Being the first and still the only woman faculty in a department with many men around me who don't believe in equality and fairness for women in engineering nor respect a woman's place in electrical engineering.

I have also come to realize and learn that: Don't expect things to get better simply because you think that you have found a way to live with the problems that others are causing to your career development and that you can tough it out. Discrimination can and will only get worse if you don't take the effort to set it straight when you first notice it.

What strategies do you use to maintain balance in your life?
Spending time with my children and teaching them the important values in life helps me maintain balance. Realizing that our children our are most important asset is a major stabilizing force in life. Seeing things through the eyes of my six year old son, Aaron, always brings wonderment and joy to my life. Trying to explain the important things and lessons in life, including the importance of education and striving to be the best that you can be no matter what the situation, to my eleven-year-old daughter, Kelly, makes me realize the value of having unshakable beliefs and convictions and being able to pass these on to those who are important to me.

What advice would you give to young women who want to enter your field?
There is a very good chance that as a women you will feel at some point that something is not quite right about choosing the field of electrical engineering, especially when you realize the relatively low numbers of women who are making the same choice. However, I want to encourage all of you to give it a fair chance and try it out. Being in electrical engineering for more than 15 years has given me so much confidence in everything I do; I basically believe that I can solve any problem that is put in front of me if answers exist to the problem and I am given the time and opportunity to solve it. I further believe that, although even I wondered for a few years, whether electrical engineering is an appropriate field for women, there is so much women can offer to electrical engineering. I love being an engineer and the work that I do! I believe that my way of looking at a problem may be different from others and that all forms of diversity greatly enhances the highly creative process of problem solving and many times provides a path to a very novel approach or methodology to advancing science, engineering and technology.