GUEST SPEAKER 1:
So hi, everyone.
My name's Nicole.
I'm here with Elaine.
And both of us are part of the
Society of Women Engineers.
So we both just wanted to give
you a little bit of background
on ourselves, and then talk
about some of the opportunities
that SWE has.
So I actually didn't
know anything about SWE
when I was in high
school, either.
I learned about it
during my senior year.
So SWE has multiple
scholarships.
We give away thousands
and thousands of dollars
to support girls who
are excited about STEM
and about engineering and
getting involved in those
fields.
So when I [AUDIO OUT] had
no idea what I wanted to do.
I really liked doing the
engineering side of things.
So I'd worked in a lab
for a couple summers
at UCLA in a bioengineering lab.
But I also really liked
the business side.
So I was part of a floral
arrangement business, actually,
that was run by my school.
And so we did everything
from marketing
to sales to actually putting the
flower arrangements together.
So that was really cool.
I went to Penn for college.
And what's really
neat is they have
a program called the Management
and Technology Program.
And so you get a degree
from their business school
and a degree from their
engineering school.
So I ended up going to do
entrepreneurial management
and bioengineering as my
bachelor's, and the chemical
engineering for my master's.
So I just want to
share a little bit
of how SWE was able to
affect my college experience.
It was amazing.
I think the thing that really
impresses me most about SWE
is that it really touches
on three different aspects.
So you have the
outreach part of it-- so
getting to speak
you guys, getting
to engage with K
through 12 students,
and really get them excited
about STEM and show them
what's possible.
The second part is with the
professional development.
So being able to look at
resumes, do mock interviews,
just grow yourself personally
and professionally I think
is so important no matter what
fields you end up going into.
And then third, just the fun,
social aspect-- so the fact
that you guys are going to
have lunch here right now.
Getting to engage with people
at different socials and things
like that is just really fun.
So I have in the upper
left-hand corner,
it's a picture of the
SWE Boston group here.
So everyone in the Boston
area can be part of that.
I was on the board of
directors, actually, for SWE
during my senior year--
super senior year
when I was doing my master's,
which is really cool-- so
getting to interact with people
from all around the world,
and really move the
strategy of SWE forward.
And then just a couple
fun pictures-- one
from my collegiate section at
Penn, with our Engineering Chip
t-shirts, and then a
fun photo booth at one
of our annual conferences.
So Elaine, if you want to tell
a little bit about yourself?
GUEST SPEAKER 2: Yeah.
So how many of you
people like math classes?
Quite a few.
[LAUGHTER]
What about science classes?
Just about everybody, right?
How many of you like English?
Still a lot of people, right?
How about writing?
So I will tell you
right now that when
I started high
school, I actually
hated my science classes.
And so I'm here to tell
you about my journey
from being an English major
to becoming an engineer.
And so when I was
in high school,
I actually hated science
class because all we did was
fill-in-the-blank worksheets.
We didn't do anything
like take apart cameras,
like you guys are doing today.
And so I was really
bored with science,
even though I was
really good at it.
So when I applied
to college-- I went
to Rice University-- I decided
to become an English major.
And at the end of
my freshman year, I
applied for an internship in
writing at the Texas Heart
Institute.
And so basically, what
they did there was they
took all the writing
that any of the surgeons
did on all the
surgeries that they
did-- well, all the science
research that they do--
and they sent it to us.
So that way, we can
actually put it into a form
that everybody else can read.
And so while sitting
there-- and they wanted me
because they wanted me to
be [INAUDIBLE] their English
or make sure that the
ideas flowed well.
But while I was reading
all these things,
I had no idea what
they were saying.
I didn't know what was going on.
There's a lot of
disconnect that people
say that scientists don't
know how to explain things
to everybody else.
And so that was the
problem that I was seeing,
and I didn't know
what was going on.
So I asked my boss,
can I go see a surgery?
I don't know what
they're talking about.
And while I was in that
surgery room, the surgery I saw
was on a cow that had had a
mechanical valve implanted
into the heart.
