We are pleased to announce that we have tentatively scheduled the next Design Your World – STEM Conference for Saturday, October 19th at Southern Methodist University!
The Dallas Society of Women Engineers is working with the SMU SWE Section to plan this event to inspire the next generation of engineers!
More details will be released as the planning process continues, but be sure to sign up for the Parents/Educators or Volunteer – Design Your World list via constant contact!
In addition, check out this short presentation on just exactly WHY we need to host events like this and for ways to get involved and additional local outreach resources! We hope you can join us for this awesome conference in October!
This conference, organized by our SWE Region C Leadership Coaches, is a fantastic opportunity to learn more about SWE’s organization and leadership opportunities, make connections with Region C and National SWE leaders, and learn about how to be an effective, professional, and inclusive leader in SWE and in your profession! The focus of summit sessions are primarily for Section and Regional Officers, but non-members are encourage to attend since SWE is a mostly volunteer organization and we need leaders like YOU to help grow and improve our chapters! There will also be some fun social activities planned for Friday night since the host hotel is close to all the downtown Fort Worth nightlife, so plan on making this a full weekend of fun, education, networking, and team building!
If you register online NOW through August 2, your $100 registration fee (checks due by Aug 9) will be 100% reimbursed when you attend the attendance. That’s right, this conference will be effectively FREE if you register by FRIDAY and then show up at the conference.
If you register online between August 3 and August 16, $50 of the $100 registration fee (checks due by Aug 15) will be refunded when you attend the conference.
On-site registration on August 16 or 17 is $150. ***There will be no refunds for on-site registration or no-shows.***
To register, fill out the Online Registration Form and follow the instructions to send in your payment.
Hotel reservations can be made for the discounted rate of $109 per night (Friday and Saturday) by calling the Courtyard Blackstone reservation desk at 1-800-321-2211. Be sure to reference the “Society of Women Engineers Room Block.” This discounted rate is only available for reservations made on or before Friday, August 2 so please make your reservations this week! If you are not staying at the hotel, Saturday’s activities are scheduled from 8am-5pm and parking at the hotel is $20 per day.
Don’t delay, sign up today to reserve your spot at the 2013 Region C Leadership Summit!
Volunteers from Dallas SWE and Fort Worth SWE rolled out their first outreach event sponsored by NASA’s Summer of Innovation Program at Moon Day this year. Nandika D’Souza coordinated our presence at Moon Day with event organizer Ken Murphy at the Frontiers of Flight Museum near Love Field in Dallas. This event, held on Saturday, July 20, commemorated the 44th anniversary of the first moon landing. Also in attendance were a great variety of organizations involved in astronomy, astrophysics, aviation, and engineering. It was a great day for families to come and learn about the moon and how scientists and engineers work together to explore our solar system and beyond!
Some of our Moon Day Volunteers: Alicia D’Souza, Teri Cates, Shelley Stracener, Barbara Read, Debbie S., Melissa Tacconi, Hope Toole, Nandika D’SouzaSome of our volunteers teaching Girl Scouts about electrical circuits.
The Dallas SWE booth was located prominently below the museum’s big American Flag, hung from their second story balcony in the large atrium. Visitors to our table were invited to learn about electronic circuits and create some of their own using 9-volt batteries, resistors, potentiometers, speakers, and LEDs. Approximately 120 children enjoyed our hands-on activity! We informed the children and their parents about how important it is for astronauts to use their limited power resources wisely while in space. Girl Scouts who visited our booth also answered a few questions about basic physics, engineering, and astronomy principles in order to earn their “Engineering” badge in the STEM series of badges.
The fact that this was an open event inclusive to all ages, girls and boys, gave our Dallas SWE section a great opportunity to talk to the community about our organization and other outreach opportunities we have throughout the year. Many of our visitors had never heard of the Society of Women Engineers!
Moon Day X-Plane Construction Group led by Letia Blanco!
