News

For the second year, SWE is partnering with SEM Link As a part of its, Math and  Science Career Academy to host a Science Café, “Engineers What They Do and How to Become One” to celebrate National Engineers Week(e-week), February 14-20, 2010.  Science Cafés are informal and interactive scientific seminars for K-12 students, parents and educators that discuss real-world applications of science, engineering and mathematics. This is Science Café will be held on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 from 6:00-7:00 pm at King Middle School on 545 Hill Street. This event is for Cool Girls program participants, the students at King Middle School, but is also free and open to the public.

The café speaker is Ms. Beth White, a graduate of Colorado State University and a SWE member, is a Civil Engineer with Merrick & Company.  Merrick is a full service engineering and architecture firm.  Ms. White will be speaking about how the various disciplines of engineering come together and contribute on completing a project. She also briefly explain what classes (math & sciences) K-12 students needs to start taking at a young age to get an early start on a career in Engineering! 

Although Beth is our esteemed speaker, we are encouraging all members to not only come out o support her but also be there to speak with the parents and students about YOUR career.

February 16^th

6:00-7:00pm

King Middle School

545 Hill Street

Atlanta GA

There is no cost and no food for this meeting. Please bring your friends and family to this open community event! RSVP now!

Atlanta SWE Member Marsha Anderson Bomar was elected to serve her second term on the Duluth City Council (2010-2014). In addition, she will serve as Mayor Pro Tempore.  

Ms. Bomar is President and Founder of Street Smarts, Inc.

L to R: Lucien Bomar, Marsha Anderson Bomar and Municipal Court Judge Charles Barrett

On January 20^th, the Atlanta Girls School (AGS, www.atlantagirlsschool.org) hosted the Atlanta SWE section for their monthly program.  Pinney Allen, head of school, addressed the SWE group, delivering a compelling presentation on the learning styles of girls vs. boys in elementary and middle school.  She shared ways in which SWE could partner with the AGS going forward on outreach programs and other events. Thanks to all who attended!

Date: January 20, 2010 6pm - 8pm
Location: Atlanta Girls School
Cost: $15 for Paid SWE Members, $20 for Non-Members & Guests (Dinner Included in Cost)
Register Now!

Mark your calendars to join Atlanta SWE for our first monthly meeting of 2010!  Pinney Allen, head of the Atlanta Girls School, will be speaking with us about research they have done on the differences in learning styles of girls and boys.  They have found that girls and boys process information in different ways.  Our speaker will share valuable insight with us as we plan for outreach events in the future and also as we learn more about what would intrigue a young woman to consider the technical fields of Engineering and Science.

Speaker: Pinney Allen, a nearly 30-year leader in the Atlanta legal and business community and a leader in the non-profit community on issues of education and women and girls, joined the AGS community in the summer of 2008.  She was recently recognized by the YWCA at its 25th Anniversary Salute to Women of Achievement and is immediate past chair of The Atlanta Women’s Foundation.  She graduated with an AB in economics, summa cum laude, from Harvard University and a JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.  She and her husband, Buddy Miller, are the proud parents of two daughters.

We received feedback in our recent survey regarding having more variety in our meeting locations, so this meeting will be held at the AGS near the West Paces Ferry exit off of I-75 on a Wednesday rather than our regular Tuesday.  We do hope you can join us for what is sure to be an exciting event!  See you there!

Register now before you forget!

Date: March 5-7, 2010
Location: Memphis, TN

Interested in sharpening those professional development skills? How about networking with other women engineers around the Southeast? It's that time of year again for the Region D Conference!

This year the event takes place in Memphis, Tennesse. Registration is now open, cost is only $75 for professional attendees, or $125 for professionals who wish to earn PDH or CEU credits during special sessions on March 5.  There are even registration options that include the cost of your hotel stay!

SWE Conferences are known for great networking opportunities, fantastic workshops, and a sensational career fair. Tours of Graceland, the Civil Rights Museum, and the Fed-Ex Hub are also available for an additional fee.

There are sponsorship opportunities for companies and individuals. Visit the website for more information!

More information is available on the conference website: http://www.swe.org/regiond/regiondconference/index.html

If you plan on attending, please let us know by e-mailing general@sweatlanta.org!

SWE ATL and Imagine It! The Children’s Museum of Atlanta Need you!!!

Over the last 18 months, SWE members have been working behind the scenes with the educators and designers at the museum to design a permanent simple machines exhibit for the museum floor.  ATL-SWE members, identified the need for more science at museum, developed the concepts, which have been vetted by the museum educational staff, making sure that the tools are going to stand up to the hundreds of thousands of young visitors each year, and are now ready to get them built!  This project aims to incorporate the science of simple machines for kids and parents to learn together through new hands on vignettes covering the concepts of pulleys, inclined planes, and levers. 

What we need:

·         1-3 people with Solid Works (or AutoCAD) expertise to translate the vignette concept sketches into digital design files

·         1-3 people to purchase and build prototype vignettes

·         Everyone to keep an eye out for the upcoming special meeting where we will try out the concepts at the museum.

Note, we do not require volunteers to be SWE members or even women – all support is welcome (and desperately needed)!

Please contact Wendy Cocke (wendy.cocke@kcc.com) if you can help in any capacity.

With the help of roughly 30 volunteers from SWE, our WOW! That's Engineering event generated big results! Over 60 middle-school aged girls from the Atlanta area attended the event. The attendees participated in several activities with topics like surface tension, magnetism, and chemistry. The girls also got the chance to interact with several women engineers one-on-one, creating an invaluable experience for the participants.



Many thanks to Elizabeth Encisco, our VP of Outreach, for her hard work and dedication to this event! Additional thanks to Beth White for her help with attendees and registration. Further gratitude to the many SWE members who volunteered their time. Finally, a major thank you to Southern Company for allowing us to host the event in their wonderful venue.

SWE Atlanta celebrated the holidays in style at Everybody's Pizza in the Virginia Highland area! We were joined by officers of the local Engineers Without Borders group who shared information about their organization and their active projects in developing nations. Also, we collected dozens of non-perishable food items for the Atlanta Food Bank. It was a festive holiday gathering with a purpose. If you missed it, please visit the EWB website (www.ewb-usa.org) for more info on this great organization and how you can get involved.

On Tuesday, November 17th, the SWE Atlanta professional section joined the students of the Georgia Tech SWE section on Georgia Tech campus to hear from Kathy Harber, founder of Career Keys Open Doors (www.careerkeysopendoors.com).  Kathy, an expert in resume critiquing, gave some great tips for ensuring that a resume portrays the best image that it can to a potential hiring manager.  The crowd was a good mix of collegiate and professionals, and Kathy shared information that would benefit both groups.  If you missed it, visit the "Career Keys" website for information on how to contact Kathy for more information.  

Two of our SWE Atlanta members recently spent an evening with the members of the SWE section at Southern Polytechnic State University. They have put together a short video of the event; check it out!

Atlanta SWE Members visit SPSU SWE Section

We are always happy to assist our collegiate sections!

To learn more about the SPSU SWE Section, visit http://www.swe-spsu.com/