(ASQ: Milwaukee) -- The American Society for Quality recently awarded its 2007 Richard A. Freund International Scholarship to Denisa Olteanu of Blacksburg, Virginia.

Named after Richard A. Freund, a past president of the American Society for Quality, this $5,000 scholarship has been awarded for the past 13 years and supports a quality professional’s graduate study of the theory and application of quality control, quality assurance, quality improvement, and total quality management.

Olteanu earned her bachelor’s degree in economics and forecasting from Bucharest Business School in Romania. She came to the United States to study statistics at Virginia Tech, received her master’s degree there, and has now been accepted into the doctorate program in statistics at Virginia Tech.

“At the end of my studies I want to continue working in the quality field,” says Olteanu.  “Later, I hope to lead initiatives and have the power to change practices and make people aware of the importance of quality improvement.”

While working on her statistics degree and starting her doctorate coursework, Olteanu interned in 3M’s lean Six Sigma department and became a consultant on behalf of Virginia Tech to Becton & Dickinson in the area of quality control. She has also been a teaching assistant at Virginia Tech.

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