Karen M. Tkaczyk, PhD, CT is originally from Scotland and now lives in Nevada. She works as a highly-specialised French and Spanish into English freelance technical translator. Karen holds an MChem in Chemistry with French (University of Manchester), a Diploma in French and a PhD in Organic Chemistry (University of Cambridge). She worked in the pharmaceutical industry in France and Ireland, then after relocating in 1999, in medical devices and cosmetics in the US. Since 2005 she has been technical translator and editor. She frequently speaks on her fields of expertise at T&I professional devlopment events. Karen was instrumental in starting the new Science and Technology Division in 2010. For more information, visit www.mcmillantranslation.com

Steven Marzuola holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science. His work experience includes 12 years in the drilling and production equipment business in Venezuela and Houston. From 1992-2010, he was a full-time technical translator and interpreter, focusing on energy and commercial assignments. He now works in project management for an engineering firm. He is a member of ATA and HITA (Houston Interpreters and Translators Association) and has made presentations to each organization, on translation memory and oilfield technology.

Stephanie completed her Mechanical Engineering and French studies at Drexel University, obtaining a BS in Mechanical Engineering. Her position as a Project Engineer for the Department of Defense included duties as a technical liaison under a data exchange agreement with the French Army. This responsibility included both translation and interpreting. Stephanie also participated in the Advanced Studies program at MIT in Cambridge MA.

Since 2003, Stephanie has worked as a freelance translator specializing in technical translation with a focus on engineering and medical devices. She has been a member of ATA since 2007. Stephanie recently became a member of the DVTA Board.

Stephanie is a member of the ATA Professional Development committee, and she is an editor of the ATA SciTech Division Blog.

For more information, visit www.strobelengineering.com

I am an English-Swedish full time freelance translator since 2002. Before becoming a translator I worked as a product marketing manager at a telecommunication company in Sweden, thus specializing in this field. I do a lot of software localization, focusing on the translation part, but also perform linguistic testing and quality assurance. I have also translated many user manuals for consumer electronics such as cameras, printers, DVD-players and scanners, and have during the last years also translated user manuals for medical equipment and pharmaceuticals. I enjoy my work immensely and when I am not translating I serve as the language chair for the English-Swedish certification program for ATA; president of the Utah Translators and Interpreters Association and as chair over the local chapters and groups under ATA.

Nicholas Hartmann earned BA and MA degrees in 1973 and his PhD in 1982; he began working full-time as an independent technical and scientific translator in 1984, and now specializes in translating patents and related documents for corporate clients and law firms in the US and Europe. He is the immediate Past President of the American Translators Association and has also served the Association as President-elect and conference organizer, Director, and Secretary; administrator of the Science and Technology Division (version 1.0); chair of the Client Education Committee, Governance and Communications Committee, and Science and Technology Information Committee; co-chair of the Business Practices Education Committee; and member of the Terminology Committee and the ATA Chronicle Editorial Board. Dr. Hartmann holds ATA certification in French–English, German–English and Italian–English. For more information visit www.nhartmann.com.

For anyone who is interested, the full version can be found at:http://wordalchemytranslation.com/Matthew_F_Schlecht_Bio.pdf

I grew up convinced that I would become a scientist, and gradually narrowed it down to synthetic organic chemistry by the time I reached graduate school. After a two-year post-doc, I took an academic position at Brooklyn Polytechnic, and when that didn't pan out I moved to DuPont Agricultural Products in the Chemical Discovery division. I was "released" from DuPont during a big downsizing move, and then joined a small contract research company, then named CB Research & Development, doing outsource work for a number of the big name pharma companies.

Along the way, I picked up languages. Some French and Spanish in elementary school, Latin in high school, German in college, more French and Spanish in grad school along with Russian, Japanese during the DuPont years, and Chinese 5-6 years ago.

Just over ten years ago, in 2002, I left the research life for good and started a freelance translation, editing and technical writing business. In this fourth installment of my career, I translate into English from Japanese, German, French and Spanish, in the fields of medicine, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biotechnology, polymers and agrochemicals.

The Science & Technology Division seems like just the right place for me within the ATA, since I rarely or never work outside the abovespecified areas.

Iryna Ashby completed her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in linguistics and translation studies in Kharkiv, Ukraine and worked as a freelance translator and interpreter from and to English, Russian, and Ukrainian with governmental institutions and businesses since 1999.

Upon moving to the US in 2005, Iryna obtained her BA in Psychology and French studies, and currently works for a non-for-profit organization that provides state-wide services in the field of Autism Spectrum Disorders where she co-authored a book chapter and numerous poster presentations. She continues her freelance work as a translator and interpreter focusing on medical and technical fields. Iryna’s interests lie in eLearning development and web design.

For more information, visit www.UnderstandU.biz

Lebzy González, PhD, is a native of Puerto Rico based in Massachusetts. She works to and from Spanish and specializes in fields related to materials science and engineering. Lebzy holds a PhD in Macromolecular Science and Engineering form The University of Michigan and an SB in Materials Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has authored 20 refereed articles regarding polymer science, impact physics, automotive materials and photovoltaics.

Alicja K. Yarborough, PhD, is originally from Poland and now lives in Maryland. She works as a Polish to English and English to Polish freelance technical translator specializing in life science, pharmaceuticals, medical, and patents.

Alicja holds a MS degree in Chemistry (University of Technology, Wroclaw, Poland) and a PhD in Biochemistry (Polish Academy of Sciences). She came to the United States as recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship. Alicja was involved in research in the areas of cancer, molecular epidemiology and microbiology in leading research institutions in the US. She is an author of a book chapter and many scientific papers published in major journals. Since 2006 she has been technical translator and editor.

(Member in S&TD, JLD, CLD). Vincent C. Lai was born and raised in Taiwan (Formosa) in a bilingual state (Taiwanese at home and Japanese at school), and later had also to study (Mandarin) Chinese in school. He obtained a BS in Civil Engineering at National Taiwan University (NTU). In 1955, he came to the United States for graduate studies, first completing MS at U. of Iowa, and then Ph.D. at U. of Michigan, both in Civil Engineering (Hydraulics major). As a part of the Ph.D. language requirements he also acquired some knowledge of German and Russian. After graduation, he continued research work at the U.S. Geological Survey. Science and engineering research became his professional career. After retirement from the USGS, he worked at the NTU, first as a visiting professor in the CE department, then as a senior research fellow at the Hydrotech Research Institute. Currently, he is back to the USGS as a scientist emeritus. Having had opportunities to study several languages, he became strongly interested in linguistics, and had attempted some speech/language related activities, such as becoming a member in a toastmasters’ club and a freelance translator.*

1. *Among English, Japanese, Chinese, and Taiwanese – Translation from any one language to any other language.
2. Technical Translation from the following languages (in the order of proficiency) to English, only in the area of my specialty – German, Russian, French, Italian