A PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH | SWANSON SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS
NEWS aspire. advance. achieve.
Pitt SWE’s Fall 2021 semester marked the long awaited return of in-person events! From old favorites like membership tie-dye to new company sponsored events, members displayed excitement to reconnect and make new connections. This was paramount for the attendees of WE21, the feature of this newsletter! Thank you to all who participated, planned, and supported our events and mission this past semester. We look forward to an equally as enriching and inspiring spring semester.
Table of Contents
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Mentorship Program & Social Events
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Outreach
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D&I Implicit Bias Event
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Professional Development
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WE21
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Social Events by Saipriya Namasivayam
After a year of full of COVID restrictions and virtual gatherings, Pitt SWE was finally able to transition back to having in-person social events this semester! As convenient and accessible virtual events are, there is nothing quite like interacting and connecting with fellow SWEsters face to face. We kicked off the semester with an event exclusively for freshman and transfer students called “A TOTE-ally New Student Social.” Here, students unleashed their creativity by decorating incredible looking tote bags while also making friends and meeting tons of new people. As the leaves changed colors, signaling the start of fall, Pitt SWE adventured to Soergel Orchards to pick some pumpkins, drink delicious apple cider, and even navigate a corn maze. Of course, a trip to an orchard is not complete without many little photo shoot sessions. Then, when the weather began to get a bit colder, we gathered at Nordy’s Place for a fun-filled game night! Playing games such as Uno, Codenames, Jenga, and even ping pong, members had a chance to take their mind off school and just relax. Finally, our last event of the semester was the highly anticipated SWE Holiday Party. What better way to get into the holiday spirit than by decorating cookies, making cards, playing holiday games, and spending time with your SWE family. Thank you to everyone who helped make this semester’s events a success – I cannot wait to see you all in the spring for more exciting social events!
Mentorship Program by Emily Zuris This fall, 50 freshmen, sophomores, and transfer students were paired with upperclassmen mentors through SWE's mentorship program! This is the first year that sophomores received mentors, which was a change made as a result of school being virtual for their freshman year. These sophomores were paired with both a freshman and upperclassman to give them the opportunity to mentor younger students while still learning from older students. We started out during orientation week with SWE's first in-person event since Spring 2020, our annual Swanson Survival Guide! Other mentorship events included a meet and greet, our traditional t-shirt tie dying event, and a movie night.
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Outreach Middle School Engineering Day by Olivia Porcello
This year, Middle School Engineering Day (MSED) was hosted as a live, virtual event over zoom for students from local Pittsburgh schools. There was a student event as well as a separate and simultaneous parent program. At the student event, there were presentations and expositions about physics and electricity given by a student from the University of Pittsburgh National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), along with a professional engineer from Duquesne Light Company. Then, the students were led through two hands-on engineering activities by Pitt SWE volunteers. The first activity was building a marshmallow launcher out of cardboard tubes and elastic bands to represent a mechanical engineering design. The second activity was building a water filtration system to simulate environmental engineering tasks. For this, the students layered different types and sizes of materials in a soda bottle and poured a mixture of water and dirt through their filter to test it. Throughout the event, students interacted with each other and Pitt SWE volunteers to share and discuss their designs. Meanwhile, the parents were learning about all of the different types of engineering and how careers in STEM could benefit their children. MSED 2021 was a great success thanks to everyone who volunteered and attended!
Girl Scout Engineering Day by Ekaterini Papazekos In September, Pitt SWE had the honor of hosting the second virtual Girl Scout Engineering Day! We opened the event with a presentation about engineering design thinking featuring two industry professionals from Duquesne Light, Laura Caceres and Becca Gillespie. These engineers shared their work experience and how they apply design thinking to their daily work. Next, the Girl Scouts got the chance to apply these skills through three projects organized by the event’s talented co-chairs Dalia Fantini, Amy Zhang, and Alexandra Lopez. Event organizers, along with Pitt SWE volunteers hosted the Zoom event and guided Girl Scouts through their projects. Our virtual format allowed us to extend this opportunity beyond the local troops, and we were able to help Brownie and Junior Scouts from across the country test a paper bridge, design a water filter, and build a pulley system, all while working towards their Think Like an Engineer Badge!
