PittSWE Newsletter - February 2013

PITT SWE Volume 2, Issue 2

February 2013 Edited by: Lisa Volpatti

Middle School Engineering Day Outreach Written By: Christina O’Donnell On February 2nd, Pitt SWE held our third annual Middle School Engineering Day. This year, over 105 students attended our event. They rotated through activities and listened to a presentation to learn about the different types of engineering. The events included making a bouncy ball out of house-hold products, protecting a “pill” from degradation in soda to represent stomach acid, programming a robot to emulate the Curiosity Rover and circumvent a crater, building a marble roller coaster, and constructing a table out of newspaper. These activities taught skills in chemical, bio, computer and electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering, respectively. The students concluded the day by watching demonstrations and listening to a presentation that summarized the day’s events.

Over 70 parents participated in our “Parent Presentation” hosted by the Director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Investing Now Program, Alaine Allen. The presentation detailed ways to prepare students for a career in engineering Continues on page 2

Upcoming Events March March 1-3 – Region G Conference at CMU! March 5 – Stress Relief and Relaxation with Origami March 10-17 – Happy Spring Break!

March 21 – Personal Finance Meeting March 22-23 – SWEepover March 28 – Dinner with Professionals

Students constructing their marble roller coasters as the mechanical engineering activity during Middle School Engineering Day.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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Middle School Engineering Day Upcoming Events Resume Workshop Seeds of Hope Work Day Academic Rush Carnegie Science Center E-Week Bettis Company Visit Region G Upcoming Conference FedEx Named “100 Best Companies to Work For” Leadership Workshop with the Provost New Officers Announced!

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at an early age. Our President (Lisa Volpatti) and Vice President (Sandy Liu) assisted in the presentation to offer their perspective on being collegiate females in engineering and to discuss how they became successful engineering students. Several parents stayed after the event to thank the presenters for their beneficial advice and many emailed their gratitude in the coming days.

One parent wrote: “My son […] talked about the activities and what he learned for the rest of the weekend. All of the Pitt students did a great job. Many thanks for hosting this outstanding program!” Another parent commented: “As a woman in a typically male-dominated field, finance and analysis, I appreciate the trail [Pitt SWE is] helping blaze!”

These two comments encompass the goals of this program: to spark an interest in engineering at a young age and to support females in the field.

Seeds of Hope Work Day Written By: Sandy Liu Nine members of Pitt SWE volunteered through Seeds of Hope to help with reconstruction of a previously abandoned church in Bloomfield. The vacant church was purchased in 2007 and various groups have been renovating the building ever since. The bottom floor is being used as a classroom for after-school tutoring. Construction is still in progress on the second and third floors of the church; Seeds of Hope and Earthen Vessels Outreach plan to convert the upstairs areas to additional classrooms, a locker room with showers, and a multipurpose space including a basketball court!!

The students also found the event valuable. 94% of students reported that they learned more about engineering as the day progressed, 94% of 6th and 7th grades students would return next year, and 98% of students would recommend it to a friend. Furthermore, 80% of the students who were not considering a career in engineering before this event are now considering entering the field. Overall, it was a highly successful event! We would like to thank FedEx and the Elliot Group for sponsoring this event and making it such a great success!

A SWE member breaking down old shelves for wood at Seeds of Hope.

Academic Rush Upperclassmen Tips Written By: Lisa Volpatti

Resume Workshop Professional Development Written By: Christina O’Donnell One of the events during SWE’s Career Fair Preparation Day was a resume workshop. Three members of Pitt’s award-winning career services office were in attendance to critique resumes and answer any last minute questions students had about searching for careers.

The Beginning of Swanson School (BOSS) Freshmen Engineering Student Council hosted their second annual Academic Rush this year on February 7. Several upper-class members of Pitt SWE attended the event to discuss their experiences, such as study abroad, co-op, internships, and classes in general with freshman students. All of the engineering departments at the University of Pittsburgh’s Swanson School of Engineering were represented. In this way, we hope to help undecided freshman engineers choose their department before they officially declare their majors.

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Carnegie Science Center EWeek Outreach

employment within the company. Engineers can work anywhere from research and development to designing parts to even training sailors how to operate a naval power plant.

Bettis representatives also answered questions asked by the students in attendance.

Written By: Lisa Volpatti Several members of Pitt SWE joined Pittsburgh professional SWE to volunteer at the Carnegie Science Center’s two-day event for National Engineer’s Week. Volunteers at the SWE booth helped students construct and race their own balloon rockets! We then explained the relation of the activity to Newton’s Laws of Motion, and educated the visitors about women in engineering and engineering in general.

Pitt SWE members also volunteered for the stage presentation “Women Engineering the Future,” hosted by Pittsburgh Professional SWE’s Mary Zeis to provide Girl Scouts with the perspective of current women engineers and enable them to earn their “Build a Better Future” patch.

