SWE Exec 2012 and SWE Scholarship Recipients

Please join us in welcoming the newly elected SWE Exec 2012:

President: Liza Xu
Vice President of Outreach: Yuliya Preger
Vice President of Campus Relations: Leslie Chan
Vice President of Corporate Relations: Pritee Tembhekar
Vice President of Membership and Information: Anika Gupta
Secretary: Jean Fang
Treasurer: Priya Saha
Webmaster: Yi Wu

Additionally, congratulations to the Fall 2011 SWE Scholarship Recipients:

Upperclassmen 1st Place: Diandra Drago
Upperclassmen 2nd Place: Jean Xin
Freshmen 1st Place: Jessica Yang
Freshmen 2nd Place: Carolyn Joseph

Congratulations to all, and happy holidays!

A Day in the Life... of Tina Wen!

Check out our "A Day in the Life of..." Series, where you can learn about different aspects of engineering from a female professional's perspective.

Our newest addition to the series features Tina Wen, a software engineer at Dropbox.

Click HERE to read more!

2012 Exec Voting Now OPEN!

Don't forget to vote for your 2012 MIT SWE Exec!
Voting will close next Friday, 12/9 at 11:59pm. If you have any issues with voting, please contact Kimmi at kqli@mit.edu.

VOTE HERE!

Voting for SWE Exec 2012

Information on Voting for SWE Exec 2012

MIT SWE has two leadership teams – SWE Exec and SWE Board.  The eight members of SWE Exec are voted in by the section membership in December and take office in January; their job is to oversee the activities and growth of the MIT SWE section and act in advisory roles to the members Planning Board.  There are around 30-40 Planning Board positions each year; these positions are open for application in late January and are appointed by SWE Exec in early February, taking office immediately.

The SWE Nominating Committee’s mission is to present at least one qualified candidate for each Exec position to MIT SWE.  All current SWE members at MIT are eligible to vote for SWE Exec.  The 2011 NomComm chose recommend candidates to the section based on applications to the Exec positions, which were due on November 20.  The ballot that SWE NomComm 2011 would like to present to the section is below.  You can read each candidate’s  platform on the voting page on our website: swe.mit.edu/vote.

SWE Exec 2012 Ballot

President – Liza Xu
VP Outreach – Jean Xin, Elizabeth Rowland, Yuliya Preger, Diane Amanti

VP Membership & Information – Leslie Chan, Mari Miyachi, Anika Gupta

VP Corporate Relations – Pri Tembhekar

VP Campus Relations – Leslie Chan, Jess Li, Mari Miyachi
Treasurer – Priya Saha

Secretary – Jean Fang

Webmaster – Yi Wu

SWE Exec Voting Timeline
November 20: Applications to be added to the ballot for SWE Exec 2012 due to NomComm

November 23:  Ballot announced

December 2: Petitions to be added to the ballot due

December 3: Voting begins

December 9: Last day of voting

December 10: SWE Exec 2012 winners announced
January 1: SWE Exec 2012 takes office

Petitioning to Join the Ballot for SWE Exec 2012

After the ballot is announced, additional candidates may be nominated by petition to be added to the ballot, provided that:

1. The member is eligible for the position;
2. The member has given written consent to being placed on the ballot;
3. A minimum of five of the voting members of the section have signed a petition to place the candidate’s name on the ballot; and
4. The petition, together with the written consent, is submitted to the Nominating Committee by 11:59 pm on December 2.

Any additional candidate successfully nominated by petition will appear on the ballot when voting opens, with it indicated that they were a petition candidate. 

To nominate an additional candidate for SWE Exec 2012, please fill out the petition form and send it to SWE NomComm (swe-nomcomm@mit.edu) by 11:59 pm on December 2.

Apply to join SWE Exec 2012!

Are you interested in becoming a leader in SWE?  You can now apply to join the 2012 SWE Exec! 

