Society of Women Engineers - Minnesota Section

President's Report - February/March 2011

2011-02-15T16:02:00.000-08:00

Along with 14 Minnesota professional members I attended the Region H conference at University of Michigan entitled Going Green which was personally rewarding as in my career I have taken on the role to define sustain ability in manufacturing my product line. At conference Minnesota agreed to host the Region meeting HART for FY12. The weekend was crammed full of dynamic professional development sessions and meeting up with SWE friends near and far as well as the many collegiates. I am looking forward to bringing some great speakers together to select from for our local Professional Development Spring Seminar. I hope all members will take advantage of this opportunity to register for March 12th. I also want to thank Katrina Sanders and Jacalyn St. Dennis who are working very many hours to pull together this event.

So far this year I have been given the fortune to meet with a few companies regarding how we can partner for programming. The Women in Nuclear event at Par Nuclear was a success as a very informative evening on February 10th. Be on the look out for future new partners. Also thank you to Melissa Kaufman who led a successful local SWE-MN fundraising event well attended on January 21st to ensure the future ability to continue to provide the level of programming that our membership has come to expect.

Now I am looking forward to kicking off Engineers week February 20-27 so consider coming out as a volunteer to Spark Slime Speed or Techfest or to bring a child. A thought to share from the exceptional Keynote at region conference was a challenge to us all to introduce someone to engineering and I think our SWE-MN Outreach programming is one option to meet that goal thanks to Lesley, Rachel, Amanda, and Sara.

Lastly to share with you some state of business, we are short on members to maintain our three person section representation so please encourage others to join SWE as members before the end of March. Elections are also coming up. SWE-MN has appointed the nominating committee of Nicole Danielson-Bartlet, Elizabeth Bierman, and Holli Pheil so speak with them or Lesley Wyckoff and myself if you are interested in an officer position. Also in the past, Minnesota has been under represented in ballot submissions. We have three elections as members privileged to vote in: local Minnesota, region H, and national Board. I strongly urge you all to get out and vote for National and Region contested elections especially since from Minnesota there are some familiar candidates like Alyse Stofer, Elizabeth Bierman, Holli Pheil, and Lindsey Roberts McKenzie.

In close thank you to the chairs and committees for your continued energy,
Angela

Vice President's Report - February/March 2011

2011-02-15T16:00:00.001-08:00

Social Media: Don’t miss the boat!

Most of us have either a Facebook or Twitter account, or are connected on LinkedIn but I know many people who are “anti” these sites. These days you can’t even watch the local news without hearing about one or more of these social media sites (for good and bad reasons). For those of you who don’t belong to one of these networks, you are missing out! Now maybe not all of us are interested to know what our friends or colleagues are eating for breakfast or what they are watching on TV or even who got kicked off of The Bachelor, but there are other things that we may be missing the boat on.

Some examples include:

Coupons, discounts, and deals from restaurants, bars, salons, etc
Local and World News (the kind that is non-celebrity related)
Exciting news from family and friends (ex. engagements, new jobs, baby news, etc)
New job/career opportunities (remember: “It’s who you know, not what you know”)

Highlights and Announcements from SWE!

(Both Local and Nationally!)

So hopefully, this list (which is not complete) gives you a little motivation to join one or more of these social networking sites.

If you haven’t joined our SWE-MN Facebook page or Linked In group, please do! We are starting to post more information about our events and programs to help spread the word. National SWE has not only a Facebook page but also a Twitter, You Tube, and SWE Talk Blog! For more information about these sites, please visit the SWE Social Media Page here.

Also SWE-MN has created a Social Media Plan that outlines all of our different sites/pages and lists where members can find important information. This Social Media Plan is located on our SWE-MN website- be sure to check it out!

*Disclaimer: Remember to be careful about what personal information you post online. Do not post anything that you wouldn’t want people who don’t know you to find out. Also, be sure to check out the security settings on each site to choose the ones that are right for you.

Please feel free to send suggestions or comments to me at vp@swe-mn.org or Angela at president@swe-mn.org

Membership - February/March 2011

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Hello to all SWE-MN members (or soon-to-be members)! We want to take this time to encourage everyone to become, or renew as an “official” member of SWE-MN. Right now, through the end of our fiscal year (June 30th), membership dues are half off! That’s right, membership for the rest of this year is $50. Just a reminder that you’ll get a great discount on the Spring Seminar if you are a member of SWE. To become a SWE member, or renew, go to:

https://ams.swe.org/swessa/ssaauthmain.login_page

If you are a new member, click on “Join SWE”. If you are renewing, you can login directly to renew. If you forgot your password, you can request it be sent to your e-mail account. Please let us know if you have any problems, and we can provide a paper copy of the application.

It was great to see many of you that came to the Winter Fundraiser on January 21st! I know I had a great time, and won a number of cool silent auction prizes. We have a few membership events coming up this spring that we hope you take advantage of. At the end of this month, we are having a Happy Hour to just get together and relax during E-week. We wanted to have a fun event for those of you that just can’t make it to the awesome weekend events during E-week. Check out the announcement in this newsletter, or on the SWE-MN calendar. In June we will again be hosting the Spring/Summer Picnic to cap off our year. More details to come as we start planning. If you are interested in helping us plan any of these events, please contact us at membership@swe-mn.org.

Happy Hour Event!
For those of you that just can’t make those awesome weekend outreach events (like Spark, Slime, and Speed). How better to celebrate being an engineer than gathering with other engineers to catch up with friends and meet new ones! Food and beverages are up to you. Happy hour specials like half price pizza if you arrive early!

Nicole and Lynn
membership@swe-mn.org

Professional Development - February/March 2011

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18th Annual Professional Development Spring Seminar: Forging

Please join us for the 18th Annual Professional Development Spring Seminar sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers. The Spring Seminar provides an excellent opportunity for professional and personal growth. The seminar will consist of 4 sessions featuring an array of topics. With multiple speakers per session, each attendee can personalize his or her own experience.

Date: Saturday, March 12, 2011

Time: 8:30 am - 4:00 pm

Location: Honeywell Learning Center

1985 Douglas Drive North

Golden Valley, MN 55422

Cost: $55 for members, $80 for non-members, $30 for unemployed members / college students

Questions: Email Jacalyn or Katrina at pd@swe-mn.org

Breakfast and lunch are included in the cost of registration

For more information on the event, including the day's agenda, please check out www.swe-mn.org/springseminar2011.html
For event registration and payment, please click here

WIN Presentation Recap

On Thursday, February 10th, the Women In Nuclear (WIN) group at PaR Nuclear hosted SWE-MN for an
educational evening about nuclear power. After an enlightening presentation by Sara Mancell from WIN,
SWE-MN members were showed around PaR Nuclear’s manufacturing area, where the purpose of each piece of equipment was explained. We learned valuable information about how nuclear power is produced, today’s energy market, and the industry’s many safeguards. SWE-MN would like to thank Sara Mancell and WIN for a fantastic event!

Upcoming PD Committee Meeting

The PD Committee will be having a committee planning meeting to discuss final details for the Spring Seminar. We would love to have you join us at the meeting!

When: February 23, 2011

Location: Panera at

6064 Shingle Creek Parkway

Brooklyn Center, MN 55430

The PD committee is still looking for more members to discuss ideas and help out with events. If you have any questions or suggestions, or would like to join the Professional Development Committee, please contact Katrina Sanders or Jacalyn St. Dennis at pd@swe-mn.org.

FY11 Professional Development Schedule

The tentative schedule for Professional Development Events is as follows. More details to come!

February 23rd – PD Committee Meeting at Panera
March 12th – SWE-MN Spring Seminar at the Honeywell Learning Center
April – Mayo Tour & Speaker in Rochester
May – Microsoft event at Mall of America, TBD

Outreach - February/March 2011

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Spark Slime Speed, Feb 20th at the science museum, we are positioned to have a great event w/ everything planned and volunteers settled. Should be an exciting new experience in a free section of the museum!

Tech Fest, Feb 26th

Wow! That's Engineering Committee Members Needed

Awards and Recognition!

2011-02-15T12:20:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to SWE-MN!!

SWE-MN Professional Section took home the honors at this year’s National Conference!

National 2010 Awards:

Professional Development Event Award for “Sustaining Ourselves and Our Skills” – First Place (Spring Seminar)
Strategic Communications Award, Newsletter – Third Place

Region H 2010 Awards:

Outreach Award
Continuous Improvement Award

And last but not least – Congratulations to Region H for winning the Spirit Award at National Conference!

These awards are a huge affirmation that SWE-MN is on the right path! Congratulations to the many people who make these possible.

For Individual National Award Recipients, please click here
For more information about the awards and recipients, please visit the SWE Magazine's online conference issue here

Remember; the time to apply for Individual National Awards is approaching for 2011!
Applications are due March 31 and some of them take a long time to gather – these are serious awards!
Contact Cassie at awards@swe-mn.org for help with applications!

Fund Development - February/March 2011

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Thank you to all of those who contributed to our winter fundraiser!

Get to Know Swe-MN: Melissa Kaufman Perlmutter

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I was introduced to SWE my first week at Cornell University, when I was invited to attend a Welcome Picnic. I was impressed by the friendly, enthusiastic members, and have been involved with SWE ever since. I have held positions including Cornell Section President, Region E collegiate webmaster, and I am currently involved with National SWE as a member of the Collegiate Interest Committee.

Since moving to Minneapolis, I have loved being a part of SWE-MN, and I am currently the Fund Development Chair – thanks everyone for making our Winter Fundraiser last month such a success!

Melissa and I at the Winter Fundraiser

I received my B.S. in Operations Research and Industrial Engineering from Cornell in 2006. After graduation, I joined GE’s Operations Management Leadership Program, and spent two years completing four assignments in Supply Chain, moving back and forth between Cincinnati and Boston. In the summer of 2008, I transferred to GE in Minnetonka to join my husband Jason, who is completing his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Minnesota. Every time I moved, I always connected with the local SWE section and immediately had a network in my new home.

I am now working as a Sourcing Specialist for GE Water and Process Technologies, a producer of water treatment products and filtration equipment. I spend my time searching for the highest quality/least expensive supply of material to feed the manufacturing process.

Outside of work and SWE, I enjoy traveling, seeing shows at the local theaters, attending the different outdoor season festivals around the Twin Cities, and I can’t wait for the snow to melt so I can go jogging around lakes.

Notre Dame in Paris

Section Representatives - February/March 2011

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Region H Conference at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The conference was hosted by University of Michigan, Ann Arbor from February 4-6, 2011 was attended by over 600 members. It started off with Collegiate Upgrade Event and Presidents Meeting on Friday. There were many Networking and Social events like SWE Carnival with exciting activities, carnival snacks and more; a Networking Casino hosted by representatives from different companies; a SWE Café to catch up with old friends over coffee and pastries. There was also a Dance performance by students and WALL-E showing that night.