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High School Engineering Exploration Challenge by Sarai Morato
This past fall Pitt SWE hosted a high school outreach program called “SWE’s High School Engineering Exploration Challenge.” The program ran over 3 weeks and overall we had 3 teams of high school boys and girls that participated in the challenge. To prepare students to tackle the challenge, the first day consisted of the high schoolers attending panels divided into the 6 engineering majors and these were led by Pitt engineering students. The participants would go through several rounds of panels to learn more about the 6 main disciplines of engineering and afterwards the students selected which “major” they wanted to focus on throughout the challenge. As for the challenge, there were 6 prompts available for the 6 different engineering disciplines (mechanical, industrial, chemical, etc.) and the challenge consisted of the students selecting a prompt and then designing a prototype and presentation. Overall, we had three teams of high school students (one mechanical engineering, one bioengineering, and one electrical engineering team) creating prototypes and presentations explaining the design process of their idea to a judge. In addition to the challenge part of the event, Jill Harvey, the director of the First Year Engineering program, also came to talk to the high schoolers about what it looks like to be a first year in the school of engineering and good ways to prepare for engineering. I would like to thank Ann Marie and Natasha that were amazing co-chairs for making this event possible as well as Vincenzia and Vidhya!
SWE++
by Amelia Wear
SWE++ is a virtual, 9 week-long program open to middle school girls which teaches them the basics of computer programming through Python. The course goes through an introduction to programming, learning about variables, for and while loops, if and else statements, and functions, all of the basic building blocks for coding. By the end of the program, the students practice all these concepts on their own and are able to complete projects such as creating a virtual store, using text input to record their favorite movie, and building their own virtual pizza! This year’s program hosted roughly 50 students from local Pittsburgh middle schools and was bolstered by an amazing team of around 25 volunteers, including a dedicated committee of 9 SWE members who made sure the course ran smoothly. The SWE++ team is extremely proud of the students and their work, and are excited to welcome the next round of aspiring coders when SWE++ returns next in the fall of 2022.
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Code Day
by Amelia Wear
Code Day, a one-day virtual program which acts as an extension of the SWE++ coding course, invites middle schoolers from all over Pittsburgh to learn about the world of computers and programming. Its aim is for the attendees to learn about multiple different aspects of the field, such as coding, 3D modelling, game design, and website development, and to gain an understanding of whether they want to pursue the topic further. Activities for the day also include learning about circuitry and logic, Artificial Intelligence, and how the internet works. Code Day hosted roughly 50 students and was organized by a team of three Co-Chairs: Amelia W., Lauren D, and Maggie K.. Furthermore, Code Day was supported by numerous Pitt SWE volunteers, Pitt professors and student organizations, and even professionals from software development companies in Pittsburgh.
Elementary Engineering Extravaganza by Merrin Pickford This fall, the Elementary Engineering Extravaganza was hosted virtually and featured a website with four video tutorials of engineering projects. The projects were creating a density tower with different liquids, making a cloud in a jar, creating invisible ink, and extracting the DNA from a strawberry. Both ChemE Cube and Dr. Qihan Liu helped us to create interesting “expo” videos about engineering in the real world! ChemE cube spoke about their water filtration design and goals for their upcoming competition, while Dr. Liu showed how corn starch and gluten flour interact with water. For the parents, there was a great discussion about how to support a child thinking about a career in engineering, as well as how to get them involved in other engineering enrichment activities. I wanted to give a special thank you to my awesome co-chairs, Danielle McDonald, Marissa Santoro, Anagha Venkatesh, and Rachel Thomas. I could not have done this event without them! I look forward to planning E3 in the spring!
