Campus Focus
Stanford Society of Women Engineers: "We're #1!"
by Elita Cheung
President, Stanford SWE

Stanford SWE is the best in the nation. Stanford SWE is also the only section to win the SWE Best National Student Section award two years in a row: 2000 and 2001. We also have been recognized for our outreach events and service to the community by Stanford's Dean of Students Outstanding Achievement Award. Mr. Wais comments, "Stanford Society of Women Engineers has had a tremendous impact on enhancing the quality of life at Stanford. I sincerely appreciate all of Stanford SWE's great work and effort in enhancing the quality of campus life."

Industry Connection Accomplishments:
Last year, our annual Evening With Industry Banquet was held at the Stanford Faculty Club in the fall, and drew over 100 students and 25 company representatives. Over dinner, students have the opportunity to talk to the company representatives and learn about industry job opportunities and new technologies, and what a typical day is like for recent graduates.

In the winter quarter, we work with other engineering societies to coordinate the Stanford School of Engineering Opportunity Job Fair. The largest engineering job fair on campus, it attracted more than 140 companies and 1400 students. Not only did our SWE members come to the job fair, but over 40 volunteers helped make this event happen.

Tutoring and Community Accomplishments:
One of our core goals is to support women interested in science and engineering. In response to the demand for study groups and tutoring, SWE started a tutoring program held at the Stanford Women's Center a few years ago. This past year, the tutoring program was very successful and more engineering, math, and science classes were covered than ever. Not only do SWE members drop in for the tutoring sessions, a few members were the tutors themselves.

In addition to supporting women in engineering at Stanford, we also have outreach programs to reach out to students in elementary through high school and get them interested in science and math at an early age. In the spring quarter, we held our annual Exploring New Worlds event in which over 200 fourth and fifth graders come on Stanford campus for a day of fun science workshops led by Stanford faculty and an afternoon of design competition. The event brings together faculty and over 50 Stanford student volunteers every year. This past year, we have also started volunteering at Intel Clubhouse in East Palo Alto's Boys and Girls Club where we work with elementary school students from underrepresented socio-economic groups. In the fall quarter, we hosted JETS Day 2001 and attracted over 100 top high school students from all over Northern California. The students competed for regional, state, and national honors in the TEAMS competition, a test of math, science and engineering skills.

Upcoming Events
Stanford SWE has weekly meetings every Wednesday at noon in Terman Building, Rm 556. Our weekly lunch meetings feature a range of speakers and discussion panels broadly covering student, engineering, career and women's issues. This year, we will have the events described above, as well as a few new ones.

One of the upcoming events is our Evening With Industry, held on November 6th at Stanford's Faculty club. If you are a student, we would love for you to attend this event where you have the opportunity to wine and dine with companies recruiting Stanford students for internships and jobs. If you are an alumnus, if would be great if you can help us bring more companies to this event.

Stanford SWE would like to create even more events to support and encourage girls and women to pursue engineering and science. This year, we will be starting a Middle School outreach program, along with more informal events for freshmen to find out more about the different engineering majors and opportunities available for women in engineering.

How to Become Involved
As a student, please come to our meetings and let others know about SWE and all the activities we do. The best way to become involved is to come to our meetings and events, join our mailing list to find out what events we have planned (email majordomo@lists.stanford.edu and type "subscribe swe" in the body of your email message), and check our website http://swe.stanford.edu for upcoming events.

As an Alumnus or friend, we would love your help and support. From helping us get in touch with companies interested in supporting our organization, to financial support and volunteering for our many outreach programs, we would love your help. Please contact Elita Cheung (elitach@stanford.edu) or any of the officers listed on our website.

Stanford Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is part of the National Society of Women Engineers, a non-profit organization whose mission is to:

• Stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders.
• Expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life.
• Demonstrate the value of diversity.

• Build programs based on women's issues in engineering from professional, personal and social perspectives.
• Promote corporate involvement by encouraging recruitment and participation in weekly meetings and events.
• Spark interest in engineering and science at the pre-college level by creating programs and projects that allow students to explore engineering careers.
• Create a friendly, interactive atmosphere within Stanford SWE and in the Stanford engineering community.

Page last modified on Thursday, 02-Mar-2006 00:04:54 MST.