Congratulations to Dallas SWE’s April Member of the Month, Ana Gonzalez!
Ana Gonzalez graduated from The University of Texas at Arlington with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in Dec. 2014. She has been involved with SWE since 2010 as a collegiate Ana held multiple leadership roles all 4 years of college. After graduating Ana continued to be a SWE advocate and held other leadership roles in the Ft. Worth SWE Chapter as well as serving on the National Finance Committee focusing on the EIN Sub-Team. Aside from construction Ana’s passion is community outreach she has volunteered at various Design Your World STEM Conference, Robotics Competition, introduce a Girl to Engineering, Cookie Box Competition partnered with the North Texas Girl Scouts, Girls Inc. and the FT. Worth Science and History Museum. SWE has allowed her to continue to give back to the community by building and creating hands on engineering activities which encourage young kids to pursue a STEM career. As a young girl Ana did not know what engineering careers were out there and pursued Architecture for the first year and a half in college. It wasn’t until she stumbled across the engineering building where she found her true career path. “I want everyone to know what engineering is”
Ana is currently a Team Lead at JLL – Bank of America Account managing a team of project managers completing renovations for financial centers in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona. Prior to becoming a Team Lead Ana was a Sr. Project Manager working on ground up and interior fit out new financial centers. Ana’s other passion is construction the feeling of accomplishment is unmatched when you see your project completed. Working through unforeseen challenges and finding a solution is the most rewarding part of her job. Ana enjoys the fast-paced environment of the construction industry and with her strong communication skills she has built lasting relationships with clients, contractors and stakeholders.
In her new role Ana enjoys passing along her knowledge and lessons learn to her team. She is also involved with the Women’s Business Network, and Latino Employee Resource Network at work where she has coordinated sock drives for local women’s shelters in her region, fundraised for No Kid Hungry, Wreaths Across America and Great Strides – Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Dallas SWE would like to thank the 60+ volunteers who served us last weekend on March 19th for the return of our award-winning outreach event, Design Your World!
We were thrilled to get to bring back our favorite outreach event again this year, this time to over 65 Girl Scouts in the Dallas area! We had such a blast doing multiple hands-on engineering projects with the girls, speed networking, and learning about the many exciting options that a STEM journey can unlock.
We have no shortage of high-caliber, diverse talent in Dallas SWE! Our volunteers are truly outstanding for knocking it out of the park! A special thank you to rock-star volunteers for going above and beyond in your volunteer role with the girls: Kristi Thiele, Elizabeth Hourigan, Ashley Johnson, Ashanti Napper, Katia Gomez, Kimberley Reid, Gretchen Landego, and Kara Chidester!
Thank you to our partners at Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, Hillary St. John, Gerri Gordon, Lex Delley, Dhriti Stocks, and Aasya Peera for allowing Dallas SWE complete creative control in designing the program and activities for the girls. Thank you for all of your support and trust!
Our Activity Leads, Ashton McCary, Cyonna Holmes, and Ana Gonzalez, designed, led, and coached the girls through the engineering challenges for each of their activities. Thanks to the three of you, for truly bringing engineering to life for the girls by taking on such an important role in the event planning and delivery.
Our career panelists, Ashanti Napper, Ashley Johnson, Kimberley Reid, Liz Hainey and Carla Blickensderfer for sharing your inspiring stories, journeys, and wisdom with the girls. You are an inspiration to not only them, but to us volunteers, too!
Special thank you to Amanda Alsbrook, Lynn Mortensen, and Sammy Zellner, for the strategic guidance and help all along the way.
We would not have done it without this amazing team! We appreciate everyone’s support in making the return of this event so successful. As it is a rebuilding year, we could not have done it without all of you!
It’s that time of year again! We are gearing up to elect a new Dallas SWE Executive Council. Nominations for FY23 Dallas SWE Leadership are now open!
Do you know someone whose expertise and values should be represented on the leadership team? Would you personally like to participate in a leadership role? SWE is a great place to showcase your leadership skills, give back to your community, and build a network of engineering professionals and friends. Dallas SWE is currently seeking nominations for officers to serve for FY23, beginning July 1, 2022. There are 6 positions available and self-nominations are highly encouraged! By our section bylaws, elected officers must be voting members of Dallas SWE in good standing with the Society.
This spring, Dallas SWE voting members will participate in an election for the following offices:
President
Executive Vice President
Vice President of Membership
Vice President of Outreach
Secretary
Investment Committee (3-year term, 1 open position)
Formal responsibilities can be found in our section bylaws. You can also view practical descriptions and estimated time commitments of our assigned activities here. Please e-mail any questions to FY21 Nomination Committee Chair, Haley Barnes McKeefer at haley.jm.mckeefer@gmail.com.
Please submit nominations to haley.jm.mckeefer with Subject Line “FY23 Nominations” by Friday, April 1st at 11:59 pm.
Please read below for open position descriptions.
Dallas SWE Officer Key Duties and Responsibilities
Officers are expected to attend monthly 1-hour executive council meetings, usually conference calls on a weekday evening. The schedule for the year is agreed-upon by officers each year. At the start of each fiscal year, a day-long officer transition meeting is held to share lessons learned from outgoing officers to incoming officers and bring everyone up to speed on Dallas SWE happenings.