There is a new process for SWE Exec elections this year:
- Send your platform to the SWE Nominating Committee (NomComm; swe-nomcomm@mit.edu) by November 20 at 11:59pm
- NomComm will contact candidates for additional information or discussion if necessary
- NomComm will put together a slate of candidate options that they believe will best serve MIT SWE
- MIT SWE members will vote on the slated candidates (there may be multiple options for each position) starting on December 3
- We welcome the 2012 SWE Exec members!

2012 SWE Exec Application instructions:
By *November 20 at 11:59pm*, please email swe-nomcomm@mit.edu with the following information:
- Name
- MIT email
- Class year
- Major
- SWE membership number (you must be a current SWE member to join SWE Exec)
- Desired SWE Exec position(s) (up to 2)
- Your platform (discuss why you're qualified for the position(s) you're interested in, ideas you have for the positions, and any previous experience you have in SWE)
 
You can read more about what SWE does here on our website, and any current SWE Exec members would be happy to talk to you about their positions.  As a reminder, SWE Exec positions include:
- President (current Ellen McIsaac, emcisaac@mit.edu)
- Vice President of Membership and Information (current Liza Xu, lizaxu@mit.edu)
- Vice President of Corporate Relations (current Katia Paramonova, paramoed@mit.edu
- Vice President of Outreach (current Joy Jiao, yjiao@mit.edu)
- Vice President of Campus Relations (current Jess Li, jess_li@mit.edu)
- Treasurer (current Sandra Chen, sandbox@mit.edu)
- Secretary (current Diandra Drago, ddrago@mit.edu)
- Webmaster (current Kimmi Li, kqli@mit.edu)

Announcing SWE Scholarships 2011!

Announcing SWE Scholarships 2011! 
Two $1000 scholarships and two $500 scholarships!  Open to all SWE national members at MIT! 

Instructions: Answer one of the following questions using a maximum of 3 pages, double spaced.  Email your response and your resume to swe-exec@mit.edu by *November 18 at 11:59 pm*  Applications will be judged by members of SWE Boston and MIT SWE Exec.

Freshmen : 1st place $1000, 2nd place $500
How do you embody the values held by SWE?  Please give tangible examples.  (You can read about SWE's values at swe.org)

Upperclassmen : 1st place $1000, 2nd place $500
How have you contributed to SWE and how do you plan to contribute in the future?

Good luck!

Exciting news from MIT SWE - Awards and Section Counselor

Let's get excited about welcoming Katherine Culbert to our section!  Katherine was just elected as our FY12 Section Counselor.  Some members met her at our New Member Welcome event in mid-October, and for those who haven't met her yet, she will be at many of our events in the future and will be a great mentor and source of guidance for all of us.

Additionally, we are so honored to have won three awards that were announced at WE11!  Our awards were:
- Best Professional Development Event
- Boeing Multicultural Award
- 2nd Place Collegiate Website

The new awards are now on display in the trophy case in the SWE office, and we won $670 in associated prize money for our section!

Go MIT SWE!

Learning experiences at WE11

MIT SWE learned a lot from WE11 - hear what our members had to say!

One of our newest members joined us on the trip and had a great experience:

"Dinners out, seminars, workshops, interviews, and networking - a few of the many events and activities filling my weekend in Chicago. Attending WE11 was one of the best decisions I have made this semester. Not only did it bring me closer to the girls from MIT SWE, but it allowed me an opportunity to get excited about SWE and everything it has to offer. I learned more about how to network with companies, take control of my career, and reach out to the community in promoting science and engineering. I found that many of the workshops were applicable to my life, both now and in the future, giving me a better idea of how to achieve my goals. In addition to workshops, the career fair gave me good practice for when I will be looking for a full time position. Finally, I had so much fun getting to know some of the girls from MIT, making new friends, and exploring Chicago."

