Ping Fu, president and CEO of Geomagic, received the Business Innovation Award from the America China Business Women’s Alliance (ACBWA) at a luncheon today in Rockville, Md. Ms. Fu was given the award at the 2008 American China Women Business Leader’s Conference, where she spoke to 400 business owners and executives. “Ping’s journey from a young lady scared for her life in China to an internationally known entrepreneur and technology leader is a remarkable story,” said Jade Zhou, ACBWA executive director. “We are honored to present this award to Ping, and to have her address the hundreds of women executives and distinguished guests at the conference.” From exile to tech innovator Punished as a child during the Cultural Revolution and expelled from China as a young woman for writing about the ritual killing of baby girls, Fu came to America with only a few dollars. She used a restless intellect and iron-clad will to gain an education in computer science and work at increasingly high-level positions. As director of visualization at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Fu initiated and managed the NCSA Mosaic software project that led to Netscape and Internet Explorer. She also developed the computer animation software that enabled animators to create award-winning special effects for Terminator 2. Under Fu’s direction, Geomagic has become the worldwide leader in digital shape sampling and processing (DSSP), which is fundamentally changing the way products are made, heralding a shift from mass manufacturing to mass customization. “It was an honor to receive this award and meet an extraordinary group of American and Chinese businesswomen,” says Fu. “I thank the ACBW for the award and IBM for nominating me.”