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Thursday, April 8, 2010

President's Report - April 2010

Hello SWE-MN!

Welcome to spring! This is an exciting time for SWE-MN. We had a very successful Professional Development Spring Seminar at St Thomas on March 13th. I’d like to offer my personal thanks to our Professional Development chairs Jacalyn St Dennis and Katrina Sanders for their hard work in bringing this event together. We have an exciting Wow! That’s Engineering outreach event coming up with Girls Inc on April 24th in St Paul. If you would like to volunteer to help with this event, please contact Sara at volunteer@swe-mn.org. Another thing that I’m excited about is the announcement of our FY10 slate of leaders for SWE-MN. These are eminently qualified and responsible women, who I am proud to have as the future of the section. I encourage you to read through the biographies of the ladies later in this newsletter. Watch for voting to begin in early April! Finally, I want to send a work of good luck to our SWE individual award applicants for the year as applications were turned in by March 31st. Enjoy the spring and

I hope to see you at one of our upcoming events!

Cheers, Lisa

VP's Spotlight - April 2010

Click on the picture to go to WOW! That's Engineering event description

Outreach Committee News

Date: Saturday April 24th 9am-4pm
Location: Boston Scientific CRM (formerly Guidant) Building 3 (Same building as Girl Scout Patch Day)4100 Hamline Ave N St. Paul, MN 55112
Experiments:
Bracelets (Industrial Engineering)
Egg Mobile (Systems Engineering)
Butterfly Circuits (Electrical Engineering)
Silly Putty and Lip Gloss (Chemical Engineering)

Volunteer Positions (all on April 24th)
· Experiment Volunteers (24 needed) from 9 AM to 4 PM: work directly with the girls to do the hands-on experiments. You will receive
training material ahead of time (optional training April 6th 6 PM). If you are able, we ask that you help setup your room on Friday, April 23rd at 6pm
· Experimental Leads (4 needed) from 9 AM to 4 PM: lead the experiment by making sure all of our experiment volunteers know what to do, preparing the presentation ahead of time, setting up your room the night before, and making sure all supplies have arrived and the
experiment runs smoothly.
· Group Leaders (5 needed) from 9 to 4 PM: Lead a group of 40 girls around to each of the experiments.
· Registration/Check in (4 needed) from 9 to 11 AM: set at a table and check off who arrives, ensure the proper paper work has been turned in and give group assignments.
· Door Greeters (2 needed) from 9 to 11 AM: as the girls arrive greet them at the door and give them a warm welcome
· Lunch servers (4 needed) from 11 to 1:30 PM: get lunch ready for the girls (take it out of boxes and put it on the table), ensure that the girls all receive a lunch, and then clean up

If you cannot make it on Saturday, you can help on Friday, April 23rd:
· Setup volunteers from 6 PM to 8 PM
· Goodie bag stuffers from 5 PM to 6 PM
If you would like to volunteer, please contact Sara at volunteer@swe-mn.org
Family Science Night

Normandale STEM Initiative Spring Event

Any questions, concerns, comments, or suggestions, please let us know!

Lesley and Kalyani
Email us at outreach@swe-mn.org

Engineering Humor!

Thanks to Outreach for submitting this joke!
A Programmer and an Engineer were sitting next to each other on an
airplane. The Programmer leans over to the Engineer and asks if he wants to play a fun game. The Engineer just wants to sleep so he politely declines, turns away and tries to sleep. The
Programmer persists and explains that it’s a real easy game. He explains,” I ask a question and if you don’t know the answer you pay me $5. Then you ask a question and if I don’t know the
answer I’ll pay you $5." Again the Engineer politely declines and tries to sleep.
The Programmer, now somewhat agitated, says, "O.K., if you don’t know the answer you pay me $5 and if I don’t know the answer I pay you $50!" Now, that got the Engineer’s attention, so he agrees to the game. The Programmer asks the first question, "What’s the distance from the earth to the moon?" Then Engineer doesn’t say a word and just hands the Programmer $5.
Now, it’s the Engineer’s turn. He asks the Programmer,” What goes up a hill with three legs and comes down on four?" The Programmer looks at him with a puzzled look, takes out his
laptop computer, looks through all his references and after about an hour wakes the Engineer and hands the Engineer $50. The Engineer politely takes the $50 turns away and tries to return to sleep.
The Programmer, a little miffed, asks, "Well what’s the answer to the question?" Without a word, the Engineer reaches into his wallet, hands $5 to the 1Programmer, turns away and returns to sleep.