The events on Saturday began with a breakfast speech by Dr. Nancy Love, Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental, University of Michigan. She talked about the importance of conference theme “Going Green”. The keynote speaker, Pamela Fletcher is Global Chief Engineer at Chevrolet Volt & Plug-In Hybrid Electric Powertrains, General Motors. She shared some of the measures taken by GM towards Going Green.

At the joint member meeting, the bid for next Region H Conference was won by University of Wisconsin, Madison. The conference would be hosted on February 17-19, 2012 at the Madison Concourse Hotel and Conference Center. At the professional business meeting, the slate for FY12 was announced for the following positions: Lt Governor, Senator, Secretary, Treasurer, Alt Senator and Region H Rep to National Nominating Committee.

The sessions covered topics related to Going Green, professional development, career development and topics related to SWE and SWE sections success. The networking lunch provided a great opportunity for members to interact with representatives from many companies. The Career Fair had over 50 companies some of which were Medtronic, Cummins, Caterpillar, Rockwell Automation etc. There were some tours offered for the members: The Big House, Adaptive Materials – a leader in portable fuel cell power, University of Michigan Museum of Art and the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility.

At dinner, the Dean of Engineering from University of Michigan, Prof. David C. Munson Jr. welcomed all the SWE members, talked about the importance of the theme “Going Green” and it was followed by the State of SWE Address by Stacey Minch DelVecchio, Treasurer of SWE. The keynote speaker of the night was Elizabeth Iversen, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Navigation Systems Division, Northrop Grumman Corporation who shared her story with us with great messages about taking risks and making choices.

Left to Right: Charlene Willenbring, Kalyani Mallela and Lindsey Roberts McKenzie

Please feel free to contact us at sectionrep@swe-mn.org with your comments, questions or concerns. Please note the new email address!

Kalyani, Lindsey and Charlene

Help with the Newsletter!

2011-01-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

Calling all SWE-MN members!
We are looking for some help with the newsletter. With the improvement of our newsletter and implementation of html, we are struggling to keep up with only one editor. If you are interested in joining our executive council as a newsletter editor, or would like to know more information (i.e. time commitment, technicalities etc), please e-mail Roz Johnson at newsletter@swe-mn.org or rozaanejonson@gmail.com.

President's Report - January/February 2011

2010-12-31T12:33:00.000-08:00

At the 2010 National Conference, the Region awarded Minnesota the Continuous Improvement award for our Fund Development program and I look forward to continuing the momentum this year with our Winter Fundraiser and Silent Auction on Friday January 21st. Please consider joining with other members at Spill the Wine in Minneapolis for an evening of eats, wine tasting, and donation towards our SWE-MN programs. Here is some more information about this event.

Reflecting the past half of the fiscal year I am proud of the leadership team in their efforts. The section was recognized for its work last fiscal year with the awards presented at the National Conference. With New Year’s resolutions on the mind also come SWE-MN nominations. On January 8th there will be a Leadership Coaching session at 10:30am at SEH in Vadnais Heights. Let me know at president@swe-mn.org if you would like to join us for this hour with Cathy Krier as we learn about membership strategies. Thank you to everyone for renewing your membership by December and continuing your participation with the society. If you want to become involved next fiscal year starting in July on the executive board please start to talk to the current officers and committee chairs about their positions. Before the Spring Seminar we will be looking for officer nominations and committee chairs following. Lesley and I would welcome the opportunity to chat with you on how you would like to contribute to the society leadership.

There are many more exciting programs planned for the next half of the fiscal year. After our membership fundraiser in January, there is Engineers Week in February. The Outreach committee has many events planned for volunteers to maximize the community impact on teaching about engineering during this national recognition week, but volunteer assistance is needed to complete this undertaking. The highlight of March to me is the annual Professional Development Spring Seminar. There is a stimulating line up of sessions being pulled together by the committee for Saturday, March 12th at Honeywell. Throughout the remainder of this coming year there will be many more Professional Development and Membership programs publicized in the weekly emails and on our website, so read the emails or check out the monthly calendar on the web http://www.swe-mn.org/.

I hope that you have all enjoyed the holidays with some rest and fun with friends and family. Welcome to 2011 where I expect you can continue to see dynamic programming from our section to participate in.

Happy New Year to You,

Angela

VP Article - January/February 2011

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At my department’s annual New Year kick off meeting, a manager of mine challenges all of us to do one thing better each year. Although I have heard this same spiel from him for the past three years, each year it sticks with me. As the leader of our department, he tells the 65 or so of us that if each of us does one thing better each year, then every year as a department, we will do 65 things better. If the “one thing” was up to him, I’m sure it would have something to do with the efficiency of our daily work, the performance of our products, or the time to market of our upcoming projects, but as he motivates us, he leaves it pretty open ended ☺

As we begin 2011, I encourage each of you to do as my manager encourages me and “Do 1 thing better in 2011!” As a section of almost 200 members, we have the ability to do 200 things better this year! Similar to my manager, I do have a bias of what the one thing is….something to do with SWE! Maybe you would like to improve your communication or leadership skills, or maybe you would like to contribute more to the Outreach committee, or maybe you have been saying you were going to attend a networking lunch or happy hour but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Be sure to check out the SWE-MN calendar and find what it is that interests you and think about something you can do better in the New Year!

Of course, I would like to encourage you to do at least one thing better in your daily, professional, and family life, but don’t forget your SWE life when you are making your new year’s resolutions!

~Lesley

Scholarships

2010-12-31T12:30:00.000-08:00

The Minnesota Section of the Society of Women Engineers is pleased to announce our

Section and Corporate Partner Scholarships for Fall Semester 2011

We are offering nine tuition-based scholarships

for women students in engineering and computer science

at schools in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota

THANK YOU to our corporate partners who have made these scholarships possible!

Banner Engineering Scholarship

• $2,000 scholarship for a student of mechanical or electrical engineering
• Banner Engineering is the sensor market leader with the broadest line of products and solutions in the nation. See www.baneng.com for more information

Boston Scientific Scholarship

• $1,500 scholarship for a student of biomedical or mechanical engineering
• Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices who, for more than 25 years, has advanced the practice of less-invasive medicine by providing a broad and deep portfolio of innovative products, technologies and services. For further information, visit www.bsci.com

General Dynamics AIS Scholarships

• $1,000 scholarship for a student of electrical or computer engineering
• General Dynamics AIS is a leading provider of transformational mission solutions in command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. See www.gd-ais.com

Lockheed Martin Scholarships

• $1,500 scholarship for a student of electrical systems engineering
• $1,000 scholarship for a student of mechanical engineering
• Lockheed Martin’s vision is to be the world’s best advanced technology systems integrator. Visit www.lockheedmartin.com, for more information

Medtronic SWEnet Scholarship

• Two $1,000 scholarships for students of biomedical, chemical, mechanical or electrical engineering
• SWEnet is a professional network of Society of Women Engineers members who work at Medtronic, the global leader in medical technology. These dedicated women have donated their time and talents to create this scholarship opportunity. For further information on Medtronic, see www.medtronic.com

MTS Systems Corporation Scholarship

• $1,500 scholarship for a student of mechanical or software engineering
• MTS Systems Corporation is the world’s leading supplier of mechanical testing and simulation equipment. For more information, visit www.mts.com

The Minnesota Section Scholarship

• $1,500 scholarship for a full time women student enter her junior or senior year of an accredited engineering or computer science program at schools in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
• This scholarship is funded by an endowment of the Minnesota Section of SWE.

Please help us to bring this opportunity to the attention of all women engineering students in Minnesota, North Dakota, or South Dakota by passing it along to any faculty, staff, counselors, and students who you know at these schools! Copies of this announcement, details on our program, the application form with instructions, and details of the judging criteria can be obtained by going to www.swe-mn.org and clicking on “scholarships”. If you have further questions about SWE or our scholarship program, please contact us.

Naomi Brill or Holly Kimball at scholarships@swe-mn.org

Outreach - Recap and Upcoming Events - January/February 2011

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Upcoming Events

Events Recap

Read more about the Girl Scout Patch Day here

Fund Development - January/February 2011

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Make a donation to the silent auction!

Sample donations can include: sporting event tickets, restaurant gift certificate, music lessons, wine, DVDs, spa packages, gift baskets, and more!

Donation Request Form: http://www.swe-mn.org/donate.pdf

Funds raised will go toward programs for member and community activities to promote engineering to students of all ages.

Thanks for your support!

Get to Know SWE-MN: Shanna Kent

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I was first introduced to SWE as a student in 2008 where I attended the 2008 Region H Conference in Peoria, Illinois. Since then, SWE has continued to provide excellent continuing education, networking and volunteer opportunities.

I attended Minnesota State University, Mankato where I received my undergraduate degree in 2008. Being from South Central Minnesota, the opportunity to join the Minnesota Department of Transportation at the Mankato Office was a perfect fit. I currently work in the design section providing assistance to the District Hydraulic Engineer and project management. I also served nine years in the Army National Guard as a Wheeled Vehicle Mechanic. During that time I worked 9 months full time for the New Ulm Maintenance Shop and completed an 18 month deployment with 11 months stationed near Tikrit, Iraq.

My husband and I enjoy traveling north to escape the sea of cornfields whenever we get the chance. I also enjoy lake sports, scrapbooking and reading a good book when I can fit it in. When that isn’t enough, I have a pair of rottweilers that always keeps me on my toes.

Membership - January/February 2011

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New Members:

Feed My Starving Children Recap:

Thursday, December 9^th we had a great turnout for a new service event for SWE-MN. 11 SWE-MN members (including family/friends) met up at the Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) facility in Coon Rapids to pack meals to feed children in Zimbabwe (where this shipment of meals will be headed). The night started out with networking and a happy hour at a nearby restaurant and ended with great camaraderie packing meals with a lot of other volunteers. Our shift of volunteers packed over 80 boxes of food, enough to feed 18 children for an entire year!

If you’ve never been to FMSC, it is a wonderful organization dedicated to feeding children and their families in some of the most destitute areas in the world. I highly encourage everyone to get a group of friends or co-workers together sometime to volunteer at one of their facilities or mobile events. It is super easy to sign-up (online!) and is only about an 1 ½ hour time commitment. Check out their website for more information: www.fmsc.org

We are planning to do another service event in the spring, so please forward on any ideas you have to Lynn or Nicole at membership@swe-mn.org

Professional Development - January/February 2011

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Women In Nuclear & SWE joint event:

The SWE Professional Development Committee will be having a joint event with the Women In Nuclear (WIN) group on February 10, 2011. Join us for a presentation as well as a shop tour. More details to follow in weekly emails. Dinner will be provided.

