Welcome to FY20! A Message from the Dallas SWE President

Dear Dallas SWE,

First and foremost, on behalf of the Dallas SWE Executive Council, welcome to FY20! The end of this fiscal year will mark the 70th anniversary of the Society of Women Engineers, which began in 1950. I am proud to be part of this organization of intelligent, beautiful, and supportive women; I am equally humbled and honored to serve as your Dallas SWE President for my second term. 

At the beginning of the fiscal year,  the FY19 Executive Council transitioned roles and responsibilities to our current FY20 Council. As we’ve traditionally done, both groups came together to discuss best practices and lessons learned, while brainstorming ideas for a successful FY20. With the FY20 Executive Council settling into their respective roles and providing enthusiastic direction, I am looking forward to another year of amazing professional development, social activities, and outreach activities to come! We’ll keep you posted on all our upcoming events through our mailing list (sign up on dallaswe.org, if you haven’t already) and through social media; connect with us via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram.

Pictured, front left to right: Rana Karimi (VP of Membership), Barbara Read (Collin College SWE Counselor), Katie Mills (Treasurer), Zaineb Ahmad (President), Shelley Stracener (Investment Committee), Amanda Alsbrook (Executive VP). Not Pictured: Thi Dao (VP of Outreach), Sammy Zellner (Secretary)

FY20 has already started strong with our participation at Moon Day at the Frontiers of Flight Museum on July 20 (recap coming soon), celebrating its 50th anniversary this year! In August, we have a social and professional development meeting planned. The FY20 officers would love to meet-and-greet with our members at brunch on Sunday, August 25 (click here for more details). On August 27, join us at PepsiCo for a joint meeting to kick off our professional development series for this year. 

As excited as I am for this year, I do want to take a moment to recognize every FY19 officer, committee chair, and committee member for her hard work and dedication to our Dallas SWE section. Thank you for all that you have done! Your efforts have not gone unnoticed and Dallas SWE is a strong, vibrant, and successful section because of you. 

For our members, your involvement has also not gone unnoticed. We wouldn’t be such a great section without each and everyone of you. At the end of FY19, we sent around a membership survey and we are happy to report that most of you see value in your SWE membership and enjoy the Dallas SWE membership experience. We reaffirmed that our membership is highly diverse, with members from different walks of life, ethnic and educational backgrounds, LGBTQ, and working across multiple disciplines and industries in the area. Many of you expressed your happiness in our activities, including professional development, outreach, and social events. Varying location of meetings and events has come up over many years by a few members. Our officers try to take into account various locations when planning meetings and make decisions based on the location of our membership (see heat map below) and past event history, which we have tracked for several years now. That being said, if you are located in an area that does not get frequent events and have ideas on locations, please do reach out to us and let us know. It’ll help us organize events and show your interest in hosting events in your area! To make it even easier to participate, we aim to have a conference call number available at least one Professional Development meeting this year. We still encourage everyone who can attend to do so in person, but this may help those who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend. Let us know what you think!

As a reminder, please renew your memberships for FY20, if you haven’t done so already. SWE membership is an affordable $100. As members, you’ll get free access to Dallas SWE events, amazing webinars, and the career center, as well as discounts to local and regional conferences, and so much more. Plus, you’ll be part of the largest network of women engineers (+40,000 members strong). Click here for a step by step guide on how to renew.

Lastly, do you have 30 minutes to help out Dallas SWE? Are you looking for ways to socialize, hone your leadership skills, get involved in SWE, or just do something new? With any time commitment, we have a committee for you! We could use your help with planning and coordinating events, outreach activities, fundraising, awards, etc…. and yes, all in as little as 30 minutes a month! Being a volunteer driven organization, every little bit helps. Click here for descriptions of committees and fill out the FY20 Committee Interest Survey. A Dallas SWE Officer will be in touch with you soon.

We look forward to another wonderful year for Dallas SWE and seeing you at a future event!

Zaineb Ahmad

Dallas SWE FY20 President

May Dallas Wings STEM Expo at College Park Center Event Recap

On May 19th, SWE Outreach joined the Dallas Wings women’s basketball team and several STEM partners in their first ever STEM Expo.   We partnered with organizations including NSBE, SHP, Girls in STEM, and Frito Lay at the College Park Center.  We brought both the Knock down the Castle Wall and Foil Boat Challenges.  The smiling faces of the young girls and boys (and parents) that tried our experiments make it so worthwhile.  We’d like to extend a warm thank you to the 11 volunteers who donated their time Sunday to encourage the young girls and boys to dream, explore, and create.   We’re also grateful for the first time volunteers and new SWE members who came out to encourage future engineers!

Dallas SWE Book Club

The Dallas SWE Book Club will be meeting at the Egg and I to discuss this month’s book! All are welcome regardless of if you’ve read the selection. Please join for great networking, brunch and discussion.The egg and I restaurant,3328 E Hebron Pkwy #100,Carrollton TX.

