This is a day-long workshop based on SciGirls, a PBS KIDS weekly series and website out to change how millions of tween girls think about science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. Educators across Texas are invited to attend this free professional development opportunity and discover how to engage young women (ages 8-13) through research-based, high quality activities and resources.
Participants (adults) attending the workshop will:
Learn about the latest research for exciting and engaging girls (and boys) in STEM.
Experience four hands-on STEM activities such as using dough to teach circuits, designing unique ways to measure your strde, manipulating an object to be neutrally buoyant, and creating your own experiment to identify mystery plastics.
Leave with curriculum for 20 hands-on, video-enhanced activities that put a creative twist on teaching STEM.
Learn how to modify any activity to excite and engage kids in STEM using the SciGirls Seven.
Discover additional online resources that enhance teaching and learning experiences for all kids.
Dallas SWE will follow the success of its October 19th event Design Your World-STEM conference for girls at the same location March 29th for 6th through 12th grade girls. Stay tuned here for details on this and other efforts!
Nandika D’Souza
Dallas SWE Vice President of Outreach
On November 19, 2013, Dallas SWE hosted a speaker meeting at La Madeleine near SMU’s campus with guest speakers Paulina Diaz, P.E. and Laura Geiger. Paulina and Laura work for ccrd, an engineering consulting firm, on projects promoting Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) with a special focus in the healthcare industry.
Their informative presentation gave an overview of the LEED rating system, what it takes to become a credentialed LEED professional, and some of the specific projects they have been a part of at ccrd including the Dell Children’s Medical Center in Austin, TX and the Baylor Cancer Center in Dallas, TX. It was really interesting to hear about the different challenges LEED engineers face when designing modifications to existing buildings or new buildings from scratch. Paulina and Laura highlighted the delicate balance between the state of existing infrastructure, cost, functionality, and environmental concerns. Thanks to Paulina and Laura for enlightening us on your experience with green energy design, and thanks to Dallas SWE Vice President Barbara Read for setting up this month’s meeting location and learning opportunity! You can view the LEED topic PowerPoint presentation here.
After our speaker presentation, Dallas SWE President Jennifer Vilbig went over some SWE business and awarded afew lucky attendees with door prizes! You can view this month’s meeting agenda at our Newsletter page.
If you haven’t already RSVPed for the December 12 Holiday Party, hosted jointly by Dallas SWE and DFW ATW, you can do so at the Eventbrite website! It will be a great time to celebrate the successes of 2013 and enjoy each other’s company for the holidays so don’t miss it!!
Last but not least, Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families! We hope to see you again soon.
It’s that time of year! Dallas SWE and the DFW Alliance for Technology and Women (ATW) are teaming up for a night of networking, holiday cheer, and giving to a good cause. Appetizers and Cash Bar will be available. Join us!
Charity Donation
In the spirit of Holiday giving, we are supporting The Family Place. Specifically, we’re donating to help the women they serve. Please bring a small unwrapped personal item to donate such as; picture frames, books, spa items, gloves, hats, clothing items, jewerly. *No candles, please*
About ATW
DFW*ATW is a dynamic non-profit organization that supports women and men worldwide who share the common interests of empowering women in technology, increasing the number of women in executive roles and encouraging women and girls to enter technology fields.
Early on Saturday, October 19, 2013 110 girls (4th and 5th graders) and 45 adults with over 75 volunteers converged on the SMU campus for a day of fun. LIttle did they know that they would also learn a lot about STEM (science, technology, engineering, ad math).
Girls launching the rockets they made!
The adult break-out session (first ever for Dallas SWE) was for parents and educators to learn a bit more about how to encourage their daughters to pursue a STEM career. The adults heard a panel of speakers in the morning, and a chance to visit any of the ongoing activities the girls were attending, and during the afternoon played with a hands-on activity to learn and take home.
Twenty girls attended a variety of sessions. Twenty girls spent the day in Fasion Camp learning about Lily Pad Arduino processors and fashioning blinking light headbants. The remainder of the girls each participated in three events:
Up, Up and Away – building rockets using the basics of electrical circuits with buzzers and lights
Marshmallow Towers that reached the ceiling
Cosmetics and Lotions
Principles of Polymers – creating scented sparkling charms
Creating a Lollipop Express with mechanical cars and tours.
The women of Dallas SWE and SMU SWE hosted the event and made all the magic happen. The bright, sunny day ended too early for many of the girls and parents. The fun, the learning, the experiences, and the enthusiasm were contagious. When surveyed, 96% of parents responded that they would attend an event again, and 98% of parents responded that they would recommend the event to others. The girls responded 82% and 88% to the same questions, and 86% said that they enjoyed the fact that this was an event just for girls.
The following quotes from the girls sum up the day’s success:
“I wanted to stay all night!”
“I had soooo much fun.”
“Next time make it longer.”
“Thank you for doing this, hope I can come again soon!”