18th Annual Professional Development Spring Seminar: Forging New Paths Today and Mapping Tomorrow

Please join us for the 18th Annual Professional Development Spring Seminar sponsored by the Society of Women Engineers. The Spring Seminar provides an excellent opportunity for professional and personal growth. The seminar will consist of 4 sessions featuring an array of topics. With multiple speakers per session, each attendee can personalize his or her own experience.

Breakfast and lunch are included in the cost of registration.

Registration: Will be open soon (check the SWE-MN website around mid-January).

Upcoming PD Committee Meeting

On January 13, 2011, the PD Committee will be having a committee planning meeting to discuss final details for the Spring Seminar. It will be at Panera at 6064 Shingle Creek Pkwy, Brooklyn Center, MN. We would love to have you join us at the meeting! The PD committee is still looking for more members to discuss ideas and help out with events. If you have any questions or suggestions, or would like to join the Professional Development Committee, please contact Katrina Sanders or Jacalyn St. Dennis at mailto:pd@swe-mn.org

FY11 Professional Development Schedule

The tentative schedule for Professional Development Events is as follows. More details to come!

January 13th – SWE PD committee meeting at Panera in Brooklyn Center
February 10th – SWE PD event with Women In Nuclear
March 12th – SWE-MN Spring Seminar at Honeywell Learning Center

Section Representatives - January/February 2011

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Region H Conference at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor is proud to be hosting the 2011 Society of Women Engineers Region H Conference on February 4- 6, 2011. The conference will take place at the Eagle Crest Resort near Ann Arbor and at the University of Michigan Engineering Campus. The theme of this year's conference is "Going Green" with the hopes that attendees will leave the conference with a better idea of new advances in sustainable energy, how to go green in everyday life, and where the green workforce is heading. For complete conference details, including travel and session information, please go to the conference website at http://swe.engin.umich.edu/regionals2011/.

If you are attending the Region H Conference, please take note of the following meetings:

Joint Member Meeting, Saturday, February 5th at 8:00am
Professional Member Meeting, Saturday, February 5th at 9:00am
Collegiate Member Meeting, Saturday, February 5th at 9:00am

If you are planning on attending the Region H Conference, please be sure to log on to the Minnesota Section Community and update the Region H Conference Attendance List. This list will enable you to coordinate with other SWE-MN members who are going to the conference. We look forward to seeing you in Ann Arbor!

University of Minnesota – Twin Cities Collegiate Section Awarded Professional Development Grant

The University of Minnesota – Twin Cities collegiate section was awarded a Profession Development Grant (PD Grant) from SWE for their SWE Professional Development Retreat, held on Saturday, November 20, 2010. The event hosted 60 college students and provided them with helpful professional success information. The event was open to all members, ranging from freshman to graduate students.

The event kicked off with keynote speaker, Ann Ulrich, who is the founder and president of The BOLD! Factor©. Ann is an expert on courageous self-leadership in business at every level. The event also offered two breakout sessions, one which focused on first impressions and the other on how to build a strong resume. Our current SWE-Minnesota president, Angela Neidermire, also gave a presentation on the benefits of continuing to be active in SWE as a professional member.

SWE-Minnesota wants to congratulate the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities collegiate section on hosting a successful event!

Please feel free to contact us at sectionrep@swe-mn.org with your comments, questions or concerns. Please note the new email address!

Kalyani, Lindsey and Charlene

President's Report - November 2010

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My favorite SWE activity is Girl Scout Patch Day and it is new to me this year since participating in the Parents Track regarding possibilities for their daughters instead of working directly with the girl scouts on the experiments. Thank you to all the Outreach volunteers in October.

I have packed my bags and I am headed to the National Conference in Orlando! I look forward to a few days of professional development and networking. My contact and plans are posted on the Attendance List on the SWE Minnesota Community and there will be a SWE-MN dinner on Friday, so email me at president@swe-mn.org.

There are a lot of good activities planned for November and I hope to see you at one of them. I have attended a Dale Carnegie session before and am excited that they are tailoring a session for SWE on November 9th. I will get to meet new members on November 15th and hope that everyone has renewed their membership before December. Thank you for participating last month in our membership survey which is important to have the feedback to continue to provide relevant and valuable programming to our membership. If you have any other ideas or input not included in the survey response, please contact myself or any of the committee chairs.

Finally, the next Executive Council meeting is November 11th if you are interested in checking out the leadership operations.

During fall cleanup and winterization, I hope that you continue to read the weekly email and check out the calendar on the website to stay appraised of all the opportunities for programming, membership networking, and outreach activities.

- Angela

VP Article - November 2010

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While volunteering at a recent Outreach event held at the girlsBest Convening in October, the SWE-MN group was asked by a young girl why a wage gap existed between male and female engineers. At first I was caught off guard but such a multifaceted question raised by a young girl and then secondly, I realized I didn’t have a good answer. In their recent report titled “Status of Women & Girls in Minnesota”, the University of MN Humphrey Institute’s Center on Women & Public Policy, in partnership with the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota address this important issue.

In today’s world, women make up the majority of MN’s workforce. According to the report, 40% of MN mothers are the primary breadwinners of their household. We know that many of these women have bachelor’s, master’s, and other post-secondary degrees, but despite their education, women earn on average no more than $0.76 on the dollar compared to men in MN. The report goes into detail the wage gap difference between different races, rural vs. urban areas, and between occupations. The report states that in the architecture and engineering occupations, women are earning 89% of what men earn in the same occupations.

Why is this the case?

There are several theories of why the wage gap still exists today when women have made so many advances toward equality.

Here’s what some say:
-Women are more relationship focused and not driven or motivated by a higher paycheck
-Women tend to take time off of work in order to have children and help raise a family
-Women are not as good as negotiation as men.

And others say they just don’t know why. I found this report to be very educational and helpful in better understanding my place as a female engineer in the workplace and I encourage you to spend some time reading it as well. Hopefully, the next time I am asked why there is a wage gap in the engineering profession; I will be able to say that one doesn’t exist.

The full report can be downloaded from the Women’s Foundation of MN website here.

- Lesley

Outreach - Recap and Upcoming Events - November 2010

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Girls BEST Recap

On Saturday October 9th, a group of SWE-MN volunteers spoke to a group of young women at the annual girls BEST Convening held at Dunwoody College in Minneapolis. Girls BEST (girls Building Economic Success Together) is a fund of the Women’s Foundation of MN which is focused on grant making to girl led/driven programs which serve under served/under represented girls ages 10-18 throughout MN.

The SWE-MN Outreach group spent some time introducing the girls to engineering by telling them what we do as engineers, sharing with them what kind of education is required to be an engineer, and expanding on the reasons why someone would want to be an engineer. We had a lot of great conversation and were able to get in a lot of question and answer time.

After our presentation, we divided the girls into teams and participated in a communication activity involving Lego’s. Each girl had an assigned role of a customer, a builder, or a designer. The objective of the activity was to have the builder correctly build a Lego structure with only verbal instructions from the designers. The designers were only given verbal instructions from the customer who was in charge of the final product. Only 2 out of 8 teams were successful on the 1st try. Afterwards, we had a discussion with the girls on what worked and what didn’t and why communication and teamwork was so important.

~Sara, Lesley, Kalyani, Amy, Cassie~

GSPD Recap

This year’s Girl Scout Patch Day was excellent! On Saturday October 30th we hosted 130 Girl Scouts, along with their parents and troop leaders for Zoom! Into Engineering!
This year we had over 35 volunteers help in preparation, set-up and execution of the event! We could not have done this event with all of wonderful volunteers. THANK YOU!

Special thanks to Boston Scientific for providing the funding for this great event for the 8th year in a row!

Silly Putty: Girl Scouts were able to combine household ingredients (Borax, water, glue, and food coloring) to turn molecules into polymers! The elastic properties of the silly putty showed the girls that when certain substances are combined (in a specific order), a change occurs and a product is yielded. The girls made their putty in a variety of beautiful shades; as they explored the material properties of the putty, they compared their creation to properties of commercial silly putty.
Bug Circuits: Circuit Bugs are simple little electro-mechanical insects that respond to movement, wind, and vibrations by blinking their LED (light-emitting diode) eyes. This experiment allowed the girls to bring out their creative sides. They first designed a bug with pipe cleaners; then it was on to the engineering! They created a circuit with a coin-cell battery, copper tubing, music wire and colored LEDS. They then attached the circuit on their bugs and learned that when the circuit was closed, the eyes lit up!
Egg Mobile: In the Egg Mobile car design activity, girl’s experienced working in a team to solve an automotive engineering design problem. Each team designed a vehicle to transport a raw egg to safety in both a speed challenge and a downhill crash test! This challenge involved budgeting, material selection, design, safety and teamwork to bring the team to victory. Fun was had by all as the cars raced and, luckily for the cleanup, only one or two eggs were broken!
Oil Spill: In light of the recent Gulf oil spill, the girls each created a mini oil spill of their own to develop greater understanding of the challenges posed by oil cleanup and risks to our environment. They investigated clean-up and containment options like environmental engineers through trial with several different materials. They also learned the difficulty of cleaning oil from wildlife by cleaning off a feather - the only successful way was to wash the feathers with soapy water!
Parents’ Track: In addition to teaching 130 Girl Scouts about engineering, SWE-MN also reached out to over 40 parents! A parent session was held at the event and led by SWE-MN volunteers. The parents were introduced to the World of STEM and challenged to go beyond GSPD and do more! Parents were told that SWE can be a resource at any age group and encourage them to get involved. This year, we also hosted a college admissions panel to start exposing parents to the joys and challenges of choosing the right school. The parents then got to do a little engineering on their own! They made lip gloss and were given the recipe to do with their girls at a future troop meeting. The parents left the session with a better understanding of how to reach out to their own kids and most importantly why it is important to promote Women in Engineering!

Professional Development Recap and Future Events - November 2010

2010-11-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

Creating Connections in 2011 and Why It's Critical
Presented by Dale Carnegie

Dinner and beverages provided by SWE. Please come a couple minutes early to eat dinner and find a seat. The speaker will begin at 6pm.

SWE-MN Members are being offered this event a week before it is opened up to the other engineering societies. If interested please use this priority deadline to your advantage and RSVP early, as there are only 40 seats available.

Description: The current condition of the industry causes many of us to over-focus on short term challenges, making it more difficult to see opportunities for connections- both personal and professional. It is vital that our ATTITUDE and behaviors maximize the potential that exists today and position us for future personal and professional growth. Regardless if you are a business leader, manager or in transition, 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 personal results
2. Learn a tool to sustain and manage internal & external relationships (and why they are so critical!)
3. Create strategic and realistic goals that help keep us accountable!