Collaborative Event: PittSWE x SASE take on Implicit Bias by Alison Linares Mendoza This fall, Pitt SWE collaborated with Pitt Society of Asian Scientists & Engineers (SASE) to hold an event that would delve into the topic of Implicit Bias and see how it plays a role in our daily lives. Members from both organizations were invited to hear from our guest speaker Paula Davis, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion at the Health Sciences school of Pittsburgh. We began with a short activity for members to get engaged on a personal level with their own implicit bias. Then, Ms. Davis gave an interactive presentation on the topic, with a special focus of how this takes form in the health sciences field. This was interesting to learn about and strongly resonated with the pre-med or health science related students that are part of our organizations. Through a Q & A, students shared their concerns about how to correctly tackle implicit bias while at the same time listening to their peers talk about memorable moments when faced with this. The event finished off with pizza and open conversation as members from the two student run organizations spent time together. This was a meaningful event and it only encouraged more and even better events to come in the spring.
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Professional Development
Pioneer Power Group provides electrical power system studies for customers in over 31 states, and is dedicated to performing high-quality power systems studies necessary for facilities and business buildings. Pioneer Power Group, a 2021-2022 Presenting Sponsor of Pitt SWE, hosted a private professional development event on October 20th to provide job search and interview tips to our organization members. A group of 10 SWE members were in attendance and were able to interact with two amazing presenters, Liz and Bomi, who shared their experiences and advice with helpful insight into the job search process. From job search resources to what to do after an interview, they provided an inside look into the process to help our members with their current and future endeavors. Liz and Bomi were knowledgeable and passionate about Pioneer Power Group, the opportunities available there, and on the topic of job search and interview tips. “Job Search and Interview Tips with Pioneer Power Group” was a valuable and informative event that all Pitt SWE members will benefit from!
Range Resources Corporation is a petroleum and natural gas exploration and production company as well as a pioneer of the Marcellus Shale and one of the most active natural gas drillers in Pennsylvania. As stated on their web page, they are proud of our long legacy of delivering energy solutions and value to our partners and shareholders. This statement holds true as the company delivered a valuable experience to our Pitt SWE members by acting as a sponsor. Range Resources served as a 2021-2022 Conference Sponsor of Pitt SWE.Their sponsorship supported sending our executive board officers and highly active members to WE21 in Indianapolis. WE21 was a fantastic opportunity for our members to develop personally and professionally through adding career fairs, keynotes, and informational sessions geared towards encouraging SWE members to aspire to inspire. Range Resources made this wonderful experience a reality for many of our Pitt SWE members to enjoy!
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Precision Castparts is a worldwide, diversified manufacturer of complex metal components and products. It serves the aerospace, power, and general industrial markets. Precision Castparts, a 2021-2022 Engagement Sponsor of Pitt SWE, hosted a private professional development event regarding goal setting on November 4th. Our guest speakers, Alyssa and Libby, discussed goal setting tips for members to apply to their personal and professional lives. In addition to sharing opportunities within the company with our members, they provided resources to our members to improve their goal setting strategies. A few takeaways from the night were to divide goals into milestones and goals within those milestones as well as ensure goals are SMART, using this method to set achievable goals. They also encouraged our members to put time into goal setting and hold themselves accountable. This extremely useful presentation will help our Pitt SWE members to excel in their academics, careers, and personal life through goal setting for success!
Duquesne Light operates as the primary electric utility for more than 584,000 residential and business customers in Allegheny and Beaver counties. According to their web page, they have been working around the clock for more than a century to deliver a safe and reliable supply of electricity. Duquesne Light, a returning 2021-2022 Platinum Sponsor of Pitt SWE, shared the same passion they show their customers with our members by assisting in volunteering in outreach events and hosting a private professional development event on November 18th. Duquesne Light’s commitment to customer care and their passion was prevalent in their EXPO at Middle School Engineering Day and their presentation to students at High School Engineering Day. Both events reached a diverse group of students interested in learning more about engineering and Duquesne Light was able to provide them help on their path. Additionally, Duquesne Light hosted a Work-Life Balance Workshop with our Pitt SWE members. Elizabeth Cook shared her insight and experience to help encourage students to seek out a healthy work environment and prevent burn out in the workplace. She shared stories from her own life and provided examples to students for how they could incorporate work-life balance. These skills can be applied to student’s current situations in academics as finals are approaching and will help them to better manage stress and feel more fulfilled in their lives.
