Region i would like to evaluate the addition of region awards for our region.  Currently, we offer no awards from the region level.  Individual, section and region awards are available through the national awards committee.  However, we would like to begin a discussion thread on the addition of rewards, either monetary or non-monetary, from the region level.  While the pros of having additional awards may be obvious, we must also consider the work that comes with awards applications and judging.  I would like your feedback on this issue.  Attached to this thread are documents that have been prepared in the past on this subject and will add to the discussion.  Thanking you in advance for your input.

Cindy Hoover

Region Awards

SWE Awards Region i

Region i would like to evaluate the current region conference process used by the region.  Region i Conferences are planned and managed by the hosting collegiate section with little help from the region.  The closest professional section will provide help, if requested by the collegiate hosting section.  Many other regions utilize a central planning committee with professional and collegiate representation to assist the hosting collegiate section.  Seed money and oversight is often available and proceeds are generally split between the region, hosting collegiate section and closest professional section.  The discussion open to the region is – keep the region conference planning as is or modify conference planning to utilize a different model.  I look forward to hearing your input.

Cindy Hoover

Join your fellow SWE members and professionals at WE09, the society annual conference in Long Beach, CA on October 15-17. For more information and to register visit we09.swe.org

Be sure to attend the Region Meeting on 10/15 at 1pm!!!

Welcome to the SWE Region i blog for FY2010! I am very excited to share with you the latest news from your fellow SWE sections as well as from the National and Regional SWE organizations. The blog is under construction but feel free to check us out!

Wendy: It is important to have a transitional meeting with old and new officers so that information and tips can be passed on.  Many sections do this as a large group and many have the officers meet one on one with their replacements.
 
Kristina: The University of Colorado had an all day officer training event.  They used the CLCC for training in the morning and then in the afternoon old and new officers met and passed on information.
 
Wendy: One thing that can help with the transition from year to year is keeping good records of what has been done in the past.  Many schools have binders associated with each position that they pass on.  Other schools store their files electronically.  It is very important that all passwords, etc. are passed on.  A group e-mail account can help to record the section’s communication history.
 
Sarah (new University of Colorado President): it was very beneficial to meet in person with the old offices instead of just being handed a bunch of old files.  The old officers were able to walk us through the files.
 
Wendy: You will also probably want to have a planning meeting either now or in the Fall with all the new officers.  At this meeting you can brainstorm ideas, set goals for the year, plan out the schedule for the semester.  At WashU we try to set all the dates of each event and meeting so as not to interfere with freshmen exams and then pass out handouts with the dates at our first meeting so students can mark their calanders in advance.
 
Kristina: invite your faculty advisor and SWE Couselor to your planning meeting.  They have been around for a while and often know what’s been tried before and what works and what doesn’t.
 
Wendy: Another resource is the CLCC.  As Kristina mentioned they can help with your officer transition meeting as well as with planning for the year.  Contact Gretchen (gretchen.gonzales@gmail.com) if you are interesting in having the CLCC work with your section (for FREE).  They are also a great resource in terms of attracting new members.  The CLCC can do a module on SWE and the requirements of being a section as well as provide your members with an overview of the structure of the entire organization and the resources it provides to all members.  More information about the CLCC and the modules they offer can be found on the Collegiate Leadership Coaching Community on My SWE Communities.
 
Wendy: Something else to start thinking about is WE09.  It is in mid-October this year and may require some planning and coordination over the summer.  It is in Long Beach, CA and so will be expensive.  You will need to coordinate flights, ground transportation, and hotel rooms.  Flights seem to be relatively inexpensive right now and I would recommend reserving a block of rooms (you can cancel them later if need be).  The conference website (http://we09.swe.org) is up and has promotional materials in the “toolkit” section.  Volunteer registration is also open and won’t be available for long (if you volunteer your registration is free).  Also, if you look in the “toolkit” section of last year’s site (http://we08.swe.org) you’ll find some fundraising materials.

by Dana Tabor
University of Nebraska, Lincoln

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln SWE recently collaborated with eight other student groups, SHPE, AlChE, BMES, NAHB, GCA, ITE, ASME, and IEEE, to put on a Casino Night for students in the college. On March 25^th a classroom in Othmer Hall was turned into a temporary casino as about fifty students from the college gathered to play blackjack, poker, and roulette. Students played for tickets to enter in the raffle to win prizes like gift cards and even an iPod shuffle.

