Mark your Calendars! Professional Development Day: May 14th
Fiscal Year-23 Elections :On-going
Pittsburgh SWE Nominating Committee Announces
Election of Officers for Fiscal Year-23
There being no further nominations, Pittsburgh SWE Nominating Committee is pleased to announce the following slate of candidates for the 2022-23 SWE Pittsburgh Elected Officer Positions:
President – Candidate Elizabeth Foster
Elizabeth has been in the SWE Pittsburgh VP of Programming role since July 2020. In this role, she focused on developing community within the section despite the need to be virtual during the pandemic by hosting regular Zoom social hours and creating a new Slack workspace for more organic and informal interactions. She solicited feedback through surveys which she then used to implement new events, like a career-level networking hour, and incorporated suggestions for professional development topics into Professional Development Day. She is excited to bring her experience in the section to a new role where she can focus on developing section-driven goals and seeing them come to fruition, in addition to further fostering a welcoming and engaging community.
Elizabeth received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kentucky and an M.Eng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Berkeley. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Carnegie Mellon University in Electrical and Computer Engineering, where her research focuses on optimization within electric power distribution systems. Elizabeth is finished with classes and teaching obligations and is solely doing research at this time.
Vice-President Outreach – Candidate Mary Zeis
Mary has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh. She worked for Procter & Gamble R&D in Cincinnati for 31 years, retired, and moved back to Pittsburgh in 2009. Mary has served as the VP of STEM Outreach for the SWE Pittsburgh Section since 2013. She has also served as the FY16 and FY17 Chair of the society-level Outreach Committee and the FY20 Chair of the society-level SWENext Programs Committee. Mary's mission is to encourage more girls to consider engineering as a career. She loves volunteering side-by-side with other SWE Pittsburgh members at STEM Outreach events. Mary is a Life member of SWE and a SWE Fellow.
Vice-President Programming – Candidate Laura Traczynski
Laura is currently the Collegiate Liaison for the Pittsburgh section, Counselor for the University of Pittsburgh section, and societal Leadership Coach. Previously, Laura was a member of the SWENext Student Programming committee, President/Treasurer of the University of Pittsburgh section, and has completed the SWE Future Leaders program. Laura currently works as an Assistant Engineer at Turner Construction and has her B.S. in Civil Engineering from Pitt. Laura will use her experience to create meaningful programming for our section and strengthen the bond within our SWE community.
Secretary – Candidate Michal Chlebowski
Michal has not had an opportunity for a leadership role in SWE but is currently involved in the community. Michal’s involvement includes Secretary of her daughters’ gymnastics booster’s organization as well as helping to lead her church’s Sunday School and Vacation Bible School programs. Michal has a Mechanical Engineering degree and Master’s degree in Manufacturing Management from Penn State. She has worked for Eaton for nearly 20 years in a variety of roles with increasing leadership and management responsibility. Michal is currently the Industrialization Manager for the Power Components Division and manages a team of 13 engineers, including a team in the Dominican Republic.
Treasurer – Candidate Kim Daloise
Kim Daloise is running for the Treasurer role in FY23 for the Pittsburgh Professional Section of the Society of Women Engineers. Kim joined SWE when she began college in 2010. She has been involved ever since and held the Treasurer role in her senior year at the University of Pittsburgh. Kim joined the Pittsburgh professional section following graduation and held the Treasurer role for two years. For the next three years, Kim was the President of the Pittsburgh professional section and the last two years she returned as the Treasurer. Due to my previous experience managing the funds of both my collegiate section and the professional section, Kim believes she would be a good fit for this position.
Voting will open soon! SWE members must watch their email for the Election email link. Voting will remain open for 21 days.