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The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program (NNPP) provides militarily effective nuclear propulsion plants for aircraft carriers and submarines and ensures their safe, reliable, and long-lived operation. The NNPP is composed of four organizations – Naval Reactors, the U.S. Navy, Naval Nuclear Laboratory and Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. The Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) in particular develops advanced naval nuclear propulsion technology, for the safety and reliability of our Navy’s submarine and aircraft Fleets. They also train the Sailors who operate the reactors. As a 2021-2022 Presenting Sponsor of Pitt SWE, NNL facilitated a panel with women from NNPP to talk about females in leadership and the workforce. Our members were able to ask questions to gain better insight on how to combat different trials that may arise when they enter the workforce. Great anecdotes were shared from multiple members of NNPP allowing all of our members to leave the panel feeling more confident about using their voice and finding their own work life balance.
Eaton, a power management company renowned globally, is dedicated to improving people’s lives and the environment with power management technologies that are more reliable, safe, efficient, and sustainable. More specifically, Eaton works with their customers to solve their greatest power management problems in industry-leading sectors such as aerospace, electrical, vehicle, and hydraulic products and services all while keeping the environment at the forefront. As a 2021-2022 Presenting Sponsor of Pitt SWE, Eaton presented on what a day in the life looks like in different areas of their company to our members on September 22nd. The event they hosted was of a hybrid format: there were students in person as well as online, which was a success! Along with the advice given and picture painted as to what a day in the life of an engineer looks like, Eaton discussed career opportunities at their company and how students can apply for internships or be a part of their co-op rotational program. Eaton’s representatives, Tyler, Jennifer, and Karen, were very interactive with members in discussing advice they had for engineers and sharing experiences, making for an engaging and informative 2-hour event.
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Epic primarily develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a proprietary electronic medical record software application, known as ‘Epic’. Their software helps people get well, stay well, and helps future generations be healthier. As a 2021-2022 Engagement Sponsor of Pitt SWE, Epic was able to support one of our social events to Soergel’s Orchard. While there, members were able to go through a corn maze, pick pumpkins, wander through the market area, eat lots of good food, and take tons of pictures! Our members were able to spend time with each other and take a breath to relax during a busy semester.
IQ Inc. is a software development company and consulting firm, primarily focusing on end-toend custom software development projects for their customers. They work with their clients to ensure that their development schedules are met within budget, performing projects such as full stack development, systems integration, and more. IQ Inc. was an Outreach sponsor for Pitt SWE this 2021-2022 academic year and continued their support of Pitt SWE’s coding workshop for middle school girls, SWE++, and the culminating full day event focused on coding and its applications, Code Day. On the day of the big event SWE++ hosts, Code Day, IQ Inc. employees were a part of a panel for young engineers to hear from, volunteering their time to help young girls learn about engineering as a career and start developing essential coding skills.
Mine Safety Appliances’ (MSA) mission is that men and women may work in safety and that they, their families, and their communities may live in health throughout the world. They create safety products to protect workers exposed to a variety of hazardous conditions in such industries as construction, the military, fire service, and chemical, oil, and gas production. As a 2021-2022 Engagement Sponsor of Pitt SWE, MSA was able to support one of our social events this semester, Game Night at Nordy's Place. Here, Pitt SWE members were able to bond and play various board games.
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Conference Events
Moving Into the Future
Session: Packing Your Bags for a New Opportunity Speakers: Panel by Katie Harris WE21 presented an incredible and valuable learning experience through the networking opportunities and variety of professional sessions offered. “Packing Your Bags for a New Opportunity” was the session that resonated most with me as I have just transitioned into a co-op at BMW, located in South Carolina. I recently had to pack my bags and move from Pittsburgh, PA to Greenville, SC for this opportunity and have learned over time how to feel more comfortable living by myself in a new state for the first time. I can apply the advice from the session to my current situation and in the future. One thing I wish I did before moving was putting together a pros and cons list. One of the speakers advised holding on to this list to be a reminder as to why you relocated when you are feeling discouraged about the move. I have questioned a few times if moving was right for me and I think making a list would be a valuable reminder as to what you were thinking when you chose to move. Another tip was to look at your 510 year career plan and if the new opportunity meets the plan and achieves critical experiences you desire. It is important to take a step back and look at what you need to be successful and reach your goals. I think that determining what steps come from this opportunity will help
you to stay on want. Although looking into the yourself in 5-10 make decisions path.
track for the future you it may seem far away, future to where you see years can help you better now that will affect your
The insight presented by the panel spoke to my own experience and provoked me to think more about my future aspirations that could become reality from this opportunity. The women’s inspiring stories and advice will assist me, as well as many other women, as we navigate from school into the workforce and in the future.
