Welcome from your new RCCE!

Welcome to the Society of Women Engineers Region C blog, the premiere source for the Region C SWE news, and beneficial engineering topics!

My name is Caitlin Rieger, and I am very excited to be serving as your Region Collegiate Communications Editor for FY12! Please feel free to email me your thoughts, suggestions, or feedback for improving the blog: rcce-c@swe.org

Thanks so much for stopping by, and make sure to bookmark the webpage for future use, and subscribe to the blog (check out the bottom of the left column). It is a great way to stay notified about posts. Remember to leave posts, join the discussions and to share your ideas for improving SWE!

Region Positions!

Hello SWEsters!

It sure has been a long time! This years first blog post is going to be dedicated to running for Region positions. Now I may be a little biased, but I think everyone should consider running (and yes, that means you too!). Holding a region position opens the door to a plethora of opportunities. You get the chance to network with accomplished, driven women engineers. You get to learn more about SWE beyond the section level.You get to travel to a fun city for the Collegiate Leadership Forum to learn more about your responsibilities before the semester starts (Next year it’s in Minneapolis, MN). Seriously, I could go on but for the sake of being concise and not losing the readers attention, the bottom line is this: You should run for a position! Now that I’ve said my piece, here’s more info:

Applications are due FEBRUARY 5, 2012!

Positions include:

Region Collegiate Representatives and Region Collegiate Communications Editor: The RCR is responsible for representing collegiate members’ interests among regional leaders. The RCCE is responsible for communicating important SWE events and best practices through the region’s blog. Plus, the RCR(s) and RCCE from each region will have the opportunity to attend next summer’s Collegiate Leadership Forum in Minneapolis, MN. Click here to learn more about the positions.

Region Collegiate Senators: The RCS is responsible for chartering the strategic direction and adopting long-range goals for the Society. The alternate RCS is responsible for fulfilling her Senator’s duties if the Senator is unable to perform her tasks. The RCS from each region will also have the opportunity to attend next summer’s Collegiate Leadership Forum in Minneapolis, MN. Click here to learn more about the positions.

To apply:

Please click here to apply or copy and paste the following URL in your browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/fy13_rcr_rcce_rcs_appl

• To apply you will need:
• Member number
• Section/Region
• School and Permanent Address
• Position of interest
• SWE leadership positions
• Other leadership positions
• Why you want to be RCR/RCCE/RCS
• What you bring to the RCR/RCCE/RCS position
• What SWE means to you
• Interest outside of SWE
• Reference to confirm GPA/academic standing

Please also submit a 1-3 minute video that describes why you are running for the position, your name, year in school, major, SWE leadership experience, why people should vote for you, etc. Send the video to SWE.Collegiate.Elections@gmail.com by February 5, 2012 . Note that the video does not need to be submitted with the Survey Monkey application but does need to be emailed before the deadline. The video must be high enough quality to post on YouTube and should be under 25MB.

If elected, you will need to secure your own housing accommodations for the WE12 Conference in Houston. There are resources available through your Region Governor.

If you have any questions regarding the positions or the election process, please contact your RCR(s) or Jessica Kiefer or Jasmine Harris at rcr-rcce-coordinator@swe.org.

Until next time ladies!

-Caitlin

Engineering Retention and Resume Tips

Hi Ladies!

I hope everyone had a relaxing Thanksgiving full of delicious food, friends and of course football! Between Black Friday and the colder weather (yay!) I hope everyone’s starting to get into the holiday spirit.

I have two bits of awesome information to pass along this week! First, is an article from the New York Times that discusses why engineering majors have low retention rates – about 40% of people planning on majoring in engineering end up switching to different majors. Speaking from personal experience, difficult abstract courses can definitely be discouraging when trying to see the engineering degree big picture. Mentorship is the perfect way to help this problem (I know that I can speak firsthand to how beneficial it is to retention)! If your collegiate section doesn’t have a mentorship program for freshman/sophomore students, I definitely urge you to consider starting one! Upperclassmen can provide a plethora of helpful information about courses, professors, and career opportunities. Professional members, consider starting a advising program with a nearby collegiate SWE section, or volunteer to come share your experiences at a lunch, meeting or social event. There’s nothing better than talking to and learning from a woman in industry to see the results of hard work and the practical application of college courses!

Universities Try To Figure How To Lower The Attrition Rate Of Engineering Majors.

The New York Times (11/6, ED16, Drew, Subscription Publication) reported, “Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and science majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree.” The Times reports, “The bulk of attrition comes in engineering and among pre-med majors, who typically leave STEM fields if their hopes for medical school fade.” Other deterrents are the demanding “freshman classes, typically followed by two years of fairly abstract courses leading to a senior research or design project.” Some “of the best-prepared students find engineering education too narrow and lacking the passion of other fields.”

