PittSWE Newsletter - March 2014

PITT SWE

Volume 2, Issue 5

March/April 2014

SWEevening Recruitment Written By: Kylie Zeis On March 28th, SWEvening took place here at Pitt. One or two high school girls were paired up with a SWE collegiate member in order to make a real connection and give the girls insight about what Pitt engineering is all about. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, girls began arriving and met their “host.” A SWE panel was held at 3 PM, which let the students ask five SWE members questions about anything relevant. An exciting scavenger hunt was held next in order for the high school students to get a feel for the campus. Next, four labs were toured, ranging from a chemical engineering lab to a civil engineering lab. An amazing dinner was held, and the keynote speaker, Jessica Hulings, made an insightful speech. Lastly, Forbes Hall was toured to let the students see the Engineering LLC. It was a terrific evening that let future female engineers see why Pitt is a great school to attend for engineering.

Attendees of SWEevening

Edited by: Christine Bontempi

SWE Yoga Night Social Written By: Christina O’Donnell This month, SWE hosted a Yoga Relaxation Night led by a member of Pitt's Stress Free Zone (SFZ). The event occurred right before spring break, allowing students to get into a relaxed mood before taking their break. Yoga was followed by a brief instructor-led meditation. SFZ hosts a number of free activities that target reducing stress in students. Their walk-in services include a massage chair, relaxation stations, eye pillows, and mindfulness audio. Yoga and meditation classes are also scheduled outside of their walk-in hours. For more information, visit http://www.studentaffairs.pitt.edu/coun seling/walk-services.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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SWEevening SWE Yoga Night STEM Solutions Elementary Engineering Extravaganza Region G New Website!

Bechtel Company Visit Ronald McDonald House

STEM Solutions National News Written By: Kylie Zeis National Society of Women Engineers announced its support of U.S. News STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Solutions 2014. SWE focuses on the shortages of STEM skills in the American workforce.

They want to fill jobs that are open now and also advance the STEM future in the workplace. SWE is holding the National Leadership Conference, where issues about today’s STEM are going to brought to light.

This conference takes place April 23-25 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington D.C. It will be held in conjunction with the USA Science and Engineering Festival. If you are interested in learning about or making a difference in today’s STEM society, then this conference would be a great one (and fairly close one) to attend!

Students at E3

giving a welcome speech and explaining how the day will continue. The parents and kids then separated. The parents attended a session with professional engineer, Mary Zeis who is the head of the Pittsburgh SWE chapter. She informed the parents about engineering and how to encourage their kids to go into STEM fields. The parents were also taught about the engineering curriculum and that the math classes they take in sixth grade affect their students’ engineering progress in college.

While the parents were attending the talk, the kids were split up into two groups either playing with goo or making walkie-talkies with cups and fishing line. The parents and kids reunited and enjoyed some drinks and cheeseits. The parents and kids remained together for the remaining three activities. They took part in building slingshots then flinging marshmallows to see how many cups they can knock down from the cup pyramid. Another activity was building a table from only newspaper and tape and seeing how many heavy college books it would hold. The third activity was looking at static electricity using balloons, pepper, salt, etc. Afterwards, a final thank you presentation was given. There were two demos performed. The first demo was showing the explosion of Mentos and diet soda. The second demo was making green elephant toothpaste with hydrogen peroxide and yeast. The kids and parents all enjoyed themselves, and I believe it definitely sparked their interest in engineering!

Elementary Engineering Extravaganza Service Written By: Dhanu Thiyagarajan Elementary Engineering Extravaganza was held March 22 from 9am to 1pm at Benedum Hall. We had 50 third and fourth grades attend with their parents to enjoy a morning of various engineering activities. The morning started off with the organizer of the event

Students learning about surface tension

Region G’s New Website!

Region G News Written By: Christine Bontempi Region G has a new webpage! This new site provides a calendar of events, information about Region G officers and sections, and resources for professionals and collegiate members alike! Also, don’t forget to visit the Region G facebook page and blog to hear about upcoming events and specials spotlights on members and sections!

Region G Website: http://regiong.swe.org/ Region G Blog: http://regiong.wordpress.com/

SWE RIDDLE Pitt SWE would like to challenge you to a riddle! The first University of Pittsburgh student to email PittSWE@gmail.com with the correct answer will receive a $10 dollar gift certificate as a reward.

You have 50 motorcycles with tank capacities that have the capacity to go 100 miles. Using these 50 motorcycles, how far can you go?

Bechtel Visit Professional Written By: Christine Bontempi Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation, the Navy’s primary contractor for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, visited Pitt SWE to talk about their company, and job and internship opportunities on March 20th.

The company consists of three sectors: Bechtel Plant Machinery (BPMI), Knolls

Atomic Power Laboratory, and Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. There were a variety of current employees who came to share their experience working at the company, from recent Pitt graduates to managers of different divisions. They talked about the perks of working for a government contracting company and some of the nuisances such as complete background checks and confidentiality agreements. They noted how that the company found it important to have all employees the opportunity to see the nuclear submarines they work on by visiting either the training ships or the shipyard. They also discussed specific intensive leadership training programs that certify employees to supervise and run these nuclear reactors.

Bechtel has locations near Pittsburgh, around the country, and all over the world. In addition to their excellent presentation, they also handed out many giveaways and provided food for the attendees, allowing attendees the opportunity to network with the Bechtel employees. For more information about the company and job opportunities, please visit: http://bechtel.com/

Ronald McDonald House Service Written By: Alicia Kolling

On Tuesday, April 15, SWE members spent the evening at the Ronald McDonald House of Pittsburgh. The Ronald McDonald House Charities provide a “home away from home” for families of many seriously ill children who are receiving treatment at a local hospital, in this case, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

Here, SWE members were graciously allowed to prepare and serve a pasta dinner to the house occupants.

Pitt SWE Officers President – Christina O’Donnell Vice President – Christine Bontempi Secretary – Sarah Pachesky Treasurer – Dhanu Thiyagarajan