CURRENT AREA OF PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH My primary area of research since 1994 has been to develop exciting Fashion Technology career options for creative students in the apparel/textile field. I have specifically focused on development of 2D and 3D curriculum for Fashion Technology students that is aligned with the needs and expectations of industry professionals and positive industry liaisons. I have published articles in trade journals, presented at conferences on an international level and worked on grants that encourage collaborative projects with industry partners and other educational institutions. In 1994, a donation from an industry partner, NedGraphics Inc. (an international software developer for the apparel and textile industries) , and a matching fund grant facilitated the development of CAD textile design curriculum at Buffalo State College. Buffalo State College students won over a dozen national awards in CAD design competitions.Approximately in 1996, two separate CAD textile curricula were formulated. The Design Department has a CAD Textile Design for Industry major and the Fashion Technology Program has a Textiles for Industry concentration. In the fallof 2005, the Textiles for Industry has evolved into the Textile/Apparel Design Technologies concentration in the Fashion Textile Technology program. Apparel Design majors are encouraged to prepare for their career options by expanding their professional skills to include CAD textile design. In addition to NedGraphics software, FTT students at Buffalo State currently have Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. WeaveMaker,Karat CAD, Lectra Modaris, and EasyStep and ClicDesign Plug-ins in addition to Lectra PrimaVision and U4ia design software to work on. Buffalo State College students have gone on to exciting highly paid creative technology careers as CAD designers, CAD Directors, Creative Directors, Design Division Managers, Trainers, Training Managers, CAD (print, weave, technical or fashion graphic) designers, trend and design specialists, design product developers. My creative area of professional research has been in
the area of digital design, I have recently been fouusing my research in the area of Virtual Fashion Technology. A recent student project (spring 2007) titled The Fashion Project can be located here.
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