Fabulous prizes aside, Casino Night was an opportunity for students to meet people from other years and majors. For sophomore Computer Engineering student Alex Habrock the Casino Night was a way to do just that, “I was able to meet people from around the college who are not usually in my classes in a fun and relaxed setting.”

The event was also a testament to how successful teamwork amongst student groups can be; when everyone contributes a little the result is much more than the sum of its parts. The SWE officers hope that the collaboration experienced at Casino Night is just a taste of what is to come for future events.

Dana Tabor (Dana dot Tabor at huskers dot unl dot edu) also serves as secretary of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln section. 

Jessica Nayes, the Region H Regional Collegiate Newsletter Editor did such a good job on this topic that we’ve linked to her post: Preparing to End the SWE Year.

Highlights from her post: 

May 1: Nominate a SWE Future Leader (freshman or sophomore showing high potential in SWE) by this date Nomination form  
May 15: SWE Region Programming Excellence Awards for “Managing Across the Generations” due More info and nomination form
May 10: Final quarter report due to Wendy, Region i Collegiate Representative 
June 30: Annual and Financial Reports due online (see Jessica’s how-to on SWE Communities to get it)
July 1: Multiple SWE Section Awards packet due  More info and awards packets

And as always, don’t forget to transition your role to the next “generation” of SWE leaders!

Did you receive a letter from SWE at your dorm/apartment/residence? The letter contains a code that you need to log into a certain website to vote for the Collegiate Senator. If you have not receive it yet, SWE has sent it to the address you specified on your SWE Member Directory. (The Member Directory is currently down, but will be back up on April 15, 2009 if you are not sure which address you chose). 

The two candidates are as follows: 

Kristina Wang
Kristina current serves as the FY09 President for the I051: University of Colorado, Boulder section. See her video below:

Andrea Ham
Andrea current serves as the FY09 President for the I052: Colorado School of Mines section. See her video below:

Choose wisely. Best of luck to both candidates!

by Islin Moy 
Region Collegiate Newsletter Editor, Region i

A variety of national opportunities are available for any collegiate (or professional) in the Society of Women Engineers–to go wherever your interests lies. This does not matter if you are a member or president of your section. 

National Committees

A good place to start is as a member of a national committee. All you need to do is email the committee chair that you are interested in seeing what the committee does, and if you are interested, see what your role can be. If you are going to a National Conference, there are committee meetings earlier in the week, but you can also schedule a brief (20 minute) meeting with the committee chair if you arrive later. To see last year’s WE08 National Conference schedule of committee meetings, please click on this link. The degree of involvement is completely up to you, as well as the hours each month you wish to dedicate. You can also have exposure to SWE leadership, and see if that may be a path you wish to take. 

A list of committees, their descriptions, and chairs are available to view on the committees list of the Society of Women Engineers Leadership page. You can contact these SWE members any time of the year via email. 

Regional Committees and Leadership

Another way is to bring the Region Conference to your school. As Region Conference Chair, you will be leading your own team to make the conference not only possible–but a memorable event that everyone will remember. Kristi Tanouye was this year’s Region Conference Chair, and the conference was hosted at Washington University in St. Louis. 

