SWE Professional Development Recap – Goal Setting Workshop
April 26, 2022
On Tuesday April 26, SWE Dallas members gathered at the Common Desk in Bishop Arts (donated to us by A Sister’s Legacy) for a goal setting workshop. Facilitated by Gretchen Landego, members watched a comical, yet impactful video on the importance of setting goals by Billy Riggs. This was followed by a TED Talk by Time Ferris on “Why You Should Define Your Fears Instead of Your Goals”. Members then reflected on their own goals and fears using a printed worksheet outlining important factors such as the cost of inaction and clearly defining ways to prevent and repair our fears. After this reflection and meaningful conversation, the group walked down to Picole pops for a sweet treat. The group’s popsicles were sponsored by Terriekka Cardenas, an incredibly kind and generous gift to the event! A Sister’s Legacy set up a pop up shop where members could purchase her homemade jewelry and gifts. Purchases support their mission of free and accessible therapy for seniors and other populations in need!
In case you missed it, you can watch the videos below!
A SISTERS LEGACY IS A NON-PROFIT LOCATED IN DALLAS, TEXAS AND SPECIALIZES IN CARING FOR CAREGIVERS, WORKING WITH SENIORS, ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES, AND SOCIAL WORKERS. SERVICES CAN BE PROVIDED IN THE COMFORT OF THE HOME OR IN THE OFFICE SETTING. More information from on their organization can be found at https://sites.google.com/asisterslegacy.org/asisterslegacy/home/
We want your feedback! Every year, Dallas SWE has a survey that we use to gauge how we are doing and what we can improve for the following year. Please fill out our FY22 survey by June 30.
2022 Dallas SWE High School Scholarship Recipients
Dallas SWE is excited to award scholarships to each of these seven extraordinary high school seniors from the Dallas area – Helena Coleman, Shiori Harima, Minal Ikram, Natalie King, Reese Kirkham-Dorn, Madeleine Smith and Angela Suresh. Applicants were evaluated based on need, academics, school and community involvement and plans to become engineers. Thanks to the Dallas SWE Scholarship Committee for taking the time to review a wonderful group of applicants! Congratulations to this year’s recipients: we wish you all the best!
Helena Coleman – Denton High School
Helena Coleman will attend Rice University where she will major in Chemical Engineering. Helena is a Gold Award Girl Scout, President of the Baking Club and a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society and Denton High School Building Committee. Academically, she is an International Baccalaureate Diploma Candidate. As a leader in extracurricular activities, Helena is Captain of the Varsity Cheer Squad and Co-Captain of the Pole Vault team as well as a UIL Athlete Scholar. Helena has increased her engineering accumen by attending the University of Texas Women in Engineering Camp. Helena has participated in the Destination Imagination STEAM Challenges for several years and been a Magellan Award Winner as well as a State and Global Finals qualifier. Spending the day with a Chemical Engineer at the Frito Lay Factory with the Girl Scouts led Helena to understand that a career she thought impossible was really attainable. When she left the factory, she knew that she wanted to pursue a career in Chemical Engineering.
Shiori Harima – Liberty High School
Shiori Harima will attend Johns Hopkins University where she will major in Materials Science and Engineering. She is President of the GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math & Science) and works with the group to further support for young women in engineering, math and science. She is also a member of the National Honor Society and the Varsity Cross Country team and is designated as an AP Scholar with Distinction. She is also interested in robotics as has been a VEX Robotics Worlds Competition Qualifier. Outside of school, she is a Girl Scout who has worked to achieve her Gold Award. Through a mentorship at University of Texas Dallas, Shiori became intrigued with nanotechnology for curing cancer. Through her collegiate experiences, she aspires to use nanotechnology’s targeted nature to innovatively outwit cancer.
Minal Ikram – Homeschooled/Dallas College
Minal Ikram will attend University of Texas Austin where she will major in Civil Engineering. While homeschooled, Minal attended Dallas College and completed sufficient credits to graduate with both her high school degree and an Associate of Science Degree. She is a member of the Kappa National Honor Society and the Sigma Kappa Delta National English Honor Society and earned a Dallas College Honors Scholarship while a member of the Dallas College Honors Program. She has been focused on learning about Civil Engineering through the mINiTERN Program with Jacobs Engineering. Minal is a Girl Scout who has earned her Gold Award. Growing up she spent countless hours building models using Lego, K’nex, and Meccano and visiting historical buildings and structures. These engineering masterpieces made her wonder about the ingenuity and craftsmanship that went behind their construction. She participated in two engineering internships and furthered her passion for engineering by participating in the Architecture, Construction, and Engineering mentor program for two successive years. With this inspiration, Minal is passionate about pursuing her undergraduate studies in engineering.