Secondly, for all the internship/job hunters out there submitting resumes for jobs, I have some intriguing information to pass along to y’all about how to make your resume stand out. Make sure to check out all the helpful tips below:

Calling All Recruiters—Is anyone out there?

 Online job services were meant to automate the job search process and get job seekers in front of prospective new employers quicker. How well is it working for you? If you’ve sent out dozens of resumes and gotten little or no response it probably feels like you’re shooting your resume out into some vast black hole with no recipient at the other end. Do you feel like shouting “hey, is anyone out there?”

To better your odds of that your resume is being seen by a real person who can offer you a real job, here are three guideline to make your resume more effective.

1.      Include Key Words

With paper resumes a thing of the past, employers use candidate tracking databases to store resumes. Recruiters and hiring managers use key words to quirey for appropriately matching candidate resumes. If you aren’t using the right words to describe your employment experiences, then your resume might be rejected before it’s ever seen. Review key words your resume uses to:

•        Describe your current career objective. Do your qualifications match the job description? Look closely at areas listing your technical skills, job responsibilities and core competencies.
•        Attract your industry. Are you using your industries current buzzwords? Avoid obsolete terms and phases that may label you as behind the times.
•        Attract your occupational field. Does your resume give the impression of that you’re on the cutting edge or over the hill?

2.      Use the Correct Electronic Version

If your resume can’t be opened as an attachment, then it can’t be seen. Because of the threat of computer viruses many companies only accept resumes through their own online forms which ask you to cut and paste (rather than attach) your resume. Make sure you are sending your resume in a format that will work for the recipient.

• If a resume attachment is requested: Save your resume as a Word document (.doc or .rft). This is the standard most company’s use. It should retain the formatting that you used for your resume so long as you avoid fancy formatting options such as columns, boxes and tables.
• If an email or online form is used: Use ASCII, plain text, or text only. This removes formatting, but the information is preserved. Be sure to review your resume before sending it so that it is still easy to read and user friendly

3. Make Your Resume stand out from the Crowd

With hundreds of candidates to choose from, what makes your resume shout, “Pick me!”? If your qualifications are similar or equal to the vast majority of other candidates, employers will need a compelling reason to select you out of the crowd. You need a differentiating edge or you’ll be ignored.

The best way to differentiate your resume from others is with accomplishments. And those accomplishments really stand out when:

•        They are quantified or measurable. Can you define how much you accomplished in dollars saved, contracts won, or percent changed?
•        They highlight your transferable skills. Can this company use your skills, even if your job experience is in a different industry? Transferable skills help employers visualize you in their organization.
•        They show corporate impact. How can you help them save time, save money, increase their profit margin, improve sales, or increase revenue?

While the Internet is still a great tool for job seekers to connect quickly with employers, take steps to insure employers who need your skills won’t ignore your resume. Before you apply online again, use these three tips to make sure your resume gets the attention it deserves!

More more information:

Deborah Walker, Certified Career Management Coach

Read more career tips and see sample resumes at: www.AlphaAdvantage.com

Email: Deb@Alphaadvantage.com

Until next time SWEsters!

-Caitlin

Women Aren’t Becoming Engineers Because of Confidence Issues

Hello SWEster!

“Women are less likely than men to stay in engineering majors and to become engineers because they want to have families and are more insecure about their math abilities, right? Not necessarily.”

These are the opening lines to an article recently published by the American Sociological Association about women in Engineering. The article continues by stating that women tend to lack professional role confidence, which is the belief that they can go out and be successful professional engineers, and they lack the belief that engineering fits their beliefs and values. “Women engineering students go to the same classes, take the same tests, and get the same GPAs as men, sometimes even higher. But, what we found is that the women in (the) study developed less confidence in their engineering expertise than men did and they also developed less confidence that engineering is the career that fits them best, even though they went through the same preparation process as men.”

What are the reasons behind this feeling of incompetence? The subtle differences in the way that men and women are treated in engineering programs and from cultural ideologies about what it means to be a competent engineer are to blame. Several recommendations were given to help alleviate this problem. Firstly, they recommended bringing practicing engineers into the classroom. They even suggested that some of these engineers could come from women in engineering organizations (like SWE! ). It was also recommended that engineering programs offer more directed internship opportunities that place students with working engineers on real-world engineering projects.

Make sure to check out the article for more information!

On another note, in an effort to promote membership in SWE, specifically C2C (Collegiate to Career) I am posting a great promotional tool to be distributed out to your sections!

Thanks to Engineering…

Hello SWEsters!

