Jandá Monique Carter was born in Texas and grew up in Flint, Michigan.  She graduated from the Flint Academy as valedictorian, and attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.  After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Interdisciplinary Engineering (Mechanical Engineering and Pre-Medicine), she pursued a Masters degree in Food Process Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

Jandá worked as a Project Development Engineer for General Motors Corporation in Michigan and as a New Technology Process Engineer for the Quaker Oats Company in Chicago.  In 1998, Jandá received a scholarship and enrolled in University of Dayton's School of Law - with a special focus on Patent Law, E-Commerce Law and Intellectual Property.  While a law student, Jandá served as the President of the Intellectual Property Law Society, as an associate editor for the UDSL Journal of Law & Technology, and as a teaching assistant for the Academic Excellence Program and the 2nd year Legal Professions Course.   While in law school, Jandá worked for General Electric Aircraft Engines’ IP Group (during her 2^nd and 3^rd year of school), and interned her first summer (split) at the US Patent and Trademark Office in Washington D.C. and at a small law firm in Peoria, and with a medium sized general practice firm during her second summer of law school. 

After graduation she moved to Cincinnati, OH and practiced as a Patent Attorney for the law firm of Frost Brown Todd LLC for 5 years – where she was the only African American female patent attorney working at a firm in the entire city, and for her first year, the only African American attorney working for the firm.  Currently, she is a Patent Attorney for Caterpillar, Inc. servicing the Transmission, Systems & Controls, CAT Production Systems, Assembly & Logistics Research, and Advanced Powertrain Research Business Units. She has been working there since July of 2006, and LOVES IT!

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