On November 3, 2013, Dallas SWE represented women in engineering at the Coppell Engineering Expo at Coppell High School. Each year, Dallas SWE members take this opportunity to speak to local high school students and their parents about different types of engineering, what to expect in a college engineering program, and how to become a collegiate SWE member. Juanita Miller coordinated our participation and was assisted by Jennifer Vilbig (Dallas SWE President) and Cheryl Naftzger. Thanks, ladies, for volunteering!!
Dallas SWE volunteers at the Coppell Engineering Expo!
The Dallas SWE booth was colorful this year, decorated with a green tablecloth, white and yellow streamers, and a SWE banner was prominently displayed. After decorating the table, we inflated several balloons to use as door prizes. As the crowd arrived, we pulled out our prize jar and began interacting with students and adults who stopped by. The students drew for door prizes including items like wooden puzzles, key chains, bandannas, pencils, and balloons. The balloons were a big hit with younger children (<4th grade) and the parents appreciated that we let the little ones pull something from the jar too. Several teachers, from Coppell and other districts, came by to ask about the engineering disciplines and careers for their classes. The Coppell Engineering Boosters put on their usual “red jacket” hospitality with a very nice event.
During the event, we talked to 58 students and their parents (about 145 people total). We love being at this event every year! Thanks to everyone who stopped by to visit.
In other news, we have some upcoming events that you’ll want to put on your calendar. In November we’re LEEDing the way to a greener tomorrow! What are these “LEED buildings” you keep hearing about? LEED buildings impact commercial and residential energy usage, accounting for 39% of the energy used in the US. Come learn how Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is aiding engineers, architects, and contractors in how to go green and build energy efficient buildings.
About the Speakers: Paulina Diaz, P.E. Paulina is a Mechanical Engineer with 7 years of experience and exceptional training in the design of comprehensive mechanical systems. She joined the ccrd team in 2011 and has worked on numerous LEED projects. Current projects include energy modeling and related mechaincal credits under LEED 2009 for the Neuroscience Cancer Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Laura Geiger Laura Geiger is an Electrical Engineer with ccrd. She also joined in 2011 and has worked on several projects, including a Psychiatric Facility in Georgetown, TX which is currently under construction. Laura recently passed part 1 of a two part test to become a LEED Green Associate.
Be on the lookout for more information about upcoming events including a Holiday Party in December and an Award-Winning Sci Girl Training in January! You can join our mailing list by submitting your email address in the sidebar.
Lastly, we’ve selected a date for the next Design Your World Event at UNT on March 29, 2014. For more information and updates on that event, please visit the Design Your World website.
Last week, Dallas SWE members Laura Geiger, Shelley Stracener, Nicole Navinsky, and Wanda Holmes attended the Annual Society of Women Engineers Conference (WE13) in Baltimore, MD. Attendance was at an all-time high this year: over 7,000 people were present to enjoy this year’s event! The Career Fair was also the largest ever for a National SWE Conference, with representatives from industry, government, and graduate education recruiting engineers of all types and ages.
Celebrate SWE crowd on Saturday evening!
National conference is always a great time to recharge our batteries, take care of SWE section business, and get inspired to improve ourselves and our careers through education, networking, and collaboration. We posted lots of real-time info on Twitter and Facebook, so check those out if you want the play-by-play report of the week’s activities. Thursday was kicked off with an inspiring talk from Cristina Amorim, Chief Sustainability Officer of Life Technologies, about how visibility (seizing and in some cases creating your own opportunities to be noticed and recognized for your excellent work) is key to success for women in engineering. There were some truly amazing sessions, including a film screening of Top Secret Rosies, advice on how to grow your career in a growing organization, influencing without authority, and several sessions on how to effectively run meetings even if you participate via a virtual work environment. Technical talks included highlights in the fields of biometric identification devices, cloud computing and storage, smart power grids, and mobile application development.
Joint Collegiate and Professional Region C Meeting
At the Region C meeting, professionals and collegiates from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi got together to discuss membership and recruitment, leadership training resources, proposed bylaw changes, outreach activities, and some new collegiate sections. At Celebrate SWE, the conference’s closing ceremony and celebration, Nicole Navinsky, our Fundraising Committee Chair, received an award for Outstanding Collegiate Member! The SMU student section got the Outstanding Collegiate Section Silver Level Award. To top off the shared successes of this year, the Dallas SWE section was presented with a Section Award for our Outreach Event Series, Design Your World! We are honored to be recognized for the events on which our volunteers and officers worked very hard and also had a lot of fun!! It was a great way to end the conference. Congratulations to all the award winners for this year!
If you didn’t get to attend this year, plan on joining in on the conferences for 2014!! The Region C Conference will be February 7-9, 2014 in Houston, TX. Early bird registration prices are available through December 31 so don’t wait! Visit their website for details and to register. The National SWE Conference will be October 22-25, 2014 in Los Angeles, CA. Stay tuned for details and a website link next year, but mark your calendars now!
