Kate is one of our few K-12 educator members and she creates high school engineering curriculum for a private school network based out of New York. She basically gets to play with engineering “toys” for a living. Kate has an aerospace engineering degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and her masters from Kettering University. As a traditional engineer, she worked with cargo aircraft, missile defense, spacecraft, business jets, helicopters, and unmanned aviation. She enjoyed getting to break things intentionally, aka test engineering. She was honored for a group effort with a NASA award and SWE has awarded her Outstanding Collegiate Member and Distinguished New Engineer.
From Reno to South Africa, Kate has spoken on gender biases and creating change. Her passion on the subject translates to deep questions and change at the college campuses and businesses that invite her to speak. Kate’s currently starting her seventh consecutive year serving SWE on the Senate. She’s also served SWE in the Society Membership Committee and in local positions. She recently celebrated her 15th year of SWE membership.
“SWE is my constant. I’ve moved across the country four times, and each time SWE has been there to welcome me with open arms.”
Kate Van Dellen
“One of the best choices of my life was studying engineering because it has been rewarding and has opened so many doors, but what allowed me to actually complete my degree was the support of SWE.”
Kate Van Dellen