High School Engineering

DayBy Abigail Kulhanek

On November 7, SWE hosted High School Engineering Day. 50 high school students were invited to Pitt to participate in engineering activities and see what an engineering major consists of. The day started off with breakfast and an overview of the schedule for that day. A keynote speaker from General Electric Transportation, Cheryle Wilson, fo l lowed breakfast . Once Mrs. Wilson’s presentation was over, students either participated in an e n g i n e e r i n g a c t i v i t y o r c l a s s shadowing. The activity challenged students’ critical thinking skills by asking them to develop and build a package for a s’more. Building this package could not exceed a cost of 50 cents, and the package needed to withstand a drop test – dropping the package from about six feet, a water test – dumping a full cup of water over the package without getting the

s’more wet, and a heat test – applying heat from a hair dryer allowing the s’more to melt inside. The group with the lowest cost and the package that measured up to SWE’s tests the best won a prize. While some students participated in the engineering activity other students sat in on the following classes: Material Structure and Properties, Organic Chemistry, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra. After the activity and class shadowing, students received lunch. While students were eating, Jorden Dent from the Career Office talked to them about Pitt and engineering at Pitt. After her talk, students took the “What Types of Engineering Should I Look Into” quiz. A female panel of s t u d e n t s , p r o f e s s o r s , a n d professionals were then brought in to

answer questions from the high school students. After the Q&A panel, students participated in lab tours. The labs that the students visited were the Human Movement and Balance lab, the Additive Manufacturing lab, and the Visualization and Image Analysis lab. A special thanks to Dr. To and Dr. Chmielus for sponsoring and leading the AM tour respectively. The day ended with a Jeopardy game about the different engineering disciplines and a survey asking the students what they liked and disliked about the day. The students seemed to have fun through everything and had only good things to say about the activities they were a part of that day. Overall the day was full of fun and learning for the high school students.

ALL ABOUT GENERAL ELECTRIC

NEXT MONTH’S EVENTS

RIDDLE

NETWORKING EVENT WITH CMU SWE AND PROFESSIONAL SWE

OFFICER OF THE MONTH

MIDDLE SCHOOL ENGINEERING DAY

PITT SWE VOLUME 5 ISSUE NO.2

THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS

Highlights: In this Issue

NOVEMBER, 2014

PAGE 2 PAGE 3 PAGE 4

All About General Electric

NEXTMONTH

Holiday Party: 12/2

Five Guys Fundraiser: 12/3 5-8pm

Etiquette Dinner: 12/5

Enjoy your winter break!

If you get the answer to the riddle go to the SWE

office to claim a cool prize!

By Dhanu Thiyagarajan

General Electric (GE) Transportation visited SWE on November 6, 2014 for a company information session and networking event. The event went really well with over 40 attendees and five company representatives f r o m d i f f e r e n t a s p e c t s o f t h e G E Transportation business from one of their main sites in Erie, PA. Everybody also enjoyed Noodles and Co. catering along with some cute cupcakes. The first 45 minutes were spent learning about the GE Company, i t s i n d i v i d u a l b u s i n e s s e s a n d m o r e specifically about GE Transportation. This further continued into learning about the various job opportunities that they offer starting from their Early Identification Program (EID) for college students which lead into leadership training programs as full-time jobs. The event continued with break-out sessions with the various representatives for networking. This was a great opportunity for those who were looking for internships, co-ops and full-time jobs as the representatives were actively recruiting for their leadership programs. The various leadership programs are Communications Leadership Development Program (CLDP), Commercial Leadership Program (CLP), Edison Engineering Development Program (EEDP), Financial Management Program (FMP), Information Technology Leadership Program (ITLP), Operations Management Leadership Program (OMLP) and Software L e a d e r s h i p P r o g r a m ( S L P ) . M o r e information into the various leadership programs can be found by searching ge.com/”program acronym”. I interned with GE Healthcare last summer (and will be again this coming summer) and it was one of my best experiences! Additionally, I was able to interview for a full-time position at the end of the summer which was a great opportunity! Please contact pittswe@gmail.com if you are interested in more information on GE as we have information packets that we can give you or if you want to talk with me regarding my experience and your possibility of a career with GE!

