WE18, the world’s largest conference for women engineers, was held in Minneapolis, MN from October 18-20 and was a huge success with over 14,000 attendees! Dynamic speakers and panels, a colossal job fair, the SWE Boutique, limitless networking opportunities, and the outreach event Invent it! Build it! on Saturday made it so there was never a dull moment. Dallas SWE was represented by about 15 members. We were even able to reconnect with several past members who have moved to others areas of the country.
We had several local members who presented:
Uche Maple, Rockwell Collins – Soar to your Maximum Potential
Nandika D’Souza, Ph.D, University of North Texas – How to get Research Funded
Kate Van Dellen, New Trees Education – Mom-trepreneur: Entrepreneurial Parents Panel
Stephanie Watts Butler, TI – Stand Out! How to Pitch Yourself and Own the Career Fair
Awards
Letia Blanco was recognized for her technical, leadership, and community service accomplishments with the SWE Distinguished New Engineer Award. Letia was the founding chair of the SWE Design Your World – STEM Conference for Girls and it has has been presented 12 times to date, impacting more than 1,800 girls.
Anushka Saran, an 11th grader at Plano Senior High School, received a prestigious SWENext Global Innovator Award. One of only 5 SWENext members to receive this award, she was recognized for her outstanding contributions to promoting girls in STEM and her strong academic and extracurricular record.
Samantha (Sammy) Zellner, a graduate student at UNT earning a Masters in Material Science and Engineering, won first place in the graduate poster competition for Design of a Corrosion Measurement System of SiC at High Temperatures.
The Dallas Section itself won the SWE Mission Award Gold – Professional for the second year in a row and SWE Mission Best Practices – Outreach. The Gold award is the highest overall award level for the new SWE Mission Award structure and recognizes our section’s commitment to SWE‘s Core Values and Strategic Goals based on results from our activities across 10 categories. The Best Practices – Outreach is a category-specific award recognizing our section’s dedication to community involvement, especially with the Design Your World events.
Personal Reflections from Attendees
“It was great to be back at the annual conference as a Dallas SWE member to recruit on behalf of my company (TI). I enjoyed getting to interact with many students, professionals, and professors at the career fair and hospitality suite.” –Amber
“I had the pleasure of assembling a dream team panel this year at We18 of entrepreneurial moms (see picture). We talked about how we started our companies and the different demands on work-life balance as an entrepreneur. I was recently re-elected to the senate, so I participated in the senate meeting on Saturday. One of the discussion points that came up was when we think long-term and someday we reach gender parity, what will SWE’s purpose be? (If people have ideas, please send them my way)” –Kate Van Dellen
“This was my ninth Society Conference: every location and attendee contingent has its own unique atmosphere and Minneapolis was no exception! I especially enjoyedcelebrating with our Dallas SWE Member award winner, meeting with SWE leadership, and going to informative sessions. My favorite session each year is the State of Women in Engineering panel, summarizing SWE’s latest research and literature review of statistics and struggles of women in STEM. I highly recommend conference attendance for a new perspective on SWE: you haven’t experienced all SWE has to offer until you attend a Society Conference!” – Shelley Stracener
“This was my first conference, so it was a new but completely awesome and positive experience. There were so many opportunities to meet people and make friends, search for new career opportunities, learn, and be inspired. I wish I could have cloned myself so I could have done everything! I’m so glad I attended and definitely plan on being at We19 in Anaheim next year.” -Caroline Abadie
“The Society’s WE conferences are events I look forward to every year and WE18 was no different! I got to attend some wonderful session ranging from technical talks to professional development to SWE business. It’s always fun going with my fellow Dallas SWEsters, but also catching up with friends from college or those I’ve met at conference over the years. We also celebrated Dallas SWE winning the Professional section Best Practice for Outreach Award and the Professional section Gold Award and one of our members, Letia Blanco, November Member of the Month, winning the Distinguished New Engineers award! I hope everyone makes an effort to join us at WE19 in Anaheim, CA!” -Zaineb Ahmad
“The conference was a ton of fun and full of so many opportunities! This was my 4th Society level conference to attend, and it continues to be more fulfilling and enriching every year. I’m am beyond amazed that I was able to win the graduate poster competition. Even more so, I am proud to represent UNT, Dallas, and Ft. Worth SWE at the conference. ” – Sammy Zellner
“This was my first conference and I was overwhelmed with how amazing the whole experience was! I’ve only been a part of SWE for about a year and a half, and I realized what a significant part it is now playing in my life. I only wish I would have found it sooner! At the conference, I was able to create new relationships with local members I had not met before, spend time with SWEsters, see a few SWE friends that have moved away from DFW and connect with multiple new people I hope to keep in touch with in the future. It was wonderful being surrounded by driven, intelligent female engineers and learning from them. Everyone was excited to be there! And you can’t beat all the free swag at the career fair! (Make sure you have extra room or an extra small bag so you can get everything on the plane 😉 Anaheim, CA, here WE19 come!” -Amanda Alsbrook