Professional Development Committee Meeting

PD Committee Meeting - Come and join PD to help plan future events especially for our signature event- the Professional Development Spring Seminar! Attendees can order dinner at 6pm and the meeting will start shortly after.

Jacalyn or Katrina at pd@swe-mn.org with any questions

Section Representatives - November 2010

2010-11-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

Region H Conference – Mark Your Calendars!

WE10 The Annual Conference for Women Engineers – November 4-6

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 the yearlong SWE60 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.

If you are planning on attending the Annual Conference, then be sure to logon to the Minnesota Section Community and update the Annual Conference Attendance List. This list will enable you to coordinate with other SWE-MN members who are going to the conference. A great event that SWE-MN plans for every Annual Conference is a networking dinner for SWE-MN members. You can sign up for this dinner by indicating your interest in the Annual Conference Attendance List. We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

If you are attending WE10, take note of the following meetings:
• Region H Meeting, Thursday 11/4, 1PM Professional, 2PM Joint
• Membership Meeting, Saturday 11/6, 10AM
• Town Hall Meeting, Saturday 11/6, 11AM

Can’t physically make it to Orlando this year?

A new way to experience WE10 has arrived! During this year’s Annual Conference, major conference highlights will stream live to your computer, including the highly-anticipated WE10 keynote, four plenary sessions, and a number of other conference sessions. In addition to streaming live via video during the conference, keynote and plenary sessions will also be recorded for future replay. Free to full-conference registrants of WE10, Virtual Participation is also being offered as separate registration option.

Region H Fall Caucus Meeting - RECAP

The Region H fall caucus meeting was held on Saturday, September 25th just outside of Chicago in Rolling Meadows, IL. The Chicago Regional Section in conjunction with Northrop Grumman hosted the meeting. The purpose of this face-to-face meeting was to allow our Section leaders to interact with the Region leadership in preparation for the National Conference. Section Representative Kalyani Mallela attended the meeting as a representative for SWE-MN. The focus of the caucus was on Region H business and training. The day started with a quick overview of SWE, including changes to the Board of Directors, Region structure, and a financial report. The morning progressed with a presentation of the current SWE Strategic Plan. A copy of the document is available to all members on SWE Communities under the Resources portion of the Governance Documents Community. After lunch a sharing session of the Region’s Best Practices took place, as well as discussions about Outreach, Membership, and Fund Development. The topic of Region Boundaries and Strategic Outlook was again put on the table and it was decided that a task force is needed to review and address the various concerns members have. Overall, the meeting was considered a very productive and successful gathering of Region H leadership!

Membership Events - November 2010

2010-11-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

New Member and Grad Upgrade Event
SWE-MN is hosting a yummy dessert night for new members, and soon-to-be new members! If you are new to SWE-MN, or will be graduating in December and would like to join SWE-MN, please join us for cheesecake and mingling at the Cheesecake Factory in Edina.

Note: The first 5 graduating seniors to RSVP will receive a free upgrade to Professional Membership courtesy of SWE-MN!! (December graduates only at this time.)

RSVP: E-mail Nicole Danielson-Bartelt or Lynn Davenport at membership@swe-mn.org by November 8, 2010 if you would like to attend. Please note if you are a new member, or soon-to-be graduate in your response.

SWE-MN Volunteer Event
SWE-MN is getting in the holiday spirit by volunteering at Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) on Thursday, December 9th. If you've never been, it is a very rewarding experience (and very easy). You spend about 1.5 hours packaging food packets to go around the world to needy children. See details below. We have committed to 15 volunteers, so please come join us!! Kids are welcome to volunteer too, see the FMSC website for more details: http://www.fmsc.org/

Questions: E-mail membership@swe-mn.org

President's Message - September 2010

2010-09-12T22:50:00.000-07:00

On August 30^th I appreciated the opportunity to kick off the year at our annual Open House event graciously sponsored by Boston Scientific. I met some new-to-me members and networked to share ideas and discuss the goals for the year. The EC received section goals to execute against for the year and we will be reviewing at the EC meeting on September 13^th. If any member is interested in getting involved in the EC, please contact me this year as I extend an invitation to join us at an EC meeting to see the efficient and fun section operations.

Thanks to the EC efforts, there were informative booths at the Open House for each committee so I hope you will check out the newsletter and website for upcoming dates if you missed that opportunity to attend or did not grab a flier that night to learn where to get involved in professional development, fund development, outreach, and membership.

SWE National Conference is coming up the first week of November. Posted out the SWE Communities> Minnesota Section is a collaborative document to register with SWE-MN your attendance. Check out this document to search for a roommate and to sign up interest in attending a dinner with other SWE-MN members. I intend to plan a dinner, currently targeting Friday night, for us to get together and share our insights regarding the conference since we can’t humanly get to every opportunity. I also encourage you to consider attending the Celebrate SWE! ticket event for Saturday night when completing your conference registration at we10.swe.org. Hope to see you in Orlando!

With the passing of the Minnesota State Fair, yielding for yellow school buses, and the long Labor Day weekend behind me, I realize that fall has arrived and I am filling in my calendar with SWE dates to keep active this autumn after the enjoyable summer. Please contact me to share any of your ideas or goals for SWE-MN at president@swe-mn.org.

VP Report - September 2010

2010-09-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

Credit

Did you know???

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF), the percentage of Science and Engineering (S&E) Bachelor Degrees earned by women have increased from 24.8% in 1966 to 50.5% in 2006!! As for Master’s (S&E) Degrees earned by women, the percentage has increased from 13.3% to 44.9%! That’s over a 3X increase! Way to go ladies!

A lot has changed in the past 40 years including the growth and development of the Society of Women Engineers! Celebrating the Society’s 60th Anniversary this past year, current and past members have been recognized for their continued contributions to the world of engineering. For more information and to read about the amazing and extraordinary things, women have done to pioneer the future, check out the Members in the News section on the National SWE website!

As for our local section, we are doing great things as well. I am looking forward to the 8th Annual Girl Scout Patch Day event on October30th as well as the upcoming PD and Membership events. I am thrilled to be working alongside Angela this year developing goals for the year and supporting our committee chairs.

If you are looking for a fun or new way to get involved this year, let me know. SWE-MN has TONS to offer so you definitely don’t want to miss out!

Outreach Update - September 2010

2010-09-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

credit

SWE Girl Scout Patch Day is coming up. We need volunteers for this great event that hosts 150 Girl Scouts and gets them involved and excited about engineering! Here are some pictures from last year's event. Please contact Sara at volunteer@swe-mn.org to volunteer

Date: October 30
Time: 7:30am - 2:30pm
Location: Boston Scientific (Building 3)
4211 Lexington Ave N, Arden Hills

Experiments (subject to change)

Egg Mobile (Engineering Design)
Oil Spill (Environmental Engineering)
Bug Circuits (Electrical Engineering)
Silly Putty (Chemical Engineering)

There will be an option to attend volunteer training in order to become familiar with the experiments before the event.

Fund Development - September 2010

2010-09-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Your company can help SWE-MN provide programs for our members and community activities to promote engineering to students of all ages. Any size donation is welcome and there are a variety of sponsorship opportunities available, including Speaker events, Industry tours, Outreach activities and Scholarship awards.
Please contact Melissa Kaufman at fd@swe-mn.org for more information!

See our Sponsors section for more information on current sponsors, and go to the Sponsorship Level section of our website to see the benefits of being a sponsor!

Members News - September 2010

2010-09-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Membership Renewal
Thanks to the many who renewed membership in June before the SWE Fiscal Year ended on June 30 and a reminder that the FY ended June 30--please renew! Click HERE to renew or join SWE! If you have any questions on joining or renewal, please contact Lynn Davenport or Nicole Danielson-Bartelt at membership@swe-mn.org.

Keep watching the weekly e-mails and newsletter for monthly Metro and Rochester lunches, and other networking events.

The East and North Metro lunches will be starting up again in October or November. Hope to see you there!

Professional Development Recap and Future Events - September 2011

2010-09-12T18:42:00.000-07:00

FY11 Professional Development Schedule

This Month!

The tentative schedule for Professional Development Events is as follows. More details to come!

* October – Tour/Speaker event in Rochester, MN
* November – Dale Carnegie speaker event
* January – Winter Open House
* February – Waste Management Tour
* March – SWE-MN Spring Seminar
* April – Speaker or Tour - TBD
* May – Picnic with other Societies

If you have any questions or suggestions, or would like to join the Professional Development committee, please contact Katrina Sanders or Jacalyn St. Dennis at pd@swe-mn.org

SWE-MN Open House - Recap

On August 30, 2010, the annual SWE-MN Open House was held at Boston Scientific in Maple Grove. The primary purpose was to inform new and old SWE-MN members and friends, as well as prospective members about the exciting events and volunteer opportunities that are coming up during the next year.

The event started with a bingo game to encourage interaction between attendees. Bingo players mingled with each other to find people described by the bingo squares and the winners (people with the most squares filled) received fabulous prizes. The bingo game was followed by a delicious dinner sponsored by Boston Scientific. After dinner, the SWE-MN President, Angela Neidermire, gave a presentation that included an overview of SWE-MN and she introduced the FY11 Executive Council.

The new format from last year was expanded a bit. Each committee in SWE-MN had a booth where they displayed photos, brochures, etc from previous year’s events. There were also information sheets available at each booth for members and newcomers to take home explaining the typical things each committee is involved in during the year. This allowed members to move around the room and ask questions while learning about some of the SWE-MN committees to see if they have an interest in being part of a committee.

The evening ended with tasty dessert, also provided by Boston Scientific, and a few giveaways from SWE-MN. The event had about 40 attendees and PD is hoping to maintain a strong attendance for upcoming events!

SWE-MN would like to thank Boston Scientific for hosting and sponsoring the event and would also like to thank everyone who attended the Open House. We hope that everyone had fun and will continue to attend future events!

Section Representatives - September 2010

2010-09-12T18:13:00.000-07:00

Welcome to FY11 for SWE-MN!

Welcome to the new SWE year! Please allow us to introduce ourselves; we are your Minnesota Section representatives for the upcoming fiscal year.

• Lindsey Roberts McKenzie, a Project Engineer at Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc., is your first veteran section representative this year, having also served in FY09 and FY10.
• Charlene Willenbring, a Project Engineer at Goodrich Sensors and Integrated Systems, is your second veteran section representative this year, having also served in FY10.
• Kalyani Mallela, a Senior Systems Engineer at Starkey Laboratories, Inc., is your new section representative this year.

