Spring 2023 Newsletter Ft. WeLocal

aspire. advance. acheive SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS

AletterfromourFY23President:

Thank you all for making this spring semester so wonderful! It is incredible to see the progress we have made this year as our events returned to an in-person format after the pandemic. After learning best practices from a period of trial and error in the fall, your unwavering dedication to our organization made our spring events even more successful. We hosted the FiERCE Forum conference, attended WELocal Detroit, and made lots of memories at our Outreach, Social, and Mentorship events. However, the most important achievements were the new friendships made, advice shared, and stories told, that allowed us to relate to one another and reconnect in a way that had been missing.

Thank you to this year's Executive Board and Officers; it would not have been such a fulfilling year if it weren't for you. Thank you to our members for not only attending but also volunteering at our events. Thank you to our generous sponsors and supporters for allowing us to continue empowering women in engineering. We could not do it without you all!

I could not be more grateful to PittSWE for 4 years of incredible experiences and friendships that will last a lifetime. This organization allowed me to grow into the woman in engineering I am today, and I cannot wait to see this continue for so many others. It was an honor to be your FY 2022-2023 President. Good luck to everyone!

With love,

Olivia Porcello FY23 President

Mentorship and Social Events

Mentorship Ice Skating

By Gloria Givler

To kick off the spring semester with a festive wintertime activity, PittSWE hosted an ice-skating event at the Schenley Park rink, open to everyone involved in the mentorship program We organized a carpool to and from the rink, and thanks to a student discount, we were able to cover admission for everyone who signed up. Light drizzles throughout the day had us worried that the rink would be closed, but luckily it let up just in time for the event, and we mostly had the rink to ourselves Members had a great time chatting and getting to know each other while trying not to slip and fall on the ice! By the end of the event, everyone was a little chilly and had sore ankles, but there were smiles all around. Overall, the event was a great success, and we definitely plan on holding more field trip events in the future!

Mentorship Major Chat

By Gloria Givler

Leading up to major declaration time at the beginning of March, we hosted a Mentorship Major Chat event to give first-year students a chance to learn more about the various majors in Swanson. Many students enter Pitt unsure of what major they’re going to declare, or just want to make sure that the one they have in mind is the right fit. We had upperclass representatives present from every major in the school, and students had the opportunity to ask questions and chat in a more informal setting than the majors’ open house events The event was open to everyone, even people who weren’t in SWE, as we wanted to help as many students as possible feel confident and informed in their choice. Unfortunately, not many first-year students were able to attend–the majority of them had a big physics exam the next morning! When we host this event again next year, we will be sure to consult with a few first-year students to check that the date and time is convenient for them.

Mentorship and Social T-Shirt Tie-Dye

By Ekaterini Papazekos

The T-Shirt Tie-Dye has become a Pitt SWE tradition. Year after year SWE members gather on Benedum patio to chat with friends, mentors, and mentees all while creating their very own unique SWE merch. This year an already great event got even better through the joint efforts of the Social and Mentorship Chairs. Gloria and Kat put their heads and budgets together to make this year’s tie-dye experience the best one yet! Instead of limiting attendance to just the members of the mentorship program, this year any SWE member could attend. Including all SWE members boosted attendance and created a relaxed atmosphere, perfect for getting creative with T-shirt designs. Although the tie-dye tradition changed a bit this year, the event is still in keeping with Pitt SWE goals. Building a Pitt SWE community through mentorship and social events remains an important pillar in this organization. In the end, this event was very successful, and every attendee left with a cute, personalized tie-dye shirt!

SWE FORMAL

By Merrin Pickford

For the first time ever, PittSWE hosted a formal for our members! This event took place on March 24th from 9-11pm in the WPU ballroom. We had music, a disco light, beverages, and photo station to ensure that people could have fun with their friends. The night was themed purple and gold, to represent SWE colors! Anyone was welcome, SWE members or not! We started off the night with some 2010’s pop, and even danced to a couple classic party songs, like the cha-cha slide. My committee was awesome at planning, and I really appreciate all their support. Thank you to Christina Sivaprakasam, Priyanka Natanasabapathy, Rachel Thornton and Mae Plum for helping me with everything! This event was a great social opportunity for people to unwind and have some fun. We really hope this event will be expanded and continue in the future! Thank you to all who came out for it!