Trailblazing Women in STEM Session: Trailblazing Women in STEM: Careers in Aerospace and Space Exploration Speakers: Laurie Grindle, Molly O'Connor, Marla E PerezDavis, Vanessa E Wyche by Olivia Porcello On day three of WE21, four inspiring women came together to talk about their careers in aerospace and space exploration. The panelists gave overviews of their jobs, told stories about experiences as women in STEM and gave advice for students becoming new members of the workforce, among other encouraging words. Marla E Perez-Davis, director of NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, with a PhD in chemical
Fall 2021 ft. WE21 engineering, began the session by sharing her own story. She left her hometown of Puerto Rico, learned a new language and adjusted to an unfamiliar culture while enduring daily life in a male dominated industry. Perez-Davis took a daunting opportunity and turned it into a challenge. She said that understanding your strongest abilities and finding trustworthy mentors will help you successfully navigate those experiences. Even as a successful engineer with an advanced career, Perez-Davis sometimes felt like she did not belong. She suggested staying out of that mindset to avoid being the first one to take yourself out of the race. The director of NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center with an MS in bioengineering, Vanessa E Wyche, spoke about her career focused decision to travel from Indiana to Houston. When given a new opportunity to switch positions and programs within NASA, she had to decide whether to stick with the safe job she already had confidence in or go off into an unknown realm. Her advice was to always seek out challenges as your career is developing, since there is always more to learn. She pointed out that having flexibility is key to taking on new opportunities that are presented to you. The director for Programs and Projects and NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California with an MS in mechanical engineering, Laurie Grindle, added on to Wyche’s advice, not to settle and to take advantage of offers to switch jobs or projects no matter how unfamiliar. Grindle shared the joy she felt being able to travel and meet new people for her job while reminding the audience you never know when those connections may pay off.
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Vol. 1 She emphasized the importance of finding a work-life balance, recounting her own challenging experiences with her career in NASA and having a 15 year old daughter. She learned to never be afraid to ask for help. In no way does it display weakness or vulnerability, but it shows dedication to a work-life balance that will enhance your career. Molly O’Connor, a computer engineer for NASA with an MS in aerospace engineering spoke about her time spent at NASA and a few struggles she has persevered. O’Connor spoke about working from home during the pandemic, when she no longer had a structured work day. This was not feasible to balance three different projects. It took time to realize she could not be productive in that situation. O’Connor chose to trust herself, knowing that she would work better at home while focusing on just one project, so she left two of them. Her takeaway was feeling like she had not given her best work to the projects, but she was able to give the most effort to the one remaining. She commented on coworkers being supportive of her decisions and encouraging her to keep a positive attitude. Her biggest advice is to ask questions and spend time around people who you want to learn from.