- Kristie, class of 2014

There was a lot of other learning that occurred too:

- I learned about navigating the fine line between being too feminine and too "man-ly" in the workplace.  I also learned about the importance of networking and some of the networking that took place between women while establishing women's rights.  Finally I learned more about my fellow board members!  This was a great chance to bond with other MIT SWE members and make new friends :)
- How individuals can participate in SWE's public policy efforts
- How to utilize SWE's parternship with FIRST to benefit both organizations
- How to better connect with professional sections and other collegiate sections in our area
- How to work effectively in a multicultural and multigenerational environment
- How human factors influence engineering
- There is no such thing as balance in family + career + personal life: Rather, the goal is to seek an equilibrium -- It shifts depending on the circumstances.
-  I learned about the experience in a variety of different fields that all use my skill sets after attending the Career Fair, with companies all geared toward hiring engineers.
- I became closer to the inspiring women and alumni in MIT SWE and learned from their distinct backgrounds. I was also able to interact with women from other schools and learned about engineering education across the nation through events such as the Celebrate SWE Banquet.
- How to ask if your rights and the rights of your partner will be respected in the workplace (workshop aimed at members of the LGBT community)
- Interview skills (got to practice in interviews)
- How to approach recruiters
- Nationals includes so many more people than I originally realized. It was great to see the professional members involved since I am so used to SWE being about collegiate members.
Women in engineering are a great networking resource available to us throughout our whole life.
I am proud to be a woman engineer at MIT
- Its important to be yourself when talking to companies – they want to see who you really are.
- You can have it all if you want – career, family, success.  It just requires dedication to your goals and willingness to bend the norms to fit your needs.
- Having a career as an engineer can easily mesh with my other life goals.
- table manners. Proper way to eat bread, cut and eat food, etc
- how to balance work and personal life in the future
- the proper ways to work through a career fair and to stand out.
- I learned about helpful experiences of women in the workforce, just how large and far-reaching SWE's organization is, and some really good tips on public speaking.
- "Tell me about yourself" = elevator speech! Very important to know!
-  If you're interested in a particular company, try speaking with as many of the reps present as possible. You want to leave them with a lasting impression of how eager you are for their company.
- It was amazing to meet other girls from other schools and see how the world of engineering has really become as diverse as any other field.
- At the Global Opportunities for Graduate and Post-Graduate Students session on Friday, I learned that there are many opportunities to continue studies abroad; programs of all sorts exist to help you go places anywhere in the world.
- SWE members should definitely do SME Bowl next year!
- MITSWE has awesome alums, and we should do more events with them.
-The women that seem to have it all together and "the life" are actually struggling just as much as the rest of us.
-There is absolutely no shortcut to motivation or loyalty, and loyalty holds a team together.
-Women at other schools constantly struggle with being the minority, a fact that is not so apparent at MIT.
- Because there is a gender balance at MIT, I’ve never felt out of place in any of the classes or groups I’ve been involved in.  From “Too pushy, Too soft,” I came away with a greater understanding of subtle gender dynamics in the engineering world outside of MIT.  Awareness of such interactions will certainly aid me in future interactions with outside organizations.  This session also introduced a novel concept – serving not just as a mentor, but as a sponsor.  The latter entails actively introducing individuals to the right people, programs and opportunities and it’s something I can readily do with girls in my outreach program who show an especial interest in STEM. 
- The family engineering outreach session introduced an interesting way to get entire families excited/involved in the conversation about engineering.  The speaker described the ways in which she had implemented family engineering nights at elementary schools, including effective stations/experiments and potential pitfalls.  I would be very interested in seeing MIT SWE developing an outreach program in this vein.  
- Frequently, girls who attend MIT SWE’s outreach programs inquire about other opportunities in the area.  Usually, this leaves me perusing various university/tech company websites.  At WE11, I learned of the National Girls Collaborative Project, an organization which has created and is constantly expanding a list of all of the STEM outreach opportunities for girls across the US. 
- That there is still a huge discrepancy between how women and men are perceived in the work place at the subconscious level, but--
- This does not mean you cannot be an effective leader. You just need to find the right role models, realize these differences and use them to your advantage.
- A lot of great things about the NSF GRFP application, such as what are important things to include in which essays, etc.
- I learned about the application process for grad schools.
- I learned about how to apply for fellowships and grants for grad school.
- I learned about several biotech companies I hadn't heard of before.
-mentoring program within some collegiates and professional sections (great idea!)
-how to assert oneself in workforce and negotiation strategies
-the difference between girl power versus great accomplishments done by women
- Most of what I learned at WE11 was about other SWE sections' successes and failures with graduate student programming and K-12 outreach. Learning about external organizations that frequently partner with SWE in outreach efforts was also useful.
- During a grad school-related session on Friday, a mathematics professor spoke about how her grad student lunchtime seminar series has fared. She maintains an extremely useful website detailing the different seminar topics that have been covered. Subjects range from leadership styles to negotiation methods. One notable presentation is entitled "Women Don't Ask," a series about the lack of female assertion in academia and in industry. Although her seminars are typically well-attended, she mentioned that having better funding (and food) would prove helpful.
- A later session on effective K-12 outreach highlighted opportunities related to the National Girls Collaborative Project, an organization seeking to expand girls' involvement in STEM fields. They provide mini-grants funding regional projects.
- I attended a talk on grant proposal writing. It was extremely useful in that it exposed the extent to which proposal requirements vary among different funding agencies. Overall, the WE11 conference provided a great update on what is currently going on in the SWE outreach and grad communities and outlined some effective strategies for increasing section participation.

