Meeting Women Engineers from All Over: Society of Women Engineers Conferences
Posted on March 16, 2015 by LilyAnn Peterson Gapinski
An awesome student organization that I have gotten involved with here on campus is the Purdue Society of Women Engineers, commonly known as SWE. Purdue SWE organizes tons of events that have themes such as professional development, outreach, and others, as well as organize social events that just allow you to get to know other women engineers on campus. In addition, Purdue SWE consists of an executive board including chairs, directors, and officers, which each have their own leadership responsibilities within the organization.
One of the greatest things about SWE is that it not only exists at Purdue, but it is an international organization with members all over the country and all over the world. National and Regional SWE hold conferences every year where students and professionals from all sections come together for leadership development and to meet other SWE members from all over. Purdue sends students to these conferences every single year. Last October I was lucky enough to attend the SWE 2014 Annual Conference in Los Angeles, CA along with 12 other women engineers from Purdue. Also, just over a week ago I attended the 2015 Region H conference held at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN with about 50 other Purdue SWE Members.
During both the National and Regional conferences I went to many different sessions lead by professional members that gave me great information about how to improve my leadership skills and how to better transition from college to industry. I found these sessions extremely helpful, and I plan to use what I learned in my life at Purdue, and in my future internships and jobs.
In addition to the sessions, the National conference held a massive career fair with hundreds of companies looking for candidates for internships, co-ops, and full-time jobs. It was a great opportunity to be able to talk with many different companies at the conference, especially those that don’t visit Purdue. The Regional conference had a career fair as well, which was a great resource for people who hadn’t found an internships yet for this upcoming summer.
Attending the National and Regional SWE conferences have been a couple of the most beneficial things I have done in my time at Purdue, and they are only just two of awesome things Purdue SWE does. At Purdue, I love all the awesome opportunities there are for Women Engineers to meet each other and grow together. I feel that I would not have had these opportunities at another university. Being involved with Purdue SWE is one of my favorite things about college, and I don’t know what I would do without it!
One of the greatest things about SWE is that it not only exists at Purdue, but it is an international organization with members all over the country and all over the world. National and Regional SWE hold conferences every year where students and professionals from all sections come together for leadership development and to meet other SWE members from all over. Purdue sends students to these conferences every single year. Last October I was lucky enough to attend the SWE 2014 Annual Conference in Los Angeles, CA along with 12 other women engineers from Purdue. Also, just over a week ago I attended the 2015 Region H conference held at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN with about 50 other Purdue SWE Members.
During both the National and Regional conferences I went to many different sessions lead by professional members that gave me great information about how to improve my leadership skills and how to better transition from college to industry. I found these sessions extremely helpful, and I plan to use what I learned in my life at Purdue, and in my future internships and jobs.
In addition to the sessions, the National conference held a massive career fair with hundreds of companies looking for candidates for internships, co-ops, and full-time jobs. It was a great opportunity to be able to talk with many different companies at the conference, especially those that don’t visit Purdue. The Regional conference had a career fair as well, which was a great resource for people who hadn’t found an internships yet for this upcoming summer.
Attending the National and Regional SWE conferences have been a couple of the most beneficial things I have done in my time at Purdue, and they are only just two of awesome things Purdue SWE does. At Purdue, I love all the awesome opportunities there are for Women Engineers to meet each other and grow together. I feel that I would not have had these opportunities at another university. Being involved with Purdue SWE is one of my favorite things about college, and I don’t know what I would do without it!
Check out some of the great memories I made at these conferences!
Purdue SWE out to dinner one night of the National conference in downtown LA
At a collegiate luncheon during the National Conference in LA
After the "Celebrate SWE" dinner the last night of the National conference
Outside the famous chocolate shop in South Bend, IN during the Region H conference
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