You may know us by our previous title, “COR” or Council of Representatives, but over the past two fiscal years, our title and role has changed. Our new role as section representatives is to be the voice of the Minnesota Section members, but we will focus primarily on local and regional Society concerns, programs and systems. The role of the section representative is to represent the Minnesota Section membership on both local and regional issues. We will also act as the official contact between the Region H Senators and the Minnesota Section to ensure that your voice is heard at the Society level. The three Minnesota Section representatives will continue to report the information and business of the Society at all levels to the Minnesota members.

SWE is also moving in to its second year of having a Senate structure and with that comes the election of one new professional senator and one new collegiate senator for Region H. The following Senators will be the voice for Region H membership at the Society level:

• Region H Professional Senators:
- Diane LaFortune – Chicago Regional Section
- Christine Cabrera – Detroit Section
• Region H Collegiate Senator:
- Allison Machtemes – Iowa State University

The Senate is a high functioning deliberative body focused on the long-term strategic position of the Society. The Senate is responsible for legislative duties such as changing bylaws and setting individual dues. The Senate is a much smaller size governing body with 32 members: 22 Professional Senators (two for each region) and 10 Collegiate Senators (one for each region). This smaller size will enable more effective interaction and deliberation. The Senate will focus on national Society concerns, programs and systems. The Region H Senators serve as a direct conduit and point of contact for any member in Region H to express concerns and issues at the national level. If you have questions about the Senate or the new role of the Section Representatives, please don’t hesitate to contact us at sectionrep@swe-mn.org .

Region H Committees – Open Positions
A great way to get involved at the region level of SWE is to participate on a region committee. The following Region H Committee has open positions:

• Celebrate SWE – This committee is responsible for organizing the theme and “spirit” items for the Region H tables at the Celebrate SWE event at National Conference.

If you are interested in participating on this committee, other region committees or have questions, please contact us at sectionrep@swe-mn.org. We will forward your information on to the appropriate Region H elected official.

Region H HART Meeting
The Region H fall caucus meeting has a new name! The Heartland Annual Round Table (HART) will be held on Saturday, September 25, 2010 in Rolling Meadows, IL. The Chicago Regional Section will be hosting the meeting. The purpose of this face-to-face meeting is to allow our section leaders to interact with the Region leadership in preparation for the Annual Conference. Meeting attendees will include Region H Officers, Section Representatives and Section Presidents. The focus of the meeting will be on Region H business and training. The agenda includes plans to discuss Senate proposals and mega issues. This face-to-face meeting will give us the opportunity to review the SWE overall strategic plan and the Region strategic outlook.

WE10 The Annual Conference for Women Engineers – Register Now!
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 the yearlong SWE60 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.

Join us for WE10 as we move ourselves and our industry forward!

If you are planning on attending the Annual Conference, then be sure to log on to the Minnesota Section Community and update the Annual Conference Attendance List. This list will enable you to coordinate with other SWE-MN members who are going to the conference. A great event that SWE-MN plans for every Annual Conference is a networking dinner for SWE-MN members. Updates regarding the networking dinner, including the scheduled date, will be included in the upcoming weekly emails and in the October newsletter. You can sign up for this dinner by indicating your interest in the Annual Conference Attendance List. We look forward to seeing you in Orlando!

Region H Conference – Mark Your Calendars!

The University of Michigan – Ann Arbor collegiate section is working on fund raising and beginning to plan the logistics for the conference. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for additional details.

Please feel free to contact us at sectionrep@swe-mn.org with your comments, questions or concerns. Please note the new email address!

Cheers to a great new year!
Lindsey, Charlene, and Kalyani

Get to Know SWE-MN - September 2010

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Nicole Danielson-Bartelt

I was introduced to SWE while in school at Michigan State University. SWE was one of the most active societies on campus, and I loved having a support system of like- minded women. I was President of the MSU SWE student section for a couple of years, and was the Region H Student Representative my last year at school – my first regional and national SWE experience, very cool! I’m relatively new to SWE-MN. Last spring volunteered to be on the nominating committee and this year I’m one of the membership co-chairs. I hope this is the beginning of a new chapter of SWE involvement, I’m really excited to be apart of SWE-MN!

I received my undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering in 2004, and my master’s degree in Environmental Engineering in 2006, both from Michigan State University. My husband and I are both from Western Wisconsin, so we knew we would end up back in the Twin Cities eventually to be closer to family. In April 2006, we were both hired by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT). In fact, we were the first “husband and wife” team hired on at the same time.

Currently I work in the Bridge Hydraulics Section at Mn/DOT as a hydraulic design engineer and supervisor for the waterways unit. We help design bridges and culverts over rivers and streams, to ensure the opening is appropriate for flooding concerns and the foundations are protected against scour or erosion.

I enjoy spending time with my husband and our dog Sadie. We love watching and playing all types of sports, especially cheering on the Spartans and the Packers. I also like to read, run or take fitness classes, and bake.

President's Welcome - August 2010

2010-08-02T22:00:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11)! Last week the Executive Council (EC) met for our Annual Summer Planning Meeting to set goals and direction for the upcoming year. It was a very productive meeting where we talked about programming for the year and brainstormed our annual fund development event. I would like to formally introduce you to our new Fund Development chair, and new to the EC, Melissa Kaufmann, as well as the two new Outreach co-chairs Rachel Borchers and Amanda Porter joining the EC. The Professional Development committee will continue under the direction of Katrina Sanders and Jacalyn St. Dennis as will our Scholarship program led by Naomi Brill and Holly Kimball. The SWE Counselors to the Minnesota schools with SWE student sections will persevere on under the advisement of myself, Martha Escobar, Charlene Willenbring, and Melissa Stiegler. We are well represented to voice our opinions to the society with returning Section Representatives Charlene Willenbring and Lindsey Roberts McKenzie who will be joined by Kalyani Mallela who was the Outreach Co-Chair last year.

With the beginning of a new year, it is time to renew your membership so I encourage you to visit www.swe-mn.org member services to stay involved with the activities planned by our new Membership co-chairs Lynn Davenport and Nicole Danielson-Bartelt, also both new to the EC. It is very rewarding to have new members on the EC with fresh ideas. And I still would like to have more people involved in the section, so I invite you to attend our Open House and sign up for the professional development or outreach committee. Even if you can help out with one event to sign people in at a program you are already planning on attending or spending a couple hours volunteering at an outreach event, we would all greatly appreciate the participation. There are other opportunities for personal contributions like judging scholarship applications or writing up speaker bios for the professional development spring seminar. So come to the Open House to check out what is in store for the year and to mark your calendars for all the programming you don’t want to miss.

To stay up to date with the section, you will continue to receive weekly SWE-MN emails from our Secretary Laura Copp and Roz Johnson, the Newsletter editor, is still compiling these now monthly html newsletters along with Senja Lopac, the Webmaster, who manages our www.swe-mn.org website. There is a calendar on our website with the dates of all of the committee activities. Some summer highlights since the last communication include our section submitting ten National Awards packets that we will learn if we won any at the Celebrate SWE! event during the annual SWE National Conference in Orlando the first week of November (registration open at we10.swe.org). The Section Representatives also applied for nine section or individual awards to be distributed from our Region H leadership. Cassie Svendsen is the current Awards chair you will hear from if interested in submitting for the SWE National and some local individual awards.

Finally, at the summer planning meeting the EC also approved the FY11 budget that the committee led by new Treasurer Melissa Stiegler compiled. Lesley Wyckoff, the Vice President, and I will be meeting the rest of this month to finalize the tactical plan for the section as well as taking some personal time to enjoy the last few weeks of summer before we get really involved with all the exciting SWE programming Minnesota has to offer.

- Angela

VP Report - August 2010

2010-08-02T19:45:00.000-07:00

Wow! It’s August already! Hope everyone’s summers have been full of weekends at the cabins, outdoor BBQs and lots of fun in the sun! SWE-MN has had a nice break for the summer although we still kept busy submitting section awards, transitioning to the new EC, and planning the upcoming fiscal year.

As VP this year, I look forward to seeing many of you at our Open House, our fall Outreach Signature Event, Girl Scout Patch Day, as well as Networking Nights and PD events. I am also looking forward to continuing to support the Outreach Committee as they plan and organize events throughout the metro.

For all current or new members of SWE-MN, I thought it would be a good idea to share with all of you how to get involved and know all the happenings of SWE!

To sign up for our weekly email (sent every Wednesday), send a request to the SWE-MN Secretary at http://www.blogger.com/secretary@swe-mn.org.
To view our Calendar of Events, visit our website at http://www.blogger.com/www.swe-mn.org and click on Calendar on the left (if you are a Google user, you can also subscribe to our calendar)
To learn more about upcoming events, read the weekly email and keep up with our monthly newsletter via http://swemn-newsletter.blogspot.com/ (again if you are a Google user, you can subscribe to this blog with Google Reader)
To learn about National SWE news, register for the National Conference, or renew your dues, visit the National SWE website at http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/.
To learn about Region H news and events including the Regional Conference, visit the Region H website at http://www.swe.org/regionh/

As always, if you have any questions regarding any of these links or more, feel free to contact me at vp@swe-mn.org.

-Lesley

Professional Development - SWE Open House! - August 2010

2010-08-02T19:32:00.000-07:00

SWE-MN September Open House

On Monday, August 30, 2010, Boston Scientific in Maple Grove will be hosting the kick-off event for the new fiscal year – the Annual SWE-MN Open House! The Open House is an event to inform new and old SWE-MN members and friends about the exciting events and volunteer opportunities for the upcoming year.

The event will include dinner provided by Boston Scientific, information about some of SWE Minnesota’s plans for FY11 and booths for the different committees in SWE-MN. The committee booths will allow new, old, and perspective members to learn about the things each of the SWE-MN committees does and see if one of them is a good fit.

The best part of the event is that it is free! Please join us for the SWE-MN kick-off event to network with other women in Engineering and learn about how you can be a part of a wonderful group.

Event Details:

Date: Monday, August 30th
Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Boston Scientific, Maple Grove
Cost: Free!! Dinner is provided by Boston Scientific.
RSVP: Please email pd@swe-mn.org by Monday, August 23rd
(If you need a vegetarian or gluten-free meal, please include that in your RSVP.)
Questions: Contact Jacalyn or Katrina at pd@swe-mn.org

Members News - August 2010

2010-08-02T19:19:00.000-07:00

Membership Renewal:
Thanks to the many who renewed membership in June before the SWE Fiscal Year ended on June 30 and a reminder that the FY ended June 30--please renew! Click HERE to renew or join SWE!

Why should I become (or remain) a SWE member?
Great question! The SWE community is an awesome vehicle to advance your career, achieve personal and professional recognition, and give back to your community through outreach programs.