Membership Comittee News - April 2010

With your help we have our membership over 200 members and will get to keep our third section representative, which means we have a stronger voice at the Region level. Thank you to all who renewed or joined SWE-MN. If you still haven’t renewed please do so! Please go to www.swe.org/renew to renew your membership or to www.swe.org/join.

Looking for ideas on happy hours or networking events you would like to see! Send membership an e-mail and give us any suggestions you have for a happy hour location or networking event you would like to see. There’s been suggestion to have a networking lunch around the Arden Hills/Roseville area. Anyone interested in picking a date and location? Please e-mail membership if interested.

Ideas?
Do you have an idea on a networking event? Do you live outside the Twin Cities or in the Twin Cities but don’t want to drive? The membership and professional development committees have put together “Networking-in-a-box”, so you can host your own event. This kit instructs how to advertise to SWE-MN members and how to setup the event. Just e-mail membership@swe-mn.org for the kit and details.

Holli and Swati

Professional Development Comittee News - April 2010

Coming Up!

Positioning Yourself and Your Company for Revenue Growth

click on box to see more Information
Join us for our upcoming PD event. The current condition of the industry causes many of us to over-focus on short term challenges, making it more difficult to see opportunities. It is vital that our attitude and behaviors maximize the potential that exists today and position us for future growth.
This session will provide specific and applicable concepts to enhance our ability to:
1. Focus on the areas that will maximize our attitude and our business development results.
2. Recommit to current and future goals that will best position ourselves and our firm.
3. Learn a networking tool that will enable us to have better connections.

Dinner will be provided.

click on box to e-mail PD!

17th Annual Professional Development Spring Seminar Recap:
The 17th Annual Spring Professional Development Seminar was held at the University of St.
Thomas on Saturday, March 13, 2010. This year’s theme was Sustaining Ourselves and Our Skills and the Seminar consisted of sessions covering a variety of professional development topics.
Approximately 65 people attended the event.

The day started with Breakfast and a Keynote presentation by Kaye Smith, University of St.
Thomas Engineering Professor. Her presentation on Work Life Balance – Redefining Success set the tone for an exciting day. A pair of hour-long sessions followed the keynote presentation. Each session featured four topics for the attendees to choose from. The morning session covered
technical topics such as Six Sigma, Engineering Ethics, and Intellectual Property and Patent Law. Intermixed with the technical sessions were a variety of sessions on such topics as Balancing the Demands of Work and Life, a discussion on Diversity of Engineering Functions in Industry, Tooting Your Own Horn, Effective Personal Communications, and a deeper look at the Athena Factor Study.

After the first two sessions, lunch was served for the attendees and speakers, providing time for networking. At the end of lunch, a brief SWE-MN business meeting was held.
The two sessions following lunch were as interesting as the morning sessions. The afternoon
sessions included a presentation about understanding cardiovascular disease, an overview of the fundamental skills of Systems Engineering, an investigation into the 35W Bridge collapse, and a collegiate look at women in engineering and professionalism. The last session of the day featured a unique look at incorporating yoga and mediation into the workday in addition to three
professional sessions delving into the topics of transitioning to management, gauging the maturity of organizational change, and deciding between the workforce and/or grad studies.

After the final session, names were drawn for door prizes and attendees provided feedback on the Spring Seminar by filling out evaluation forms. We hope that those that attended the Seminar learned something new, while having fun at the same time. We especially would like to thank the University of St. Thomas for hosting the event, as well as SWE-MN sponsors for supporting
SWE-MN Professional Development. We also give a HUGE thanks to the volunteers that helped us on the day of the event!

We hope that you will attend the 18th Annual Spring Professional Development Seminar next year! Thank you to all those that attended! Available presentations can be found on the SWE-MN PD site at http://www.swe-mn.org/springseminar2010.html.

Jacalyn and Diana

Email us at pd@swe-mn.org

COR Report - April 2010

FY11 Society Election

The FY11 Slate for Society Officers and Trustees has been presented by the FY10 Society Nominating Committee. The following FY11 positions will be included on the ballot: President Elect, Treasurer, Director (2 positions), Director of Regions, Deputy Director of Regions, Trustee (2 positions) and Deputy Speaker of the Senate. Additionally, the Region H Governor, Senator and Alternate Senator positions will be included on the Society ballot. Candidate biographies and statements will be available to voting members when headquarters sends out balloting instructions by April 1st. The FY10 Society Nominating Committee encourages each and every voting member of the Society to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming election. When you receive balloting instructions from headquarters, please take the time to access the ballot, read the candidates' statements, and cast your vote!
Electing SWE's future leadership is every voting member's responsibility!


