Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog post by Kettering student Amy Allison '15. Amy is a Mechanical Engineering major. If you’d like to write a guest blog post, email phayes(at)kettering(dot)edu. 

By Amy Allison '15

Eight B-section women - Amy Allison, Gabrielle Armstrong, Erika Beursken, Hannah Fox, Emily Storrer, Angela Swain, Mellisa Tipton and Janna VanOvermeer -  attended the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) annual conference from October 21-26 in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference drew over 9,000 individuals and included professional development opportunities at a career fair consisting of over 300 companies and multiple networking events.

Kettering participants received considerable recognition for their local chapter efforts.  

Amy Allison was awarded a scholarship from Honda Motor Company and was honored for being the previous Region H Emerging Leader. Hannah Fox was given a full scholarship to cover the cost of her conference attendance through SWE’s Collegiate Leadership Institute.

Also, Kettering University B-section was awarded the Parent/Educator Outreach Award for their Mother-Daughter IF WE outreach program that hosted middle school girls and their mothers at a STEM education workshop. The outreach program was designed based off of studies that show that the inclusion of a parent during STEM promotional workshops greatly increase a female’s ability to sustain interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics pursuits. This was the first time Kettering University took home a section award at the annual SWE conference.

SWE Faculty Advisor, Dr. Diane Peters received the Outreach Award from the SWE Members at Large (MALs). This award is given to at most one SWE member each year, who must be a Member at Large, and who has made significant contributions in outreach to pre-college students, particularly young women. Peters also participated in numerous SWE governance activities, as the Chair of Women in Academia for SWE and as the Region H MAL Representative, and presented at three conference sessions.

In the panel discussion “Views from the Search Committee,” Peters gave advice on what search committees look for in faculty candidates, based on her experiences as a search committee members. In the session “Pursuing an Academic Career after Industry Experience,” Peters discussed how past work experiences influenced her academic pathways and the transition from industry to academia. Finally, in the workshop “Reviewing Academic Papers: How to Give Useful, Effective Feedback as a Peer Reviewer,” Peters engaged the audience in the conference and journal paper review process.  Beursken and VanOvermeer assisted Peters in the workshop.

Many SWE members networked with potential employers such as Tesla, Central Intelligence Agency, SpaceX and Google. One SWE member, Beursken, received and accepted an offer from the Boeing Company based in Seattle, Washington. Other members conducted interviews with companies such as General Motors, Harley-Davidson and General Electric. Overall, the conference was an amazing growth experience for all attendees. Kettering SWE members were elated to receive accolades for themselves and for Kettering.