Member of the Month: Kim Concillado

With our Member of the Month program, Dallas SWE seeks to recognize some of our non-officer members whose technical contributions, leadership accomplishments, or SWE volunteer service are particularly noteworthy. If you would like to nominate a Dallas SWE member for his/her contributions, please email us.


Our Member of the Month for April is Kim Concillado. Kim is a controls engineer at Wynright Corporation and received her B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University. She has been involved in the automation industry since her first internship and enjoys the fast-paced nature of the career. So far, she has developed human interface applications, created 3D system simulations and worked extensively on programmable logic controllers.

Kim’s interest in engineering emerged from a high school experience as the only female in the local round of the annual Ford/AAA Auto Skills Challenge. Her enjoyment of challenging atmospheres motivated her choice in electrical engineering, but passion in the subject only took off after joining a collegiate engineering design team that concepts, builds and races electric motorcycles: Buckeye Current. The leadership and creativity that blossomed from that group motivates her interest in STEM outreach. Providing access to challenging and interesting experiences for students K-12 and beyond are integral to the growth of diversity in engineering.

Kim joined a collegiate chapter of SWE at Ohio State but became considerably more active as a professional, participating in women in engineering panels including Illuminate STEM’s Self-eSTEM event and the spring 2017 Design Your World career panel at SMU. Her favorite experience to date is inviting students to explore circuit design at the Dallas ISD STEM Expo. In addition, her skills in social media can be found on Dallas SWE’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn pages. Kim is relatively new to the Dallas area, but found Dallas SWE to be integral to her acclimation. Outside of SWE, Kim spends her weekends caring for tigers, lions, bobcats and cougars as a volunteer and strong wildlife conservation advocate at In-Sync Exotics. She is also passionate about child abuse prevention and frequents the Dallas courts as a trained advocate of Dallas CASA. She can also be found on the University of Texas – Dallas campus as a Panhellenic alumni advisor for the Delta Zeta chapter.

Dallas SWE welcomed me with open arms. In a time when I was new in town and didn’t know a soul, I felt like I belonged.

Event Recap – March Meeting with Alise Cortez

On Tuesday March 21, Dallas SWE Members had an opportunity to hear speaker Alise Cortez, PhD of Insigniam, Catalyzing Breakthrough Results® enlighten our members about vital communication skills. Her topic “The Key to Success and Sanity in the Workplace: Developing the Vital Communication Skills to Talk about ANYTHING” provided key takeaways for all us to put into practice in our personal and professional lives.

She referenced a few books with the main recommendation being “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler . She integrated the essential framework of the method with psychology studies to provide perspectives and strategize with attendees on issues that might arise during real-world interactions..

Below are a few of the key takeaways from the night:

The first critical step of vital communication skills is to become aware of limiting conversations. Do you know how much you are interpreting a story from the past and its effect on filtering what you see as possible in the present? Do you realize the impact of your misperceptions on your future interactions? The way you see something based on past experiences does not give your current or future circumstances a fair chance to be different.

Once you aware of your limiting conversations and are ready to embrace the present fully it is time to have more crucial conversations.

The following are ways to have crucial conversations:

  1. Start from the Heart
  2. Stay focused on what it is you really want
  3. Work on you first engage your mind by reflecting on your brain
    • What do I really want for myself?
    • What do I really want for others?
    • What do I really want for the relationship?
    • How would I behave if I really wanted these results?
  4. Master Your Stories
    • Stay in dialogue when you’re angry, scared or hurt and create your emotions you can act on them or be acted on by them. It’s always a choice in how you choose to respond.

STATE your Path. Speak persuasively not abrasively using:

S- Share your facts

T- Tell Your Story

A- Ask for other’s paths

T- Talk tentatively

E- Encourage Testing

Overall, developing vital communication skills means making it safe, for a mutual purpose with mutual respect for communicating with value and addressing misunderstandings.

~ Alicia Morgan

April Professional Development Meeting – Katherine Bock

Join us for our April Professional Development Event:

Get Out of Your Own Way to Create More Success, Balance and Meaning in Your Life and Career

We have a tendency to blame others for our unhappiness.  The truth is that in order to create the life we want, we need to give up all blaming, complaining, judgments and shaming.  Our point of power is in the choices we make.  Everything that has happened to you in your life is a result of choices you’ve previously made.  We’re creating our future by the choices we’re making today.   Make choices that will help you move from where you are to where you want to be.

Attend this presentation led by Katherine Bock  to find out the keys to success.  You will leave with a better understanding of how to change so you can get out of your own way to create more success, balance and meaning in your life and career, along with concrete steps to take to move toward the life you want and deserve.

When: Tuesday, Apri 18, 2017, 6:00-8:00 PM

Where: Coffee House Cafe – Dallas, 6150 Frankford Rd, Dallas, TX 75252

Cost: FREE for SWE Members, $5 for non-members and guests. Food is available for purchase by the individual. Please RSVP by Sunday, April 16!
Eventbrite - Dallas SWE - April 2017 Professional Development Meeting

 

Speaker: Katherine Bock, J.D, PCC

Executive Coach & Speaker

Katherine Bock is an executive coach who helps women take charge of their careers and lives to create more success, meaning and balance.  She is a self-described “recovering attorney” and has the ability to connect with humor and insight making her a sought after speaker, facilitator and coach.  Her spa and beach retreats for women have been described as “life changing” by many attendees.