Later in the afternoon, the always enthusiastic Letia Blanco and her fellow Raytheon volunteers hosted another hands-on activity with a smaller group in one of the Flight Museum’s classrooms. Letia gave an exciting and informative presentation about some of the rockets Raytheon has helped NASA develop and the kids then got to color, cut out, and assemble their own model X-plane to perform some test flights, just like real engineers! The kids loved customizing their rockets and Letia’s ebullient personality even got the adults in the room excited about engineering development and test cycles. Thanks to all the Raytheon employees and Dallas SWE volunteers who helped with this special session!
Dallas SWE has been welcomed back to Moon Day next year, so if you missed out, be on the lookout for this and other opportunities to get involved in your community in FY 2014!
As you know, SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career for women through an exciting array of training and development programs, networking opportunities, scholarships, outreach and advocacy activities, and much more. Therefore, we invite you to join the Dallas Section Officers for the Annual Planning meeting for FY14.
This meeting is an opportunity for the membership to share what they want to see/hear/do during the next year with Dallas SWE. Are there existing outreach programs that you volunteer with that would align with the SWE misson? Is your company on the cutting edge of some new technology that would interest our membership? Have you recently heard someone speak or read a book that would be of interest to other women engineers? Are you just curious and want to learn more about our section?
We are teaming up with Fort Worth SWE to teach kids about circuits at the Moon Day event in Dallas. This event is organized by the National Space Society of North Texas and the Frontiers of Flight Museum to celebrate the anniversary of the first moon landing. This will be a great opportunity for SWE members to share their enthusiasm about science and engineering. To volunteer a few hours for this event, contact Nandika D’Souza .
With the summer weather heating up outside, water conservation and green energy concerns are becoming an important focus for many people. The Watersense Home at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center is a shining example of how existing homes can be retrofitted to save water, energy, and money, all at the same time! On June 20, Dallas SWE members and guests enjoyed learning all about practical ways improve our homes and lives.
Outdoor tour led by Patrick Dickinson
After a welcome and introduction by Program Manager Clint Wolfe, twenty attendees got a tour of the landscaping outside the Watersense Home. Filled with natural rock, recycled glass and concrete features, and native, drought resistant vegetation, the design is both aesthetically pleasing and easy to maintain. Patrick Dickinson, Program Coordinator, taught us about how using the land’s natural drainage paths and using drip irrigation, rather than higher pressure pop-up sprinkler heads, is both a cost effective and efficient use of space and water. He showed us a huge rain collection tank behind the house that is filled by one of the home’s gutters and is the source of the entire yard’s irrigation needs.
Attendees checking out the special plumbing for the On Demand Hot Water System
After the outdoor tour, we went back into the home where Karen Sanders, Program Assistant, went over the energy saving features inside. The home uses LED lighting, an on-demand tankless hot water system, low-flow faucets, and energy efficient appliances to save on electric and water bills. The kitchen counter tops were made from recycled glass and the durable porcelain tile floor had the look of hard wood. Everyone was ready to move in after seeing the technology and great design in this home! If you’re interested in learning about ways to improve your own home, the A&M Agrilife Center hosts free classes throughout the year! See their course offerings here.
After the tour, attendees enjoyed a delicious and healthy meal from Corner Bakery Cafe. Barbara Read, Vice President Elect for FY14, hosted the business meeting portion of our event with several announcements and calls for volunteers for Moon Day and suggestions on what sort of events to plan for FY14 (take the Dallas SWE membership survey here). If you are interested in volunteer opportunities or serving as section Secretary (responsibilities outlined on the event flyer), please email us at dallas.swe@gmail.com. You can see the full Meeting Agenda here.
It was great to see so many new faces: nearly half of the attendees had never been to a Dallas SWE event before! We hope you’ll continue to stay plugged in to our local professional section, become a SWE member, and let our leadership team know how we can better serve you!
Group photo in front of the Watersense home, doing our best rainfall fingers!