OUTREACH

Elementary Engineering Extravaganza

By Saipriya Namasivayam

Pitt SWE's Elementary Engineering Extravaganza outreach event was held in person this semester for the first time since the pandemic! 22 eager and inquisitive elementary school students came to Benedum Hall on Sunday, February 12th to attend this superhero-themed event. They kicked off the morning learning about the different disciplines of engineering and what each one entails. Then, they got crafty and created some rubber band-powered Batmobile cars using popsicle sticks, bottle caps, and straws, all while learning about the concepts of potential and kinetic energy. In the other main hands-on activity, they created paper bridges to help the superheroes cross the river and help save the city of Pittsburgh. We also had other clubs including Pitt Women in Computer Science (WiCS) come in and hold an activity as part of an expo where the kids cycled through different activities each related to a different discipline of engineering. Finally, we had one of our corporate sponsors, Nuclear Naval Laboratory, present to the kids about nuclear engineering and also hold an activity that taught the kids the three ways of protecting yourself from radiation. Our attendees all said they enjoyed the event and learned something new. Thank you to Pitt WiCS and NNL for participating in our E3 event this year and thanks to all the amazing Pitt SWE volunteers and the co-chairs who helped make the event a success!

Middle School Engineering Day

By Amy Zhang

This semester, around 20 students from the Pittsburgh area attended Middle School Engineering Day to learn about engineering. The day began with a professional presentation from Avient, where they introduced their services, products, and sustainability initiatives within the company. Then, the students were challenged to fit themselves through an index card, build rubber band cars, and fold paper airplane launchers! The day ended with a game of jeopardy to introduce them to each field of engineering within Pitt’s school of engineering.

High School Engineering Day

By Saipriya Namasivayam

This spring, 26 students from local high schools attended Pitt SWE’s High School Engineering Day, which took place on Saturday, February 25th in Benedum Hall. The event started off with two of Pitt’s engineering clubs, SOAR and RAS, coming in to talk to the students about what their club has to offer. This was followed by a fun activity about brainstorming and idea generation held by TAs from Pitt’s Art of Making class. Then, Pitt SWE along with one of our corporate sponsors, EATON, ran a hands-on activity, in which the kids had to build robotic arms with cardboard, straws, and string. The student portion of this event ended with a tour of Benedum Hall, which was led by our Engineering Ambassadors. In addition to the student portion of the event, we had 18 parents attend a parent program which was run with the help of Mary Zeis, an active member of the Pittsburgh SWE section. The parents who attended learned more engineering and what the transition to college might look like for their child with a presentation by first-year engineering advisor Devin Ulm. Both student and parent attendees had a great time coming to Pitt's campus for this event. Thank you to SOAR, RAS, Art of Making, Engineering Ambassadors, Mary Zeis, Devin Ulm, and EATON for participating in this semester's HSED, and thanks to all of the Pitt SWE volunteers who made this event possible!

Girl Scout Engineering Day

By Marissa Santoro

Girl Scout Engineering Day 2023 was an in-person event held for Daisy and Brownie scouts in kindergarten through third grade. The event consisted of 40 girl scouts who participated in the three hands-on activities. The event was tailored so all attendees earned the Girl Scouts Automotive Engineering badge trio. This group of badges encouraged the scouts to learn more about automotive manufacturing, design, and production. In addition to this, attendees learned about famous women in STEM as well as power plants from informative presentations given by representatives from GE Power Conversion, one of Pitt SWE’s sponsors.

The first badge, Automotive Design, focused on the creativity involved in designing a new automobile for commercial market. The Girl Scouts sketched, presented, and used modeling clay to mold designs for their dream car. The second badge, Automotive Engineering, focused on building a balloon car. Each scout followed steps to building a working vehicle, learning more about car parts and about the iterative process of engineering design. The third badge, Automotive Manufacturing, focused on the benefit of assembly lines, and mass manufacturing of automobiles. The students were split into groups of five to recreate the car from the previous activity using an assembly line, learning about quality control and efficiency.

