RES President's Messages (Gdowski & Sommerman

Dear Fellow Engineers,

I echo Greg from 2 years ago…I am honored to be taking on this role and am fortunate to have an extremely talented set of officers, board members and committee chairs in navigating RES forward thru 2024! Kudos to Greg for navigating RES through the past two years… they’ve been a doozy! People often ask me… What is RES? At its core, RES serves the engineering community in Rochester. RES is here to increase the visibility of the greater Rochester area engineering and technical community, serving as a unifying organization for local engineering businesses and associations.

I like to break things down so here is the WHAT, WHO and HOW of RES:

WHAT does RES do?

• enhance professional development • foster excitement in math and science for the next generation of leaders • improve communities where members live.

WHO do we do it for?

• individual engineers • local affiliates of national engineering societies • schools of engineering • professional firms

HOW do we do it?

• Opportunities to learn • Opportunities to build relationships • Opportunities to contribute to the community

Our activities will support the HOW for all members. I look forward to the year ahead for RES and all we can do together!

All my best,

Michelle Sommerman, PE Bergmann RES President June 1, 2022 - May 31, 2024

Dear Colleagues:

There are a few times in life when bad things happen at the worst time. On May 25th, I woke up with a pain on my right-side equivalent to nothing I have previously experienced. I was later admitted into Strong Memorial Hospital. The source of all this pain was literally a 4mm kidney stone that would take three days to pass. That was no typo. A 4mm pebble in the wrong place that caused pain at a level that I described as 9 out of 10. You might ask, “what would it have taken to score it a 10?” I rarely give students a 100 on presentations, so why should I be any different? In retrospect, I wonder if a 10/10 score might have helped me to escape a 6hr delightful experience in the ER waiting room without pain medications. There were times during that experience when I thought passing out might just be beneficial. While it all worked out thankfully, it was what this disrupted that probably amplified my pain beyond a 10.

Timing is everything. This episode started only 6 hours before my last RES Board meeting as President. More importantly it was only about 32 hours before the RES Annual meeting. At 9am I drafted one of the shortest, most laconic emails I have ever written to Lynne Irwin and Michelle Sommerman. Subject: “woke up very sick.” Content: “Going to urgent care.” The later messages would be as laconic. I can only imagine being on the receiving end of those emails. I knew I was going to miss the Annual meeting. I only crafted 4 emails that day and all of them were sent to Lynne and Michelle. I’m not sure which pain hurt more. Yes, that is how my 2-year term as President of the RES ended.

We all like to think that what we do is critically important. I learned a valuable lesson on my last days as President of the RES. A quote from John Maxwell is very appropriate, “You’re only as good as the people you have around you.” I had the pleasure of watching the recorded video of the Annual meeting after the dust had settled. The poise, professionalism, and execution of the Annual meeting was done so transparently in my absence that it literally brought me to tears. I know what had to have transpired to pull that off within two days of the meeting. I could not have been prouder of the entire team. This is a heartfelt thank you to all that were involved. What you did meant a lot to me, more importantly it helped the community to celebrate the recipients of the scholarships and professional awards. This experience will be something I will never forget.

This is not a farewell message. It is just the wonderful transition to the beginning of a new leadership that is well-seasoned beyond all those that have preceded them. The RES is well-positioned to help the community emerge from the era of Tron-like virtual zoom meetings back to inperson meetings. We have a great group of leaders including Michelle Sommerman (President), Dennis Roote (1st Vice President) and Mike Kurdziel (2nd Vice President). Michelle has run the scholarship program for several years like a well-oiled machine. She is determined, meticulous, well-organized and will bring a renewed energy for in-person meetings. Dennis spearheaded the efforts for developing pdh courses and has also managed the role of Treasurer. Mike has helped on the Executive Committee and Web Committee. He has also served as the critical connection to L3Harris as one of our Enterprise members. With their leadership, the RES is certain to have impact among the local engineering community over the next two years. I look forward to helping them and the entire Board as the Past President of the RES!

All my best,

Greg Gdowski, PhD Immediate Past President of the RES