And this valve had failed.
Now, that's really
disappointing, right?
But there are a lot of things
that we can learn from failure.
And so everything that they were
doing as they were taking out
the valve, running
tests through the cow,
and figuring out what went
wrong, I started to see, wow,
there are these real
applications of science
that can be really fascinating.
And so as I was working
my way through the summer,
I thought more and more
about these experiences
and the things that I
was seeing in the science
realm and the research realm.
And I was like, OK, maybe
I can go back to school
and check out a
bioengineering class.
And I have to tell
you that I loved it.
So when I went to
graduate school,
because I had seen
all these failures
with these mechanical valves and
with all these heart devices,
I thought maybe
tissue engineering
would be a better way to go.
Does anybody here know
what tissue engineering is?
Would you like to tell us?
AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]
GUEST SPEAKER 2:
No, that was fine.
So for people who are not
aware of tissue engineering,
tissue engineering
is figuring out
how we can use
cells from the body,
and figuring out how we can
implant them and put them
into repair for our tissues.
So that way, we can not
use mechanical devices.
And the problem with
that is that a lot
of things that-- it's
very hard to get our cells
to do what we want them to do.
We don't know enough about them.
And so when I became
a graduate student
in biomedical
engineering, I decided
I wanted to work
with stem cells.
They can turn into any
different potential cell type.
So the thing that
was fascinating
is I knew a lot
about stem cells,
and I was trying to
tell all these people.
But it was really difficult
for people to understand that.
And so as I was going
through my journey
and trying to tell people
this is interesting,
this is fascinating, this
is why you should learn it,
I realized more and
more people need
to understand that they need
to have an English background
and need to have a writing
background, as well.
And so my love in English
and writing came back.
And now the two have merged.
And so right now, I
am applying for a lot
of positions in general editing
as an editor for Nature,
or Science.
I'm sure you've heard of
some of these journals.
And basically, what
I'm going to do
is going to be combining my
love of science and engineering,
and turning it into writing that
everybody else can understand.
And so that way, we can get
even more people excited.
[APPLAUSE]
GUEST SPEAKER 1:
So we just wanted
to share a few
different opportunities
that you can look into, no
matter what grade you're in.
And I think it's really
cool to just kind of keep
these on the back of your
mind because you never
know what might get you really
excited about something.
So one program
that's really neat
and is run by the society
as a whole is SWENext.
Next.
So this is for girls who are
up to the age of 18, I believe.
And so what you
can do is there's
tons of different activities
that are through the program.
You can learn about scholarships
that are available to you.
They do quarterly webinars
so that you can kind of
interact with the rest of
the community around you,
and just get to
see other girls who
are really excited about it.
So definitely look into that.
It's a really great thing that
we launched either last year
or a couple years ago, and
it's really been exploding.
The other thing that I would
say, since I assume most of you
are based in the
Boston area, look
into some of the events that
are hosted by SWE sections.
So us from SWE
Boston-- we host things
as a professional section.
This is a taste of
some of the activities
that we did this year.
And so you can see we
partnered with the Girl Scouts.
We partnered with a
lot of organizations--
partnered with Kristen
for the Girls Who Build.
And we also get to interact with
a lot of the community events--
so the Cambridge
Science Festival,
for instance, which happened
a couple months ago.
The other thing I
would say is also
look into some of the
collegiate SWE events.
I know MIT has a huge presence
with their SWE section,
and they do a lot of outreach
opportunities for high school
girls.
And a lot of the other
SWE sections in the area
do that, as well.
And I think just the biggest
takeaway is that you never
know what might excite you.
I certainly did not imagine that
I would be working at Microsoft
now with my background
being bioengineering,
mechanical engineering.
But as long as you're
passionate about something--
and as Elaine said, you can
go from English into science,
as well-- there's just really
so much potential for you.
So if you want to get in touch
with us, I put my contact here,
and then the SWE Boston
section contacts, as well.
So if you have any
questions about some
of the outreach event
things that we do,
feel free to get
in touch with us.
Cool.
Thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