This month, in honor of Thanksgiving, this blog post is dedicated to giving recognition to the engineering innovations of the past century, revolutions that through creativity and a little math and science, have come to shape our society. In my search for revolutionary engineering ideas, I came across a fore ward to a novel written by Neil Armstrong that I think is wonderfully fitting for this blog topic. Here is a portion of that fore ward:

      “Engineering is often associated with science and understandably so. Both make extensive use of mathematics, and engineering and require a solid scientific basis. Yet as any scientist or engineer will tell you, they are quite different. Science is a quest for “truth for its own sake,” for an ever more exact understanding of the natural world. It explains the change in the viscosity of a liquid as its temperature is varied, the release of heat when water vapor condenses, and the reproductive process of plants. It determines the speed of light. Engineering turns those explanations and understandings into new or improved machines, technologies, and processes—to bring reality to ideas and to provide solutions to societal needs.

 

     During the past century, the engineering disciplines, which had been principally civil and mechanical, broadened with the addition of a number of new sectors such as metallurgical, automotive, electrical, and aeronautical and deepened with the development of new methods, powerful computational tools, and dependable testing techniques. This evolution has left its imprint on our society in countless ways. Certainly the ability to cross continents and oceans in a matter of hours has changed our sense of the size of the world—it is a much smaller place than it was in our great-grandparents’ day or even our grandparents’ day. The world is also smaller by virtue of our being able to communicate instantly with people at a distance, whether across town, across the state, or on the other side of the globe by telephone or electronic mail. 

 

     There are myriad other ways in which engineering has affected society and our quality of life, ways we so take for granted they are virtually invisible to us. In part that may be because we each have our own definition of the term “quality of life.” One person might think having no need to work would be ideal, while another person would think having a great deal of work to do would be ideal. But most of us would probably acknowledge that certain living conditions are essential to a preferred quality in our own lives. Think for a moment about what your day would be like if you turned on the tap in the morning and there was no water. Of if you knew that the water coming from the tap needed to be boiled before it was safe to drink or to use to brush your teeth. A century ago, typhoid fever, cholera, and other waterborne diseases could strike anyone at any time. Today, clean, safe water is something everyone can expect in most of the developed world.”

 

     I thought these few paragraphs were wonderful, and really put into perspective the amazing engineering innovations that have impacted our world, and that we should be so thankful for whether we are cognizant of them or not!

On another note, information is out about applying to host Regional Conference next year (2013). Collegiate Sections, make sure to take a look at the information – you should definitely consider hosting it! Not only does it bring visibilty to your school/section, but it’s also a great way to bring in money! Here’s the timeline for application process:

November 1, 2011: Receive bid tool kit (Email Lora Lechago if you did not receive this information via email)

January 15, 2012: Submit the bid package to the Region Governor (Carol Bachman: Carol.Bachman@SWE.org)

January 27-29, 2012: Answer questions about your bid at the 2012 Region Conference in Lubbock Texas

Early May: Receive word of the results of voting by the Region Council

That’s all from me ladies. Until next time!

-Caitlin

 

Blog Post Contest Winners!

Hi Ladies!

A little over a month ago, Region C kick started a blog post contest where SWE collegiate members could submit essays about “What SWE Means to You” for a chance to be featured on the blog, and win an 80 dollar reimbursement for annual conference. After extensive review by a panel of SWE judges, the results are in!! The top essay submission is below:

What does SWE mean to me?

 

     My involvement in SWE began as a way to meet some more girls in engineering. But since joining SWE, I feel that I have learned so much about my major, career options, and even myself.

 

     I love being part of an organization that is so involved. I have had so many valuable opportunities to network with companies, learning more about industry opportunities and life as a woman in engineering. I also have found many ways to give back to my community and the university while volunteering through SWE, and discovered my leadership potential through officer and executive positions.

 

     I have found that I love getting girls excited about engineering! I have had many opportunities in outreach since joining SWE, from designing engineering competitions for our annual high school conference to planning and executing a week-long summer camp. SWE has given me so many opportunities to mentor, share my passion, and express my excitement about engineering to a generation that may end up solving our world’s problems.

 

     And I still get my girl time that I was looking for when I first joined. I know that I have already made lifelong friends and memories that will last forever.

 

Kate Stuckman, junior Electrical Engineering major from Texas A&M University

 

Congrats to Kate Stuckman! She wins an 80 dollar reimbursement for Annual conference for her awesome essay. The other four winners, who also win 80 dollars each, are:

Second Place: Beatrik “Dela” Jakub-Wood from Louisiana Tech University

Third Place: Kalpanee Gunasingha from Louisiana State University

Fourth Place: Natasha Inamdar from Texas A&M University

Congratulations to all the winners, we’ll be contacting you soon about receiving your prizes! And thanks to all you submitted essays. They were all so wonderful! We’ll be having a similar contest for Regional Conference in Lubbock, Texas this January, so make sure to keep an eye out for contest details very soon!

 

Best,

Caitlin