Ping Fu's globetrotting and hobnobbing continues.

In January, the CEO of Geomagic visited the Obamas at the White House and attended the president's State of the Union address. Last month, she attended a tech conference in Lake Tahoe, where CNBC named Geomagic one of four tech companies to watch. This week, she hung out with late-night icon Jay Leno at his "Big Dog Garage" in Southern California.

Leno and NBC invited Fu and officials from several other tech companies to the garage, which holds his huge car collection. He's repairing a 1920s Dusenberg and wanted to show how technology can be used to fix classic cars, Fu said.

The software made by Geomagic, based in Research Triangle Park, turns physical objects into realistic 3-D models to analyze how to make improvements. Customers include NASA, NASCAR and medical-device makers.

"I do think having someone like Jay promoting the technology will bring a lot more awareness and make the technology cool," Fu said. "If you have a new, cutting-edge technology and there's no awareness, it doesn't go anywhere."

Her visit was recorded to be posted at www.jaylenosgarage .com in the next week or two.