Valley Views A Bi-Monthly Publication for the SWE Sacramento Valley Section

Transcription

1 Valley Views A Bi-Monthly Publication for the SWE Sacramento Valley Section In this issue New Member Profiles... 2 Chelsea Spier... 2 SWE Community News... 2 Great Turnout for SWE SVS Planning Meeting... 2 SWE Sac Valley to Walk for 17th Year in Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Event... 3 Scholarship Futures... 4 A New Scholarship Fundraising Tool: Bidding For Good... 5 SWE SVS Celebrates Local Girls Robotics Team 4498 Team X participation in the 2015 world championships... 5 SWE SVS Educational Outreach: Helping Young Women to Become Future Engineers & Scientists.. 6 FY Officer Roster... 7 Business & Events Calendar... 8 Upcoming Events QUARTERLY LUNCH September 25, 2015, 12:00 pm August - September 2015 Black Bear Diner, 255 Second Street, Davis Join fellow SWE people for a relaxing lunch at Black Bear Diner in Davis! Please contact Wendy Cohen to RSVP or if you have questions. You re welcome to show up without an RSVP and just pull up a chair. Contact: Wendy Cohen, wcohen@dcn.org, (530) MAKING STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER WALK October 18, 2015, 9:00 am Police Officers Memorial, Across 10 th St from the Capitol in Downtown Sacramento Come one, come all and join the SWE Team for this 17th year of our participation in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk! See article on page 4 for info on how to join and/or support the team. Contact: Wendy Cohen, wcohen@dcn.org, (530) ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS FUNDRAISER AND SILENT AUCTION October 22, 2015, 6 8pm Blue Prynt Restaurant, th St, Downtown Sacramento Support local engineers in their clean water projects in Kenya and Panama. Tickets available at sac.org. Contact: Christine Rice, tc.rice@yahoo.com, (530) Society of Women Engineers Aug Sept 2015 Sacramento Valley Section Page 1

2 New Member Profiles CHELSEA SPIER became very active after graduating. She helped revitalize the San Joaquin Valley Section in 2008, held officer positions every year since then, and was the SWE counselor to UOP. Last year, the SJV Section and UOP Student Section hosted the Regional Conference, which was a lot of work. Chelsea also was the Regional Lieutenant Governor in FY With a 9 month old baby, Chelsea doesn t have much spare time. When she does, she enjoys anything outdoors, including day hiking, going to the beach, and generallyy being out in nature. Welcome to SWE Sac Valley, Chelsea! SWE Community News Chelsea Spier received her BS in Civil Engineering from University of the Pacific (UOP) in 2006 and her MS in Environmental Engineering from UOP in After graduatingg with her BS, she continued her job working for UOP s Ecological Engineering Research Program. It s a small office consisting of a professor, 2 stafff members, and a number of students. The group does research on a wide variety of environmental subjects. Chelsea has been involved in several water quality studies, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, optimization of anaerobic digesters turning waste into methane for energy, and studying the environmental effects of hydraulic fracturing. In October 2014, Chelsea had a baby, and although she enjoyed her job, the funding was unstable from year to year, so she started looking for another job. In April 2015, she moved to Sacramento and went to work for the California Department of Water Resources. She is a water resources engineer in the flood maintenance office working on levees and other hydraulic structures, including inspections and project management of repairs. It s completely different from her previous job, and she likes it so far, especially being able to get out in the field twice a week. Chelsea wasn t involved in SWE during college but GREAT TURNOUT FOR SWE SVS PLANNING MEETING SWE SVS had its first planning meeting of the year to set goals and events for the year. We had great attendance and the classic events of the year such as the holiday dinner and Y.E.S! event then also opened the conversation up to any events that the chapter would like to start this year. There were many great ideas mentioned but some of the main events are listed below: Technical Tour at Folsom Dam Society of Women Engineers Sacramento Valley Section Aug Sept 2015 Page 2

3 Technical Tour at a Recycling Facility Partner Events with Sierra Foothills Section A mentoring event with our collegiate members We are very excited about this next year and adding some new events! If there are any events you would like to add or see, please let us know! Thanks again everyone! SWE Sac Valley and Sierra Foothills sections have again teamed up to participate in this 3 mile walk, which we ve done since 1999 to raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. The walking route starts at the west steps of the Capitol building, SWE SAC VALLEY TO WALK FOR 17TH YEAR IN MAKING STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER EVENT - COME JOIN US! Come one, come all and join the SWE Team for this 17th year of our participation in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk on Sunday, Oct. 18; meet at 9:00 am at the Police Officers Memorial across 10th Street from the Capitol. If you can t join the walk but want to make a donation, use the link below and click on Donate Now. Society of Women Engineers Sacramento Valley Section SWE SVS Making Strides in Previous Years! Aug Sept 2015 Page 3