There so many programs and partnerships available at both the local and national level, ranging from professional development, to career services, to simply meeting friendly new people!

Here are some membership benefit highlights:

• Professional Development: Meetings, Conferences, and more
• Networking
• K-12 Outreach: SWE-MN has excellent Outreach Programs!
• Leadership Training and Experience
• Gender-specific Management Tools
• Role Models and Mentors
• Award-winning SWE Magazine

And the list goes on and on. SWE really is one of the most dynamic and respected engineering/technical societies in the world.

What does it mean to be a SWE member? This question is a little harder, as it means different things to different people. For me, being a SWE member simply means being part of a positive community of like-minded women.
At SWE-MN, we would like to dig deeper here to find out what SWE membership means to you and how we can better serve all of our members’ needs and desires. Watch your e-mail box for a survey in the near future to work on this area!

SWE-MN will be hosting a variety of networking events and meetings for you to meet and greet lots of our fantastic members. Look to the newsletter and weekly announcements for more details. Hope to see you at the Open House in August!

Fund Development - August 2010

2010-08-02T19:15:00.000-07:00

Your company can help SWE-MN provide programs for our members and community activities to promote engineering to students of all ages. Any size donation is welcome and there are a variety of sponsorship opportunities available, including Speaker events, Industry tours, Outreach activities and Scholarship awards.
Please contact Melissa Kaufman at fd@swe-mn.org

for more information!

See our Sponsors section for more information on current sponsors, and go to the Sponsorhip Level section of our website to see the benefits of being a sponsor!

Outreach Update and Welcome - August 2010

2010-08-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

Amanda Porter…

Having only been a member of SWE for one year, I'm both surprised and excited to be co-chair of the Outreach Committee. Of course, I was in SWE during my college years (seems like eons ago) but at the time, I was more interested in completing school and then finding a job, and didn't manage to be involved in sharing the joys of engineering. Working with the girls at Girl Scout Patch Day and WOW, That’s Engineering was such fun in FY10 that I can hardly wait for the events in FY11. I now understand the need for encouragement with girls in science and math and of course engineering.

We have been transitioning the responsibilities for the Outreach Committee and I have to say a BIG Thanks to Lesley and Kalyani. They have been very helpful and are really great to work with. Our next meeting is to clean out the storage locker. While it will be a lot of work, considering the ladies involved, there will be plenty of laughs.

Stay tuned for more information on our next upcoming event, Girl Scout Patch Day at the end of October.

- Amanda and Rachel

Get to Know SWE-MN - August 2010

2010-08-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Alyse Stofer

I joined the SWE-MN section in 1998, and have held a variety of roles throughout the Society.
I am currently serving as the Director of Membership Initiatives on the Board of Directors, and served as the Director of Regions in FY09 and FY10.
At the region level, I have served as the Region H Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Secretary. In FY04, I served as the SWE-MN President, and have also served the Minnesota Section as the Vice President, Secretary, Section Representative, Membership Chair and Awards Chair.

I received my undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Iowa,
master’s degree in Biomaterials from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, and medical
device certificate from the University of St. Thomas.
I am currently employed at Medtronic as an Engineering Program Manager. I am leading product development projects in the Neuromodulation business sector in the Therapy Delivery Engineering group, which develops leads, catheters and accessories for implantable neurostimulation and infusion systems.
Additionally, I cherish the time I spend with my husband, Kevin, and young children, Lukas and
Kyra. Kevin is a math teacher, and soccer, hockey and golf coach at East Ridge High School
in Woodbury. Lukas, Kyra, and I enjoy attending Kevin’s games, as well as participating in a
variety of lessons and sports such as skating, swimming, soccer, and t-ball throughout the year.
I also enjoy baking, reading and traveling.
In July, I participated in a Navy submarine embark from Point Loma Naval Base as part of an engineering educator orientation visit, representing SWE. The photos were taken during this trip, in which I spent half a day in a nuclear submarine which went to the depth of 600 feet and about 25 miles off the coast of San Diego.

President's Report - June 2010

2010-06-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

Incoming President’s Appreciation

I have been really excited with anticipation in the last month since being elected the FY11 President. For me, June will bring transition from the former EC (Executive Council), budget planning, and completing all the award submissions for our section. Officially the new EC is instated July and that is when the new officers and chairs will all be getting together to plan the upcoming year. Thank you to the Lisa for her leadership this past year and to the whole section for the fantastic programs that I will enjoy reviewing in the award applications. Over the past eight years, since joining the Minnesota section, there have been tremendous events that have kept me involved and great leaders who have mentored me as I look forward to the privilege to continue to serve the section.

On June 7th the section will celebrate the accomplishments of our members at the annual Awards Ceremony. We can’t say thank you enough to the volunteers and sponsors, but this is one of my favorite events to reflect back on the year with appreciation. I will be at the June 17th picnic and hope to meet you there if I haven’t had the chance to talk to you yet and hear your thoughts about our section.

Contact me (alneidermire@yahoo.com) or Lesley (lawyckoff@gmail.com) if you already know that you would like to get involved and thank you to all the members who have agreed to serve on the FY11 Executive Council. Enjoy your summers everyone, rest up, have fun, and plan on attending a SWE event in the fall.

- Angela

Farewell from our FY10 President - Lisa Schmalhurst

Hi there everyone.
This is my last newsletter article to write as your president. *sniff*

I want to start by thanking you all for the honor of representing you this year. It has been at times a humbling experience to try to understand and fully appreciate all that this section does throughout the year. This year has been a challenge for SWE-MN – one that was met with strength and resilience by our executive council. Whenever we were down in volunteer or attendee numbers, these ladies stepped up efforts to insure that our activities were not only impactful and a success, but also aligned with the goals of the section and the Society. I know at times these ladies were discouraged by the effects of the economy on our operations, but as the song goes, they “[got] knocked down, but [they got] up again. You’re never gonna keep [them] down”. I thank each one of them individually for sharing their dedication, intellect and talents with SWE-MN. Thank you, Cassie, Laura, Adrienne, Lindsey, Jenna, Charlene, Lesley, Kalyani, Sara, Katrina, Jacalyn, Swati, Holli, Roz, Melissa R, Senja, Holly, Naomi, Angela, Janette, Melissa S, Martha and Nicki.

We’ve had a number of successful new starts this year. I want to take just a moment to recognize a couple of them. Most obvious among them is the change to the format of this communication. The impact that this has had is notable. Feedback from senior management within my company, Boston Scientific, ranged from “Looks awesome” to “HTML is the way to go”. This change improves our credibility with our members, current and potential sponsors. Moving to a monthly format also allows improved visibility for our events and the ability to include other news, articles and information of interest to our memebrs. Many thanks go out to Senja Lopac, Melissa Rhodes and Rozaane Johnson for the parts that they each played in helping this to come to fruition. I’d also like to recognize Sara Beck for the breakthroughs that she had in publishing and executing our Fund Development strategy this year. Last year’s chair had begun this work and Sara picked it up and ran. We now have a documented and published corporate sponsorship policy with funding tiers and entitlements. Disbursement of this policy this year resulted in the generous gift by Xcel Energy that enabled our spring Wow! That’s engineering event to be so well-attended by underprivileged girls. Sara is currently drafting a member sponsorship package and an example set of funding breakdowns to further help this effort succeed and support SWE-MN activities.

I know that Angela will lead FY11’s executive council to accomplish more great things in the year ahead. I could close with a “Farewell”, but that doesn’t seem to me to be in the right spirit for the time, so I’ll end with “Cheers!” in celebration of all that we have accomplished.

lisa

Vice President's Report - June 2010

2010-06-01T16:10:00.000-07:00

Incoming VP Appreciation

SWE-MN,

Yay! Summer is here! SWE-MN has had a great FY10 with all of our outreach, PD, membership and networking events! I am already looking forward to FY11 and all the successes I know we will accomplish. As the FY11 Vice-President, I am excited to help lead the Executive Council alongside Angela (Neidermire) and assisting her however I can. I am also thrilled to mentor the Outreach Committee and Co-Chairs. With my past experience as an Outreach Co-Chair, I hope to be able to provide good insight and guidance for the new year. Personally, I hope to meet and create relationships with new SWE-MN members and participate more in the networking opportunities.
In the meantime, when I am not helping out with SWE-MN, I will be enjoying the summer, standing in my good friend’s wedding (another SWE-MN member!), and attending lots of Twins games!

I hope you all have great summers with family and friends and I look forward to seeing you all in FY11!

-Lesley Wyckoff

Farewell from our VP FY-10 - Cassie Svendsen

Thank you SWE-MN for a fantastic year! As SWE-MN transitions into new officers and committees, I want to reflect on the past year together.

SWE-MN kicked off the fall with our Open House at Boston Scientific in September! Then off to the races for Outreach and Professional development events. Some other fall highlights included the National Conference in Long Beach, California in October; Girl Scout Patch Day in November; Caribou Coffee tour in December and the new holiday fundraising campaign! The ‘deep’ winter was equally busy with trips to North Star Imaging, and Engineers Week. Spark Slime Speed was, as usual, a huge hit at the Science Museum in February. Come March, the annual Spring Seminar featured new tracks and great speakers. Finally in April, the Wow! That’s Engineering! event was held with underprivileged girls.

Did I mention before that it was a busy year!? All of these events and programs would not be possible without our active executive committee, enthusiastic members, and volunteers. It’s the people of SWE that make SWE a great organization.

I’ve had a fantastic time acting as Vice President for the year and am pleased to have Lesley taking over! Thanks to everyone in SWE-MN for a wonderful year!

- Cassandra Svendsen

Scholarship - June 2010

2010-06-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota Section proudly announces our

Section and Corporate Partnership
2010 Scholarship Recipients

For Fall Semester, 2010, the Minnesota Section of the Society of Women Engineers has awarded nine tuition-based scholarships, totaling $12,000. We congratulate the following recipients, and gratefully thank the following corporate sponsors for their partnership in making this program a success! Check out our corporate partners’ websites for more information about these great companies.

ADC & the ADC Foundation Scholarship

Jessica Gilbertson, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is the recipient of the $1,000 ADC & the ADC Foundation Scholarship.
ADC is a worldwide provider of network infrastructure equipment and services. See http://www.adc.com/ for more information.

Banner Engineering Scholarship

Megan McCoy, an electrical engineering student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is the recipient of the $2,000 Banner Engineering Scholarship.
Banner Engineering is the sensor market leader with the broadest line of products and solutions in the nation. See http://www.baneng.com/ for more information.