Natalie King – Woodrow Wilson High School
Natalie King will attend the University of Colorado Boulder where she will major in Computer Science. She is a founder and president of the Woodrow Wilson SWENext Chapter and a member of the Girl UP Organization and the National Honor Society. Natalie is very active with the school’s FIRST Robotics Team where she is the Head Coder. This team has been very successful and has been awarded the FIRST State & District Chairman’s Award. Natalie has also been awarded the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing Regional Awardee. In addition to her work with robotics, Natalie is a co-captain of the Varsity Soccer team. Technology and computer science bring joy to Natalie. She knows that with a career in technology she’ll be able to do whatever she wants to do. A career in STEM is perfect for her and her interests.
Reese Kirkham-Dorn – Wakeland High School
Reese Kirkham will attend the University of Texas at Austin, where she will major in Biomedical Engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering. Reese is the Secretary and Campus Ambassador of the SWENext chapter and has been a participant of Dallas SWE Design Your World. Reese is a Certified Physical Therapy Technician and has been interning at The Texas Scottish Rite Hospital’s Movement Science Lab for the past two years. As a long time Girl Scout, Reese has earned her Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. From her early love of math and science to competing in science fair and robotics competitions, Reese’s interest and passion for STEM has continued to grow. Since engineering is an extremely versatile career, it was difficult for Reese to choose one specific discipline. Exposure to higher-level STEM courses and a two-week Biomedical Engineering camp at the Girl Scout STEM Center of Excellence led Reese to see how Biomedical Engineering can have an immediate and direct impact on patients. She plans to continue growing her passion for medicine and engineering by furthering her education.
Madeleine Smith – Lake Highlands High School
Madeleine Smith will attend Emory University, where she will major in Civil Engineering. Madeleine is the President of Mu Alpha Theta and Manager for the Highlandettes Varsity Drill Team. As a long time Girl Scout, Madeleine has earned her Gold, Bronze and Silver Awards. She earned her Gold Award by creating a coding camp for elementary school aged girls in her neighborhood. She is proficient in multiple coding languages and has been a 3-time scholar at Kode with Klossy Camps. Outside of school, Madeleine is active as the Treasurer for the Children’s International Summer Village (CISV) and Youth Group President for the Greenland Hills UMC Youth Group. Madeleine’s involvement with Girl Scouts and her love of math gave her the confidence to excel in subjects that women aren’t normally drawn to. She wants to continue her studies and be a role model for other young girls.
Angela Suresh – Allen High School
Angela Suresh will attend the University of Texas at Austin, where she will major in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Angela is the co-founder of the Allen High School Digital Media Club and continues to be energized by the integration of technology and the media arts. She is a member of the STEAM Ambassadors Program where she shares her love of STEAM with elementary students and the Girls Who Code group where she continues to expand her programming knowledge. She has participated in an internship through the Cisco High Externship Program where she and her group received first place in the medical and technology based-Capstone Project. Angela has also received the Advanced Placement Scholar Award for her strong performance on her Advanced Placement exams. After working with electronics like Arduino and building her own PC, Angela became hooked on the many connections between physics, math and technology. Learning the “how” and “how can this be improved” became important to gain a deeper understanding of the world around her. That’s why Angela is pursuing a career in engineering. At UT Austin, she hopes to join women in engineering groups and develop new technology that will be used in the world.
2022 Dallas SWE Annie Colaço Scholarship Recipient – Collegiate Leaders
The Dallas Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is delighted to announce the recipients of the Annie Colaço Scholarship for local college students. The scholarship is named in honor of Annie Colaço (1899- 1991), the grandmother to SWE lifetime member Nandika D’Souza. Annie Colaço epitomized selfless service and lifelong learning, which is reflected in the SWE mission.
Dallas SWE is excited to recognize these outstanding SWE collegiate leaders and encourages each recipient to continue to be a SWE member upon graduation. The Society of Women Engineers, founded in 1950, is a not-for- profit educational and service organization. SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations and be recognized for their life-changing contributions and achievements as engineers and leaders.
Noor Jebbeh – UNT Director of Outreach
Noor Jebbeh is a student at University of North Texas working toward her B.S. in Construction Engineering Technology. As the Director of Outreach since 2020, Noor has led multiple outreach events such as visiting K-12 classrooms to show students how to build mini electric cars, hosting an engineering day for Girl Scouts and leading Brain STEMs, which is an outreach activity where SWE members host an after-school event at the Denton North Branch Library for middle school students every other week during the school year. Noor is leading an activity to turn their activities into DIY videos for students to do while at home during the pandemic and events to have multiple meetings with Frisco ISD SWENext. After graduation, Noor is looking forward to adventures in construction.