We will be meeting on June 15th at 10am.

Click here to register!

FY20 Dallas SWE Leadership Team

We are pleased to announce that our FY20 Dallas SWE Leadership Team has been elected from our election running May 1-30. Thanks to everyone who made their voices heard!

Your FY20 Dallas SWE Leadership Team:

  • President – Zaineb Ahmad
  • Executive Vice President – Amanda Alsbrook
  • Vice President of Membership – Rana Karimi
  • Vice President of Outreach – Thi Dao
  • Treasurer – Katie Mills
  • Secretary – Sammy Zellner
  • Investment Committee Member – Shelley Stracener

Your new officers and Investment Committee members will start their terms on July 1, 2019, and will have a leadership transition meeting. They’ll be doing some preliminary planning for events throughout the next fiscal year. Take a couple of minutes to  fill out an important survey concerning what you’d like to see from Dallas SWE! Don’t forget to renew your membership for FY19 at www.swe.org.

Thank you!

Dallas SWE FY19 Nominating Committee

Katia Gomez, Amanda Posadas, Kim Concillado, Malia Kawamura

Event Recap: May PD Event

May’s professional development meeting was held May 16, 2019 at the Coffe House Cafe. After networking and getting to know each other, Nandika D’Souza began her presentation. Professor D’Souza’s presentation titled “Unleashing your emotional intelligence, grit for an excellence mindset EIGEM values” gave us an overview with twist on several books on the topic of emotional intelligence. Professor D’Souza discussed how the term “emotional intelligence” has developed through variations of books and papers. Throughout the presentation attendees engaged in a variation of emotional intelligence assessments based on several of these books. As the presentation wrapped up, a room wide conversation developed around each other’s results with the overall goal to improve not only ourselves but each other.

2019 Dallas SWE High School Scholarship Recipients

Dallas SWE is excited to award $1000 scholarships to each of these seven extraordinary high school seniors from the Dallas area: Kiara Berry, Janavi Chadha, Caitlin Montgomery, Joana Ortiz Jimenez, Karen Sculley, Kaitlynn Soo and Katherine Vaught.

Applicants were evaluated based on academic performance, school and community involvement, and plans to become engineers. Thanks to the Dallas SWE Scholarship Committee for taking the time to review a wonderful group of applicants! Congratulations to this year’s recipients. We wish you all the best!


Kiara Berry – Marcus High School

Kiara Berry will attend Texas A&M University where she will major in Computer Science. She is currently the Vice President of Marcus High School Women in STEM and the Spanish Honor Society. Academically, she is both an Advanced Placement Scholar with Honors and a National Hispanic Recognition Scholar. Kiara is also an excellent tennis player and has been a member of the Varsity Tennis Team for 3 years. Recognizing that volunteerism is very important to her, Kiara is very involved in several organizations in the community and at her church. She is the founder of Breakfast Buddies, a math tutor program for 5th graders.


Janavi Chadha – School of Science and Engineering

Janavi will attend the University of Pennslyvania, majoring in Computer Science. In addition to being a National Advanced Placement Scholar, Janavi is the Treasurer of the National Honor Society, member of the FIRST Robotics team 6832 Iron Reign, and a winner of the Lenovo App Scholar Challenge.  For the past two years, she has worked with the Environmental Education Initiative (EEI) and has received grants from both EEI and Parsons Innovation Challenge to create an agricultural environmental sensor. She plans to work with EEI this summer to continue research on how to decrease water usage in the Dallas region. In addition to her volunteer work with Spark STEM, a program hosted at the School of Science and Engineering that has impacted over 200 DFW middle school girls through interactive STEM experiments, Janavi is a volunteer for Big Thought Dallas. And along with her Robotics team, she teaches kids how to 3D model create and code robots with the EV3 Lego sets in a Mobile Learning Lab, a renovated 90s R.V. that is driven to underserved communities in the Dallas region.


Caitlin Montgomery – Liberty High School

Caitlin Montgomery will attend University of Texas at Austin where she will major in Mechanical Engineering. She is the president of the Chess Club and Engineering Club and looks forward to participating in similar clubs at college. She participated in engineering courses through Project Lead the Way where she strengthened her passion for engineering. She also was a participant in the NASA High School Aerospace Scholars Program. Caitlin combined her love of engineering and volunteering through a partnership between her school district and a group called “Go Baby Go” where she was able to modify ride-on cars to meet specific needs for children with disabilities. She hopes to continue to integrate engineering and community service throughout college and her career.