WE11: Chicago Oct. 13-15

This past weekend, 16 MITSWE members, along with 5800 others, attended the National SWE Conference hosted in Chicago, IL, the headquarters of the national organization. During these three days, people attended hospitality suites hosted by top sponsors, a career fair with top engineering companies, fun and interesting sessions and workshops, and explored the "Windy City."

Check out some of the pictures below to see how fun everyone had!

The Career Fair was held on Friday from 10:30-4pm and many companies gave out interviews throughout the day to several students. Good luck to everyone in search for an internship! 

Friday night we all headed out to the Berghoff, a well known and treasured Chicago restaurant with great German food. We were also joined by some of our most beloved alumni.

Family love: Tina > Ellen > Leslie & Anika > Sarah

On Saturday, people had the opportunity to go out into the city after attending another session. Here, we can see the glorious beauty of the infamous Chicago Deep Dish Stuffed Pizza, yum Giordano's.

That night, we all attended the final Celebrate SWE banquet. As a part of Region F, our theme was Fall Foliage and all the professional and collegiate members were crowned with a wreath of leaves, looking festive and classy.

Congrats to the two attending seniors, Ellen and Joy, for dedicating so much time to SWE!

If you're interested in getting involved and having a chance to attend WE12, next year the National Conference will be hosted in Houston, TX from November 8-10. Mark your calendars and get excited!

SWE Region F Conference Update

Hi everyone!  Check out our post on the SWE Region F Blog - it's the MIT SWE Conference Committee's first update on conference planning for March 2012.

1) We want your feedback on what topics you'd like to see covered at the conference.  Help us decide what to include as a conference session by filling out the survey.
Programming survey address: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDJ0Skk4R3BGNjJ5TS1SWDZoc1JMRkE6MQ

2) Announcing the Inaugural SWE Sleepover!  The night of March 3rd, 2012, collegiates will be invited to the first ever SWE Sleepover to be held in McCormick Penthouse—get to know some of the amazing collegiate women in an informal and fun atmosphere. If you are interested, please respond using our survey.
Sleepover survey address: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHQzdWhFOGhERXVNalQ3ZXJmZk8wSXc6MQ

3) We will also be running a host matching program with MIT SWE members and collegiates visiting from other schools.  Details are coming soon!

Women on Wall Street: Hosted by SWE and Morgan Stanley

This past Wednesday, representatives from Morgan Stanley visited the MIT campus to talk with MIT SWE members about the transition from engineering to finance. Thanks to Morgan Stanley HR and the SWE Corporate Relations Chairs for making this great event possible!

