News & Events

Moon Day 2013: A Day of Discovery and Learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum

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!

Moon Day 2013 Group
Some of our Moon Day Volunteers: Alicia D’Souza, Teri Cates, Shelley Stracener, Barbara Read, Debbie S., Melissa Tacconi, Hope Toole, Nandika D’Souza
Moon Day 2013 Circuit Activity
Some 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 Raytheon X-Planes
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!

 

Annual Planning Meeting & Networking

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?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you should consider attending the short meeting!  Please RSVP here if you plan on attending!

Date:  Saturday, July 27th 
Time:  1:30-2:00pm
Location:  Vilbig & Associates, 10132 Monroe Drive, Dallas, Texas 75229

Can’t attend the meeting, but still want your voice heard?
Take our quick memberhip survey here!

Volunteers Needed – July 20th! Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field

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 .

Watersense Home Event Review

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
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
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!
Group photo in front of the Watersense home, doing our best rainfall fingers!

Capital One Event Recap

CapitolOne1“Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.” – George Lucas

Dreams form an integral part of our being. It is in these dreams or visions that we plant the seeds of future actions. In these dreams lie our motivations of being better each day, of reaching our maximum potential and of walking in this world as independent women with our head held high. This was the message that Nadia Aziz, VP Enterprise Support and Risk Management, elaborated on during the Capital One networking event held on April 16th at Seasons 52, Plano.

It was a great 2 hour networking event sponsored by Capital One, where the attendees got to interact with the diversity recruiters at Capital One and understand why engineers are a great fit in the organization. Nadia Aziz, who was the speaker at the event, spoke of her experiences as she grew up in India and came here to the US to complete her degree in Mechanical Engineering. She spoke of the challenges that she experienced once she went back home armed with a BS degree to fond a job as a Mechanical Engineer, however, then in India not many women were employed in the mechanical engineering field. Not one to be disheartened by these odds, she mentioned how she started her own business in India. She later came back to Stanford GSB, to get her MBA degree. She mentioned that while she was attending a career CapitolOne2session by Capital One, she noticed the company values and how they were practiced by the company leadership that she decided to accept the job offer at Capital One and has been here since. She mentioned that as engineers it is the critical thinking abilities as well as the analytical mindset that is very advantageous to them in their industry. She encouraged everyone present to believe in their dreams and have conviction in themselves. Each of us is capable of so much more! This talk was received with great enthusiasm by all the attendees.

Following the talk, there was an informal networking sessions with the Capital One crew and the Dallas SWE members. All in all, a great fun evening spent in exploring opportunities and learning how engineers are changing the world, one step at a time!                                                                                                                     – Neha Dobhal

 

Reminder: Watersense Home Event Rescheduled

The Watersense Home tour, originally scheduled for May 21, has been rescheduled for June 20 from 6-8pm.  We’ll enjoy a tour of the Watersense Home, then have dinner and conduct our regular business meeting.

The house includes such features as hot water on-demand systems, water-efficient landscaping and irrigation systems, and rainwater harvesting. A WaterSense home can save at least 50,000 gallons a year for a family of four. Renewable energy and environmental impact of counter top, flooring and lighting choices will provide a fun, interactive and engaging event.

If registered for the even back in May and can still join us, no action is required and we will see you on June 20!  If you registered in May but cannot make the new date and time, please email us to arrange a refund.   If you have not registered and want to join us, please REGISTER HERE.

 

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