Robin Carufel, Fashion Design
Robin Carufel is our new fashion design program director. She finished a doctoral degree in apparel studies from The University of Minnesota this summer. Carufel’s research ranges from computer-aided design to apparel production, body scanning, anthropometrics and human factors. Prior to attending graduate school, Carufel ran a womenswear business where she used a full-body scanner and CAD software to create mass customized apparel for clients.
Carufel’s postdoctoral research will be focused on using body scan technology to evaluate gear issues for female firefighters. This research will be a collaborative effort with other research institutions. A few of the universities are: Cornell University, Kansas State University and Carufel’s recent Alma Mater, the University of Minnesota.
Fun Fact:
Dr. Carufel enjoys traveling and has visited most states in the U.S. as well as 12 foreign countries. When visiting new places, she likes to shop at flea markets for jewelry and artwork. It’s a family tradition for her to collect magnets from the places she has visited![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”47373″ img_size=”large” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.brenau.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Kleeman-Michael2.jpg”][vc_column_text]
Michael Kleeman, Interior Design
Michael Kleeman is an incoming associate professor of interior design. Kleeman attended Georgia Institute of Technology, from which he holds two concurrent master’s degrees in architecture and history of architecture.
Kleeman has taught for the Georgia Institute of Technology and later he became the academic department director for the Arts Institute of Atlanta.
As a practicing interior designer Kleeman worked on the renovations for the Grand Hyatt hotel in Buckhead and the Hyatt Regency in Dallas. A few of his clients have also included Jane Fonda’s foundations and the prototyping of the Aloft Hotel Brand.
Fun Fact:
Professor Kleeman’s home in Atlanta was built in 1896 and he is renovating it room by room while he lives there with his three rescue dogs.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”47374″ img_size=”large” onclick=”custom_link” link=”https://www.brenau.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Chu-Huy2.jpg”][vc_column_text]
Huy Chu, Studio Art
Huy Chu is our new assistant professor of art & design. He has a Master of Fine Arts in studio arts: ceramics, from the University of South Carolina. Chu’s ceramic art has been shown nationally in both solo and group exhibitions; this includes shows in California, Massachusetts, & South Carolina. Chu has had work published in, “The Acme Comics Presents Escape Pod, Volume 1.” Chu has been teaching professionally for 10 years; as an adjunct professor in art and design, a life coach for young adults with autism, and as elementary school art and math teacher. In his more recent creative research, he has begun to focus on digital technology; he plans to use animation techniques and projection in a new body or work.
Fun Fact:
Professor Chu first learned to draw by watching animations and reading comic books he checked out from his local library in San Jose, California. He also loves Science Fiction and Anime![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