Our keynote speaker!

MIT Campus Preview Weekend

Hello SWE,

Join us in welcoming the newly admitted students for Campus Preview Weekend (4/8-4/10)!

SWE will be participating in the following events and cordially invite SWE members and prefrosh to attend:

Campus Preview Weekend Dinner

When: Friday, 4/8, 6:30pm-8pm
Where: Twenty Chimneys of the Student Center

Prefrosh, come and enjoy a delicious meal and speak with SWE members about SWE and life at MIT!

Campus Preview Weekend Activities Midway

When: Saturday, 4/9, 1pm-3pm
Where: Johnson Athletics Center
Prefrosh, join SWE for dippin' dots and cupcakes from SWEET bakery and pick up FREE memorabilia!

SWeek: Come buy SWE Gear 4/4-4/8!

Hello SWE,

Come buy new SWE Gear this week, 4/4-4/8! Cash preferred! 

Booth schedule
Monday (Lobby 10): 10am-6pm
Tuesday (Lobby 10): 10am-6pm
Wednesday (Student Center): 10am-4pm
Thursday(Stata): 10am-5pm
Friday(Stata): 10am-5pm

Knit T-shirts and Yoga pants from American Apparel available in sizes small, medium and large.

SWE Region F Conference at MIT next year!

Hi MIT SWE,

I'm excited to announce that MIT has won the bid process to host next year's
SWE Region F Conference here at our school!  Thank you to the members of the
bid committee, Jean Fang, Ashwini Gokhale, and Susan Liang for helping to
put together our detailed bid presentation materials.  Please join me in
welcoming Jean, Ashwini, and Susan to SWE Board as SWE Region F Conference
Chairs.

Additionally, it is going to take a lot of planning work and people to make
the conference happen, so we are going to start recruiting conference
committee members in the near future to join us in planning the conference.
The four committees will be Sponsorship, Programming, Logistics, and
Publicity.  If you'd be interested in participating in conference planning,
please email sweconference@mit.edu so we can let you know how to get
involved.

Best,

Ellen
MIT SWE President

Region F Conference at RPI

This past weekend, a number of MIT SWE collegiate members traveled to Troy, NY to attend the SWE Region F Conference. Our group arrived Friday evening before an early Saturday morning and a busy schedule. The conference was a great success - from the keynote speakers to the panel discussions to the career fair. Thank you RPI for being such a wonderful host!

JJ and Anika at dinner on Friday.  

Joy shares a laugh over lunch after the Career Fair. 

Theresa and Mari and the closing banquet.

St. Paddy's Day Study Break

This past Thursday, SWE hosted a St. Paddy's Day Study Break with Fro Yo and cheesecake. The event was a HUGE success - there was a big crowd of happy students and no food leftover!

Liza and the rest of the serving crew did an awesome job - it was no easy task!

Diandra handles the cheesecake :)

Thanks JJ and Emily for organizing this great event. The photos speak for themselves - it was a lot of fun. 

Introducing the New Middle School Outreach Committee!

SWE is excited to introduce the new

Elementary/Middle School Outreach Committee

Chaired by

Sarah Edris & Yi Wu

as a part of an effort to expand the capacity of our outreach programs. Because the majority of our outreach programs are at maximum capacity, often with long waitlists, SWE is increasing the number of outreach events.


What events will this new outreach committee host?
During this Spring, the committee chairs will collaborate with the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, an exciting program that pairs MIT mentors up with middle school students to complete a science fair project. You will be able to define your role as part of the collaboration. The Scipro website can be found here: http://web.mit.edu/tbp/www/scipro.shtml.

During the fall semester, we will be launching our first annual website competition for middle school students. For the duration of the program, MIT mentors and webinars will help the students learn basic web design concepts and create a website showcasing their own research in a STEM field. Students will come on campus for a kick off event and conclusion/awards ceremony.The winning students will be awarded cash prizes.