The students all expressed enjoyment of this event which would not have been possible without all Pitt SWE members involved in planning and volunteering. I would like to especially thank my co-chairs Gabby Brubach, Elyse Chess, Neha Manoj, and Rachel Thornton.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Precision CPrecision Castparts Corp. is a worldwide, diversified manufacturer of complex metal components and products. It serves the aerospace, power, and general industrial markets. Precision Castparts Corp., a 2022-2023 Presenting Sponsor of Pitt SWE, sent an employee to our annual FiERCE Conference on February 11th, 2023. Libby Mitchem hosted a talk in the “Finding Your Voice” session, called “Roll Persuasion with Advantage.” Libby focused her session on how, right after graduation, new employees can build communication skills and grow their confidence through hobbies and organizations outside of work. Members who attended loved the creative and thoughtful presentation!

IQ, Inc. is a software development company and consulting firm, primarily focusing on end-to-end 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 a Presenting sponsor for Pitt SWE this 20222023 academic year.

Duquesne Light operates as the primary electric utility for more than 584,00 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 2022-2023 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 1/24. Duquesne Light hosted a Work-Life Balance Workshop with our Pitt SWE members, with representatives Marla Bradford and Elizabeth Cook. 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 on 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.

FM Global is an esteemed property insurance company. They focus on preventing loss by having highly trained engineers work as consultants on a variety of projects. With a goal of preventing major losses, FM Global provides innovative, comprehensive and flexible cargo coverage and risk engineering services tailored to specific international trade and cargo transportation needs. They utilize a hands-on engineering-based approach to the business to establish personal and customized partnerships with their clients (they insure about 1/3 of all Fortune 500 companies!). FM Global was a Pitt SWE Platinum Sponsor for the 2022-2-23 academic year. We had 2 speakers on 3/28, Stephanie Erin and Thomas Lott, host a professional development on opportunities at FM Global and Interview Prep advice. It was great for our members to learn not only what FM Global does and what a typical day in the job looks like, but also any openings and opportunities! After that, Thomas led a presentation on interview prep that covered invaluable skills to our members; including how to prep for interview questions and what mindset to be in for the interview.

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 2022-2023 Conference Sponsor of Pitt SWE, Epic was able to support more of our members going to this year’s WeLocal conference in Detroit, Michigan! We were able to bring 17 members to this conference. With over 800 participants and a wide variety of universities and professionals in attendance, WeLocal was a great success and a great professional development experience for all of our members!

TIMET has been leading the industry in mill and melted products, supplying nearly one-fifth of the world's titanium. TIMET was a Conference Sponsor for Pitt SWE for the 2022-2023 academic year. Their contribution brought together female engineers through Pitt SWE’s social event “Pitt SWE/CMU SWE Spring Picnic”. The event connected two SWE organizations for different schools to encourage new friendships and enjoy time together to destress before the end of the semester. TIMET encouraged the unity and empowerment of female engineers through their support of this event.

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all our sponsors!

COnference events

Strategy 101: What's strategy and how do I get some?

By Olivia Porcello

Speakers: Dayna Johnson and Kristine Barnes

In their presentation Strategy 101, Dayna Johnson, current societal SWE President, and Kristine Barnes, engineer at General Motors, provided the basics about strategy. They explained that strategy is the “front wheel work” of a project since it includes the mission, values, goals, and direction in that the work should lead. The operations and tactics behind the strategy form the “back wheel work” which includes the plans, budgets, and committees with varying responsibilities. The strategy is ultimately guided by the tactics to accomplish a goal.

Johnson and Barnes suggested that the appropriate path to take when starting a project or task is to assess the situation, then develop a strategy, and finally implement the strategy through tactics and evaluate as needed. They explained the four steps to implement a specific work plan guided by this path. First review and discuss the inputs to the project to make sure enough time is allotted. Second, the key strategic themes that the team or company wants to focus on should be identified. Next, smaller groups of people should be formed to create objectives and focus on subgoals within the overarching goal. Finally, when the initial work is done, any failures should be evaluated, and a new plan should be created to try again differently.