Respectfully submitted,
Thank you from the Nominating Committee
Dianne McMaster, Chair; Rika Carlsen, and Mary Ann Walsh
Volunteers Needed for Pittsburgh SWE Non-Elected Positions
SWE Pittsburgh Committees are also seeking (non-elected) leads and members on their teams. We already have some interest in some of the roles, but we definitely need more volunteers. Please review the list below to see if you have an interest in or in helping with one of these roles. Email your interest to: swe.pittsburgh@gmail.com
SWE Committees Include:
Nominating Committee
• Proposes at least one qualified candidate for the elected officer
• Holds the election for the officers and reports the results
Fundraising Committee
Leads fundraising efforts in support of outreach, certificate of merit, professional development day and other SWE supported activities
Collegiate Liaison
• Bridge the gap between the section and collegiate sections in the area
• Assist collegiate sections with submitting required section documents (Financial Report, Leadership Roster, Section Agreement, etc).
• Plan annual Leadership Summit to connect all SWE leaders in the area
Membership Committee
• Welcome new (and transferred) members to our Pittsburgh SWE Section
• Member retention, Recognize our members
• Grow our membership in SWE Pittsburgh - ideas are welcome
Social Media Committee
• To connect with our members no matter what social media platform they may be following. • To connect with the larger engineering community in the Greater Pittsburgh area
SWE Pittsburgh Website Committee, Webmaster
• Provides a hub for information about SWE Pittsburgh
Job Bank Committee
• Coordinate job opening listings for companies and universities reaching out to the Pittsburgh SWE section
• Companies and universities who have posted openings on our website and in the newsletter: (and many more!)
Newsletter Committee, Editor
• Provide a communication platform for members & local community
• A point of contact for both members & non-members
• Presently use Mail Chimp for SWE Pittsburgh Newsletter
• Solicit articles from SWE Pittsburgh officers, leaders, and members
• Articles include upcoming events and activities, re-cap past activities, member information, job openings, member achievements, and any other items of interest to the members
SWE-Pittsburgh Events Committee – assist the VP Programming in planning Professional Development Day, tours, seminars, etc., as needed. (Year round)
STEM Outreach Committee
Volunteer leaders coordinate with the VP of STEM Outreach to create and deliver youth programming.
Specific roles include:
· Certificate of Merit Chair – Runs the yearly Certificate of Merit program that recognizes local high school girls who excel in math and science and are interested in engineering or technology as a career.
· YouTube Channel Manager – Uploads videos to our SWENext YouTube channel (as needed)
· SWENext Programming Chair – Creates programming for the SWENexters in Pittsburgh (at least one program every two months), both virtual and in-person. (Year round)
· SWENext Mentor/Advisor Program Chair – Matches high school students with mentors or one-time advisors from our section. Handles any requests we get for job shadowing or talking with an engineer, matching up a SWE member with a student. (Year round)
· Carnegie Science Center (CSC) Events Chair – Fields “requests for participation” from CSC, finds volunteers to participate in those events, and buys materials needed. (September – May)
· STEM Outreach for Schools Chair – Fields requests from schools for participation in their STEM nights, virtual classroom visits, science fairs, etc. Finds volunteers from among our members to participate and decide on hands-on activities to do. (September – May) · SWE-Sponsored Competitions Chair – Handles the details for the three competitions where we sponsor awards: Future City, PJAS, and PRSEF. Interacts with the hosting organization, advertises for volunteers, finds judges, etc. (December – March)
Professional Development Day (PDD) is almost here! Register now by going to the event website www.swepghpdd.com and clicking the “Register via Eventbrite” button. The website contains the most up-to-date information on sessions, speakers, and sponsors.
Highlights:
Main event:
Saturday, May 14th from 8:30 AM - 12 PM (virtual). Tickets are $10 for SWE members, $15 for non-SWE members, and free for college students!
Topics:
building and maintaining a professional network (panel discussion), advocating for yourself in workplace communication (panel discussion), empowerment through self care and career alignment (workshop), and lifelong learning (keynote address)
Corporate networking session:
Saturday, May 14th from 12 PM - 12:30 PM (virtual), with Eaton, SoftWriters, and National Robotics Engineering Center. This event is included in your ticket to the main event.