Boston Scientific Scholarship

Shipra Roy, a biomedical engineering student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is the recipient of the $1,500 Boston Scientific Scholarship.
Boston Scientific is a worldwide developer, manufacturer and marketer of medical devices who, for more than 25 years, has advanced the practice of less-invasive medicine by providing a broad and deep portfolio of innovative products, technologies and services. For further information, visit http://www.bsci.com/

Lockheed Martin Scholarships

Sarah McMahon, a physics and electrical engineering student at South Dakota State University, is the recipient of a $1,500 Lockheed Martin Scholarship.
Karin Hanson, a mechanical engineering student at South Dakota State University, is the recipient of a $1,000 Lockheed Martin Scholarship.
Special thanks to Lockheed Martin for sponsoring two scholarships!
Lockheed Martin’s vision is to be the world’s best advanced technology systems integrator. Visit http://www.lockheedmartin.com/ for more information.

Medtronic SWEnet Scholarship

Ashleigh Hayes, an electrical engineering student at the University of St. Thomas, is the recipient of a $1,000 SWEnet Scholarship.
Sarah Gilbertson, a mechanical engineering student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is the recipient of a $1,000 SWEnet Scholarship.
Special thanks to Medtronic SWEnet for sponsoring two scholarships!
SWEnet is a professional network of Society of Women Engineers members who work at Medtronic, the global leader in medical technology. These dedicated women have donated their time and talents to create this scholarship opportunity. For further information on Medtronic, visit http://www.medtronic.com/

MTS Systems Corporation Scholarship

Khushboo Shakya, a software engineering student at Minnesota State University, Mankato, is the recipient of the $1,500 MTS Systems Corporation Scholarship.
MTS Systems Corporation is the world’s leading supplier of mechanical testing and simulation equipment. For more information, visit http://www.mts.com/

The Minnesota Section Scholarship

Laura Lennartson, a chemical engineering student at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, is the recipient of the $1,500 Minnesota Section Scholarship.
This endowed scholarship is for a full time women student entering her junior or senior year of an accredited engineering or computer science program at schools in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Visit us at http://www.swe-mn.org/

2011 Minnesota Section and Corporate Partnership Scholarships Information will be posted on this website on November 15th! For further information, email us at scholarships@swe-mn.org

Outreach Upcoming Events - June 2010

2010-06-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

Join SWE-MN Outreach for an end of the year celebration!

We have worked so hard this past year that now we deserve a break! Hope to see you all there!

Details:

Picnic with Twin Cities Engineering Societies

Join the SWE-MN PD Committee & MFESTS for our upcoming event on Thursday, June 17th. The SWE-MN PD Committee & MFESTS are planning a picnic with some of our fellow Engineering societies. It will be a relaxing opportunity to eat some good food, play some games, and learn about other engineering society activities across the Twin Cities.

The burgers and hot dogs will hit the grill at 6pm.
If you have any yard games, feel free to bring them with. There is a playground at the park for children to play at as well.

We are looking for a couple people who are willing to help with grilling. If you are interested, please email Katrina or Jacalyn at pd@swe-mn.org.

Link to Park Map: http://www.co.ramsey.mn.us/NR/rdonlyres/0BA291A2-6393-4565-A3DD-38DDC50FC679/3779/Island_LakeConverted.pdf

Outreach Event Recap - June 2010

2010-06-01T11:00:00.001-07:00

On Thursday, June 20th SWE-MN did Spool Racers with sixty 4th graders and fifty 5th graders at Higher Ground Academy in St. Paul. The kids had fun learning about potential and kinetic energy, while also learning what a washer and spool was. It was a great hands-on activity!

Thanks Rachel Borchers, Kay Hatlestad, and Sara Beck for volunteering during the work day.

Thank You to our VOLUNTEERS!

2010-06-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Membership News

2010-06-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

COR Report - June 2010

2010-06-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Mark Your Calendars!

WE10 – The Annual Conference for Women Engineers – Registration is Open!

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.

2011 Region H Conference – Save the Date!

SWE Leadership Coaching

Are you interested in helping fellow professional members develop strong leadership skills, both in SWE and the professional world? If so, Region H is looking to increase the number of leadership coaches available to professional sections. SWE leadership coaches are trained by SWE and travel to sections to present leadership modules and training sessions. If you are interested in a coaching position, contact Elizabeth Bierman, FY10 Region H Governor, at ekbierman@yahoo.com.

Society and Region H FY10 Awards

Every year SWE-MN submits applications for Society and Regional awards for individuals and professional sections. This year, SWE-MN will apply for awards in career guidance, professional development, membership and communications on both the Society and Regional levels. Thanks to all of you who have put in the time and work that allows us to apply for, and hopefully win, these awards! SWE-MN will be nominating our own Alyse Stofer for the Region H Distinguished Service Award. Alyse has served as a SWE leader in many capacities and she is currently the SWE Director of Regions. SWE-MN will be nominating our own Jenna Rendon for the Region H Professional Emerging Leader Award. Jenna is currently serving in her second year as a SWE-MN section representative. Best of luck to Alyse and Jenna!

FY11 Leadership Election Results

We are pleased to announce the results of the election for our Region H Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Senator and Alternate Senator.

Region H Governor: Wendy Schauer Landwehr – Chicago Regional Section
Lieutenant Governor: Jenny Morikawa – Detroit Section
Professional Senator: Christine Cabrera – Detroit Section
Alternate Professional Senator: Betty Leonhard – Wisconsin Section

The Governor and Senator positions are two-year terms, while the Lieutenant Governor and Alternate Senator positions are a one-year term. The Governor and Senate positions were on the Society ballot. The Lieutenant Governor position was voted on by the Region Council. In FY11 Diane LaFortune (Chicago Regional Section) will continue to serve as a Region H Professional Senator in her second year of a two-year term. Congratulations to Wendy, Jenny, Christine and Betty!

Congratulations to SWE-MN’s own Alyse Stofer and Elizabeth Bierman for being elected to the following FY11 Society Leadership positions:

Director of Membership Initiatives: Alyse Stofer – Minnesota Section
Deputy Director of Regions: Elizabeth Bierman – Minnesota Section

We wish all of the SWE leaders much success in their new and continuing roles!

FY11 Region H Committee Openings

Nominations are being taken for FY11 Region H Committee Chair positions. The following committees have openings: Assessment, Nominating, Awards, Celebrate SWE, and Procedures. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact the FY10 Region H Governor, Elizabeth Bierman, at ekbierman@yahoo.com for further details. For a complete description of each chair’s responsibilities, please contact the FY10 Region H Secretary, John Kasab, at SWE_RegionH_Secretary@yahoo.com.

Farewell

It was great to serve you all as your section representatives this year. SWE-MN accomplished some awesome things this year and we feel very proud to have been a part of sharing our successes with the rest of the heartland region and overall Society membership.

Have a wonderful summer!

Jenna, Lindsey and Charlene
cor@swe-mn.org

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS

2010-06-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

The sponsorship levels are as follows:
Platinum $10,000 and up
Gold $5000 - $9999

Silver $2,000 - $4,999
Bronze $500 - $1,999

President's Report - May 2010

2010-05-03T12:49:00.001-07:00

Hello SWE-MN!

Welcome to our new and improved HTML-enabled newsletter! Many thanks go to our webmaster, Senja Lopac, and newsletter editors, Rozaane Johnson and Melissa Rhodes, for the hard work put into making this a reality. We hope that you enjoy our new format and we welcome your feedback!
As I start to reflect as the end of the fiscal year draws near, I find that there is still so much happening in SWE-MN this year. The Wow! That’s Engineering event sponsored by Xcel Energy and our first annual Holiday Auction was a great success this past month. We still have many great upcoming networking and outreach events – check out our calendar at here. I’m so proud of everything that our section is achieving this year and I look forward to everything to come. You will notice our FY11 leadership begin to transition into the SWE-MN workings in the near future and I am so excited to see what new directions the section charts.

Until next month!
lisa

VP Spotlight - May 2010

2010-05-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

Click on the picture to go to the website

To highlight some of the SWE National Goals, I wanted to make us aware of some SWE public policy documents. Check out the national website, Public Policy: http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=180&Itemid=289

From this website, SWE concentrates on the following three areas related to public policy:
1. Strengthening America’s schools as presented in the SWE’s general position statement, "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education and the Need for a Technologically Literate Workforce"
2. How Title IX can be applied to STEM fields as presented in SWE’s general position statement, "The Application of Title IX to the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Fields"
3. Strengthen the STEM workforce by ensuring equal opportunity for women in STEM education and careers as stated in SWE's general position statement, "SWE General Position Statement on Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action"

Check out these documents online! If you haven’t read them previously, it gives great insight into the organizational goals and policies!

Thanks, Cassie

SWE Networking - May 2010

2010-05-03T11:34:00.000-07:00

Click on the picture to RSVP

New Members - May 2010

2010-05-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

All, Please join me in giving a warm welcome to our new members:

Binita Sinha
Judith Slater
Jessica Weber

Credit

Outreach - May 2010

2010-05-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

Here’s a closer look at the day’s event:

Brilliant Bracelets
Hosted by volunteers from the Institute of Industrial Engineers, this session exposed the girls to process improvement and efficiency strategies. The girls first began by assembling bracelets with a difficult system (supplies unorganized and no roles assigned). Then the teams made improvements to simplify the assembly process and get the job done much easier and quicker. With the defined roles and instructions, it was obvious that the assembly procedure would go much quicker and without as many mistakes! At the end, all the girls were able to take home a bracelet they had made.

Egg Mobile
The Egg Mobile is one of SWE-MN’s favorite activities mainly because it provides students will different aspects of engineering besides the technical and scientific parts. The goal of the Egg Mobile is to design a Lego car that can safely travel down a ramp carrying a very fragile passenger, Mr. Raw Egg! Girls must work in groups to design the best and safest car that not only will go far but will also pass the safety crash test. Groups must design the car with a budget and schedule in mind as well. Although we did have some car crashes and Mr. Raw Egg experienced some injuries, the girls left this session with a better understanding of how engineers must work together under strict limitations.

Silly Putty
Girls were able to combine household ingredients (Borax, water, glue, and food coloring) to turn molecules into polymers! Before getting their hands dirty, girls learned about chemical engineering and material properties. They even got to play around with the original Silly Putty before making their own. The elastic properties of the silly putty showed the girls that when certain substances are combined (in a specific order), a change occurs and a product is yielded.

Circuit Bugs
Circuit Bugs are simple little electro-mechanical insects that respond to movement, wind, and vibrations by blinking their LED (light-emitting diode) eyes. This experiment allowed the girls to bring out their creative sides. The girls first created a circuit with a coin-cell battery, copper tubing, music wire and colored LEDS. Once their circuit was made, the girls got to be creative and make a bug out of pipe cleaners. They then attached the circuit on their bugs and learned that when the circuit was closed, the eyes lit up!

