Upcoming Events:

July 18: Indian Cooking Class
July 31: I Spy AI - A Jeopardy Style Game, for 7-12 grader

A Great Year!

Hello, Pittsburgh SWE members! It’s hard to believe that the SWE fiscal year has ended. 

First, I’d like to thank you all for making this an incredibly successful year for Pittsburgh SWE. I know the final leg of the year posed some challenging times, but we were still able to hold some great virtual events! Thank you for all of your interest and participation in our events – we wouldn’t be able to do it without you!

Just to show you how much we’ve accomplished, check out the stats below!

I also wanted to mention that I will be stepping down from the President role this year and will be taking back on the Treasurer role. I know the new president, Ashley, will do an amazing job! I’m so thankful I was able to serve as president of this great section for the past 3 years!

Lastly, I want to give a HUGE thank you to our officers this past year! It takes great teamwork to make our events and our section itself successful. I could not be more proud of the great women I was able to work with this past year. Thank you for everything you’ve done! It has not gone unnoticed and is greatly appreciated!

Kimberly Daloise

FY20 President

swe.pittsburgh@gmail.com

Announcing the FY21 SWE Pittsburgh Officers

Voting for the FY21 SWE Pittsburgh officer elections is now closed. On behalf of the Nominating Committee, I am pleased to announce the SWE Pittsburgh Officers for FY21. Thank you to all SWE Pittsburgh members who voted! Your FY21 officers are below:

President – Ashley Zulueta

This will be Ashley's first year serving in an officer role in the section.

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Vice President, STEM Outreach – Mary T. Zeis

Mary has served as the SWE Pittsburgh VP of STEM Outreach since 2013.

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Vice President, Programming – Elizabeth Foster

This will be Elizabeth's first year serving in an officer role in the section.

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Secretary – Jackie Welsh

Jackie served as the Collegiate Section Liaison for FY20, and now is taking on the role of Secretary for the first time in FY21.

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Treasurer – Kim Daloise

Kim was the President of the section for the past three years, and will now be resuming the role of Treasurer, in which she served in a previous year.

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Thank you from the Nominating Committee:

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Also - Announcing the FY21 SWE Pittsburgh Committee members:

Membership Chair: Mary Ann Walsh and seeking additional volunteer

Webmaster: Reneicia Frazier and seeking an additional volunteer(s)

Newsletter Editor: Cassandra Solarczyk

Job Bank Coordinator: Dorothy Measures

Social Media Chair: Katie Gates

Fundraising: Jay Iyengar, Chair and Meaghan Shea-Greaves

Outreach: Deepika Devarajan, co-chair and Rachel Upadhyay

Collegiate Section Liaison: Laura Traczynski

Nominating: Dorothy Measures Chair, Meaghan Shea-Greaves, and Mary Ann Walsh

SWE Pittsburgh is always seeking additional volunteers for committees.

SWE Pittsburgh is collaborating  with our Fund-Raising Chair, Jayashree Iyengar of Popping Mustard Seeds  to offer our members an afternoon of Indian cooking

This fun and delicious event is a great opportunity to support our section

The cost will be $20.

This event is open to your family and friends!

Now you can register for the event on our website:  http://pittsburgh.swe.org/fundraising.html

Programming Virtually

Thanks to everyone that joined us for our virtual chat in June and sharing your binge worthy TV shows and books! We got some great suggestions that we’ll share below. It’s great to hear about our members taking advantage of their local libraries both virtually through apps like Libby and in person by ordering books from an online catalog for pick up. Phipps Conservatory and the Carnegie Museums are also beginning to open up with proper measures for social distancing while still enjoying the facilities! We can’t wait to take advantage of the ‘old school’ drive ins popping up this summer through this summer’s CitiParks Dollar Bank Cinema in the Park series (reservations required) or at the Dependable Drive In (Moon Township, PA).

We have enjoyed starting virtual chats with our membership to continue to be accessible for social and professional gatherings! If you haven’t joined us yet, then we hope to see you next time.

Binge Worthy Books

The Girls of Atomic City

Radium Girls

Outlier 

White Fragility

The Last Time I Lied (mystery book)

Neapolitan Novels

In Death by J D Robb --- about detectives in 2061 and there are 50 books in the series!

Wired magazine 

Binge Worthy TV Shows

Star Trek 

Space Force

The Expanse 

Schitts creek

Avatar: The Last Airbender 

Dynasty

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL

Remember to Renew Your SWE Membership!

SWE fiscal year – 21 started on July 1st, 2020 and goes through June 30, 2021. 

We still have 104 members who have not yet renewed dues for FY21. Don’t miss the opportunity to support women in engineering and don’t miss out on the fun we will have, please renew your SWE membership today. You can renew your SWE membership here.

Having issues logging in or need help? Send an email to membership@swe.org or call 1-312-596-5223 and press 3 for membership.

Did you know that 20% of your membership dues come to our Pittsburgh SWE section? This money helps us run STEM Outreach programs, networking events, and professional development events.

And the portion of dues money that goes to SWE HQ helps fund webinars, the online career center, section support, society-level outreach events, and so much more.

It’s easy to renew. Go to SWE.org. Click the Login button at the top-right corner and login. The login area in the upper right will now say, “Hello, (your name)”. If you hover there, a menu will appear. Click on Account. You are now in the SWE Account Portal. Click on the "SWE Member Renewal" button. Some members also include another year of membership in their conference WE20 registration.