Jessica Nwachukwu – UNT Director of Networking
Jessica Nwachukwu is a student at the University of North Texas working toward her B.S. in Computer Engineering. As the Director of Networking for the UNT SWE section, Jessica organized a SWE Joint Panel consisting of multiple speakers and professors for over 60 students from several organizations: SWE, SASE, SHPE, and NSBE. Jessica helped organize the Girls Day in Engineering in March 2022 and has led several SWE general meetings. As the Director of Networking, Jessica manages the speakers for all SWE meetings. She will graduate this May, but is sharing her processes with the next Director so UNT SWE can continue to host great speakers and support for the members After graduation, Jessica will work full-time in the industry and hopes to actively take time outside of work to get involved in the community.
Areeba Qazi –UT Dallas VP of Internal Affairs
Areeba Qazi is a student at University of Texas at Dallas working toward her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. As Vice President of Internal Affairs for the University of Texas at Dallas SWE Section, she spearheaded efforts to increase member engagement by introducing and leading the development of a new member resources section of their website. This website provides a space for members to benefit from professional advice to grow their careers, as well as an alumni network for graduated members to stay in touch. She helped integrate a blog to empower women in engineering through posts highlighting their accomplishments. These developments to the website will help members get more involved, and will serve as a long-lasting resource for the SWE section. Areeba also helped organize the second iteration of UTD’s first women and non-binary focused hackathon by providing support to the WEHack team as the overseeing Vice President from the SWE section. After graduation, Areeba hopes to pursue a PhD in biomedical engineering and eventually a career in research and development.
Please save the date for our annual Membership Appreciation Event on Saturday, June 11th, from 2 – 4 PM at Fox & Hound! We will be wrapping up FY22 by celebrating all of our wonderful members. In addition to mingling with other SWEsters, we will be recognizing members with awards and highlighting some of their amazing contributions during the past year.
Please RSVP by June 10th.
Event Location: 112 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080
When it comes to negotiating, women do it less than men. But the cost of not negotiating could add up to years of additional work to catch up to the salary of men who negotiate. You have worked hard to earn your degree and become an engineer; don’t let off the gas when the time comes to evaluate an offer and advocate for your worth. In this session, you will hear why it’s critical that we as women negotiate to help close the pay gap, understand common pitfalls to a successful negotiation, and learn how to develop and execute a negotiation strategy. Join Dallas SWE for this special presentation on June 15th at la Madeline Plano, registration closes June 12th!
Congratulations to Kimberley Reid, Dallas SWE’s May 2022 Member of the Month! Check out Kimberley’s story below.
I started my engineering journey at the University of Michigan. Upon graduation, I joined Occidental Chemical and spent 11 years there working as a Chemical Engineer in a variety of roles supporting the chemical manufacturing operations. While working full-time, I attended the business administration program at Canisius College and earned my MBA degree. Through the MBA program I learned about management information systems which helps companies run their business operations. This opened the door to join a corporate team focused on helping our company implement a new Enterprise Resource planning solution called SAP. The SAP software solution served as a launchpad for me into a business and information technology consulting career that has spanned nearly 24 years.
I now work for Hitachi Vantara and serve as the Vice President for Digital Enterprise Solutions focused on SAP. In this role, I am responsible for managing a team of consultants who advise clients on strategic information systems planning initiatives, business cases for change, implementations of the software, and training in the SAP applications to ensure high user adoption rates and attainment of business value through the software. I never imagined that my process engineering days at the chemical manufacturing plant would lead to the role that I have today. It is quite a dream come true to help clients solve business challenges through software solutions. I work with customers in a variety of industries ranging from Food processing, Consumer Products, Aerospace and Defense, Life Sciences, Industrial Manufacturing, and Chemical manufacturing.
While in college, there were not many women in my engineering classes. SWE was a great resource for me and helped to provide a support network and pathway to develop my leadership skills in college. The opportunity to support the local SWE initiatives here in Dallas and volunteer for the great programs is quite rewarding. I am grateful for the chance to help. Giving back is a way to say Thank You to the long list of mentors, coaches, tutors, and encouraging people who have influenced my career journey to date. I like how SWE shows that careers in engineering can be rewarding and open doors to adventures that you might not ever imagine.
What I like most about SWE is the chance to influence young people to pursue careers in science, engineering, and math. The chance to share how engineering careers can be the launchpad to amazing life journeys is just awesome.