Another helpful tool is to create strategy tiers. This will show how each individual role and group will be contributing to the top goal. While implementing strategic goals, it can be useful to conduct a SWOT analysis to view the existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This can determine what will contribute to the project and what might stand in the way. Overall, when implementing strategies, it is important to align team values, minimize distractions, and form a common vision.

When Opportunity Knocks:

Should You Answer the Door?

By Ashley Jones

Speaker: Cheryl Thompson

During WELocal I had the privilege of hearing a Keynote presentation from Cheryl Thompson, the CEO and founder of CADIA. She talked about the humble roots of her engineering careers, and what led to her decision to start CADIA. In her speech she discussed that there was six doors to growing within your career The 6 that she mentioned were a stretch role, comfort zone, high expectations, big leap, opportunity to shine, and soul calling. The stretch role is when you feel that you can do more in your career. The big leap is believing in yourself and your abilities enough to do things outside of your comfort zone The opportunity to shine is speaking up when you have something to offer, being comfortable being visible, and knowing what is important to the person or company you work for. High expectations are holding yourself and others to high expectations and not settling for being underestimated The final door, soul calling, is listening to your soul and body to do something that you are passionate about and calls to you. After discussing the six metaphorical “doors” you can open in your career, Cheryl discusses the presence of fear, and how that can inhibit you from opening these “doors” to reach your goals She talked about loving and embracing your fear, and using fear to motivate you to do better and rise above challenges. This keynote spoke to me and offered a new perspective on overcoming fear and being successful as a woman in engineering. These are lessons that I can carry with me throughout any challenge I could come across in my career in order to rise above difficulties.

First Generation Engineers Experiencing

Imposter Syndrome

By Christina Sivaprakasam

When I began to look at the various sessions and speakers that would be in attendance at WeLocal Conference 2023, the session that immediately caught my eye was the one about being a first generation engineer and dealing with imposter syndrome, and I knew that this was the session I most wanted to go to. When I got to this session on the final day of the conference, the speaker was nowhere to be found I and many other attendees waited and waited but the speaker never showed up.

After about 10-15 minutes, one of the facilitators of the event walked up to the podium and asked us if we would like to share our own experiences and advice on the subject, and while I was too nervous to go up and talk about my own, listening to the various students, teachers, and women in technology who spoke was truly an incredible experience.

Out of these speakers, the one that stuck with me the most was Shanequah Brison, who had spoken at an earlier session, “Do You Really Know Why”. During this impromptu panel-style session, Brison spoke about how imposter syndrome affects your authenticity. When you let imposter syndrome win in your life, you lose what makes you unique because you begin to try to fit in and act like everyone around you. She reminded me of something that I often forget: I will always bring something to the table, whether it is my experiences as a woman of color in a STEM field or the various engineering skills I have accumulated in my 20 years of life As long as we remain true to ourselves and embrace our uniqueness, we will always have something to bring to the table.

Insights on How Women RiSE

By Danielle McDonald

The session from the WELocal 2023 conference I am writing about is named Insights on How Women RiSE The speaker of this session was Shivani Sagar, a project manager at Schneider Electric. She talked about ideas and concepts from a top selling book titled How Women RiSE by Sally Helgesen and Marshall Goldsmith. She mostly talked about the many ways women undermine themselves in the workplace. For example, when reflecting on a team project they had worked on with a higher up, women tend to compliment their team members and what they had accomplished, while men have the tendency to compliment their work and how they had contributed personally. This is because “women want to be humble” and they think they seem “too aggressive when they talk about themselves”. Also, when women think they are underqualified for a job, they won’t apply. However, an underqualified man will still apply, and the rest of their team will have to make up for what they lack. Furthermore, women that do the same amount of work as a man will think about how well she’s doing and what she has accomplished, hoping that someone will recognize this, while the man that does the same amount of work as the women will actively talk to others about how he does and what he wants to do in the future. Because of this, their boss would think that the man wants the promotion and not the woman. These are only some of the few common examples on how women tend to undermine themselves in the workplace, which explains why there tends to be more men with higher positions than women.