Welcome to SWE Board Sarah and Yi!

SWE and National Engineering Week

To celebrate this year's National Engineering Week, SWE collaborated with the Boston Children's Museum to run an interactive science fair event for museum goers.

Here SWE volunteers begin setting up for a full day of activities.

One of the experiments performed used milk, food coloring and dish washing liquid to create a colorful explosion!

A group of volunteers gathers for a picture (check out the matching shirts!).

Thank you to SWE Outreach, the Boston Children's Museum staff and all the MIT volunteers for making this event possible!

SWE Retreat 2011

This past weekend, the incoming MIT SWE board gathered for a retreat to Plymouth, MA. After a long rush hour drive, our group finally arrived at our beautiful house for the weekend, Idlewild.

Here Jean and Anika pose for a picture upon arrival.

After a productive evening of planning, we started Saturday morning right with a home-cooked breakfast - yummy eggs, pancakes and bacon! Thanks to Liza and Kimmie for heading the kitchen team :)

Saturday afternoon, we broke into committees and spent the time planning upcoming events and getting to know our fellow board members. Our rented house was a beautiful backdrop for meetings and fun!

Here Joy works on a number of upcoming outreach projects. Safe to say, the new MIT SWE board had a wonderful time at retreat! We're all looking forward to starting the new semester and we have a number of exciting events planned which will soon be announced in more detail.

Introducing the Mason Magellan Program!

Become a mentor for the new
Mason Magellan Program

What is it?
The Mason Magellan Program is  new after school science program for grades 1-3 at Mason Elementary School, which is a nearby elementary school accessible by the 1 bus. This is a new program started by SWE's Off Campus Outreach Committee to encourage kids' interest in STEM and provide a safe, fun, and educational environment until they can go home. The activities will be around an hour long, and very simple to set up. For our first session, we will be making free-standing balloon towers as an engineering project. We're super excited to get this started, but we can't do it without you.

When does it run?
We're looking for several enthusiastic volunteers to come in once every two weeks for this semester on Tuesday afternoons from about 3:30-5:30, including transportation time, to mentor the program. Our first session is on March 1.

Why become a mentor?
This is a fantastic opportunity for you to have fun with kids, get away from the MIT craziness for awhile, get involved with MIT SWE, and gain planning experience, especially if you're interested in being on a SWE committee or planning board.

Please reply to mitswe.offcampus@gmail.com if you are interested. All majors, backgrounds (and gender) are welcome. Thank you so much, and we really can't do this without you!

All the best, 

MITSWE Off Campus Outreach

Announcing the 2011 SWE Planning Board!

Hi MIT SWE,

Please join us in welcoming the new 2011 SWE Planning Board!  Congratulations to all- these extraordinary women stood out from a record applicant pool!
2011 MIT SWE Planning Board

Under the VP of Outreach Programming (Joy Jiao)
WiSE Chairs: Marianna See, Anjali Thakkar
KEYs Chairs: Sabine Scneider, Yuliya Preger
Girl Scout Outreach Chairs: Elizabeth Rowland, Katy Evans
Event Outreach Chairs: Jennifer Li, Neha Hebbar
Off-Campus Outreach Chairs: Jean Xin, Jie-Yoon Yang

Under the VP Campus of Relations (Jess Li)
Internal Social Chairs: Leslie Chan, Tara Ebsworth
Campus Social Chairs: JJ Zhao, Emily McDonald
Marketing Chairs: Vivian Dien, Priyanka Saha
Department Liaisons: Elizabeth Phillips, Audra Podany
Big/Lil Sib Program Coordinators: Lauren Greico, Andrea Fabre

Under the VP of Member Development (Liza Xu)
Membership Development Chairs: Shelly Jin, Angela Zhu
Advocacy Chairs: Deborah Hanus, Mary Guan
Public Relations Chair: Zainab Lasisi
Media Chair: Mari Miyachi
Senior Representatives: Elli Pula, Edna Ezzell

Under the VP of Professional Development (Katia Paramonova)
Professional Development Chairs: Pritee Tembhekar, Julia Jakolska
Corporate Relations Chairs: Anika Gupta, Lauren Lo, Yuchen Feng

We would also like to welcome a new member to SWE Exec - our new Webmaster will be Kimmi Li!

