Karen holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Cal Poly SLO and an MBA from University of California, Irvine. She is in her 18th year of teaching at Cal Poly. Before joining Cal Poly Karen spent 19 years in the semi-conductor industry working at Skyworks Solutions Inc. (formerly Conexant Systems Inc., formerly Rockwell Semiconductor Systems). Her responsibilities included Industrial Engineering analysis, Operations Finance and Supply Chain Management. She has taught a wide range of subjects from Introduction to Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Project Managment, and Senior Project to name a few. She led the Women In Engineering Program 2007-2010 and was the College of Engineering’s Faculty Safety Coordinator 2016-2020.