Category: Updates

Engineers solve all sorts of problems, and one of their most important tools is their own creativity.

Engineers make a world of difference. Most of the things that make our lives safer, more enjoyable, and more productive are products of engineering.

Engineering is essential to our health, happiness, and safety

No one can say what the future will bring, but Engineers will play a major role in shaping the world of tomorrow.

This is a call out to our SWE-CM section members and friends,

Save the date: SWE-CM invites you to the NC Regional FIRST Robotics Competition March 20, and 21 2015 at the Dorton Arena, Raleigh, NC. There will be fifty-five teams from NC, MD, PA, SC, and VA, nine of which are rookies. These high school students will come together to compete with robots that must work together in teams of three.

As you may or may not be aware, SWE and FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology – www.usfirst.org) have a national Strategic Alliance relationship.  Together, we are working on initiatives that will afford local Sections of both organizations opportunities to collaborate in pursuit of our joint missions.

For the first time, SWE, through a generous grant from the Motorola Foundation, provided 40 FIRST® team grants in the amount of $1,000 to high school students in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) program.  National SWE and FIRST® jointly developed the grant criteria to acknowledge teams that are promoting gender diversity within their ranks and thereby engaging more girls as contributing members.  Additionally, priority was given to teams that identified a girl robot driver, which is a key role on the team.  Over 200 applications were received with 40 grants awarded to FRC® teams around the country. All team shirts and robots will proudly carry the SWE logo. Team T-Rex #4935 at Olympic Community of School in Southwest Charlotte was a recipient of a SWE grant award.

Our SWE-CM President, Cheryl Kinchen, volunteered to help with the North Carolina FIRST Robotics Kickoff at the Michael Waltrip Racing in Cornelius, NC on Saturday, January 3rd.  I will be at the Registration table. This was the perfect opportunity for me to meet the various teams including team T-Rex. On behalf of SWE, I would like to encourage all of you to meet the T-Rex team and attend a competition event.  I invite you to join me in meeting the amazing young people involved with FIRST at the NC Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in March 2015 at the Dorton Arena, Raleigh, NC. There will be fifty-five teams from NC, MD, PA, SC, and VA, nine of which are rookies. These high school students will come together in on March 20, and 21 for three days of competition with robots that can do something as yet to be unveiled (to be announced Saturday January 3rd at the Kick-Off to be held at Michael Waltrip Racing in Cornelius.)

SWE & FRC!
For the first time, SWE, through a generous grant from the Motorola Foundation, provided 40 FIRST® team grants in the amount of $1,000 to high school students in the FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®) program.  National SWE and FIRST® jointly developed the grant criteria to acknowledge teams that are promoting gender diversity within their ranks and thereby engaging more girls as contributing members.  Additionally, priority was given to teams that identified a girl robot driver, which is a key role on the team.  Over 200 applications were received with 40 grants awarded to FRC® teams around the country. All team shirts and robots will proudly carry the SWE logo.

NC FIRST Robotics!
Our SWE-CM President, Cheryl Kinchen, met Marie Hopper, Executive Director for NC FRC. Marie shared more information about FIRST and how SWE can partner with them to encourage young women in a career path to engineering. Marie extended an invitation to Cheryl to be one of three judges at the FIRST NC Regional Tournament March 20 and 21, 2015. Marie wanted a strong female representative to help inspire our next generation of engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs. Cheryl looks forward to meeting the amazing young people involved with FIRST and representing SWE at the NC Regional FIRST Robotics Competition in March 2015.

NC FRC Kickoff!
The North Carolina FIRST Robotics Kickoff was held at the Michael Waltrip Racing in Cornelius, NC on Saturday, January 3rd.  Our SWE-CM President, Cheryl Kinchen volunteered at the Registration table. FRC Kickoff marks the beginning of the design and build season. Teams have the opportunity to meet at “local” Kickoffs to compare notes, get ideas, make friends, find mentoring teams, learn the game, pick up the Kit of Parts, and get geared up for the exciting competition season. This was the perfect opportunity for her to meet the various teams including team T-Rex. Team T-Rex #4935 at Olympic Community of School in Southwest Charlotte was a recipient of a SWE grant award. To see the You Tube 2015 FRC Game Hint go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAETANAiLw0

For more information go to:
www.usfirst.org
www.ncfirstrobotics.org

VOLUNTEERS  Needed:  The impact you make on students by volunteering is immeasurable!  You help inspire our next generation of engineers, innovators and entrepreneurs.

·         Interested in being a NC FIRST Robotics volunteer? We are in need of women role models! Go to  http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers

·        The T-Rex coach is also looking to bring in some speakers and special advisors for the team throughout the build season. Please contact me if you are interested in being a speaker to our North Carolina’s FIRST Robotics team here in Charlotte.

Local Sections are encouraged to stay involved with the team in some capacity as doing so provides great role models for girls looking to pursue STEM education and careers.  Ways to do that might be to:

• host a Section meeting at the competition event (FIRST® can help with free space at the venue);
• invite the team and robot to attend a Section event and demo their robot;
• engage in some joint outreach either with the Girl Scouts or other group that the Section is currently involved with;
• offer to have a Section member speak at the team’s school providing much needed insight into women in tech careers; and
• be open to other ideas for collaboration that could evolve from discussion—work with the team to see where your joint interests lie within your community.

