After 22 years in academia, I have returned to the professional industry. I am the Production Engineer for the Raliegh, NC-based Creative Visions. For the past 22 years, I have worked as an educator and designer in higher education. In addition to my teaching appointments, I worked as a freelance designer, artist, and technician, ensuring that I kept my finger on the pulse of the industry and brought those experiences back into my classroom. For 17 of those 22 years, I was employed at St. Olaf College as an Assistant Professor of Theatre Design and the department’s Technical Director. I have an MFA in design and production and undergraduate degrees in theater, art, and English. In addition to my position at the college, I have designed scenery, media, sound, and lighting professionally and academically for over 130 stage productions. I have served as technical director and project manager on hundreds of creative projects with budgets ranging from several hundred to several hundred thousand dollars. I worked as a computer consultant for a firm in Atlanta, GA, early in my career. I was the youngest person ever employed by that organization calling on Fortune 500 companies and smaller firms. Throughout my career, I have attended and participated in numerous conferences, exhibits, and trade shows nationwide. As a proud United Scenic Artist 829 member, I am a collaborator and creative individual with excellent people and time management skills. When approaching a design, I strive to create a complete and holistic existence for the work, thus creating a cohesive whole. My minor in art has exposed me to many artistic forms and movements, and I frequently use those influences to shape my designs. I routinely use computer technology, animation, CAD, and 3d modeling in my design and production work, including projections, media servers, and other video equipment. Recently I have been researching the use of technology routinely seen in film and television and finding ways to incorporate it into live production. This includes cinematic effects, green-screen technology, Unreal Engine, and motion capture. Additional research in microcontrollers and sensors and how they can be used to trigger effects, scenic automation, video, audio, and lighting continue to round out my current explorations.