PittSWE Newsletter - September 2013

PITT SWE Volume 2, Issue 1

September 2013

Fall Kick-Off

Edited by: Christine Bontempi

Introductions Written By: Christine Bontempi With school back in session, Pitt SWE has a full schedule planned for the semester! New and retuning members attended our kick-off meeting led by President, Christina O’Donnell. National Membership, service events, professional development events, and the National Conference were discussed. Some lucky members answered some Pitt SWE trivia questions correctly to win some of our merchandise!

On Labor Day, we had an excellent turnout at our annual Meet & Greet Breakfast. The lounge was overflowing with new and returning members mingling and getting to know each other.

During the second week of classes, freshmen were able to team up with upperclassmen in the popular campus scavenger hunt. Teams of four competed to solve the riddle, visit the campus location, and take a picture of themselves. All of the teams completed the hunt successfully, and the team the completed it first, recieved a prize!

The week was rounded out with the chance for members and non-members to purchase Pitt SWE gear in order to show their pride around campus!

Upcoming Events October October 2 –Young Professional Women in Energy Panel (6pm Rm. 102) October 10 – Yoga Night (6pm WPU) October 17 – Etiquette Dinner

A great turn-out for our first general body meeting!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

1 1 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4

Fall Kick-Off Upcoming Events Evening with BASF Do you have the most points?

Mentorship Program SWE Riddle National News Regional News Welcome Back from the President New SWE Officers

October 26 – Pitt Make a Difference Day October 27 – Extravaganza [E3]

Elementary

Engineering University of Pittsburgh – Society of Women Engineers – September 2013 - 1

our members, and we hope to have them return in the future!

Spelling out “PITT” during the Campus Scavenger Hunt

Evening with BASF Professional Development Written By: Christina O’Donnell On September 10, Pitt SWE hosted BASF, the world’s leading chemical company, for a company visit. Jacklyn Conley, a former Pitt SWE section president and current PDP Engineer, Lillian Ngoby, a current PDP Engineer, and Judy Brinkman, the Evans City site manager, presented about BASF and their experiences, and provided career fair and interview tips. BASF is located in more than 80 countries and operates 390 production sites in Europe, Asia, Australia, Americas and Africa.

Jacklyn, Lillian, and Judy spoke about many opportunities within BASF, highlighting their Professional Development Program (PDP). The PDP exposes recent graduates to the different aspects of the chemical industry. The PDP participants undergo two or three nine-month rotations in which they experience two different areas of the company. This program is not only for full time positions, but also for interns. If you are interested in applying for the PDP, please apply online at http://jobs.basf.us. Type in “PDP”/”LDP” and both internships and full time opportunities will be listed.

The event also highlighted some important career fair and interviewing tips. Jacklyn and Lillian spoke about the “Do’s and Don’ts” for the career fair and interviewing process.

The BASF representatives did an excellent job presenting to

In addition to the visit on the 18th, BASF also joined us for the semi-annual SWE resume workshop. The workshop is typically facilitated by the career development office, but there were several BASF representatives present as well to critique resumes. The workshop was held a week before the Career Fair in order for students to network with BASF representatives as well as receive professional opinions about their resumes.

Do you have the most points?

Getting Involved in the University of Pittsburgh Chapter of SWE Written By: Dhanu Thiyagarajan The University of Pittsburgh Society of Women Engineers has a points allotment for each event that is hosted. Social events are worth 5 points.

Professional Development and Service events are worth 15 points. There are committees that meet in order to make our bigger events a complete success; each committee meeting is worth 5 points.

We also have a mentorship program. For being a dedicated mentor, the person receives 10 points.

For being curious mentees, they receive 5 points.

The four members, one of which is reserved for a freshman, with the highest points come 9/27/13 received a free trip to the National 2013 SWE Conference held in Baltimore, Maryland. But, the competition isn't over yet! The upcoming points will count towards next year conference to be held in Los Angeles, California!

