Hi there!

We're looking forward to starting a new school year with you! If you're a new SWE member, welcome and thanks for joining us! If you're a returning SWE member, we're excited to have you back!

We've talked a little bit about what SWE is at our general meeting, but I just wanted to take a minute to expand on that a little more.  SWE is a great organization.  It's focused on supporting women in STEM fields, with a focus on engineering fields.  There are several "branches" of SWE, which include collegiate branches (like us!!) and professional branches.  Some companies have their own SWE branches!

SWE has a ton of awesome resources, including scholarships for women in engineering.  Being a part of SWE is a great way to network and make connections in your professional field.  I recommend joining us for the conferences if you can!  They're a great way to connect with fellow SWE members, attend career fairs, and learn from academic talks.  We'll be attending 2 this year, one in California and the other in Buffalo.

We're excited to get to know you guys! We've got some fun events planned this year, but would love to hear what you would like to see from us! Feel free to reach out to us at swe@bu.edu with any recommendations, if you need help, or just to say hi!  We would love to hear from you! 

​We're looking forward to another great year!

12 members attend WE Local - here's what they thought!

"The WE 18 local conference in Providence was like no other. I felt more a part of a community as I was able to interact with professionals across the northeast due the networking opportunities provided during breakfast. My favorite talk was ‘Bridging the gap at the workforce’ which consisted of a panel of 5 speakers playing jeopardy and answering questions about the work place." ~ Simran Bhatia (ME '18)
 
"The SWE conference was eye-opening in a few ways. I was able to listen, witness, and speak to female engineers that fit no specific stereotype, as is often characterized. I was also able to sit in on talks that were educational in regards to entering a company multi-generational workforce and how to succeed as as a young engineer." ~Aejandra Flores (ME '18)
 
"I had a great experience at the SWE Local Conference. I found the talks to be very informative! My favorites were about how to negotiate a salary and how to deal with generation barriers in the workplace. I also found the guest speaker who spoke at lunch to be very entertaining and inspiring as she shared her experiences as a woman in various fields! I’ve very glad I went!" ~Rachel Avioli (ME '18)
 
"I felt incredibly inspired by all of the women that I met at the SWE Regional Conference. I received valuable advice and wisdom from PhD students to to manufacturing managers, and I left with a newfound sense of excitement about my career path and the ways I can give back to the SWE community." ~Skylar Karshevsky (BME '20)
 
"At first I was hesitant to attend, but I am so glad that I did and had a new outlook on females in engineering. I had the opportunity to meet so many female engineers and hear their stories about working at various companies and how they dealt with adversity. I have learned how to deal with uncomfortable situations in a positive manner that may occur in the workplace."  ~Thema Williams (ME '19)
 
 "WE Local 2018 was a great experience, allowing young collegiettes like my self to get a taste of the professional world in a welcoming environment. The conference empowers women to succeed in their given field while giving them the tools needed to defend against gender discrimination and other issues that could arise as a minority in an environment catered to the majority." ~Miriam Massaad (BME '20)

We celebrating Engineer Week at BU by hosting a women in engineering panel. Thank you to all the amazing ladies who joined us. There were representatives from GE, Microsoft, Boston Scientific and Boston University. Our members had some great questions and it overall was a fun and informative night. We are so appreciative of the great role models we have - our alums and Boston are SWE members. 

Emily (ME '17), Allison (CE '17), Amanda, and Rebecca (ME Faculty)

We had a wonderful time catching up with other SWE members and getting to know some of the wonderful female faculty in our college. We had faculty from every discipline attend (ECE, ME and BME) as well as students of all class years and majors. Of course we want to give a special thank you to the faculty who took time from their busy schedules to attend and to our organizers for a great event! One thing that the faculty definitely stressed is that SWE members should always feel free to reach out to them about classes, research, or general questions! 

We hosted our annual networking night on Thursday, November 9. We are so thrilled to have had so many student attendees, more than last year! We were joined by representatives from Rockwell Automation, GE, Boston Scientific, Google, and Accenture and more!

Like in past years we did a "speed networking" style, where students moved from table to table and talk with our professional representatives. Our first networking night was in 2001 and we are looking forward to continuing this tradition for many more years!

A video from our VP's personal vlog

What to wear to a career fair:
​Business Formal and Business Casual

Thank you to everyone for coming out to or first general meeting! It was so nice to meet all of you new members and to reconnect with familiar faces. We are so excited for all the great energy you will all bring to our group this year! We so enjoyed playing trivia with you as well - some of our favorite questions were: 
What BU engineering professor played on his college basketball team? and What year did the first woman receive an engineering degree? Congrats to team 11 for winning the trivia game! Can't wait to see you all again at our upcoming events!

​Boston University provides students with multiple options to minor. From Business Administration to Neuroscience, there are countless options. A lot of the times students minor in subjects that help diversify their career opportunities or further develop their knowledge in a particular area, but you can also minor in another area of engineering! I am minoring in Business Administration in the Questrom School of Business! It is completely normal to be confused or slightly overwhelmed when making a decision, however the key is to start early to consider all the options. In areas different than engineering or science you may be able to double count two courses (like your humanities or social science electives), which reduces your course load! If you started college with AP or equivalent credits creating more space within your schedule you can also use that space for a minor. There is also the option to take summer classes to ease the course load. Minoring allows you to expand your knowledge and see things from a different angle outside of engineering. This is why I chose to study business, I am interested in it and I think it will help in my engineering career, especially because I would like to do consulting! Be sure to speak to advisors in both the college of engineering and your school of minor. Good luck!

Thanks to Simi Bhatia for sharing her experience and advice! Simi​ is a senior in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Business Administration.

One of our rising electrical engineering juniors shares her experience in research as an undergrad:

​This summer I started working with Boston University’s ANDESITE mission, a BU Sat research branch. We are currently building a 6U CubeSat with eight deployable picosatellites to study the electrical current systems within the Aurora. I am on the software team that programs and tests the eight wireless sensor nodes. The main goal of the Cube is to analyze the current sheets of Region 1 and Region 2 Birkeland currents using Anisotropic Resistance Magnetometers. I found out about ANDESITE during the research fair organized by the ECE department. There are lots of opportunities to do research here, this was a great way to find one! I enjoy the fact that the research is mostly student-run. It gives us a certain degree of independence. It is a great way to gain experience in my field, I enjoyed working on this project this summer!
 
Thanks Lina Lin for sharing your story!