You can also become Region Collegiate Representative, and the time commitment is approximately two to four hours a week (with significantly more time leading up to National and Regional conferences). Your duties would include: 

• Vital collegiate voice within the Region and to Region leaders in SWE. 
• Serves on Region Council as the voting collegiate member for the region. 
• Serves on the Region Collegiate Team working to make sure collegiate and section interest and concerns are discussed among the region leadership and plans are made to improve the region collegiate experience. 
• Prepares the Collegiate Report to the Governor 3 times a year after collecting Collegiate Section Reports.  In regions with 2 RCRs sections will be split between the 2.
• Leads the Collegiate sections of the Region meeting at the National and Regional Conferences.
• Works with other RCRs and RCNEs on yearly goals to improve the collegiate experience in SWE.
• Attends Collegiate Leadership Forum (CLF) in the summer to receive Leadership and SWE Training. 

If you are more into writing, you can become a Region Collegiate Newsletter Editor! The time commitment is approximately two to four hours a week (with significantly more time leading up to National and Regional conferences, same as with Region Collegiate Representative). Your duties would include:

• Maintain the Region Collegiate Blog, by working with the Region Web Master, Region Governor, RCR and Collegiate Sections.
• Write and Post Monthly Hot Topics on the Blog – Topics could include Membership, Fund raising, Rewarding Members, Program Ideas, etc.  You don’t have to know all the answers there will be resource to help write these.
• Work with Collegiate Sections to get 2 postings/articles a year from each section.
• Serves on the Region Collegiate Team working to make sure collegiate and section interest and concerns are discussed among the region leadership and plans are made to improve the region collegiate experience. 
• Prepares Report to the Governor 3 times a year updating the Governor on the blog, region collegiate team and other happenings.
• Works with other RCRs and RCNEs on yearly goals to improve the collegiate experience in SWE.
• Attends Collegiate Leadership Forum (CLF) in the summer to receive Leadership and SWE Training.   

The regional collegiate representative and newsletter editor positions are elected at the Region Conference, with applications available in December and due in January, depending on when the Region Conference is. 

Regional and National Leadership 

The Regional Collegiate Senator role is uniquely positioned. You will act a link between your region and national issues. You would: 

• The Senator is a vital collegiate voice within the Region and to National leaders in SWE. 
• Serve as the collegiate voice for the region on the National Senate. They will help set the direction for the society working with 2 Professional Senators from the 10 Region, 2 International Senators, and 2 Special Directors. 
• Attend 2 face-to-face Senate meetings at National Conference and in the spring, as well as monthly conference calls.
• Trained with the other Senators

This position is elected, and details for future years’ elections will become available. 

Islin (islinmoy at gmail dot com) also serves as FY09 COR MEGA Issues Task Force Chair. 

We are happy to announce the availability of a research

experience for undergraduates this summer in Central

Florida, namely the 2009 AMALTHEA REU Program. Its

intellectual focus is the theory and applications of

Machine Learning (ML) and is a cooperative effort of

Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) in Melbourne and

University of Central Florida (UCF) in Orlando. The

program is sponsored by the National Science Foundation

and is held for 10 weeks in the summer, starting in mid

May and ending mid July.

We are looking for talented Engineering or Science

undergraduates that are US citizens or permanent

residents and are in good academic standing.

Minorities, women and the disabled are especially

encouraged to apply.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  MARCH 30

HOW & WHERE TO APPLY:  www.amalthea-reu.org

Benefits for students:

• Exposure to the exciting research area of Machine

Learning (ML) and its applications

• Participate in a primer course to familiarize

yourself with ML

• Work with experts and experienced researchers in

the field

• Participate and contribute to cutting-edge,

ML-related research

• Attend industrial visits

• Exposure to the research environment of two

universities, FIT and UCF

• Travel from and to the summer program as well as

accommodation expenses are covered; student

participants will receive a stipend for per diem

expenses.

• Visit Central Florida venues such as the Disney

attractions, NASA’s, Kennedy Space Center

• Meet new people and make new friends

For more information please visit our website at

http://www.amalthea-reu.org

or contact

Dr. Georgios C. Anagnostopoulos

AMALTHEA REU Program, Director

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering

Florida Institute of Technology

150 West University Boulevard

Melbourne, Florida 32901-6975

Tel: (321) 674-7125

Fax: (321) 674-8192

Email: georgio@fit.edu

URL:   http://my.fit.edu/~georgio