4 goes down Capitol Mall towards the Tower Bridge and then along the waterfront before winding its way back to the start. It s a worthy cause and a fun time walking together and catching up with SWE friends during the hour or so it takes to complete. Over the years, our combined SWE Team has raised tens of thousands of dollars to help ACS's unique mission to fight cancer on 4 fronts: research, education, advocacy, and patient services. You don t have to be a SWE member to join the team, so bring a friend. You re not required to raise money but if you know of anyone who would like to donate, definitely let them know. To join the team, just follow these easy steps: Go to desagainstbreastcancer/msabccy15ca?team _id= &pg=team&fr_id=69967&_ga= Click on Join Our Team Fill in the various pages to join the team For assistance or more information, please contact Wendy Cohen at wcohen@dcn.org. We hope to have a big team this year! SCHOLARSHIP FUTURES Do you remember the Scholarship Fundraiser and Awards Ceremony we had in April? Or in May 2014, April 2013, May 2012, or any of the many we have had over the years? We ve had a lot of them now and have brought in and given away a lot of money for scholarships over the years. Creating the scholarship fundraiser and awards event isn t very difficult. Over the years, our section has produced a pretty streamlined system. January is a good starting point for an April event. 1. Choose a date (April May works well, based on UCD and CSUS finals schedules) 2. Choose a venue (for people), theme, and speaker(s). 3. Coordinate with Scholarship Selection Manager. 4. Invite potential donors and attendees (the best results were from firms our members work for) 5. Locate donation items for auction and raffle (we have a contact list) 6. Re invite potential donors (reminder calls) 7. Prepare thank you letters. 8. Show up, enjoy yourself, honor our scholarship recipients. 9. Count the money! We would like YOU to be on the Scholarship Fundraiser Committee and to lead the committee. There are an infinite number of variations on this theme and schedule, which allows you to be as innovative and creative as you dare! Playing a part in putting on this event provides an enormous personal reward of accomplishment, and you get to put your personal brand out there among leaders in local engineering firms. Speaking of innovations in fundraising tools, see the companion article: A New Scholarship Fundraising Tool Bidding For Good. Think about this: You Can Do This Event! And you can do it with other self directed powerhouses. For further details or questions, please contact the 2014 and 2015 Scholarship Fundraiser Manager Amy Terrell at terrella@rcip.com or (916) Picture yourself doing some of these steps. Society of Women Engineers Aug Sept 2015 Sacramento Valley Section Page 4

5 A NEW SCHOLARSHIP FUNDRAISING TOOL: BIDDING FOR GOOD SWE SVS CELEBRATES LOCAL GIRLS ROBOTICS TEAM 4498 TEAM X PARTICIPATION IN THE 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPSS These folks run online auctions for worthy non profit causes, such as our Scholarship Fundraiser. For a $600 fee, they will post our auction items for online bidders, give us access to their inventory of online auction items, community of socially conscientious minded shoppers, and a webpage to use in our promotions. They keep 33% of the winning bid, and they manage the shipping. They ve been doing this since 2003, have hosted 22,000 fundraising events, and boast that they have 450, 000 shoppers. For $800 more, they can hook us up with a mobile bidding platform and real time results that we could featuree at our scholarship fundraising event. This could be exciting to try and could significantly boost our outreach and income potential. Give it a try! Sign on for a Scholarship Fundraiserr Committeee position and seee if this could work for us. To discuss further, contact Amy Terrell at terrella@rcip.com or (916) As partt of SWE SVSS support to the SWE grant sponsored Sacramento area girl's robotics Team 4498 Team X, SVS members met with team members & coaches at Farrell ss Ice Cream to celebratee the team s participation in the April 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition World Championships. FIRST is For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. SVS members and the team members had a fun time getting to know each other, hearing about the championships, and discussing next year s goals. Of course everyone enjoyed the venue and delicious ice cream provided by SWE SVS. The team all expressed their gratitude for SWE SVS sponsorship and financial assistance which made their participation in the championships possible. As a token of the team s appreciation they presented SWE SVS with a self made plaque of the Team 4498 logo (shownn in the photo below) and a thank you card. Some of the current team members have graduated and will be attending college. These girls expressed that they are now interested in becoming future members of college SWE sections. Looking forward to next year, everyone is hopeful that a SWE SVS Society of Women Engineers Sacramento Valley Section Aug Sept 2015 Page 5