Engineering Press Conference
During the Engineering Press Conference, girls were able to ask questions to real live female engineers! Questions ranged from “what do you wear to work?” to “how much money do you make?”. The girls were challenged to take time to think about what they want to do when they grow up and to make this decision wisely. The girls were also introduced with some great resources online and in the area for more opportunities to learn about science, engineering, and technology fields for women!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

SWE_MN Outreach at the Normandale STEM Equity Initiative Spring Event

Egg Mobile and Panel with STEPS Camp!

Spool Racers with Higher Ground Academy!

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

Email us at outreach@swe-mn.org

Membership - May 2010

2010-05-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

It’s That Time Again!! Membership Renewal - Our fiscal year is coming to a close and during May and June. You may have already seen an e-mail message from HQ to renew. Please go to www.swe.org/renew to renew your membership or to www.swe.org/join.

Recap - Networking with the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) at a Summit Brewery Tour on May 1st
Thank you all for attending the brewery tour and networking lunch! We had a great turn out and learned about the brewing process and the history of beer. We learned that a lot of the history of beer starts with women and how they were a major influence as the beer making process evolved. We toured their brewery and saw huge metal copper kettles from a German brewery that boils the mash and also the room where they do their bottling, which is a used system from Sierra Nevada. After the tour, we headed over to Famous Dave’s and enjoyed lunch and conversation with the members of SAME and networked.
Thank to Rachel Pichelmann, my SAME counter part for helping make this event possible.

Ideas?

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

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.

We look forward to seeing you at upcoming SWE-MN events!!!

Scholarship - May 2010

2010-05-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

Minnesota Section Corporate Partnership Scholarship Program Update

As this edition of the newsletter was being compiled, the Scholarship Committee was still working to determine the recipients of our Fall 2010 scholarships. Look for an announcement of the Fall 2010 recipients in our next newsletter, coming in June. There will be an awards banquet to recognize the recipients (and all the other great things our section has accomplished this year) on June 7th.

Awards Banquet!

Contact Janette Spann at awards@swe-mn.org for more information.

Certificate of Merit Program Reaches New Heights!
Submitted by Naomi Brill, SWE-MN Certificate of Merit Coordinator

The SWE Certificate of Merit program is designed to honor high school girls with outstanding achievement in science and mathematics coursework. Award recipients must have completed three years of science and three years of mathematics with distinction, and they must be active citizens in their school and/or community. We provide their school with a certificate of recognition which is presented to the student at the school’s year-end awards ceremony. This year, we sent 141 certificates to students at 84 different schools in Minnesota!

In typical years, SWE Minnesota sends 80-90 certificates to girls at about 50 schools. This year’s requests for recognition represent an increase of more than 50% over past participation levels! In addition to achievement in science and math courses, for the first time, we recognized 11 girls for excellence in engineering and technology coursework completed through Project Lead the Way.

Our Certificate of Merit program provides us with an annual survey (albeit not absolutely scientific) of the career aspirations of Minnesota’s academically prepared girls. Seventy-six girls answered our question “What is your intended college major?” Of those 76 girls, 34 indicated engineering as their intended college major. Many of them further indicated a specific discipline within engineering. Another 19 girls indicated their intent to major in science, math, or related disciplines. Guidance counselors from all parts of Minnesota nominate our Certificate of Merit recipients, and the girls self-identify their intended college major. Implausible as it may seem, of the 76 academically prepared young Minnesota women who indicated an intended college major on their Certificate of Merit nomination form, almost 70% of them are planning on majoring in a STEM discipline. Looking at the total sample of 141 academically prepared girls (which includes both juniors and seniors), the percentage of girls indicating their intent to major in a STEM discipline is still an astonishing 38%. This is the second consecutive year our certificate recipients have indicated high interest in STEM disciplines for their college studies!

COR Report - May 2010

2010-05-03T08:29:00.000-07:00

2011 Region H Conference

FY11 Region H Committee Openings
Nominations are being taken for FY11 Region H Committee Chair positions. The following committees have openings: Assessment, Nominating, Awards, Celebrate SWE, and Procedures. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact the FY10 Region H Governor, Elizabeth Bierman, at ekbierman@yahoo.com for further details. For a complete description of each chair’s responsibilities, please contact the FY10 Region H Secretary, John Kasab, at SWE_RegionH_Secretary@yahoo.com.

SWE Leadership Coaching
Are you interested in helping fellow professional members develop strong leadership skills, both in SWE and the professional world? If so, Region H is looking to increase the number of leadership coaches available to professional sections. SWE leadership coaches are trained by SWE and travel to sections to present leadership modules and training sessions. If you are interested in a coaching position, contact Elizabeth Bierman, FY10 Region H Governor, at ekbierman@yahoo.com.

New Section Chartering Banquets
There have been two newly added professional sections to Region H, the Cedar Valley Section and the South Central Michigan Section. The Cedar Valley Chartering Banquet was held on Saturday, April 24, 2010 in Waterloo, IA. Members of the Region H Executive Council were in attendance.

WE10 – The Annual Conference for Women Engineers – Registration is Open!
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.

Click on picture to go to website

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

Jenna, Lindsey and Charlene

Resume Tips: Five Ways to Grab Employers' Attention

2010-05-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

With today's level of competition for good jobs your resume has got only one chance to make a great first impression. To be considered for interviews your resume must have that special something that grabs the reader's attention and motivates them to call you. Here are five strategies for transforming a blah document into a WOW resume that will get employers calling you.

1. Keep your focus clear and to the point.
The first thing potential employers need to know is what you do and the position you are interested in. In the past job seekers have used an objective statement at the top of their resume to indicate their employment interest. With the lightning speed scanning approach that recruiters take in viewing resumes, a wordy, vague objective statement taking up three or more lines of text just doesn't get the job done. In most cases they don't get read.

Instead, write a short, direct professional summery that clearly illustrates your career focus. Your statement should include your profession, how long you've done it and your particular areas of expertise. Something to the effect of:
Senior purchasing professions with 10 years' procurement expertise in: strategic sourcing, contract negotiation, financial analysis, strategic planning, leadership, contract law and process improvement.

Remember, your resume is not an historical tell-all. To keep your focus clear make sure that everything following in your resume relates to your focus. Leave off extraneous details.

2. Stuff your resume with key words.
The more key words you use the more frequently your resume will show up in online searches like LinkedIn, TheLadders and CareerBuilder, etc.. Additionally, employer resume data bases also use key words to query for qualifying candidates. Without appropriate key words your resume will be electronically ignored. Without key words, your resume is being shot off into a black void each time you submit it.

A good way to make sure your resume is full of key words is to check it against job postings. Use as many of the key words found in the responsibilities and qualifications sections of job postings. As much as you can, match up your terminology with what you find in job postings.

3. Keep your resume reader-friendly.
Nothing gets ignored like a resume full of lengthy blocks of text. No one has time to read through that much information. Resume screeners need to be able to absorb your information quickly. Leave out extraneous details so that key facts show up easily. Separate blocks of text into smaller easy-to-digest snippets of information. Use white space to separate bullet points so that each stand out. Be sure that your font size is readable: nothing smaller than 11 point.

4. Include plenty of accomplishments.
If you want to stand out from the crowd you must include accomplishments throughout your resume. Write accomplishments that show how you solve universal problems such as saving time, cutting costs, improving performance and increasing customer satisfaction. Your accomplishments should stand out on your resume in bullets separate from your responsibilities. Don't make the common mistake of combining responsibilities and accomplishments in a long list of bullets. List your responsibilities in a small block of text and your accomplishments in bullet form following.

5. Get your best information on page one.
It's true, if you can't grab their attention on page one they won't stick it out to find out the wonderful things you've got on page two or three. This presents a problem for those who experienced their most productive work five or more years back. The solution is to use the hybrid resume format that allows you to create a highlight of accomplishments section at the top of page one of your resume. This area of your resume is reserved for the best examples of your work. The accomplishments you include should illustrate the key transferable skills needed for the position you are interested in.

Don't delay in implementing these resume changes. Employers are waiting for you with opportunities for a better career and a better life.

Credit - Picture
Credit - Article

Get to Know SWE-MN - May 2010

2010-05-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

FEATURING: Senja Lopac

I was introduced to SWE in 2008, directly after finishing graduate school and moving back to the Twin Cities area. Due to a small female engineering population, my university only had a “Women in Engineering and Science” program, so I was looking forward to meeting others from every engineering discipline and background. Being a former Girl Scout, I was also looking forward to assisting with Girl Scout Patch Day, and encouraging younger girls to consider engineering as a future career path. I had considered the engineering path since I was in eighth grade, thanks in part to a statewide math competition being sponsored by an engineering organization, and now realize how my decision would have been positively impacted by having a female engineering role model to look up to. I currently serve as SWE-MN’s webmaster and member of the scholarship committee.

I received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota Duluth in 2005. In addition to my studies, I participated in an internship, a co-op, and an undergraduate research program. I discovered I really enjoyed the research side of engineering, and decided to head to graduate school. I spent two years attaining my master’s degree in chemical engineering from Iowa State University in 2008. My thesis involved utilizing biodegradable polyanhydrides microspheres as drug delivery mechanisms. My project allowed me to step over to the “other side” and experience the scientist’s world: synthesizing polymers, producing microspheres, culturing cells, in-vivo testing on mice, and learning various laboratory techniques.

I am currently employed at Beckman Coulter as a Development Scientist in Immunoassay R&D. Immunoassays are biochemical tests used to detect and measure the amount of a substance in a biological liquid, such as serum or urine. Beckman Coulter manufactures both immunoassay instrumentation and test kits at our Chaska site. My last project was working in product development on a novel chemistry detection method for implementation on a new line of immunoassay analyzers. I recently started on a new project involving test method validations on our manufacturing line.

I’m originally from Chisholm, MN; being from the Iron Range practically requires one to learn the sport of curling. I’ve been curling since I was 14, and recently became reacquainted with the sport after a few years off for graduate studies. I curl in a few leagues out of the St. Paul club, and spend most of my weekend bonspieling (curling tournaments); I even had the opportunity to curl in two national events, including one this past December in Seattle. I also enjoy exploring the Twin Cities, spending weekends at my cabin, attending concerts, and working on genealogy.

Please go to the SWE-MN website to see more of our sections events and opportunities!

President's Report - April 2010

2010-04-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

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

2010-04-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

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

Outreach Committee News

2010-04-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

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

E-mail us at membership@swe-mn.org

Professional Development Comittee News - April 2010

2010-04-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-08T11:52:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

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.