On a shorter term reward range, at the end of the semester, the person with the highest amount of points who did not attend the conference will receive a $15 gift card to a place of their choice in Oakland!

Be sure to attend all of the events and be in the running for these awesome rewards!

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Mentorship Program Receive advice and help from upperclassmen engineers Written By: Christina O’Donnell Are you a freshman that has questions about what it’s like to be a female engineer? Are you a sophomore looking for answers about the major you chose? Join our mentoring program! You will be paired with a mentor who has similar interests to yours. SWE will be periodically holding mentor-mentee events throughout the semester. Please email Alisa Urbano at alu8@pitt.edu if you are interested or have any questions about the program. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors are eligible to be mentors.

SWE RIDDLE Pitt SWE would like to challenge you to a riddle. The riddle includes a location and an action. The first person to take a picture of themselves at the correct location and doing the correct action will receive a $10 gift certificate!

You see the racecar on the ground floor?

Find where it’s made, behind what door?

Pretend that you’re driving and you’re winning for sure!

National News Opportunities for National Members Written By: Sarah Pachesky There are many exciting opportunities available through the Society of Women Engineers!

Members have access to the SWE Career Center, an electronic recruitment resource. With over 1,500 job postings and 163 employers, members can connect with a broad range of companies that aren’t represented locally. Simply upload your resume and start searching!

Are you following @SWEtalk on Twitter yet?

Come to the monthly tweetchat #AskSWE at noon central on the 3rd Friday of every month.

During #AskSWE, a topic will be discussed where users are encouraged to share tips and stories virtually. There will be guests every session sharing their insights alongside your own tweets. Just hashtag #AskSWE and we’ll see you there!

Regional News Region G Written By: Christine Bontempi The University of Pittsburgh Society of Women Engineers is a member of Region G of the National Society of Women Engineers. The Region held its Leadership summit in Columbus, Ohio for different planning and training sessions.

It was announced that the Regional Conference will be held at Ohio State University in the spring.

To keep updated on all regional news, and events, please subscribe to the region G blog., which you can access from the Pitt SWE website or at http://regiong.wordpress.com/category/ regiong-news/.

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Welcome Back!

Welcome from Pitt SWE President Written By: Christina O’Donnell Hi everyone! I hope you had a great summer and are excited to be back at Pitt. If you are a freshman, welcome to Pitt! Pitt has been a place where I have grown professionally as well as personally. Pitt SWE has acted as a support system for me through my engineering career at Pitt, and I hope that you will find the same support as I did.

If you would like to find out more information about Pitt SWE, please visit our website (www.pitt.edu/~pittswe). If you have any questions about Pitt SWE or any of our events, feel free to contact pittswe@gmail.com and we will respond to your question as quickly as possible.

Pitt SWE is a student run organization that provides membership, leadership, and networking opportunities for students. We work to create a social environment where you can meet new friends and make a difference on campus and in the surrounding Pittsburgh community. My personal favorite events are our outreach events where we teach children about science and engineering.

New Pitt SWE Officers Pitt SWE would like to welcome all their new officers to the team. Our officers work hard to organize events for our members and the community. If you have any questions on SWE you are welcome to speak with any of our officers. Below is a list of all our officers for the Fall 2013 semester.

President –Christina O’Donnell Vice President – Christine Bontempi Secretary – Sarah Pachesky Treasurer – Dhanu Thiyagarajan Corporate Relations Chair – Miriam Rathbun Corporate Sponsorship Chair – Hannah Fernau

Outreach Chair – Lisa Cross Webmaster – Elissa Wambrand Service Chair- Allicia Kolling Special Events Chair – Erica Stevens Publicity Chair – Agatha Carlin Meeting Coordinator – Sovay McGalliard

Mentorship Chair – Alisa Urbano Historian – Julia Wasas

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To stay updated on news and events, please visit our website www.pitt.edu/~pittswe.