Again, thank you to all applicants and congratulations to the new board.

Best,

Ellen
MIT SWE President

Apply to Join SWE Board

Hi SWE!

Are you interested in getting more involved with SWE?  Do you want to develop your leadership abilities and have fun?  Do you like teaching students about math and science?  Do you want to get involved with professional development and networking?  Do you want to throw study breaks and plan social events?  Do you have interest in where women stand in the world beyond MIT?  Apply to join the 2011 MIT SWE Planning Board!  Descriptions of the 2011 board positions are at the end of this announcement.

Anyone is welcome to apply to join our board - non-engineers and men are welcome too!  Please note: to apply to join the SWE Board, you must be a National member of SWE.  Not a member but want to apply?  Join SWE now - membership is only $20 per year, but we'll even reimburse you for half of it!  You can apply here: https://ams.swe.org/swessa/ssaauthmenu.show_top_menu, or just visit http://www.swe.org.

To apply, please send your answers to the following questions to swe-president@mit.edu by 11:59pm on February 3.  Interviews for positions will be held on February 6. 

- Name
- MIT email
- Year
- Major/minor
- Phone number
- Birthday
- Dorm/FSILG, room #
- Are you a National SWE Member?  (If not, you can apply for membership here: https://ams.swe.org/swessa/ssaauthmenu.show_top_menu)
- Position(s) applying for (descriptions are at the end of this announcement)
- Why are you qualified for the position(s) you are applying for?
- Why do you want to get involved with MIT SWE?
- If your position has a co-chair, is there someone you would prefer to work with?
- Can you commit to regular meetings on Saturdays or Sundays (1-2 hours, biweekly, time TBD)?
- What other activities are you involved in on campus?

Best,

Ellen
MIT SWE President

--

Position descriptions:

Outreach

Off-Campus Outreach Chairs:

Join the newest branch of SWE Outreach for an exciting opportunity to explore new possibilities and develop new goals. This committee was started year and we've made a lot of exciting progress. New ideas and creativity is welcome!

Event Outreach Chairs:

E-week: Plan hands-on activities for Boston Children's Museum's Celebrate Engineering Week! The event culminates in an all-day extravaganza on Saturday, 2/24.

BeaverDash: An all-day high school girls and boys mystery engineering challenge. MIT students mentor groups of 4-6 to construct an apparatus out of everyday items like foam and string and cardboard boxes and participate in a competition at the end of the day. The topic of the competition is revealed on the morning of.

Exploring Majors Fair: High school students attend a panel of MIT professors and students for an informational and Q&A session about different majors at MIT. A lab tour at a MIT lab follows.

Girl Scouts Outreach Chairs:

Brownie Girl Scout Day: 120 Brownie Girl Scouts come to MIT to do small science experiments

Junior Girl Scout Day: 120 Junior Girl Scouts come to MIT to work together on an engineering challenge

WISE (Women in Science and Engineering) Chairs:

Multiple times a semester a small group of high school girls come to MIT for an all day event visiting MIT labs, fun hands-on activities, and hearing panels of Professors and Professionals speak, talk to MIT students about different areas to study, learn about dealing with women’s issues.

Campus Relations

Internal Social Chairs:

Two individuals will be responsible for planning fun bonding activities for the SWE board. This includes the Wrentham trip, dinners in Boston, ice skating, etc.

Campus Social Chairs:

The Campus Social Chairs will be responsible for planning campus-wide study breaks. These events will aim to bring together the MIT community. They will also be working with the Department Liaisons to plan the semiannual Meet the Professors dinner.