Happy New Year, 2015 is going to be a fun year!

The Society of Women Engineers Charlotte-Metrolina Section issues a call for nominations for the Distinguished Engineering Service Award.

This award is presented annually by the Society of Women Engineers Charlotte-Metrolina Section to an individual who best exemplifies the engineering profession through leadership and service as judged by the selection committee from submitted nominations.

The judging criteria evaluate the contributed time and effort in one or more of the following areas: public service, public awareness, professional development and leadership, and other as specified by the nominator. The nominee’s volunteer efforts must be: current, an investment of substantial personal (uncompensated) time, personal and direct, and public service.

The nominee should be informed of their nomination and will be recognized at the Annual Awards & Recognition Banquet in June 2016.

Nominations are due to [email protected]by March 1, 2015. Additional details are in the Nomination Form attached.

Southeast Region D

Charlotte-Metrolina Section, D-002

Executive Council Planning Meeting Minutes August 2, 2014
(printable PDF version)

The Society of Women Engineers Charlotte Metrolina (SWE-CM) Section held its FY 2015 kickoff and officers planning meeting on 02 August 2014 at Lake Norman, 351 Grasshopper Circle Mooresville, North Carolina. The purpose of the meeting was for planning the 2014-2015 year activities.

Attendees present:

• Cheryl Kinchen, President, [email protected]
• Divya Radhakrishnan, Vice President, [email protected]
• Kerrie GoForth, Treasurer, [email protected]
• Rebecca Turner, Section Representative, [email protected]
• Chris Cathcart, Alt Section Representative, [email protected]
• Angela Berry, Volunteer Outreach Committee Chair, [email protected]
• Fern Blair, Media Design and Consultant, [email protected]

Agenda topics and discussions:

Treasurer’s Financial Report and Annual Budget

FY14 budget, last year’s bank statements and IRS filing completed Jul 7th 2014 were reviewed and approved. Voting was unanimous on two topics:

• Post Office expense, unanimous vote to keep current P.O. Box
• Website expense, unanimous vote to keep current server, Go-Daddy.com
• FY15 budget, after a few updates, will be sent out via by the treasurer for concurrence and a vote.

Social Media

• Face Book /Twitter – voted not to have a Face Book site or Twitter unless a dedicated Chairperson could support a two year commitment. Best Practices should be followed as outlined by SWE headquarters.
• Website- SWE paid platform is a template based site and available to Sections, vote to keep current website for FY15 was unanimous as it better meets our Section needs. Website updates need to include Officer Bios and picture for each officer. Executive officers were provided with admin privileges for www.swe-cm.org POC is Fern Blair [email protected]
• Notification Mailings – Mail Chimp was presented to the officers and will be used to set up advance notifications for FY15 activities. POC is Fern Blair [email protected]
• Newsletters – partially automated, to go thru Section Secretary, Theresa Myers, for distribution. Newsletter will be quarterly.
• Palm Cards – social advertising media was discussed and after reviewing and approving a design, created by Ms. Blair, the officers voted unanimously for the purchase of palm cards for the SWE-CM Section. These cards have SWE-CM Section information and no personal information. Section information includes FY15 Power Hour Locations with dates and a QR barcode. The barcode can be read by a number of app enabled phones. Scanning the barcode on the card will take users to our www.SWE-CM.org website. These cards will be ordered as a batch of 1,000. These cards will be useful to hand out at SWE-CM Power Hour events and at SWE Conferences. POC is Cheryl Kinchen, [email protected]

Social Networking and Membership

• SWE-CM Power Hour – Although all are welcome, these monthly events target our young professional women in their 20s-40s for professional support, networking, and membership building. Events are to be first Fridays 6pm-8pm unless otherwise scheduled. POC is Divya Radhakrishnan [email protected] or Rebecca Turner [email protected]
• Outreach Women’s Engineering Conference with Professional Engineers of North Carolina (PENC) this is a conference requiring a $350 fee by the Foundation of the Carolinas (non-profit). Individual conference costs at $35 each are estimated to offset the fee and the net profit will go towards scholarships to Engineers Camp Charlotte at Queens University in the summer of 2015. Camp is $350 for a week. A vote for SWE-CM Section to cover the fee with reimbursement based on proceeds was unanimous and the treasurer will handle payment to the Foundation of the Carolinas. POC is the Outreach Committee Chair, Angela Berry [email protected].
• Engineers Are Epic, scheduled with Girl Scout Hornet’s Nest Council for September 27th 2014 and February 21st 2014 (during Engineers Week) POC is the Outreach Committee Chair, Angela Berry, [email protected]
• University of North Carolina Charlotte (UNNC) Collegiate SWE – SWE-CM will support the College of Engineering Picnic in October 2014 POC is the Outreach Committee Chair, [email protected]
• Citizen Schools, voted not to support Fall program but to support Spring program Feb-Apr 2015. POC is the Outreach Committee Chair, Angela Berry [email protected]

SWE Calendar of Events

The events for 2014-2015 year were discussed and finalized. To see the Calendar of Events, please visit our Calendar >>