The next Design Your World STEM Conference for Girls will take place on Saturday, April 1, 2017 at Southern Methodist University (SMU).
Design Your World is a STEM-based conference for girls in grades K-12. The conference is held twice a year (Fall and Spring). The Chairperson coordinates the planning and execution of the conference and recruit and organize committee members and leads. Leads are needed for registration, media, parent/educator session, student activities, logistics, volunteers, opening/closing ceremony and food/t-shirt orders.
If you are interested in being part of the planning committee please let us know by emailing dallas.swe@gmail.com.
On December 8, members of our Outreach Committee attended the UT Dallas BEST Robotics UIL Division Championship at Frisco Arena, sharing information about SWE Next and talking to parents and students about what it’s like being an engineer! They also met some engineering professionals who weren’t aware of Dallas SWE and talked to them about our upcoming activities and opportunities to join in the fun. Stay tuned to your email and social media for upcoming opportunities to join our Outreach Committee in their activities!
Lynn Mortensen, Zaineb Ahmad, and Kate Van Dellen overlooking the robotics competition area.
With our Member of the Month program, Dallas SWE seeks to recognize some of our non-officer members whose technical contributions, leadership accomplishments, or SWE volunteer service are particularly noteworthy. If you would like to nominate a Dallas SWE member for his/her contributions, please email us.
This December, we feature Teri Cate as our Member of the Month! Teri Cate has a BS in Earth Science from the University of New Orleans and over 10 years of experience in the IT industry. She started in the founding company, Geophysical Service Inc., of Texas Instruments doing seismic data processing. Afterwards she moved to the Defense Business for several years and then the Corporate IT area of TI doing internal systems and application support for the facilities, environmental, and financial groups. This covered a wide range of areas from mainframe systems and client/server applications to PC Access tools and a website. Next, she focused on software quality assurance and has 12 years experience in this area which covers educational handheld devices and health care information systems.
Being customer focused, highly organized, and very detailed has helped Teri to manage projects, find solutions, and satisfy users. In her spare time, she designed and programmed a web site for the Texins Sailing Club in which she was a member for over 10 years. She is a lifetime member of the DFW Alliance of Technology and Women group and served on the Leadership Team for 8 years. She was on the founding board and served for many years with the DFW QAA organization. Her interests are in science and technology and so she continues to look for volunteer opportunities with great organizations like Dallas SWE where there are STEM activities. She has been a devoted outreach event volunteer and is a regular attendee of Dallas SWE monthly professional development meetings.
“I have enjoyed being a member of the Dallas SWE because there are so many opportunities to help out like participating on the Nominating Committee and learning how to build circuits and then teaching the kids at the Perot Museum and the Frontiers of Flight Museum on Moon Day how to do it. At the professional development meetings, you meet some really wonderful professional women with a wide variety of work experience. All the officers are hard working people who want to accomplish the objectives of SWE for their members.”
Dallas SWE will support Dallas ISD at their Dallas ISD STEM EXPO, formerly called STEM Day. The STEM EXPO is a day-long event that focuses on STEM-related careers and coursework. Participants (DISD students and family members of all age groups) engage in hands-on and interactive sessions (provided by local colleges and universities, museums, engineering organizations, and STEM-focused organizations). The Dallas ISD STEM EXPO will also include the district’s STEM competitions, showcases, and exhibits from students within Dallas ISD. DISD is expecting 2,500 people to attend the Expo. Dallas SWE will have a booth to assist the students in “building a circuit” and to give out information on Dallas SWE and SWENext.
This year’s Dallas SWE holiday party was hosted by Lennox International at their newly renovated Product Development & Research facility in Carrollton. Guests started out making Christmas ornaments and interacting with each other, enjoying delicious hors d’oeuvres and beverages. A formal welcome was issued by Manny Molera and Amanda Gibbins, with thanks to Dallas SWE for our successful relationship support5ing Lennox’s diversity initiatives, exciting connections and hires made at the WE16 conference in Philadelphia, and the valuable experiences at 2016 Design Your World STEM conferences. The clear synergy between Dallas SWE and Lennox resulted in much warmth and engagement. The group then toured the HVAC test facility, learning just how extensive the research and development opportunities were. Electronics that were tested to withstand the biting cold of Alaska to the dessert climate of Saudi Arabia, drop tests that planned for accidents during shipping and delivery, tests that accounted for vibration due to the road, heat exchangers that could have multiple circuits to improve efficiency, an actual climate room that exceeded 20 feet length where multiple HVACs could be subjected to actual snow like conditions. The tour was informative and engaging with prizes for attendees who answered trivia questions on what they learned!
Lennox and Dallas SWE Leadership Teams
After the tour, the Dallas SWE President Shelley Stracener highlighted accomplishments of the year and upcoming events and thanking Manny Molera, Amanda Gibbins, Denise Grode, Jamie Son, Michelle Daluge, and Greta Leza for planning and sponsoring the holiday social. Special recognition went to Lennox’s impactful financial and activity sponsorship of Design Your World and Dallas SWE VP of Outreach Samica Norman’s leadership. A discussion on making your new years resolution was then conducted by Zaineb Ahmed, Nandika D’Souza and Amber Scheurer. Attendees reflected first on their own choices to be with people who they had come together with or known before or reach out and get to know someone new. Armed with this personal choice, attendees then were guided to reflect on their workplace. They reviewed a list of considerations developed for the WE16 talk “Strategies to Build True Inclusion in the Workplace” and evaluated whether their work experiences resulted in their feeling appreciated, included, connected, creative, well-compensated, that the corporate values match their own, and like they were part of something bigger than themselves. Then they meditated on similar parameter for their volunteer choices as well. Finally, the group developed actions and resolutions to improve these factors their work and volunteer circumstances in the new year.
Dallas SWE, NSBE DFW, and SHPE DFW have joined forces to bring out the collective best in the Dallas/Fort Worth community! First on November 19th we held our community outreach at Habitat for Humanity. Now on Jan 28, 2017 from 9:30am to 2:00pm we will have a College to Career Leadership and Transition event! Collegiate leaders and professionals in a career transition are welcome as attendees. We also need volunteers to hold resume reviews and mentoring sessions during the day. Please sign up on Eventbrite here. Space is limited so reserve your spot!
If you or your employer are interested in sponsoring lunch, please contact Nandika DSouza. Supporters will receive a public acknowledgement on our websites and at the event. Share the flyer below!
The next Design Your World STEM Conference for Girls will take place on Saturday, April 1, 2017 at Southern Methodist University (SMU).