She's Not Stubborn, She's Persistent

By Elyse Chess

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Society of Women Engineers' WeLocal Detroit conference. This was my first ever conference experience, and I am very happy to have been able to experience it during my first year with PittSWE Although I enjoyed and learned a lot from each keynote and session I attended, one stands out as my favorite: a talk by Kate Cicchino entitled "She's Not Stubborn, She's Persistent " During this talk, Kate shared some of her favorite pieces of advice collected from a diverse range of people, ranging from her grandfather to a college professor to Thomas Jefferson. I found this session to be incredibly helpful and am still noticing the many ways in which I can apply Kate's advice to my own life. I learned about speaking up for myself, the importance of hard work (coupled with a healthy work-life balance!), surrounding myself with supportive people, negotiating benefits in the workplace, and more Of all the advice shared during this session, my favorite would have to be: "Serendipity will dance with you if you ' re already on the dance floor." I interpret this advice as expressing the importance of "putting myself out there" and taking advantage of all the amazing opportunities I've been offered at Pitt and through SWE I plan to do just that as I finish my first year of engineering.

How To Rock Your First 90 Days In a Job

By Jenna Ross

I decided to write my article on the session I attended, called How To Rock Your First 90 Days In a Job. Being a senior about to graduate and transition into an entry-level position, I found that this session was extremely helpful, and I learned a lot of valuable things from it

The opening slides of the presentation showed a book called “The First 90 Days”, written by Michael Watkins, which is what the speaker based her talk off of I first learned some statistics about workers. For example, I learned 25% of people change their job each year, and that even moving positions within the same company can be very challenging. This was interesting to learn because I assumed that when you move within a company, it is not as challenging I also learned that 40% of executives fail within their first 18 months of a position, which was eye- opening to me. Additionally, I learned about an acronym for the five common situations that leaders move into The acronym is STARS, and which stands for Start-up, Turnaround, Accelerated Growth, Realignment, and Sustaining Success. It was interesting to learn about each aspect and how leaders involve themselves in each one. Lastly, I learned that when starting my job, it’s so important to “Be what you sold them on” This made me realize that I just have to be myself and be that same person that sold me into getting the job. I learned to ask, listen, and absorb during my starting few weeks in my job Overall, I enjoyed this session and learned valuable things to do and remember when starting my job.

Can you have it all?

By Minakshi Thapa

The "Can you have it all?" session at the WeLocal conference organized by the Society of Women Engineers was one of my favorite sessions and it was valuable learning experience for me. The session aimed to provide insights on how to integrate career and personal life effectively, applying project management techniques, minimalism, and 5S to both areas of life. The session covered several important aspects of achieving a balanced and fulfilling life

Firstly, I learned about creating a vision, understanding their values, and what drives them. This was followed by setting career and life goals and creating a plan to achieve them, prioritizing resources and time. Asking for help and seeking mentorship were also discussed, emphasizing the importance of having multiple mentors.

We were also introduced to the concept of minimalism and 5S, which they could apply to their possessions, to-do lists, and experiences, prioritizing quality over quantity. The session highlighted the importance of minimizing negativity in life.

Finally, the session emphasized that goals and plans can be adjusted as one progresses in life, similar to re-baselining in project management. Overall, the session provided a structured approach to integrating career and personal life while prioritizing values and quality over quantity. I left with a clear understanding of the steps I need to take to achieve a balanced and fulfilling life, with practical advice that could be applied to both my professional and personal life.

Do You Really Know Why?

By Gloria Givler Speaker: Shanequah Brison, Systems Engineer at The Boeing Company

This captivating session was all about taking the time to reflect on the motivations behind our actions and decisions. Why do we do what we do, as women in engineering? All too often, we are acting based on other’s expectations of us instead of evaluating what we really want. Or we wait until after the decisions are already made to reflect, at which point we tell ourselves whatever we need to in order to justify them.

