This past year's SWE-SD annual celebration and awards banquet was a blast. There were 64 attendees at the June 3rd banquet held at Stone Brewing in Liberty Station. We celebrated a major milestone in our section's history: thirty-five years of service as a SWE section! We also awarded four Science Fair winners from the Junior and High School divisions, and ten collegiate scholarships winners! I would like to send a huge thanks to our Banquet Chair, Denise Tung, and her hardworking team for running the behind-the-scenes operations to pull together the event: Judy Hsia, Jackie Tran, Joan Fisher, Rachel Meza, Liz Wong, Laura Hershberger, Katie Urbas (Awards chair), Kelly Seiler Vocke (Scholarship Chair), and Laura Meldrum (Science Fair Chair). Special thanks to Lesley Tallmadge, banquet Master of Ceremony; and Masha Eypak, banquet speaker, for delivering her keynote on "A STEM Guide to Feeling Good Enough"; and of course, to our wonderful and amazing volunteers for the numerous hours they've dedicated to supporting SWE and the greater San Diego community.
FY17 SWE-SD Section Honorees:
FY17 SWE-SD K-12 Outreach Volunteer of the Year:
Rachel Meza - Biomedical Researcher, UCSD
FY17 SWE-SD Member of the Year:
Liz Wong, Networking Systems Engineer, MITRE
FY17 SWE-SD Outstanding Engineer:
Michelle Davis Vargas - Quality Engineer, Illumina
In FY17, SWE-SD raised over $18,900 in funds ($10,400 in scholarships, $5,500 in K-12 outreach). A huge thank you to our new and continuing SWE-SD sponsors! We could not have successful SWE-SD programs and scholarships without their generous donations!
I’d like to thank our FY17 SWE-SD leadership team and highlight a several accomplishments from the past year! SWE-SD’s 12th annual SWE Exploring Technology (SWEET) outreach program was held in April on UCSD campus. There were 168 participants and 54 volunteers total for the single-day event including six Girl Workshops [for middle school and (first time) high school girls] and Parent & Educator Program (PEP). SWE-SD’s K-12 Outreach also continued our HS speaker program to provide eight different presentations at three different high schools, returned to Rosa Parks Elementary during Engineer’s Week, and participated in the Science Fair and Expo Day in March! In addition, SWE-SD had an abundant professional development program including our (first ever!) Past Presidents Panel (featuring Karen Liu FY91, Debra Kimberling FY92, Louise Julig FY93, Andi Corrao FY94, Joan Fisher FY01-02), Annual Executive Speaker (Latitude 32 Engineering), Speaker Series program (Illumina, Project Speed, Marcy Morrison), three Technical Tours (Illumina, Ballast Point Brewery, Carlsbad Desalination Plant), Wine & Webinar (ViaSat), and a host of networking lunches and happy hour gatherings!
With FY17 wrapped up, I would like to welcome our new SWE-SD Executive Council for FY18! I'm excited to work with these ladies and their committees in the coming year.
SWE-SD Executive Council for FY18:
President: Liz Wong
Vice President: Shawnnah Castillo
Secretary: Kamisha Mason
Treasurer: Joan Fisher
Section Representative: Laura Hershberger
Alternate Section Rep: Harmonie Jacobson
In addition, we also have several local section members serving across the Society in FY18! Natalie Vanderspiegel is serving as Deputy Speaker of the Senate. Joan Fisher and Susie Kirkland are on the Leadership Coaching Committee. Liz Wong is on the Professional Development Grant (PDG) Committee. Debra Kimberling is the Educator Chair on the K-12 Outreach Committee.
We are starting to fill the calendar with meetings to kick start the planning for FY18. We are looking for your input to help shape and drive SWE SD’s goals for this year! So, if you have an idea for a STEM outreach activity or have a favorite eatery/brewery to meet up for lunch/HH with your SWE-sters or have an idea for a speaker topic or technical tour, we want to hear from you! Contact us at swe.sandiego@gmail.com. More details will be shared online throughout the year at swesandiego.org.
Also, with FY18 just getting started, this is a great time to make sure your swe.org profile is up-to-date and that you’ve renewed your SWE membership! Membership in SWE has a ton of benefits including access to a strong community and network of women engineers, and resources for education and professional development. Feel free to reach out to SWE-SD, or directly to SWE HQ at membership@swe.org with questions on renewal.
Looking forward to seeing you soon at the FY18 Open House on August 31st!
Sincerely,
Liz Wong
FY18 SWE-SD President