Marketing Chairs:

The Marketing Chairs will be responsible for publicizing SWE to the rest of the MIT community. This includes updating the SWE bulletin in the Infinite, ordering SWE gear, and organizing the SWE booth in Lobby 10 during Orientation, CPW, and a few times throughout the year.

Department Liaisons:

The Department Liaisons will work together to help plan events that have an academic theme. These events may be panels, mixers, or study breaks. The goal is to give a chance for MIT students to meet other students with similar academic interests or faculty in that area of study. In addition, they will also be in charge of planning the semiannual Meet the Professors Dinner with the Campus Social Chairs.

Big/Lil Sib Program Coordinators:

The Big/Lil Program Coordinators will be responsible for the making the Big/Little pairings and planning Big/Little bonding activities.

Member Development

Membership Development Chairs:

Two individuals will work together to plan events to represent SWE during CPW and Orientation. This includes running booths at the Activity Fairs and planning informational dinners. Co-chairs may also be responsible for planning topic specific events throughout the semester with the goal of educating the MIT community about SWE to attract more members. In addition to main responsibilities with recruiting freshman, co-chairs are also responsible for planning the logics for the National Conference held in the fall. This entails booking flights, hotels, and entertainment for the duration of the conference. Finally, membership development chairs will play a large role in putting together a proposal for MIT to host the 2012 SWE Region F Conference. Previous experience dealing with organization of large groups traveling together and planning events is preferred but not required.

Advocacy Chairs:

Two individuals will work together to network with other women advocacy groups to plan events supporting the advancement of women via mentorship, networking, seminars, and panels. This includes working with gwamit, SWIM and other women’s groups. Although at MIT people are accustomed to seeing women in technical fields such as engineering, the workplace reflects a very different atmosphere. Thus, the goal of this position is to make people aware of the differences and promote further involvement of women on and outside of campus.

Public Relations Chair:

Individual will be responsible for communicating with other Boston area SWE chapters, both collegiate and professional, as well as MITSWE alumni. This involves planning alumni events to give members a chance to see what life is like after SWE and get MITSWE members to participate and local area conferences and meetings.

Media Chair:

Individual will be expected to attend events throughout the year and take either video or photos of the happenings. The documentation of the events will be used to further promote SWE by keeping the public informed of our organization. Furthermore, the individual may be expected to design Powerpoint presentations, videos, and a scrapbook. Experience with photography, design, and possibly MovieMaker and Photoshop are preferable.

Senior Representatives:

The Senior Reps will work together to plan events that center around topics of particular interest to seniors, such as transitioning from MIT into a full-time job or grad school, personal finance after graduation, and others.  Applicants for the Senior Representative positions must be seniors.

Professional Development

Professional Development Chairs

The goals of this position are to improve SWE members’ professionalism and prepare members for internships and jobs in the future.  Events include organizing workshops for members about improving resumes, preparing for interviews, learning how to network, and learning how to make the most out of Career Fairs.  Chairs will partner with the Careers Office on many workshops, and will aim to hold 1-2 events every 2 months which will be planned out at the beginning of the semester.  Chairs will be responsible for advertising events.

Corporate Relations Chairs

The Corporate Relations Chairs will bring companies to campus, with a focus on bringing in new companies and increasing the number of courses covered by those companies, to provide networking opportunities for students.  The events include info sessions, panels, and personalized company events such as site tours.  Chairs will also update the resume database and market it to new companies as we form partnerships with more companies.  Some events will be pre-planned at the beginning of each semester, but info sessions will come up by request from companies.  Chairs will be responsible for advertising events.

Career Fair Directors

Career Fair Directors represent SWE in the Career Fair Committee, and participate in organizing the MIT Fall 2011 Career Fair.  The commitment involves weekly meetings during summer 2011 and more frequent meetings in early fall 2011 leading up to the Career Fair.  Applications for this position will be sent out at the end of January by the Career Fair 2010 Directors.