In terms of work, some important questions she posed to the audience are: Why are you a team lead or manager? Why aren’t you speaking up if you see something you think is wrong? Why haven’t you considered leaving your position or company to explore new opportunities? The lattermost question is one of the most important to seriously consider; it is easy to feel comfortable in your current role and afraid of change, but trying something new may be hugely beneficial to your personal development, work satisfaction, and quality of life. For the other two categories, the speaker posed questions such as: Why do you try to do everything? Why don’t you say no more often? Why aren’t you making time for your mental and physical health? Why are you so hard on yourself? As a student, these questions hit home on a personal level. College is a very busy time--it’s easy to try to juggle too much and end up with imbalanced priorities. It’s important to keep in mind that taking the time to rest and care for yourself is critical to long-term success and well-being. The speaker left us with two pieces of advice: invest the time to think about your whys, and most importantly, give yourself grace.

One Engineer’s Journey: Christy Lee

By Merrin Pickford

I enjoyed attending the “Is a Technical Career Path For Me? One Engineer’s Journey” given by Christy Lee, an engineering technical steward at Caterpillar Inc. Christys variety of positions in design, research, manufacturing and more allowed her to give thoughtful insight on whether a technical or management career path is a good fit for someone Throughout her career, she transitioned from technical, to management and is now back in a technical role. This transition between both roles is not very common A main point of Christy’s session was about why engineers typically do not stay technical. One reason is because management roles are more visible within the company. Also, if an engineer is organized and capable of leading then they are typically offered management positions. She then explained all the things that a technical leader can do, such as research, making technical recommendations, training people, and owning processes. The part of the session that stuck out to me the most was when she explained the qualities that a good technical leader needs. While this person should have expertise in their area and an overall broad experience in their specialty, they also need other skills. It is important to influence without authority by providing recommendations. That also takes balancing business acumen, what is technically right versus what is right for the business. Finally, Christy expressed the necessity of having a strong diverse network as a technical leader Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the transitions of roles that Christy has gone through in her career and will use her advice in my future career!

Can you have it all?

By Minakshi Thapa

The "Can you have it all?" session at the WeLocal conference organized by the Society of Women Engineers was one of my favorite sessions and it was valuable learning experience for me. The session aimed to provide insights on how to integrate career and personal life effectively, applying project management techniques, minimalism, and 5S to both areas of life. The session covered several important aspects of achieving a balanced and fulfilling life. Firstly, I learned about creating a vision, understanding their values, and what drives them. This was followed by setting career and life goals and creating a plan to achieve them, prioritizing resources and time. Asking for help and seeking mentorship were also discussed, emphasizing the importance of having multiple mentors. We were also introduced to the concept of minimalism and 5S, which they could apply to their possessions, to-do lists, and experiences, prioritizing quality over quantity. The session highlighted the importance of minimizing negativity in life.

Finally, the session emphasized that goals and plans can be adjusted as one progresses in life, similar to re-baselining in project management.

Overall, the session provided a structured approach to integrating career and personal life while prioritizing values and quality over quantity. I left with a clear understanding of the steps I need to take to achieve a balanced and fulfilling life, with practical advice that could be applied to both my professional and personal life.

Let’s Solve Scrum!

By Nicole Lipa

“Let’s Solve Scrum!” was about introducing and diving into scrum. Kristina Macro, a Project Manager at Xylem, a water services company, gave the presentation. She utilizes scrum as a way to manage her team and their goals. Scrum is an agile project management framework that uses an agile manifesto. It is a set of roles, meetings, and processes to help the company adapt to changing conditions. There are three fundamental principles: first, transparency; second, inspection; third, adaptation. Kristina made sure to emphasize that scrum is not necessarily a one-size-fits-all strategy: it will change based on the needs of the specific company and team running it. For example, the team size depends on what the current project is, and the definition of “ready” to begin will change as well. Being “ready” is defined as what context the team has: relevant documents and background on the client, the acceptance criteria (clearly defined stopping point and expectations), and having the task described, potential approvals needed, priorities mapped out, and who to reach out to for help are all helpful to have laid out. To begin scrum, important questions to ask are: “What should we start doing?”, “What should we stop doing?”, and “What should we keep doing?”. Sprints are also an important part of the scrum framework. They give the team motivation to work on something new, and the ability to phase out the old work as well. Kristina ended her talk by discussing lessons she has learned through scrum so far: scrum won’t solve resource constraints, refining backlog takes a lot of effort, and following the plan versus being flexible. Her top recommendations were planning, having standups, being retrospective, and reviewing. Overall, this session was a great addition to the WeLocal lineup, and I learned a lot about this great project management tool!