Katherine’s expertise and insight into people and organizations are grounded in her hands-on business experience that includes trust banking, corporate law, career transition coaching and consulting at the executive level.

She holds the Professional Certified Coach designation from the International Coach Federation and possesses both law and accounting degrees.  She’s a 2001 graduate of Leadership Texas and is active in the community and belongs to several executive-level networking groups.   She’s also a certified Laughter Yoga instructor.

Katherine’s motivation in going to law school was to get involved in politics to help make the world a better place and she believes that what she does now  helps to make the world a better place—it’s just one person or a few people at a time!

Dallas SWE FY18 Leadership – Call for Nominations

Our FY17 leadership team is a diverse and dynamic group! Join our FY18 team and make the most of your Dallas SWE experience.

It’s that time of year again: we are gearing up to elect a new team of Dallas SWE Leaders! SWE is a great place to learn new leadership skills, give back to your community, and build a network of engineering professionals and friends! Per our section bylaws, elected officers must be voting members of Dallas SWE in good standing with the Society.

Officers are expected to attend monthly 1-hour executive council meetings, usually conference calls on a weekday evening. The schedule for the year is agreed-upon by officers each year. Once a quarter, in place of a conference call, we have a face-to-face 2-hour business meeting on a weekend. At the start of each fiscal year, a day-long officer transition meeting is held to share lessons learned from outgoing officers to incoming officers and bring everyone up to speed on Dallas SWE happenings. We have a wealth of experience to help you succeed in your leadership role and won’t leave you hanging!

See an important message from our FY17 Nominating Committee below!


Dallas SWE is currently seeking nominations for officers to serve for FY18 (July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018).

There are 8 positions available and self nominations are highly encouraged! We need nominations for the following 1-year term positions: President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Membership, Vice President of Outreach, Secretary, Section Representative (1 position). Additionally, we are seeking nominations for Treasurer (2 year term) and one Financial Advisory Committee Member (3-year term). Below (under the cut) are detailed positions descriptions per our section Bylaws. You can also view practical descriptions of our assigned activities on our website here. Please e-mail any questions to zgahmad@gmail.com.

Please e-mail nominations to zgahmad@gmail.com  by Saturday, April 8th at 11:59pm.

Thank you!
Dallas SWE FY17 Nominating Committee
Teri Cate (Chair), Tessa Hazlett, Zaineb Ahmad, Molly Sing

 

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Member of the Month: Shilpa Nagaraj

With our Member of the Month program, Dallas SWE seeks to recognize some of our non-officer members whose technical contributions, leadership accomplishments, or SWE volunteer service are particularly noteworthy. If you would like to nominate a Dallas SWE member for his/her contributions, please email us.


Our Member of the Month for March is Shilpa Nagaraj! Shilpa has a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Oklahoma State University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Bangalore University, India. Her love for math and science led her to engineering while bringing a design to life via solid modelling and analysis lured her into a mechanical engineering profession. She currently works as a Senior Design Engineer at Emerson designing pressure regulators for Natural Gas Pipelines. She has also worked in New Product Development Group as an HVAC compressor design engineer for the automotive industry. She has extensive experience in engineering & project management in the R&D, automotive and energy sectors for over 15 years.

She believes providing exposure and opportunities for young women to showcase their capabilities is crucial in increasing their chances of success in STEM careers. As a STEM activist for young women, she serves as a Counselor to the Collin County Community College section of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Ever since she worked on her thesis in Robotics and Control Systems in Graduate School, she has developed a keen interest in volunteering at Robotics Activities such as building VEX Modkits Robots for Robot Soccer via Collin College Girls in Engineering Program. Other involvement with STEM included serving as a Panel member for Shark Tank Design Contest for Irma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership Academy, Career Panel member for Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dallas, volunteer for Dallas SWE’s Design Your World STEM Conference for Girls,  volunteer as Scholarship Review Committee Member and Finance Committee Member for SWE.  She is also a College Relations Officer for Local Universities via the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). She currently serves as Women’s Alliance of Mckinney (WAM), Mckinney Chamber of Commerce Board Member and helps empower women in business. She recently completed a Certificate of Non Profit Management Course from State University of New York (SUNY).

The SWE network is like no other; it is a strong force, a collaboration, a sisterhood that encourages & understands its student and professional members. SWE provides amazing networking, professional development and outreach opportunities for its members. I have developed great friendships while attending events such as Region and National Conference, local networking events and industry tours. SWE keeps me up to date with technology, industry trends via presentations, webinars, and poster presentations. The outreach activities at SWE keep me engaged and facilitates its members to give back to the community.

March Meeting – Alise Cortez at Blue Mesa

The Key to Success and Sanity in the Workplace:
Developing the Vital Communication Skills to Talk about ANYTHING

Join Dallas SWE members for an engaging professional development event presented by Alise Cortez, an expert in organizational development, complex enterprise strategy implementation, and leadership transformation and development. She will discuss how to cultivate the skills needed to inspire, motivate, and communicate about tough issues in the workplace.

When: Tuesday, March 21, 2016, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Where: Blue Mesa Grill – Addison, 14866 Montfort Dr, Dallas, TX 75254
Cost: FREE for SWE members, $5 for non-members. Food available for purchase by  the individual. RSVP below!

Eventbrite - Dallas SWE - March 2017 Professional Development Event
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