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SEC & Virtual Engineering Expo
SEC Logo Photo / SEC
Student Engineers’ Council and Virtual Engineering Expo
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Article / Julia A. Pimentel
The Student Engineers’ Council (SEC) at Virginia Tech is a team of 14 undergraduate engineering students dedicated to supporting all 11,000 students within the College of Engineering (COE) by organizing career and professional development events, most notably the fall Engineering Exposition. This student-run organization is also responsible for well-known events such as the Leadership in Engineering Conference, Freshman Committee events, and Engineers’ Week (E-Week).
As an umbrella organization for design teams, professional engineering societies, and engineering-based clubs, the SEC provides funding to support each group’s endeavors in hopes of strengthening the technical and interpersonal skills of our Hokie engineers. Furthermore, the SEC opens many scholarships to all COE students, including those working on design teams at the Ware Lab, those involved in senior design or capstone projects, undergraduate researchers, and more.
1. Shivani Bajaj ............................................................................................................. President 2. Alexandra Peck ................................................................................................ Vice President 3. Taylor Kulik ................................................................................................ Director of Finance 4. Tony Mistichelli ................................................................................. Director of Philanthropy 5. Camellia Pastore ........................................................................... Director of Administration 6. Mark Seymour ........................................................................................ Director of Relations 7. Mariam Hasan .................................................................................... Engineering Expo Chair 8. Ryan Gniadek ........................................... Leadership in Engineering Conference (LEC) Chair 9. Soumya Khanna ..................................................................... Information Management Chair 10. Molly Zuidema ...................................................................... Awards and Scholarships Chair 11. Gabi Dugan .................................................................................................... Publicity Chair 12. William Stadtlander ............................................................... Membership Enrichment Chair 13. Matt Genberg .................................................................................... Engineers’ Week Chair 14. Vitha Anumolu ............................................................................ Freshman Committee Chair
In light of the effects COVID-19, the SEC is looking forward to broadening the scope of what they provide to Virginia Tech’s College of Engineering: SEC Mission: To provide students with the tools and opportunities they need to succeed, both in and out of the classroom.
“Since we are going virtual, we can’t do a lot of the in-person events that we normally do. We have to figure out what we are providing our student body, what is our student body, how can we provide resources to our student body, how can we make sure students get what they want from the SEC, and how can we do more?” - Hasan, SEC Engineering Expo Chair
2020 Virtual Engineering Exposition
Addressing the student concern of not being able to attend career fairs in person, SEC is determined to “make Engineering Expo as comfortable and easy as
possible.” - Hasan
Students talking to company representatives at the annual
Engineering Expo career fair. Photo / SEC
Engineering Exposition, more commonly known as Engineering Expo, is the largest engineering career fair at Virginia Tech, with historically over 350 companies in attendance. In the past, the Expo has been held in-person. Given the limitations placed on university gatherings, the SEC is going virtual via Brazen, a user-friendly virtual career fair platform. The platform features a search engine that allows users to easily look up companies and read recruiting details and other company information. With a chat box, call recruiter option, and 1:1 video chat capability, Brazen provides different methods of communication. Moreover, it allows companies to upload their recruitment information and students to upload their resumes. Because of these features, Brazen is widely used by many other career fairs, especially the Business Horizons: “Super Bowl” event of the Pamplin College of Business.
Students talking to company representatives at the annual
Engineering Expo career fair. Photo / SEC
Approximately 6,000 people attended the 2019 Engineering Expo!
Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, SEC is strongly committed to replicating the in-person career fair experience in an online setting. Mariam Hasan, Engineering Expo Chair, shines a spotlight on the behind the scenes since she is “responsible for setting up Expo from start to finish.” A glimpse of her tasks includes making sure the Expo website is up and running, deciding the pricing model, advertising the event on social media, coordinating Expo prep events, and performing outreach by collaborating with Alumni Relations and Link, an organization that helps coordinate sponsorships with larger engineering companies.
Throughout the year, SEC holds General Assembly Meetings (GAM). The GAM before Expo typically reviews how to format one’s resume, how to give an elevator pitch, what to expect at a career fair, and similar professional development skills. SEC is introducing a Pre-Expo, a new addition to the 2020 Engineering Expo for all engineering students. Their vision for Pre-Expo is for students to register for the career fair, try out the Brazen platform, and get comfortable navigating the platform.
If you have any questions about the 2020 Virtual Engineering Expo, feel free to reach out via email to secexpo@vt.edu.
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What other events does SEC organize?
General Assembly Meetings (GAM)
“General Assembly Meetings are our primary way of interacting with our members and constituents. At these meetings, we discuss and vote on topics like organization funding, our constitution, faculty award recipients, and more. Recently, we’ve been transforming our GAM’s into events with a non-organizational focus like professional development or student feedback. We would like our general assembly meetings to serve as an engaging way for our organization to further support and prepare students in the College of Engineering.” - Shivani Bajaj, SEC President
Representatives from design teams present their EOF funding request presentations to our general body at one of our bi-weekly
GAMs. Photo / SEC
Leadership in Engineering Conference (LEC)
“[The Leadership in Engineering Conference is ] a professional development conference that brings in a diverse group of company representatives and speakers in an effort to educate and work with our engineering students. The focus of the conference is to help students recognize and learn the value of leadership skills in various engineering fields and help foster the students’ skills.” - SEC website Another large event organized by the SEC is the LEC, a conference that offers hundreds of students the opportunity to network with industry leaders and learn how to improve career and professional devel
Distinguished Virginia Tech Alum, Edward Kennedy (VT EE ‘79), presenting the keynote address for the 2019 Leadership in Engineering Conference. Mr. Kennedy has been both a public and private company CEO and member of several public and private
Board of Directors. Photo / SEC
opment skills.
On break at LEC, students ate lunch with a member of faculty participating in research where they discussed current programs at Virginia Tech and how to get involved in present-day projects.
Photo / SEC
Representative from Capital One answering questions following an LEC presentation about engineering in a business sector and how
to be successful in the digital age. Photo / SEC
Engineers’ Week (E-Week)
Students stopping by at our annual E-Week Drillfield showcase to share why they love engineering. Photo / SEC
“E-Week is a week-long event to celebrate the students in the College of Engineering and promote STEM careers in the local community. It consists of fun daily events, including friendly competitions, outreach events, inflatables on the Drillfield, and much more. We hope to add new events this year to get even more students involved!” - Matt Genberg, E-Week Chair
Keep an eye out for this year’s LEC, SEC GAM’s, Engineers’ Week information, and virtual services by checking their website and social media!
Email: General questions: secpresident@vt.edu Engineering Expo: secexpo@vt.edu
SEC website: www.secrecord.com
SEC Virginia Tech website: https://www.sec.vt.edu/
Instagram: secatvt
Facebook: SECatVT
PHOTOS PROVIDED BY: Chris Tieu, VT SPARK cttieu vt.spark
2020 Photos of Southwest Virginia Sean Stroud, VT Spark. stroud_shotz
In the Countryside: My friend and I found this farm just outside of Covington Virginia on our way back from Falling Spring Falls.
In the Countryside: My friend and I found this farm just outside of Covington Virginia on our way back from Falling Spring Falls.