Are you retired or unemployed? There is a special rate available, with dues just $50 per year.

Are you a member of NSBE, SHPE, or AISES? You can save 30% with a joint membership.

Are you a K-12 Educator? There is a special rate of just $20 per year for you.

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Thank you renewing members!

As of July 1, SWE Pittsburgh has 69 members who have already paid and renewed their membership in SWE. There were 25 more members who renewed this past month:

Paula Baker, Elnora Balser, Stacy Birmingham, Kelly Chambers, Michal Chlebowski, Rachel Druist, Alyssa Eyth, Susan Finger, Elizabeth Foster, Anju Khazanchi, Jennifer Konikowski, Rachel Lecrone, Melissa Martinez, Dianne McMaster, Tessa Minnick, Lisa Morrison, Stacey Olson, Diana Pearson, Cory Raszeja, Jana Reedy, Erin Rhodes, Danielle Skolnekovich, Ann Sokalski, Emily Sweeny, and Kimberly Williams.

Our members are taking advantage of the many membership categories: from Collegiate to Career, Professional, Associate, Graduate, multi-year Professional, Unemployed, Retired, and Life Membership. 

STEM Outreach Update

Given the global pandemic, all in-person STEM Outreach events have been canceled.

However, we are still participating in virtual STEM events and will continue to need volunteers.

If you know of a virtual STEM program at a local school that would benefit from having a woman engineer be a part of it, please contact maryzeis@gmail.com with the details.

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Thanks to the 34 Pittsburgh SWE members who volunteered for one of the 15 STEM events that our section supported last fiscal year.  Remarkably, these volunteers impacted over 775 girls, 570 boys, and 450 parents at STEM events!  Thank you!!!!!

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Invention Convention needed SWE's help, and five of our Pittsburgh SWE members responded.  Thanks to Ashley Zulueta, Carol Pan, Fern DoVale, Chuck Bleil, and Mary Zeis for being judges for their U.S. Nationals Young Inventor Competition.

The Invention Convention judging had to move online for this year's U.S. Nationals competition due to the pandemic.  A total of 114 SWE members from across the country signed on as judges, representing 14% of all Invention Convention judges.  SWE members are amazing!

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Do you know a 7th through 12th grader interested in STEM?  If so, read on!

Deepika Devarajan, our section’s Co-Chair of STEM Outreach, is offering a virtual session for 7th – 12th graders called “I Spy AI - A Jeopardy Style Game”.

Can you think of an app that doesn’t use Artificial Intelligence (AI)?  AI is now mainstream and finding its way in everything we do. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify how AI is impacting our lives. During this virtual event for middle and high school girls, we will learn about artificial intelligence and machine learning. We will play a fun game, jeopardy style, to see how datasets, learning algorithms, and predictions come together in everyday apps.

When: Thursday, July 30, 2020, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST.

Where: Virtual

Who: Open to middle and high school girls rising to grades 7th – 12th

(Registration is limited to the first 15 applicants.)

Registration Deadline: Wednesday, July 29th 

Registered attendees will receive meeting details by email.

Register Here! 

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SWE Pittsburgh and SWENext

SWENext is a free program where girls can become a part of the SWE community before college.  SWE provides resources, content, and programming for “SWENexters”, such as scholarship tips, advice on how to prepare for college success, leadership training, awards, mentors, and advice columns.  Check out the SWENext website at swenext.swe.org.

If you know girls in middle school or high school that enjoy STEM, please encourage them to sign up for SWENext using this link:  https://tinyurl.com/y8o4cp7n.  It’s free!

Please ask them to use Event Code PGHPRO when they sign up so SWE Pittsburgh gets credit for recruiting them.  😊

Questions about the SWENext program?  Please reach out to maryzeis@gmail.com.  She is on the society-level Student Programs Committee that is responsible for the SWENext program.

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SWE Members: Thanks for all you do to influence and impact the next generation of women engineers!

Pittsburgh SWE Point System Winners!

As a reminder, the Pittsburgh SWE Section has decided to begin using a point system in order to reward our members for their participation in our events! Points will be granted based on the level of commitment required of an event, regardless of the type of event.

Officers will not be eligible to win. Prizes will be given to the top 3 members each “semester” of the year. Therefore, prizes will be given out for participation from July through December and again from January through June for a total of 6 winners per year.

We are happy to announce that our top three winners from the 2nd semester of FY20 are:

1st – Dianne McMasters

2nd – Chuck Bleil

3rd – Fern DoVale

Congratulations and thank you! We will be in contact with you!

Member Spotlight

Meet SWE Member

Laura Traczynski, Collegiate Section Liaison

My name is Laura Traczynski, and I am very excited to be the SWE Pittsburgh, Collegiate Section Liaison for FY21! I graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in December 2019 with a degree in civil engineering, and I currently work as an Assistant Engineer at Turner Construction. During my time as a SWE collegiate member at Pitt, I had the opportunity to serve as the public relations chair, treasurer, and president. Currently, in addition to my collegiate liaison role, I'm also the counselor for the University of Pittsburgh section and a committee member on the societal SWENext Clubs Work Group.  In my free time, I love listening to musicals, riding my bike around Pittsburgh, and baking. I'm very grateful for this opportunity, and I'm looking forward to a successful year with all of you!

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