New Section Chartering Banquets
Two newly added professional sections will be hosting their respective chartering banquets in the upcoming months. The Cedar Valley Chartering Banquet is scheduled for Saturday, April 24, 2010 in Waterloo, IA. The South Central Michigan Chartering Banquet is scheduled for Thursday, May 20, 2010 in Kalamazoo, MI. If you are going to be in either area during the times in which the banquets are scheduled, please contact Elizabeth Bierman, FY10 Region H Governor, at ekbierman@yahoo.com, or the respective section presidents if you would like to attend. The Cedar Valley FY10 president is Kari Zache, cedarvalleyswe@gmail.com. The South Central Michigan FY10 president is Sylvia Schonauer, Sylvia.Schonauer@kellogg.com.
WE10 – The Annual Conference for Women Engineers
WE10 is the largest and most comprehensive gathering of forward-thinking women engineers and technologists. Adding to the already high energy of WE10, the culmination of our year long SWE 60th Anniversary Celebration will provide inspiration and spike enthusiasm. Throughout the conference participants will experience numerous career-shaping opportunities, as well as draw from the energy of SWE’s strong past and promising future to launch innovation and define success. Registration for WE10 will be available on April 1st.

Mark Your Calendars!
WE10 – The Annual Conference for Women Engineers
Launching Innovation. Defining Success.
November 4-6, 2010
Orlando, Florida
http://we10.swe.org

Jenna, Charlene, and Lindsey

Please feel free to contact us at cor@swe-mn.org with your comments, questions or concerns.

Get to Know SWE-MN - April 2010

FEATURING: Holly Kimball

I was introduced to Engineering in 11th grade with a “Women in Engineering” week at the
University of Dayton. Prior to that summer I was planning on being a graphic artist who just really liked math. After attending the week, I feel in love with Lasers. I found that was offered at our local
community college and in April 1998 I completed my two year degree in Laser Electro Optics Engineering Technology. I was hired onto Corning Precision Lens in Amelia, Ohio and then later was offered a Laser Technician job at Hutchinson Technologies (HTI) in Hutchinson, MN. During my time at HTI, I decided to complete my Bachelor’s in Engineering. It was in my last couple years of college that I was introduced to SWE.
I started attending SWE meetings at St. Thomas University; yes they have an accredited engineering school. I was the Service Chair in 2004. I really enjoyed
being involved but working full time at Medtronic as an on call Sr. Technician,
going to school full time and planning a wedding left little room for any
volunteering. I graduate in May of 2006 with my Bachelors in Mechanical
Engineering. I was lucky to have been working for Medtronic since 2003 and was promoted within to Associate Engineer. I continued to attended SWE meetings and conferences and was reacquainted with an active SWE role after attending professional meetings in 2008, when I became a Scholarship co-chair. I also helped to establish the Medtronic internal professional network, SWEnet, with leadership positions for three years.

Outside of work I love to volunteer but have scaled back a lot now that I have a wonderful 5 month at home. My husband, Bryan, and I keep very busy hanging out with our son Herbie. We like to do many local events like rollog, fairs, truck pulls and visiting new areas to see what they have to offer. When I have time, I like to crochet, do genealogy research and bake. I still do some volunteering and am currently on the Lymphoma Research Foundation board for fundraising. I am also walking in this year’s Heart Walk on June 5th at Target Field. It’s going to be a lot of fun, come join us.

Please go to the SWE-MN website to see more information about our section’s upcoming events and opportunities!

Hot Topics this Month - April 2010


CONGRATULATIONS!



Holly Kimball with your beautiful baby boy

Herbert "Herbie" Lee Kimball

Born: 10/22/2009

8lb 7oz, 22 inches long





Charlene and Brett Willenbring with your beautiful baby boy

Kieran Brett Willenbring

Born: 3/16/2010

7lb 14oz, 21 3/4 inches long




Announcing FY011 Comittee Bios

Please take some time to review the FY011 Comittee Bios for President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Section Representatives by clicking on this link.