Networking dinner:
Saturday, May 14th at 5:30 PM at Casa Brazil in Highland Park. This event requires a separate ticket costing $25. It includes appetizers and your choice of entree.
Thank you to our Gold Achieve sponsors, Eaton and SoftWriters!
CONNECTING ACROSS THE GLOBE
Pittsburgh/Chennai SWEsters Round Table Event
On Saturday, March 16, members of SWE Pittsburgh met members of SWE Chennai India for a fun and successful round-table discussion. This is a part of an ongoing “SWEsters” relationship we have with SWE Chennai.
The meeting started with the overview of SWEsters formation in January 2021 and continued with the presentation and discussion of data comparing ‘women in engineering’ in India versus the US. This dynamic discussion was followed by breakout room chats. After each person introduced themselves including how they got into engineering in each breakout room, participants discussed questions related to women entering and continuing their career as engineers; the support they receive and the challenges they face.
The meeting was filled with exuberant discussions and the hour and half was not nearly enough. While there are cultural differences between the two countries thousands of miles apart and on opposite sides of the globe, the meeting brought to light that similar challenges are faced by women engineers on both sides. We concluded that we are glad to be engineers and have the support of SWE!
Moving forward, we decided to plan a once-a-year SWEsters joint meeting.
It’s Time to Renew Your SWE Membership!
The SWE FY23 will begin on July 1, 2023! You should have received an email reminder from SWE headquarters. When you renew, your membership will be active for all of FY23 ending on June 30, 2023.
Renew Early! - SWE offers an early renewal $5 discount – use code EBIRDFY23
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.
Life members and C2C members do not need to renew, as SWE will automatically renew these memberships.
All members: please remember to keep your SWE Profile up to date with your current address and employment.
At each stage of your career, SWE is here to help you build your local and global community. Together we inspire the next generation of engineers, advocate for those within the profession, and learn from fellow members who are legacies in the making.
Did you know that 20% of your membership dues come back to our Pittsburgh SWE section? This money is of great help to us in running STEM Outreach programs, networking events, and professional development events.
And the money that goes to SWE HQ helps fund webinars, the online career center, section support, society-level outreach events, and so much more. (We couldn’t have all our programming without you!)
WE Local Buffalo 2022
Over 500 SWE members and guests attended WE Local Buffalo 2022 on April 8 and 9, the best attended U.S. WE Local in 2022. Eight SWE Pittsburgh members made the journey and enjoyed the sessions and the networking.
Four of our Pittsburgh members gave presentations.
Deepika Devarajan presented on Responsible Innovation: What Can YOU Do Differently. Her session was lively with a lot of great questions.
Mary Ann Walsh and Laura Traczynski shared our Mission Award winning knowledge with other sections in their Mission Award Gold session. SWE Pittsburgh has won the Gold Mission Award in both 2020 and 2021 so they had a lot of good tips to share.
Mary Ann Walsh and Mary Zeis were a part of Late Career & Retiree Affinity Group-sponsored panel discussion on Elder Care: What is Your Plan for the Unexpected. Mary Ann and Mary both shared their personal stories about taking care of their fathers.
And Mary Zeis showed great enthusiasm for one of her favorite topics when she presented SWENext: What’s New, What’s Next. SWENext is a free program for middle school and high school students to become a part of the SWE community before college. SWENext helps students explore engineering and prepare for college.
All of these sessions were pre-recorded, so if you’d like to see any of them, please reach out to swe.pittsburgh@gmail.com and we’ll send you a link to the one(s) you want to see.
Mary Zeis was also honored to accept the WE Local 2022 Outstanding Outreach Event award on behalf of SWE Pittsburgh. We submitted the application citing two virtual SWENext Networking events we held, specifically the “Zoom Networking for High School Girls” run on November 17, 2020 and the “SWENext Speed Mentoring” run on April 22, 2021.