pic
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Resilient and Brilliant
Session: Resilient and Brilliant: Lessons from Living Abroad, Marathons, and Engineering Speakers: Nicole Joison, Jennifer Liu, Emily Hoff, Shira Bernard, Shanshan Ge, and Rose Buchmann (Abbott Labs) by Isabella Steinley Attending the WE21 conference virtually was an extremely rewarding experience. One particular session that I watched that really stood out to me was “Resilient and Brilliant: Lessons from Living Abroad, Marathons, and Engineering.” In an ongoing pandemic where the world has changed so much and many of us are dealing with stress and burn out, this session was reassuring and empowering. The speakers, all engineers and scientists from Abbott Labs, talked about a Resilience Framework they developed from going through their own personal challenges. They described that approximately 44% of Millennials and Gen Z’ers reported chronic work-stress and that being resilient in the face of challenge affects outcomes of stress and mental health. The speakers explained the framework through inspiring personal experiences such as growing after receiving negative criticism from a manager, completing a long swimming marathon, and relocating for a work assignment to Santiago, Chile and dealing with a language barrier. To use the Resilience Framework to face a difficult situation you first reflect on how you are feeling and the total situation as well as rate your stress and how much control you have in the situation. Then, you find sources to get advice and a different perspective, reframe to change
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Vol. 1 your perspective on the situation, and respond with actions to address the situation. Throughout the whole process, you have to recharge and find where you draw your energy from, where you can refresh, and where you can find newness. The speaker who described recharging, Emily Hoff, said that finding newness is putting yourself in a position for controlled failure – for example in small scenarios like entering into an essay competition or learning to cook. Sticking to what you are good in recharging does keep you safe, however Hoff stated that it can also allow fear of advocating for yourself to compound and make it harder for you to take bigger risks or speak up.
The Powerful Words I Needed to Hear Session: Core Principles for Successfully Navigating Your STEM Career by Cambell France WE21 was the most uplifting and powerful professional event I have ever attended. Each session featured the most intelligent and impressive speakers, and I learned many new skills that I am eager to implement into my professional self. I am amazed by everything the conference had to offer, but the session that spoke to me the most was Dami Oke’s talk entitled “Core Principles for Successfully Navigating Your Dynamic STEM Journey”. During this talk she described the most important things to remember while pursuing your goals in your professional life, specifically emphasizing to push yourself out of your comfort zone, be intentional, surround yourself with trustworthy people, and keeping your vision clear. Her talk especially moved me
Fall 2021 ft. WE21 because of the way she was confident yet compassionate, which showed how much she cared about passing along her message, and that was lovely to see. I have had a tough semester academically, and I have had thoughts that I am not smart enough to continue, that I do not have my life together, that I am a failure, and unfortunately, I know this feeling is common amongst young aspiring engineers. With this mindset enveloping my thoughts, I was incredibly thankful to hear someone provide an outside perspective on the bigger picture, grounding me, and reminding me that this is only a rough patch, not the world of possibility that lies ahead. One key point Oke made was to keep your vision clear when presented with curveballs, and that is incredibly important to keeping yourself grounded. When challenges arise, it is quite easy to become overwhelmed and let these challenges cloud your mind. However, if you know what you want in that moment, and not necessarily much farther in the future, it can be simpler to handle. Taking each day one at a time is very helpful to not overwhelm yourself and still take the necessary steps to achieve your ultimate career goal. Oke’s inspirational speech led me to reflect on my goals, my skills, and my methods for how I get to where I want to be. This evaluation was refreshing, as I have not found much time to do so during the semester. She reminded me how important it is to reflect, as this process will allow me to choose the professional path that will make me happiest, and to grow into the engineer that I aspire to be.
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Vol. 1 Oke's speech motivational and was honored to you, PittSWE, opportunity to with you all.
was one of many powerful speeches that I have attended, so thank for granting me the attend this conference
Navigate Stressful Situations with Emotional Intelligence Session: EI-EI-Oh! You Have emotional Intelligence! Speaker: Dr. Elizabeth D'Addio by Vidhya Thiyagarajan One of my favorite sessions from WE21 was EI-EI-Oh presented on 10/22 by Dr. Elizabeth D’Addio from Air Products. This session went over the importance of emotional intelligence (EI) and how to use your innate EI skills in your everyday life to help seize opportunities, navigate uncomfortable situations and be more self-confident. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and respond effectively when it comes to emotions – both your own and those around you. I had heard of emotional intelligence before, but this session helped me realize the extent of impact it can hold it utilized intentionally and often. One surprising statistic is that those that amongst those that are high achievers and high performing, only 10% are high on IQ. The most influential factor is EI, which accounts for the remaining 90%.