Joana Ortiz Jimenez – Woodrow Wilson HIgh School

Joana Ortiz Jimenez will attend Texas Tech University majoring in Civil Engineering. She is a member of the Marching and Varsity Concert Band and has participated in the University Interscholastic League Texas State Solo and Ensemble competitions. Joana is a member of her school’s student council focused on student activities and fundraising. Because of her interest in civil engineering, she is a mentee in the Architecture, Construction & Engineering (ACE) Mentor Program. She was also selected to participate in the Dallas Mayor’s Intern Fellow Program with a company focused on engineering construction and architecture. To support her community, Joana is a member of the Interact Club specifically supporting elementary education and literacy


Karen Sculley – Prestonwood Christian Academy

Karen Sculley will attend University of Texas Austin majoring in Chemical Engineering. She has immersed herself into the Future Problem Solving Program both in Texas and Internationally for 4 years winning many different awards. Her critical thinking skills and fascination with how the world works, supported her participation in National Honor Society, her selection as a National Merit Finalist and her success as a qualifier in the state Science Olympiad. Karen is an accomplished musician in both the piano and saxophone and has participated in the University Interscholastic League Texas State Solo and Ensemble competitions. She hopes to use her desire to learn the answers to the many how’s and why’s of the world to produce new what’s to change the future.


Kaitlynn Soo – Ursuline Academy of Dallas

Kaitlynn Soo will be attending the University of Pennsylvania this fall as part of the Jerome Fisher Management and Technology Program – a dual-degree in Engineering at the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Business at the Wharton School. Her passion for engineering stems from her experience as a NASA High School Aerospace Scholar, as a founding member of the FIRST Robotics team 2714 BBQ, as an intern at the Dallas County Public Works, and as a finance-technology intern utilizing machine-learning at a multi-billion dollar hedge fund. Outside of school, Kaitlynn has also represented Team USA as a former USA Taekwondo National Team Member in competitions worldwide. She has also been a Girl Scout for over 12 years and is a proud Girl Scout Gold Award recipient. At her school, she is the founder and President of the Broadcasting club, the Vice President of the Science Honor Society, an Ursuline Ambassador, and a member of the Junior World Affairs Council. She also enjoys tutoring ESL students in partnership with the YMCA, volunteering at her church, and cooking for residents of the Hillcrest House – a shelter for individuals with HIV/AIDS. Kaitlynn is excited to see where her future engineering career will take her and hopes to use her education to change the world.


Katherine Vaught – Bonham High School

Katherine Vaught will attend Texas Tech University and major in Civil Engineering. She currently participates in Robotics and Varsity Powerlifting and serves as President of the National Honor Society and Parliamentarian of Student Council.  She also plays guitar, performing benefit concerts for the local creative arts center and local scholarship funds.  In addition, she organized a regular series of concerts at the Clyde Cosper Texas State Veterans’ Home. After attending a Women in Engineering event at a nearby university, Katherine discovered a place where her love of mathematics and problem solving came together.  Her current goal is to put herself through college, graduating with as little debt as possible.


2019 Dallas SWE Annie Colaço Scholarship Recipient – Collegiate Leaders

The Dallas Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is delighted to announce the recipients of the Annie Colaço Scholarship for local college students. The scholarship is named in honor of Annie Colaço (1899-1991), the grandmother to SWE lifetime member Nandika D’Souza. Annie Colaço epitomized selfless service and lifelong learning, which is reflected in the SWE mission. Greeshma Nallapareddy has been selected for her personal achievements and leadership at the University of Texas Dallas. With this scholarship Dallas SWE wants to encourage collegiates to continue to provide selfless service and leadership to their SWE sections.

Dallas SWE is excited to recognize these outstanding SWE collegiate leaders and encourages each recipient to continue to be a SWE member upon graduation. The Society of Women Engineers, founded in 1950, is a not-for- profit educational and service organization. SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations and be recognized for their life-changing contributions and achievements as engineers and leaders.


Alisha Downs – Collin College

Alisha is a current student at Collin College working toward her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering degree and a potential transfer to the University of Texas Dallas.  She is the President of the Collin College SWE section and was the leader of the 2018 Resume Workshop and the 2019 Mock Interview sessions – helping to prepare members for internships and career positions. Her leadership enabled Collin College SWE members to attend the SWE Denver WE Local conference by gathering funding and support from the Collin College community.  The Collin College SWE section continues to benefit from Alisha’s leadership in all its activities.


Marissa Dusek – Southern Methodist University

Marissa is a recent Mechanical Engineering graduate from Southern Methodist University. She will join GE Aviation as a design engineer in the Edison Engineering Development Program. She has been the President of the SMU SWE section for the last year and was previously the Vice President of External Affairs and Special Event Chair. As President, one of Marissa’s goals was to grow the mentoring opportunities in the organization. She led the section in creating four successful mentoring events this year. The mentoring events and the first annual Professional Dress Fashion Show, created by Marissa, will be carried on to support members as they transition to the workforce. Marissa plans to remain an active member of SWE after graduation

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