Women Engineers Moved to the Motor City

By Olivia Sobek

At Welocal 2023 in Detroit Michigan I attended the conference called “Women Engineers Moved to the Motor City ” It was about the history of women engineers back in 1900s when there wasn’t a lot of women in stem careers. These empowering women were from around the area of Detroit Michigan known as “Motor City.” The session started with Mary Virginia Sink (1915-1986). As a child, she wanted to be a teacher and was one of the top people in her class. She then received a scholarship and grant towards college. Mary was told by everyone that she was crazy for studying engineering After graduating college with a chemical engineering degree, she got a job at UC Chrysler Corporation. After being doubted and told she was crazy by people, she didn’t let that stop her from following her passion. She was made the first female engineer into the auto industry and was paid less compared to the men she worked with Later, the company valued her hard work and gave her a raise where she went on to graduate school to study mechanical engineering in 1942. Around this time Chrysler had 173 women working for them now. Mary was recognized as female role model and joined SWE Detroit in 1952. From hearing this story, it inspired me to follow my passion for engineering. To not be afraid or let my fears control me. It made me feel proud to me a member of the Society of Women Engineers

Impactful career message brings the opportunity you want

By Tara Nguyen

One of my favorite session was the Impactful Career Messaging Brings The Opportunity You Want. I attended a lot of other session, but this session was the one that grab my fully attention throughout the session and the tips from the speaker inspired me Some of my favorite tips from session was:

1) Speak up! To get what you want and need, to be included in your social/work group. Especially speak up early! Even before the meeting to have your voice and let people get to know you.

2) Share your story! ( NOT PERSONAL STORY!!) Story of achievement! When others aware of your talents and ability they likely to connect you to the right opportunity.

3) Write your message in various format like elevator pitch or interview When you write your message by using the magic 4:

1. What you’re working on

2. What your role is

3 The impact you’re having

4. What you plan to do next

For me, this session taught me that don’t be scared or give up your voice when you’re at a new place. And what I think the most important tip that I learned was the Magic 4 technique. I was able to use it and practice it during the session and I think it helped my elevator pitch was a lot more engaging and very strong to show off my achievement and goals.

Journeys in Academia: The Perks and Challenges

By Katelyn Lipa

“Journeys in Academia: The Perks and Challenges” was a session at WeLocal dedicated to discussing academic opportunities. There were three speakers who shared their stories: Diane Peters, an Associate Professor at Kettering University; Kristy Brinker Brouwer, a Professor of Practice and Mechanical Engineering at Kettering University, and Gretchen Hein, an Associate Teaching Professor at Michigan Technological University. Each of these three professors had a wealth of knowledge and advice to share. Professor Peters discussed what tenure and the tenure track mean as a professor. In order to achieve tenure, an aspiring professor would spend five to seven years as an Assistant professor, then go onto the Associate level, achieving tenure. This promotion is looked at through a collection of items, including professor ratings, research, and papers. Being a professor is an intense, busy job, but there are ways for work-life balance, especially if the necessary pieces (such as grant proposals, classes, meetings, industry partnered work, and committees) are planned in advance. Professor Brinker Bouwer, in sharing her story, emphasized the importance of getting classroom experience to see if teaching is the right career path. She also shared that faculty interviews are around eleven hours long, but it was all worth it to be a part of the hopes, dreams, and energy of her students. Professor Hein discussed her choice in staying an associate professor; it was less time-consuming of a role and allowed for her main priority of herself and her family to stay true. Her job supports the way she wants to live, but wasn’t her entire life. These three women each had wonderful stories and advice to share, and were truly aspiring to all academic hopefuls!