Region G Conference 3.1.13 Upcoming Event/Region News Written By: Sandy Liu Did you miss out on attending WE12 in Houston? You can attend the Region G Conference from March 1-3 at CMU instead!! The conference will include an interviewing workshop, social event, networking lunch, and career fair.

Additional workshop topics include “From Engineer to Author,” “The Pittsburgh Inventress – Yesterday and Today,” “The Collegiate to Career Transition,” and “Funding your Graduate Education.”

If you would like to attend, you can register at http://sweregiongconference2013.org/registration.html. The registration cost is $50, but Pitt SWE will pay $15 towards the cost of registration for every person who attends! If you are interested, please email us at pittswe@gmail.com so we can manage funding for registration.

FedEx Named “100 Best Companies to Work For” Pitt SWE volunteers at the SWE booth of the Carnegie Science Center’s E-Week event.

Bettis Company Visit Professional Development Written By: Christina O’Donnell A second event during SWE’s Career Fair Preparation Day was a company visit including four representatives from Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory and Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. The representatives discussed their Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program as well as other opportunities in the company. Bettis takes a “cradle to grave” approach with their company, which means that they monitor their products from start to finish. This creates many options for

Sponsor Highlight Written By: Lisa Volpatti The Mission of FedEx Corporation is to “produce superior financial returns for its shareowners by providing high valueadded logistics, transportation and related business services through focused operating companies.” One such operating company is FedEx Ground, a leader in ground small-package delivery services in the US and Canada. FedEx Ground typically hires Industrial and Process Engineers and has many opportunities near the Pittsburgh area. Visit: http://fedex.hodesiq.com/careers/job_search.aspx?User_ID = to learn about careers with FedEx! FedEx Corporation is a great company to work for. You don’t have to take my word for it; they have once again been named one of FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in the US. FedEx employs over 300,000 people worldwide and has a strong history of service to its University of Pittsburgh – Society of Women Engineers – February 2013 - 3 employees, customers, and communities. FedEx has been on this list for 11 out of the pasts 14 years and was inducted into the Bet Companies to Work For Hall of Fame in 2005.

named one of FORTUNE Magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” in the US. FedEx employs over 300,000 people worldwide and has a strong history of service to its employees, customers, and communities. FedEx has been on this list for 11 out of the pasts 14 years and was inducted into the Bet Companies to Work For Hall of Fame in 2005.

FedEx has also been ranked in FORTUNE’s Global Most Admired Companies and America’s Most Admired Companies lists consistently since the early 2000’s.

Additionally, FedEx has recently won the 2013 CSO40 Award from IDG's CSO magazine. This award is given to a select group of companies for demonstrating business value and leadership in security projects and initiatives. FedEx was built upon innovation and continues this innovation through security measures in addition to every other aspect of their company.

Leadership Workshop with the Provost Professional Development Written By: Lisa Volpatti The University of Pittsburgh’s National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and Pitt SWE teamed up to host a leadership workshop entitled “Women + ? = Success” with the Provost, Dr. Patricia Beeson. The evening started with several activities in which the students learned about the qualities representative of a good leader and those indicative of a poor leader. We then discussed the pros and cons of being a female leader and ways to overcome these obstacles.

To conclude the event, we had a question and answer session with the University of Pittsburgh’s Provost, Dr. Beeson. Dr. Beeson described her own background and gave us advice as rising female leaders.

For instance, she recommended going with your own strengths rather than maintaining the status quo because that worked for someone else. It is better to find your own strengths than to mimic someone else’s. It is important to remember that there are a lot of different ways to be successful and how you work with one person may be different than how you work with someone else. When asked if she has ever felt any double standards as a woman in power, Dr. Beeson responded that she was been fortunate enough at Pitt to have a very supportive environment where people view her as a person rather than a woman.

Looking back on her career, Dr. Beeson reflected, “It was always the fear of making an error rather than other things that were holding me back.” She encouraged us not to be afraid of making mistakes but to be confident in our decisions. She ended the evening by recommending the empowering book, Women Don’t Ask by Linda Babcock. We were very fortunate to spend the evening with Dr. Beeson and aspire to become as successful a leader as she in our future careers.

New Officers Announced!

Election Results The results are in! Please see below for the list of our 20132014 officer board.

President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Corporate Relations Corporate Relations Mentorship Historian Meeting Coordinator Publicity Chair Outreach Chair Webmaster Service Chair Special Events

Christina O'Donnell Christine Bontempi Dhanu Thiyagarajan Sarah Pachesky Hannah Fernau Miriam Rathbun Alisa Urbano Julia Wasas Sovay McGalliard Agatha Carlin Lisa Cross Elissa Warmbrand Alicia Kolling Erica Stevens

Congratulations to all our new officers!

Pitt SWE Officers President – Lisa Volpatti Vice President – Sandy Liu Treasurer – Christina O’Donnell Secretary – Julia Wasas

To stay updated on news and events visit our website www.pitt.edu/~pittswe.

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