President (1-year term)
The President represents the section to the public and the Society, presides over executive council meetings, has fiduciary responsibilities as an authorized signatory on Dallas SWE financial accounts, and provides oversight and guidance to the rest of the Dallas SWE leadership team (executive council and committee chairs). It is expected that the President manages the Dallas SWE email account and attend as many Dallas SWE meetings/events as possible. Estimated time commitment: 5-10 hours per week.
Executive Vice President (1-year term)
The Executive Vice President shall assume the duties of the President if he/she is temporarily unable to serve, arranges meeting locations and speakers for monthly professional development programs (Programs Committee) and provides oversight and guidance to the Nominating Committee. Estimated time commitment: 1-5 hours per week.
Vice President of Membership (1-year term)
The VP of Membership welcomes new members, oversees member recruitment and retention programs and social activities (Membership Committee), and coordinates award submissions (Professional Awards Committee). Estimated time commitment: 1-5 hours per week.
Vice President of Outreach (1-year term)
The VP of Outreach creates, organizes, and manages outreach events (Outreach DYW Committee), coordinates the scholarship and certificates program (Outreach STEM Committee), and oversees the creation Outreach awards submissions (Outreach Awards Committee). Currently, our Outreach events include two large Design Your World conferences and a handful of smaller events each year. Estimated time commitment: 5-10 hours per week during peak activity (DYW event planning).
Treasurer (2-year term)
The Treasurer is responsible for the collection, distribution, and safekeeping of section funds via an annual budget approved by the executive council, preparing reports on the financial position of the section including an end of year financial report submitted to the Society and the IRS, and providing guidance and oversight to the Fundraising Committee and Scholarship Committee. The Treasurer also works with the Investment Committee to manage Dallas SWE’s annual funding of scholarships. The Treasurer’s term is 2 fiscal years. Estimated time commitment: 1-3 hours per week.
Secretary (1-year term)
The Secretary maintains the records of the section, coordinates communications on behalf of the section (via the Dallas SWE website, email newsletters, and social media accounts), and provides oversight and guidance to the Webmaster and Social Media Committee. Estimated time commitment: 1- 5 hours per week
Investment Committee – 2 position (3-year term)
The members of the Investment Committee are charged with providing historical perspectives and guidance on Dallas SWE’s financial investment accounts, primarily to ensure future funding of scholarships. This is the only Dallas SWE committee whose members are elected instead of appointed. Estimated time commitment: <1 hour per month
Come join Dallas SWE for our Spring Membership social on April 9 from 3-5 PM at Cottonwood Park! We will be focusing on this year’s International Women’s Day theme, ‘Break the Bias’. We will be discussing ways we can break biases in the workplace while doing crafts and stress relieving activities. This will be a hybrid event for those who re still concerned about in person meetings. If you are planning on being virtual, please RSVP by April 2nd. If you are planning on attending in person, please RSVP by April 6th.
On Friday, January 21st, Dallas SWE was honored to speak at the Girls in STEM Club at Jasper High School in Plano. Speakers Rana Karimi, Cyonna Holmes, and Pratiksha Jaju spoke to a diverse group of over 40 high school young women in the Girls in STEM Club! It was an engaging session with great questions posted by the students. Some of the key themes from the session were: trusting and believing in yourself, being open to possibilities, and staying true to your values. We covered a variety of topics from life sciences, to manufacturing, to consulting and all that is possible with an engineering degree. Our panelists truly enjoyed the opportunity to speak to such motivated young ladies about all of the exciting opportunities that a career in STEM can unlock. Many of the members in attendance expressed how much they enjoyed hearing from our speakers and how much they learned about the limitless opportunities within engineering. Thank you to all of the talented young women who attended!
Congratulations to Dallas SWE’s February/March Member of the Month, Cyonna Holmes!
Cyonna grew up in Dallas and attended The Hockaday School. She graduated from Stanford University with a BS in Bioengineering. After college, Cyonna attended UT Southwestern Medical Center where she graduated with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Her dissertation research focused on perfusion solution optimization and nanoparticle-mediated delivery of microRNA to the heart during heart transplant surgery. While in graduate school, she co-founded and led The Association of African- American Scientists, an organization focused on the recruitment and retention of underrepresented students in STEM fields. In this role, she worked with a team to hold High School STEM conferences, host speaker events, and organize seminars.
Cyonna is currently the Global Senior Manager of Marketing and Strategy for Pharmaceutical Solutions at Celanese, where she leads ophthalmology strategy. She works to develop and execute strategy for business growth and product market entry for ocular implants into the pharmaceutical sector. Prior to this role, Cyonna was a Life Sciences Consultant in Los Angeles at a Consulting Firm, L.E.K., where she advised pharma, biotech, medical device, and healthcare companies on business strategy which included M&A screening and due diligence, life cycle management strategy, market entry, revenue opportunity analysis, and more.
As a previous Stanford Society of Women Engineers member, Girls Inc. Mentor, and Big Brothers, Big Sisters Mentor, Cyonna has always been deeply passionate about outreach and diversifying STEM fields. Cyonna quotes, “Since moving back to Dallas, The Dallas Society of Women Engineers has been an exciting way to continue sharing my love of science and engineering through outreach. The VP of Outreach, Rana, does an amazing job of creating a supportive, welcoming environment where members feel empowered to pursue and lead activities that interest them. If anyone is looking to get more involved with Dallas Society of Women Engineers, I highly recommend joining the outreach team. Volunteering is a great entry point into Dallas SWE!” Cyonna is currently on the outreach committee where she serves as an activity lead for The Girl Scouts Design Your World Event. She is also engaged with school and community partnerships and book club.