48 different high school girls attended one or the other or both events. And 16 SWE Pittsburgh members volunteered. We want to publicly thank them: Anita Jain, Deborah Mort, Deepika Devarajan, Erica Stevens. Jackie Welsh, Karen Levin, Lindsay Bonn, Mary Hall, Mary Zeis, Meaghan Shea, Mikayla Ferchaw, Paula Baker, Rachel Upadhyay, Rebecca Rugh, Samantha Orlando, and Sydney Sandidge. Without you, this award would not have been possible. Thank you for your dedication to STEM Outreach!
Although no official announcement has been made, we’ve heard that next year’s WE Locals will be in Hartford CT, Detroit MI, and Seattle WA. We hope to see you at one of them!
Volunteers Needed for STEM Outreach
We have two opportunities in May to do in-person/on-site Outreach.
Whitehall Public Library STEAM Night
Friday, May 13th, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Location: 100 Borough Park Drive Pittsburgh, PA. 15236.
The Whitehall Public Library is partnering with the South Hills Interfaith Movement to provide a STEAM Night for their after-school program which mainly serves ELL (English-Language Learners) and resettled refugee students in grades 1 through 5.
SWE Pittsburgh will host a hands-on activity table. We need at least 4 volunteers for this event. This is perfect for members who work since it is in the evening. (No worries if you can’t make it right at 5pm when the event begins.) Family and friends are welcome to volunteer with you.
Location: Carnegie Science Center, 1 Allegheny Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.
SWE Pittsburgh will participate in SciTech Day – Sports at the Carnegie Science Center by hosting an activity table. Students will make a “ball blaster” (really a sling shot from a paper towel core) and try to send their aluminum foil “ball” into a target to score.
We need volunteers to staff the table in shifts throughout the day. If you have Fridays off (or can take Fridays off), this event might be perfect for you. (No need to work in the sports industry to volunteer.)
Please sign up for the shift(s) that most closely fits your schedule and then add comments if you have a schedule limitation or need an adjustment to the scheduled shift. We’re flexible!
Questions about any volunteer opportunity? Reach out to us at swe.pittsburgh@gmail.com.
Do You Support the Sports Industry in Some Way?
(Or do you know someone who does?)
We are looking for women engineers who work for companies that support the Sports Industry in some way. Maybe your company makes the aluminum for baseball bats. Or perhaps your company makes the helmets used in football or the coating on a hockey puck.
If you are or know someone who fits this description, please reach out to swe.pittsburgh@gmail.com. We’d like to interview you to make a video to submit to the science center for the sports-related SciTech day event.
Member Spotlight -- Stefanie Garcia
Stefanie Garcia is an engineering K-12 education coordinator for the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She earned her BS degree in physics/biophysics from UC San Diego, and did her graduate work at UC Berkeley in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. She is the recipient of the NGSS GRFP Fellowship, and the GAANN Fellowship. Some of her background includes work with UCSD’s Radiation Health and Safety Department, where she managed sealed and unsealed sources for both UCSD and UCSD affiliated hospitals. She has also worked on test engineering of RF and Mixed-signal IC devices with MaxLinear. Her graduate research experience includes work on the development of MEMS implantable medical devices for radiation detection and oncology applications, both for in-vivo, closed loop dosimetry, and for early detection of cancer recurrence purposes. This work was also supported by oncology physicians in the UCSF Radiation Oncology Department, and by medical physicists at UC Davis Crocker Nuclear Laboratory. Stefanie’s oncology devices work was also patented, and has been spun out with a biotech startup called iota Biosciences.
