Dr. Adams is a recipient of a National Science Foundation CAREER award, teaching and leadership awards, best paper awards (including Design Studies and Journal of Engineering Education), and engages broadly in multiple communities. She seeks to empirically develop “languages for learning” in areas central to engineering practice – cross-disciplinarity and design. She designed and hosted the 10th Design Thinking Research Symposium where researchers from around the globe and different disciplines conducted studies using a shared dataset of design review conversations in different design domains (mechanical engineering, service learning, choreography, product design, and entrepreneurship).  Studies ranged from understanding design practices and design teaching to the ways instructors support students in becoming professionals. This resulted in an edited book, Analyzing Design Review Conversations, and special issues of Design Studies and Co-Design. Dr. Adams is also a leader in building capacity in engineering education. She led the Institute for Scholarship on Engineering Education as part of the Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education, played a leadership role in developing the first U.S. PhD program in engineering education at Purdue University, and was an invited participant to the National Academy of Engineering Frontiers of Engineering Education symposium series. Currently, Dr. Adams is a Professor in the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University, and teaches graduate level courses on design cognition and learning, undergraduate courses in interdisciplinary design, and participates in an innovation, leadership, and transformation program. She received degrees in education (PhD), materials science and engineering (MS), and mechanical engineering (BS), and worked as a senior designer in industry.