We’ve posted a recap of our November 12 Design Your World STEM Conference for 4th and 5th grade girls on the DYW website. Check it out! Many thanks to our sponsors and volunteers who helped make the day a great success.
Our next DYW STEM Conference will be held Saturday, April 1, 2017 at SMU! If you’d like to help us plan the next event after the first of the year, please email us at designyourworld.swe@gmail.com to let us know.
Lennox International is the generous sponsor for our Dallas SWE holiday party to close out 2016. Join us for a tour, networking, and socializing as we celebrate the holiday season. The facility tour will provide guests the opportunity to see validation and test labs from this leading manufacturer of heating and air-conditioning systems.
Important Tour Information: Open toed shoes, sandals, thin, ballet style flats, or high heeled shoes are not allowed. Substantial leather is recommended for all visits into the lab.
When: Tuesday, December 13, 6pm – 8pm
Where: Lennox International Lab, 1600 Metrocrest Dr. Carrollton, TX 75006
Cost: FREE for SWE Members, $5 for non-SWE members and guests
As a show of our appreciation for their loyal support, Dallas SWE members were offered the opportunity to attend a special pre-release screening of Hidden Figures last night at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas. We filled all 40 reserved seats within 48 hours! Everyone was really excited about this movie and it did not disappoint. This is the inspirational story of women computers who calculated trajectories for NASA to help put the first American in space and, eventually, on the Moon. This movie has math, engineering, computer programming, the epic Space Race, a love story, and the fight for civil rights all rolled up into one fantastic film!
We are so thankful that 20th Century Fox included us in this screening event and for the women who overcame past struggles so we don’t have to fight the same battles they did. We are continually inspired by how far we’ve come in just a single generation and are hopeful for all the things we can do TOGETHER in this generation!
Hidden Figures opens in Dallas on Christmas Day at the AMC North Park only, then releases everywhere January 6, 2017. We’ll plan another group viewing after the first of the year! Use #HiddenFiguresLive to share this film with your friends on social media.
If you just can’t wait that long, check out the film Top Secret Rosies, available for DVD rental on Netflix or for streaming / purchase via Amazon. This documentary tells the story of women computers who calculated ballistic trajectories for WWII soldiers and includes interviews with the Rosies themselves! It’s a moving film, and there’s a book app available on iPad that goes more in-depth into the historical records associated with these stories.
On Saturday, Nov 19, Dallas SWE members volunteered with members of NSBE DFW and SHPE DFW at two Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations: Northwest Dallas and Lake Highlands. Habitat for Humanity ReStores are nonprofit home improvement stores and donation centers that sell new and gently used furniture, appliances, home accessories, building materials and more to the public at a fraction of the retail price. Proceeds from ReStores are used to help build strength, stability, self-reliance and shelter in local communities and around the world. We assembled office furniture and sorted home good items from recent large donations: if anyone could put those chairs and desks together, engineers can!
Afterwards, we met at Tacos and Tequila in Dallas for a group lunch sponsored by Axxess! We enjoyed delicious chips, dips, wraps, salad, and cookies while we visited with each other and talked about areas where our four organizations can help each other. We are invested in assisting our other local diversity organizations because so many of our goals and initiatives overlap with one another: STEM outreach, professional development, and advocacy. Stay tuned for more information on a late-January partnership event we’re planning with local collegiate organization leaders!
Dallas SWE’s November 15 Professional Development meeting was sponsored by USAA in Plano. The evening was hosted by Hilary Waters, a project manager in Agency IT for USAA. The evening started with a meet-and-greet networking session. USAA employees met with Dallas SWE members and leaders in an informal setting with refreshments and music.
Patti Hayden was the first speaker of the evening. She introduced USAA’s mission and culture of serving US military service men and women with insurance and financial products. Next, Stacy Huggar gave an overview of USAA’s collaboration space technologies which would later be demonstrated during the site tour. Hilary then moderated the panel discussion, “Women in the IT Workforce” with 2 USAA speakers (Ryan O’Leary, IT Technical Director and Lindsay Young, Technical Architect), and 2 SWE speakers (Shelley Stracener, Senior Electrical Engineer at St. Jude Medical and Molly Sing, Characterization Engineer at Texas Instruments). Common themes during the discussion included advocacy, leadership, and managing your brand. USAA highlighted several technical and leadership training programs available to interns and employees which enable those returning from military service or retraining from other careers succeed in USAA’s highly creative technical environment.
The tour of the two buildings on USAA’s campus included demonstrations of smart boards, virtual hallways, robot presence for remote employees, Skype-optimized conference rooms, and mobile desks. The tour finished up in the lobby’s demonstration center which featured tools developed by the USAA R&D group. Many thanks to USAA for their generous sponsorship of Design Your World and this professional development meeting!