Fall 2021 ft. WE21 As mentioned, emotional intelligence requires you to understand yourself and others. In each (stressful) situation, it’s important to first to ‘diagnose’ yourself by being self-aware of any emerging emotions or feelings. Based on this, you can then ‘prescribe’ an action plan to manage your emotions. Dr. D’Addio mentioned that this takes a lot of practice, resilience, and tolerance so it’s something to work up to overtime! Lastly, after you have expertly managed the situation, it’s important to reassure yourself of your actions so that you stay optimistic and self-confident as you move forward and tackle another situation in the future. The other component to EI is being aware of others. We must have social awareness, so that we can identify and ‘diagnose’ when others are getting stressed or are feeling different emotions such as frustration or anger. Based on this, we can also ‘prescribe’ an action plan by reflecting on how our emotions may be adding to theirs and work towards relationship management to solve the problem peacefully on both ends. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to attend WE21 and hear other amazing sessions like this one where I learned skills to apply in my day to day life. Thank you so much to Pitt SWE for this unforgettable experience!
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Secure your Dream Job: Advice from Recruiters and Hiring Managers Session: Get the Interview, Get the Job Speakers: Kristen Evans, Natalie E Hagan, Faith Rainey, Julieann Selden by Saipriya Namasivayam From resumes to interviews to everything in between, there is a lot that goes into getting a job or internship offer. The speakers in this section, a combination of recruiters and hiring managers, discussed tips and tricks on how to tackle applying to and interviewing with companies, and how to give yourself the best chance to succeed. One of the first things they mentioned was to think of it as if you are trying to make a sale. You are probably going to have to call lots of people before you even get one person to buy, so apply to many places, and do not get discouraged if you don’t hear back from some. One of the main parts to an application is a resume, which they emphasized should be short, concise, and never static. It is something that changes with you and can even be tailored to the job that you are applying for. At the end of the day, the main questions it should answer are “who are you?” and “what do you bring to the table?”. Once you have caught the attention of the recruiter with your resume and secured an interview, the next step is nailing that interview. To do this, you have to make sure you demonstrate both communication and people skills as well as hit on all of the technical skills that
Fall 2021 ft. WE21 make you a good candidate. Something the speakers in this session mentioned that really caught my attention is that the interviewer wants you to be the right candidate; they are on your side. Many people get nervous at interviews and feel like the interviewer is simply waiting for them to mess up. Knowing they are rooting for you as well can help decrease nerves and increase confidence. Another way to increase confidence is by being fully prepared. You can do this by carefully looking at the skills needed to perform well in the role you are interviewing for, and make sure you have stories to demonstrate how you have those skills. Further, researching the company and coming up with good quality questions to ask is crucial. After all, you are interviewing the company just as much as they are interviewing you. You are also making a decision. Use that to empower you.
Empowering Women is My Lifelong Mission Session: A Seat at the Table: Supporting Gender Parity through Intentionality Speakers: Kristin Valente and Megan Knecht by Vincenzia Vargo
Empowering young women to pursue engineering careers is my lifelong passion. We need gender diversity in engineering. We need ethnic diversity in engineering. Together, we can make this possible by instilling intentionality into our workplace. Kristin Valente and Meghan Knecht are engineers at Merck & Co. and through the SWE virtual platform they presented a talk titled, “A Seat at the Table: Supporting Gender Parity through Intentionality."
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Vol. 1 Valente and Knecht find that statistics show companies who are inclusive towards gender diversity saw a 21% greater profitability in 2017. Likewise, companies who embrace ethnic diversity saw a 35% increase in profitability. In fact, millennials are looking for top diverse companies to work for. By having a diverse group of engineers at the table, engineers are each able to release 47% of their full potential in the workforce. By having a diverse group of engineers at the table, we can enhance our ideas and gain the perspectives of others to ultimately design a product that is helping to improve the lives of others in our society. It may take more than 250 years to reach gender parity—that’s more than five generations from now. Everyone needs to take the first step by acting with intentionality. Intentionality is defined as being purposeful with your actions, stopping to think before you speak, and evaluate any biases you have before you act. Three examples of acting with intentionality include equitable distribution of work, providing actionable feedback, checking your biases. If we can incorporate these ideas into our everyday lives, we will be able to reach gender parity sooner. In recent years, we continue to see that the level of representation of women decrease in higher positions within a company. I am optimistic that as women we can continue to come together like we have during the SWE conference to have these important discussions so we can be successful in our careers and help other women in engineering reach their full potential too.
