PittSWE Newsletter - January 2013

PITT SWE Volume 2, Issue 1

January 2013 Edited by: Julia Wasas

Diversity Dinnerview Professional Development Written By: Sandy Liu This year’s Diversity Dinnerview was hosted by the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). On January 23rd, 41 company representatives joined 84 students – mostly from SWE, NSBE, and SHPE –at the University Club for a night of networking.

The purpose of the event was to encourage students to practice their interviewing skills and to practice speaking to employers in a more relaxed setting. In addition to mock interviews and casual networking over dinner, the event also included presentations from BASF, EATON, and Ansaldo STS. BASF spoke about interview preparation, Ansaldo STS discussed interview etiquette, and EATON talked about how to follow up after an interview. New to this year’s event was a panel Q/A; questions were submitted by students prior to Continues on page 2

Upcoming Events February February 2 – Middle School Engineering Day February 7 – Academic Rush February 9 – Habitat for Humanity Service Day February 18 – Resume Workshop and Bettis Company Visit February 19 – Pitt Career Fair February 23 – Carnegie Science Center Volunteer E-Week February 26 – Research Workshop

Students listening to the opening presentation of the Diversity Dinnerview

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3

Diversity Dinnerview Upcoming Events That Could Never Happen to Me! Regional News Housing Advice from Your SWE Officers Society News Engineering Innovation of the Month SWE Riddle

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the event and representatives from each of the sponsoring companies – BASF, EATON, and Ansaldo – responded with helpful input regarding various aspects of interviewing and job searching.

Feedback from the event showed that the event was extremely successful! 97% of students felt that the event was beneficial for their professional development and also responded that they felt more comfortable speaking to company representatives following the event. Of the students searching for a co-op, 100% felt that the event helped them at the co-op fair the following day. Half of the students in attendance were freshmen and sophomores, and they greatly benefited from the interview practice. Many of the juniors and seniors also had the opportunity to hear about internship and full time opportunities from the company representatives in attendance. One of the students responded in a follow-up survey that the Diversity Dinnerview was “a very well put together, professional, and helpful event!”

All company representatives who responded to a follow-up survey felt that the event was successful and would like to attend the event again. One of the representatives thought that “the interview was a really good chance for the students to gain experience. The best part was the five minutes at the end to give feedback. It is rare that anyone has that opportunity to receive ‘real-time’ feedback in that setting.”

Another representative responded that the “event was very well organized and provided the students and employers with a great opportunity to mingle. This is my 2nd event at Pitt and I am VERY impressed with the professionalism that the students display.”

That Could Never Happen to Me! Awareness Written By: Christina O’Donnell On January 17th, Pitt SWE hosted a harassment workshop entitled “That Could Never Happen to Me!” which was led by two faculty members from the Swanson School of Engineering. Human Resources representatives and a university counselor were present to discuss their experiences with harassment in the workplace. During this workshop, students broke out into groups to discuss multiple scenarios to determine whether or not it was considered harassment. Each group shared their discussion with the attendees. The HR representatives and counselor also shared their thoughts about each scenario. Thirty students were in attendance at this event.

Regional News Region G Written By: Julia Wasas Do you love SWE? Want to get more involved? You can do more than just get involved with our section. Region G is currently accepting applications for positions on the regional level. You do not need to be the President to run for this type of position either! As long as you have a passion for SWE and have some experience, like held an officer position then you should look in to applying. Go to the region G blog website and select Elections. Good Luck!

Thank you to our sponsors for making this event possible:

Housing Advice from Your SWE Officers Upperclassmen Tips Written By: Lisa Volpatti To welcome back our members after the holiday break, we held a Housing Panel to encourage our members to start thinking about the housing process early. There are pros and cons to living on or off campus. For instance, students who remain on campus enjoy the benefits of additional security and location and do not have to worry about furniture or landlords. On the other hand, students who move off campus typically live in houses or apartments that are less University of Pittsburgh – Society of Women Engineers – January 2013 - 2

expensive than dorms, they have more freedom, and they do not have to deal with the lottery system. We discussed upperclass residence halls such as those in the quad (Brackenridge, Bruce, and McCormick) and those on the hill (Pennsylvania and Panther) in addition to Lothrop Hall which consists of single dorms. On campus apartment style accommodations include Bouquet Gardens, Ruskin Hall, Centre Plaza Apartments, and Oakwood Apartments. If students receive a bad lottery number and want to live on campus, we recommended applying for a Living Learning Community, such as the Upper-Class Engineering or University Honors College Communities.

We also provided inside advice on what to look for when house hunting for an off-campus apartment. We started by encouraging our members to start looking now and to look at several apartments and houses rather than just settling for the first one. When visiting a house, we recommended inquiring about heat and air conditioning, utilities, occupant limit, terms of lease, safety deposits, and laundry facilities.

Questions to ask yourself include: Are the rooms reasonable clean? Are the appliances in good condition? Is there enough lighting/outlets? Will my furniture fit? Is there sufficient closet space? And is there enough security? Following this advice, we had an open conversation during which underclass members asked specific questions to our officer housing panel. We wish everyone the best of luck finding their new dorm, suite, house, or apartment for next year!

Engineering Innovation of the Month Prototype Written By: Julia Wasas Researchers at Stanford University have built a prototype for a miniature device that can be navigated through a person’s body to take samples, deliver drugs, and perform other tasks.

The device is controlled by radio waves and powered by magnetohydrodynamic propulsion. For this to work the patient needs to lay on a magnetic table.

This device is not currently in practice but has great potential. The size, about the size of Abraham Lincoln’s head on a penny, allows for the device to be very versatile and could be revolutionary for the medical world.

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.

There are three boxes. One has apples, one has oranges

Society News

and the other has apples and oranges. The boxes are

Society of Women Engineers

one box, and without looking in the box, takes out one

Written By: Julia Wasas

piece of fruit. She looks at the fruit and immediately

Are you looking for an internship? Co-op? Full-time position? Well are you a SWE member? When looking for a job of any kind students do what they can; they update their resume, apply online, go to career fairs, and other typical things, but when a company has thousands of applicants it’s hard to know if they even ever see your online profile. Well, I cannot defend any system but SWE’s. Every SWE member can make a profile on the career center on their website, but most importantly, companies check this website. I personally have had companies contact me because of my profile on this site. So use your membership to your advantage and set up a profile. You can do this by going to www.swe.org and selecting career center at the top of the page.

labels all the boxes correctly. Which box did she open

labeled wrong so that no label is correct. Sue opens just

and how did she know?

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

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

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