RIDDLE

There is a basket full of hats. 3 of them are white and 2 of them are black. There are 3 men Tom, Tim, and Jim. They each take a hat out of the

basket and put it on their heads without seeing the hat they selected or the

hats the other men selected. The men arrange

themselves so Tom can see Tim and Jim's hats,

Tim can see Jim's hat, and Jim can't see anyone's hat.

Tom is asked what color his hat is and he says he

doesn't know.Tim is asked the same question, and he also

doesn't know.Finally, Jim is asked the question, and he does

know.

What color is his hat?

Pi#   SWE   held  our   annual  Middle  School  Engineering   Day   on   November   22nd,  2014.  We  had  four  groups  of  6th,  7th,  and  8th   graders   a#end   sessions   about   the  different   concentraHons   of   engineering  where  they  learned  about  the  daily  tasks  of  engineers  and  completed  fun  acHviHes  centered   around   each   discipline.   In   the  Civil   Engineering   session,   the   students  built   bridges   from   tooth   picks   and  marshmallows   and   competed   to   see  which  bridge  held   the  most  weight.   The  students   then   went   to   the   Industrial  Engineering   presentaHon   where   they  used  an  assembly  line  to  create  booklets  about   engineering.   In   the   Chemical  Engineering  session,  the  students  created  magneHc   slime   and   tested   the   slime’s  properHes  with   a  magnet.  Finally,   in   the  mechanical   engineering   session,   the  students   built   rollercoasters   out   of   a  piece   of   piping   and   competed   for   the  best   ro l le rcoaster   based   on   i t s  capabiliHes  and  compleHon.  Mine  Safety  Appliances   held   a   presentaHon   for   the  parents   while   their   children   a#ended  these   sessions;   when   they   finished   the  presentaHon,  they   joined  the  mechanical  engineering  sessions  to  help  the  students  build  their   rollercoasters  and  show  them  some  of  MSA’s  products.  This  was  a  great  program  that  helped  many  students  learn  why   engineers  are   so   vital   to   every   day  life.  

Middle School Engineering day

By Rachel Dunn

Networking Event

By Brooke Arnold

Pitt SWE teamed up with CMU to put on a networking event with members of professional SWE. It was a lovely event that was relaxed enough to let the students get to know the members of professional SWE at their table. Each table at the event had one or two professional SWE members and the rest were students, either from Pitt or CMU. The event started off with lunch from Panera and some initial networking. Next the presentation on networking begun. The presenter Michele Eidam was lively and spoke about how to network effectively without either party feeling like the meeting was forced or fake. She gave plenty of advice including, finding something in common with the person you are talking to and trying not to start off the conversation with what you would like from them or what they can do for you. Also never just shrug off a conversation with someone who may not be immediately helpful to you, because you never know what

you may need in the future. When at a networking event be sure to meet new people although it may be tempting to stay in your comfort zone and talk to people you already know. Next we were instructed to write down a current goal and a network we have that can help us with that goal. We presented our goals and got

advice from our table on how they think we should go about reaching our goals and if anyone at the table could specifically help us reach them. Overall the event was very fun and a rewarding experience that will help everyone who attended network more effectively.

OFFICER OF THE MONTH: BECKY GLUCKSMAN

Becky was chosen because she showed how hard she was willing to work for Middle School Engineering

Day as the co-chair of the event.

Becky’s favorite part of SWE is that it offers a strong sense of community

and support from fellow female engineers.

Class: Junior

Major: Civil Engineering Position: Corporate Relations Interests and Clubs:Bridges to prosperity, Tau Beta Pi, Toastmasters

AT CMU

Thank you!