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A Look Behind the PhD Curtain
Session: Graduate School: Building Healthy Advisor-Student Relationships Speakers: Jordan Ciciliano, Yasmine Doleyres, Kelly Hon, Rita Matta, Olivia Palmer by Emma Alghren As someone who is considering attending graduate school at some point in the future, I wanted to go to this session to get a better idea of the types of decisions and challenges grad students face in a PhD program. The panelists were all current BD employees, and provided a thoughtful, honest discussion on their grad school experiences. I learned about the main difference between a masters and a doctorate degree, important considerations when choosing a lab, and how to facilitate a healthy advisor-student relationship. The panelists mentioned that the biggest difference between a masters degree and a PhD is that the goal of a masters is to “master” all of the current knowledge in your field, while the goal of a PhD is add a novel piece of information to the field. In that sense, obtaining a masters means you will have a broad range of knowledge, while obtaining a PhD means that you will become the world expert on one extremely specific topic. The panelists also provided a detailed list of questions to ask current graduate students when visiting a potential lab. Some of these were standard (such as “what is the training process like for new students?”), while others introduced points that I had never thought of before (such as
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Vol. 1 “does your PI take take the time to introduce you to people at conferences?”). Finally, the panelists shared their stories about navigating stressful relationships with their PhD advisors. Some advisors were unsupportive about their students going into industry instead of academia, some became unexpectedly distant and hard to get a hold of, and some were inconsiderate of their student’s personal health issues and family emergencies. Through these situations, the panelists learned how to establish an effective relationship that, if not centered on amicability, was at least founded on mutual respect and a common goal. The panelists ended by saying that although entering a lab for a PhD program can be nerve-wracking, it is important to have faith in yourself, and recognize that your advisor is your colleague: the work that you are doing is beneficial to them as much as it is to you.
PittSWE at the WE21 Awards Ceremony Session: Awards Ceremony by Emily Richard A stage, DJ, and food can only mean one thing at a WE - an Awards Ceremony! Pitt SWE was honored at the WE21 Awards ceremony for the three Mission Awards. Mission Awards are submitted in the summer by the incoming Pitt SWE Executive Board and are written on a multitude of topics about events from the past fiscal year. This year Pitt SWE won Collegiate Gold a designation given to sections that submit Mission Awards for nearly all topics. Additionally, Pitt SWE won individual awards for the following areas:
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Strategic Goal #1: Professional Excellence Best Practice - Leadership Development Within Group or SWE PittSWE was recognized for its outreach co-chair program. The winning entry described how outreach co-chairs are supported and encouraged to run for outreach chairs. Therefore positively impacting co-chairs and our outreach program.
As an organization, we feel very honored to have been chosen to receive these awards and to have been able to attend the awards ceremony with the other awards recipients. Unfortunately due to COVID-19 capacity policies, only two members were allowed to attend the ceremony. Pitt SWE selected Emily Richard (President) and Annie Goodwin (VicePresident) on the organization's behalf. The ceremony consisted of an address from the Societal President, music, and a photo opt on stage. While this year's awards ceremony looked different the importance was all the same. A special thank you goes out to all that helped with writing Pitt SWE's mission awards and those who participated in the programs that were selected as topics. However, Mission Awards are truly an achievement that all Pitt SWE members have a hand in and should be proud of!
Strategic Goal #2: Globalization - Best Practice Membership Retention & Engagement The topic chosen for this award was the usage of breakout rooms at the beginning of last year's all virtual General Body Meetings (GBM). These rooms helped mimic the socializing that occurs at in-person GBMs. This allowed our members to meet other members and encourage participation.
Thank you and Hail to Pitt SWE!
h2p!
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Coming soon... Buffalo, NY April 8-9 Sponsors: If you are interested in being a PittSWE Conference sponsor, please email pittswerelations@gmail.com Members: If you are interested in attending, email pittswe@gmail.com for instructions on applying!
PITTSWE WON 2 AWARDS!
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