Stefanie currently works in engineering education. In the East Bay, CA, Stefanie has worked on STEM outreach programs for public school districts in Berkeley, West Contra Costa, and Oakland school districts. She has built an online Arduino course for 7th - 10th graders (pre-COVID), and specifically focuses on low-cost electronics projects that can support engineering education in marginalized communities. Stefanie has also been a computer science and robotics teacher for 3rd - 8th graders, as well as a 7th grade science teacher, in Trenton NJ from 2019-2021. Part of the objective of her school’s work was in breaking down generational cycles of poverty for families in Trenton, NJ, and in supporting both students and families throughout the initial COVID crisis in 2020.
Stefanie moved to Pittsburgh in late July, 2021, and is a new community member within Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. She currently works on building community within both CMU, and local Pittsburgh K-12 student, teacher, and OST communities. She is experienced in working across multiple knowledge levels and age groups (from K-5, MS, HS, Undergrad, Grad, and to collegiate faculty), in order to build connections across these groups. For K-12 students, Stefanie hopes that her work can help local Pittsburgh students think more critically about the societal impacts of engineering and technology in their daily lives, and on the power of a collective voice when initiating engineering projects in a community setting.
SWE Member News
Congratulations to SWE Pittsburgh member Helen Patricia! Helen was recently elected to the society-level position of Ethics Committee Chair-Elect. Helen will serve as Chair-Elect in FY23, and then as Chair in FY24.
Helen is a Life Member of SWE and a SWE Fellow. She has held many SWE roles, both local and society-level, including SWE Pittsburgh Section President, Region G Governor, SWE’s Board of Directors, and Bylaws Committee Chair. Congratulations, Helen, and thank you for being a volunteer leader for SWE!
SWE Member News
Congratulations to our SWE Pittsburgh President Samantha Orlando!
Sam had a baby girl in mid-April named Madison Rose. Madison was 7 lbs.1 oz. and 19 inches long. This is Sam's first child. Madison, Sam, and her husband Jason are all doing well.
Check out Job Postings in the Newsletter and on the SWE Website
Please remember to keep your SWE profile up-to-date - please include your employment, education, and address; also remember to check to opt-in for SWE to send you emails (email is the main method of SWE Pittsburgh communication to our members). Members’ information is how we keep in touch with you and it is not shared outside of SWE
Did you know that by simply shopping on smile.amazon.com and selecting Society of Women Engineers as your supported charity, Amazon will donate 0.5% of eligible purchases to our Section? How awesome is that!
If you want to put your Amazon shopping to good use, follow these steps:
Step 2: Select Choose your charity -OR- change the charity your supporting
Step 3: Search for Society of Women Engineers
Step 4: Search for the Pittsburgh, PA Location
Step 5: Shop shop shop! Well, remember to shop at Smile.amazon.com!
SWE Pittsburgh FY22 Leadership
Samantha Orlando - President
Elizabeth Foster - Vice President – Programming
Mary Zeis - Vice President – Outreach & STEM Outreach Co-Chair
Lindsay Bonn - Secretary
Kimberly Daloise - Treasurer
Mary Ann Walsh - Membership Co-Chair
Carol Pan - Membership Co-Chair
Jayashree Iyengar - Fundraising Chair
Veronica Jaime-Lara - Social Media Chair
Deepika Devarajan - STEM Outreach Co-Chair
Dorothy Measures - Job Bank Coordinator
Erica Stevens - Webmaster
Cassandra Solarczyk - Newsletter Editor
Laura Traczynski - Collegiate Section Liaison
Sara Guza - Collegiate Section Liaison
Chuck Bleil - Data Officer
Claire Bradshaw - Certificate of Merit Program Chair
Mikayla Ferchaw - YouTube Manager
Sharon Thomas - Carnegie Science Center (CSC) Event Chair
Dianne McMaster - Nominating Committee Chair
Look for us on the SWE Pittsburgh website and contact any of us by sending an email to swe.pittsburgh@gmail.com
Would you like to sponsor SWE Pittsburgh?
If you would like your company to be a local sponsor, contact SWEPittsburgh@gmail.com
