About the Author

Krista Donaldson graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1995 with a bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. She went on to Stanford University where she discovered the machine shop and the main reason she had wanted to become an engineer—to make stuff! This took her into the Stanford Product Design (joint masters program in Art and Mechanical Engineering) where she was able to design and produce cool things—like an ice cream cone mold and a chandelier that doubles as a swing. After gaining some teaching and research experience during her masters, she decided to continue on for a Ph.D. (in M.E.), researching how to strengthen manufacturing capacity in less industrialized economies. She can be found either in California or Kenya, or more easily at krista@donaldson.net.