6 relationship and sponsorshipp can assist with future goals for a new girls robotics team. If you want to know more about how you or your company can assist in a team sponsorship p, please contact Lorraine Larsen Hallock, SWE Outreach Coordinator at l.larsen hallock@sbcglobal.net or (530) SWE SVS EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH: HELPING YOUNG WOMEN TO BECOME FUTURE ENGINEERS & SCIENTISTS Local schools need support from women engineers and scientists in their efforts to promote the retention of young girls in the math, science, and engineeringg courses from middle school through high school. Here are some opportunities for you or your company or employer to assist in promoting future engineers and scientists. 1. The School of Engineering & Sciences (SES), a Sacramento City Unified School District small school serving grades 7 through 12, seeks professional and collegiatee engineering and science guest speakers, mentors, and engineering project assistance throughout the academic year.. Professionals and college students eager to support the next generation of young female engineers and scientists are invited to participate in whatever capacity they're able: lunchtime speaker series, classroom speakers, career day speaker series, and/or occasional Saturday gatherings and projects. Details of scheduled dates and needs will be provided once thee school yearr begins. If you are interested in participating, please contact the SWE SVS Outreach Coordinator, Lorraine Larsen Hallock. 2. SESS also provides regular mentoring sessions (in person and web based) for students as part of their yearly Science/Engineering projects. More mentors are needed to meet the needs of the students. Mentoring sessions are generally offered every Friday during the school day from 8:15am through 3:10pm during class times. Last year the concept of web based mentoring was implemented. The school welcomes any level of mentoring you can assist with; e.g. an hour or twoo each Friday or even short term commitments suchh as a one time mentoring session. The mentoring schedule is coordinated by Patrick Wong of the California Air Resources Board (ARB). As part of preparation forr the coming school year, Patrick is offering mentor training sessions. The tentative dates for training are: Sept 2 and/or 9 (Cal EPA Building Room 510 Sacramento) meeting to plann orientation and training and update on plans for thee school year; Sept 15 (Cal EPA Building Trainingg Room 1) Science Project Mentoring Program Orientation and Recruitment; and Sept 22 (Cal EPAA Building Training Room 1) Mentor Training. If youu would like to explore how you can become a Society of Women Engineers Sacramento Valley Section Aug Sept 2015 Page 6

7 mentor, please contact Patrick Wong at or check out the SES mentor Facebook page at 3. SES also holds science & engineering fairs for the high school and middle school students (schedule TBD). In addition, the Sacramento Regional Science & Engineering Fair is generally scheduled in March. These fairs rely on volunteer judges to be successful, and there is always a need for more judges. If you would like to volunteer as a Science & Engineering Fair judge, please contact Patrick Wong at pwong@arb.ca.gov. 4. SWE SVS supported the girls robotics team, Team 4498/Team X, through donation this past year while they participated in the World Championships. A new team will be established for next year due to the graduation of senior team members this year. Discussions with the team coach are ongoing to determine how best SWE SVS can assist, so more details to come. For certain, financial assistance is the greatest need. Donations of building material are also needed, but the types of materials needed will not be known until later in the year. Let Lorraine know if you or your company is interested in supporting the robotics team next year. If you have any questions you may contact Lorraine Larsen Hallock, SWE Outreach Coordinator and member liaison to SES, at l.larsenhallock@sbcglobal.net or (530) Thank you for supporting the young women who will follow your footsteps into the engineering field! FY Officer Roster President Vice President Treasurer Section Rep CSUS Counselor Chelsea Gillis gillis.chelsea@gmail.com Natalie Muradian nmuradian08@hotmail.com Vyomini Upadhyay (916) vyomini21@gmail.com Paula McDonald (916) paulalmcdonald@sbcglobal.net Lynne Koropp lynne@csus.edu UCD Linda N. Finley Counselor (916) Linda.N.finley@usace.army.mil Scholarship Selection Coordinator Scholarship Event Coordinator Outreach Coordinator Sarah Christian sarah.christian@hdrinc.com Amy Terrell terrella@rcip.com Lorraine Larsen-Hallock l.larsen-hallock@sbcglobal.net Membership Wendy Cohen Coordinator (530) wcohen@dcn.org Newsletter Christine Rice Editor (530) swesvsnewsletter@gmail.com Web Site Administrator Amy Terrell terrella@rcip.com Y.E.S! Heather Sheridan Coordinator (209) sheridanhm@bv.com Society of Women Engineers Aug Sept 2015 Sacramento Valley Section Page 7

8 Business & Events Calendar Fiscal Year Dates of Meetings/Events are subject to change Date/ Time Event Location Coordinator July 9, 2015 September 15, 2015 September 25, Planning Meeting Newsletter Articles DUE Quarterly Lunch October 2015 YES! Planning Meeting TBD October 18, 2015 October 22 24, 2015 December 3, 2015 March 12, 2016 Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk SWE National Conference Holiday Meeting YES! (Young Engineers Session) 2016 Old Spaghetti Factory, Downtown Sacramento Send Week of October 1, 2015 Black Bear Diner 255 Second Street Davis Police Officers Memorial Across 10 th St from Capitol, Downtown Sacramento Nashville, TN Café Ettore 2376 Fair Oaks Blvd Sacramento TBD Chelsea Gillis Christine Rice Wendy Cohen Heather Sheridan Wendy Cohen Heather Sheridan Society of Women Engineers Aug Sept 2015 Sacramento Valley Section Page 8