She earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with research in protein engineering. Her current research interests include retention, diversity, and career pathways among engineering students and professionals.

Adrienne's research interests include electrokinetics, predominantly dielectrophoretic characterizations of cells, and the development of biomedical microdevices. She earned a NSF CAREER award, has published research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Lab on a Chip, and had an AIChE Journal cover. She is an active mentor of undergraduate researchers and co-directed an NSF REU site. Research within her Medical micro-Device Engineering Research Laboratory (M.D. -ERL) also inspires the development of Desktop Experiment Modules (DEMos) for use in chemical engineering classrooms or as outreach activities in area schools (see www.mderl.org). Adrienne has been an active member of ASEE's WIED, ChED, and NEE leadership teams since 2003 and during this time has contributed to 36 ASEE conference proceedings articles and 6 educational journal publications.