Negotiating Your Worth in a Male Dominated Field

By Olivia Bartholomew

The session titled “Negotiating Your Worth in a Male Dominated Field” presented by Rana Karimi was very eye opening and inspiring to me. She began the presentation with facts and figures on gender and racial wage gaps, which varied much more than I would have thought. The figures she showed made it obvious that overall women all around were paid less than men. She also discussed how education and lifestyle choices impact that number as well as, according to her presentation, women are less likely to complete professional degrees than men and are more likely to delay or exit a career to raise their families. Although these reasons make a lot of sense, I had never thought of how directly postponing/exiting education or careers could impact the gap so significantly. She also mentioned an anecdote from her own life where she was offered the same position a male colleague of hers was, but he negotiated with the company and ended up getting higher compensation, whereas she simply accepted the position thinking she should be grateful for being offered one in the first place. From this anecdote, she continued her presentation with a 5 step guide she developed on how she from then on negotiated her worth and how we can and should negotiate our worth as well. The first step was to research the company, job position, industry, and to be able to leverage the competitive landscape. The second step was to define value, such as your value, the company’s value, knowing your nonnegotiables and evaluation criteria for choosing a position. The third step was (if offered a position or proceeding in interviews) to evaluate your salary baseline for your previous/current position, market average reports, and a holistic approach to reviewing offers based on your evaluation criteria. The fourth step was to leverage your worth with other offers, skills, experience, and your value. The fifth step was to engage with the other party, deliver feedback, to know your worth, and be confident in yourself. She concluded her presentation with a brief discussion on internal negotiations and some advice for audience members in specific situations, such as an negotiating compensation in an intern position right out of college.

Make Your Resume Work

Today’s Digital World

By Saipriya Namasivayam

Resumes play a vital role when it comes to putting yourself out there in the professional world and catching the attention of a company you want to work for. Shawnice Meador, Senior Director and Global Talent Manager at the electronics company Wolfspeed, ran an enlightening session about how you can build a solid resume. Did you know that if you pay someone to create a resume for you, it can cost on average $527? All of that money can be put towards something more valuable if you just take the time to carefully put together your own resume and follow some basic guidelines You want to put yourself in the shoes of the stakeholder who has a gap they need to fill. Your goal is to give them enough information for them to be interested in you and want to learn more about you The basic sections of a resume you should include are your name and contact info, a summary, education, work experience, and additional info. What stood out to me is the summary section, which I did not originally have in my resume. She said this portion should show the reader the wholeness of who you are It can cover what you are looking for, industry interests, and willingness to relocate all in a quick easy-toread spot. She also made sure to note that 7295% of recruiters actively look on LinkedIn It is good practice to upload your resume to the media section and use the rest of your page to share more details and in-depth information about your experience. You can also follow companies on LinkedIn. They can actually see when you follow them, so this is a great thing to do if you are trying to get one to notice you!

Career Pivot: Expanding Your Engineering Skillset

By Rachel Thornton

This was a panel session about what to do when you want to take a different direction in your engineering career. As a first-year college student. I thought I would take the opportunity to explore a session beyond my original focus of entry-level engineering and mental health. As a result of hearing about the panelists’ experiences, I learned about what I want out of my collegiate career.

I already knew going into this session that I want to be a chemical engineering major, but the panelists emphasized that you are allowed to have interests in other areas in addition to your passion. An interdisciplinary background is more worthwhile. The more interdisciplinary skills one gains whether they be technical or soft, the more transferrable they are between careers. This was important to me because although I am passionate about chemical engineering, I also have interests in pursuing an industrial engineering minor or sustainability certificate during my time at the University of Pittsburgh. This concept makes the pivot between careers easier because of how much experience said person has. Formal education is important, but the panel emphasized how experience is the most beneficial in industry. Employers want people to fill their gaps and lead, so gaining transferrable, interdisciplinary skills from different places is invaluable

Pivoting career paths is not easy, but, according to the panelists, having a support team of family, friends, etc. helps one get through it. Although I am not experiencing a career pivot as I just officially declared my major this spring, it is beyond helpful that my family, friends and other peers are supportive of my path no matter how I proceed in college.