Come celebrate the fall season with Dallas SWE on October 21st, from 3-5 PM! Dress like an engineer or wear a fun costume, take photos at our photo booth, and enjoy some fall snacks while we network and play some board games. Feel free to bring your family & friends! Location TBD
On August 31st, Dallas SWE hosted a Professional Development Event titled “First Time Home Buying 101” with speaker Rachel Gaspar, a Mechanical Engineer turned Real Estate agent. The event was aimed at providing attendees with the knowledge and resources needed to successfully navigate the home buying process.
Rachel covered a range of important topics, including the timeline involved in purchasing a home, the costs associated with the process, market updates, and helpful resources for first-time homebuyers. Attendees were engaged throughout the session and participated in a lively Q&A session with Rachel. Many of the questions focused on the specifics of the home buying process, such as option money and the option time window.
The market update provided attendees with valuable metrics that helped them understand the current state of the housing market. The metrics included the average price per square foot, average selling price percentage of original list price, days spent on the market, and average price. Attendees left the event feeling more informed about the home buying process and empowered to make informed decisions.
Feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, with many stating that the home buying process no longer seemed overwhelming. Rachel’s expertise and ability to break down complex concepts into easily digestible pieces were highly praised. Attendees appreciated the opportunity to ask questions and receive personalized advice from a seasoned professional.
Overall, the event was a success, providing attendees with valuable knowledge and resources to help them achieve their dream of homeownership. The event was a testament to Dallas SWE’s commitment to providing professional development opportunities that help its members succeed in their careers and personal lives.
Congratulations, Dallas SWE! Dallas SWE has been awarded the Silver Mission Award! The Mission Awards recognize SWE groups that embody SWE core values and demonstrate continuous improvement and growth as they work to achieve the Society’s strategic goals.
The Silver award is a high award level for the new SWE Mission Award structure and recognizes Dallas SWE’s commitment to SWE‘s Core Values and Strategic Goals based on results from our activities across 10 categories.
This year’s award recipients will be recognized during WE23, which will take place October 26-28, 2023, in Los Angeles, CA.
Dallas SWE would like to recognize the efforts of our VP of Membership, Meena Nagappan, for putting together our award application. Thank you, Meena, for your outstanding effort to gain recognition for our section!
On Saturday, July 22nd, the outgoing and incoming Executive Council (EC) of Dallas SWE met for our annual Transition Meeting to chart the course for the upcoming year. The Transition Meeting was held at Rana’s home and kicked off with ice breakers and lots of great networking. Our team of incumbent officers, Rana, Katie, Sammy, Meena, and Cyonna, helped to welcome our incoming VP of Professional Development, Nicole, to her role. We were also joined by Dallas SWE Past Presidents, Zaineb and Amanda, and our investment committee member, Terriekka.
Our annual Transition Meeting serves as a strategic kick off to the new year, where both sets of officers exchange insights and lay the foundation for a great new fiscal year. We reflected on the past year’s achievements and celebrated our successes, and then launched a brainstorming session to identify best practices and key lessons learned. Some of the key takeaways were recognizing our best practices, which included:
We discussed areas for future improvement, including more ways to engage our local Collegiate counterparts, enhance sponsor relationship management, broaden our outreach to more underserved communities, and bolster our social media strategy.
The officer teams collaboratively outlined baseline expectations, defining a solid foundation for the upcoming term. This approach led to the development of specific goals for each area (Executive, Fundraising, Professional Development, Membership, Outreach, and Marketing) that each officer is taking ownership of to execute as the year unfolds.
It was a great planning forum, full of open dialogue, strategic thinking, and bonding amongst the officers. Also, we would be remiss if we didn’t recognize Sammy’s delicious homemade sugar cookies, which delighted all of us!
Thank you to all of our outgoing and incoming officers for making this annual process a continued forum for ongoing process improvement. A terrific FY24 is in store for Dallas SWE!
Congratulations to Nicole Anklam, Dallas SWE’s September Member of the Month!
Nicole has been involved with SWE since 2011, when she joined as a Collegiate at RIT. During her time there, she held positions from Webmaster to Secretary to President of her section. Upon graduating, she joined the Detroit Professional Section while employed at Ford in Michigan. There she assisted on various committees. No matter where she has moved, she has always made sure to find SWE and get involved in some capacity.
Nicole is currently the Vice President of Professional Development for Dallas-SWE, while this is her first EC with them but she has assisted on the Scholarship Committee in the previous FY. She enjoys seeking various opportunities to further her own professional career and loves being able to do it for the members of Dallas-SWE as well!
Nicole is currently Charge System Owner for PACCAR and a Project Engineer for the Supertruck 3 BEV Program. She has extensive experience in the Battery Electric Vehicle space, having been working in it since 2016. She enjoys working in the commercial EV space and is glad she found a position located in her home state of Texas.
She has her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology and her MS in Technical Management from the University of Detroit-Mercy.
What does she love most about SWE? The community of volunteers and their impact. She always connects with SWE members no matter where they are and every time, they welcome her with open arms and are like-minded in their passion for achieving SWE’s goals.
Dallas SWE is once again participating in Communities Foundation of Texas’ NTX Giving Day, an online giving extravaganza for our whole region! We’re raising funds to support our mission to empower women to achieve their full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering and technology professions as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity and inclusion.
This year NTX Giving Day will be held on Thursday, September 21, 2023, with Early Giving open September 1st to 20th. Last year, we were able to raise over $900, and we’re hoping to increase that this year! Any amount helps us reach that goal and continue to serve the North Texas community.
Dallas SWE also greatly benefits from matching corporate donations. If your company matches non-profit donations, please take a moment to fill out the relevant form for your company to help our organization. Dallas SWE is a 501c(3) non-profit organization and all donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
North Texas Giving Day is a great opportunity to help make sure our section is well-funded to support all our great programs, including professional development, youth outreach, collegiate section support, networking events, scholarships, and more!
