During the weekend of Feb. 17-19, the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at Texas A&M University hosted the final Region C Conference, where hundreds of students and professionals from across Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi congregated to network and engage in professional development opportunities such as research poster competitions and keynote speaker presentations.
This year’s theme, “Innovative Women: Channeling Your Creativity,” inspired attendees to surpass thinking outside the box and instead recreate the box by designing new ways, methods, processes and technologies to influence people across the globe.
Janeen Judah, Chevron’s executive sponsor for SWE, was the keynote speaker for the event. Judah currently serves on the petroleum engineering industry board at Texas A&M and on both Texas A&M’s and the University of Houston’s college of engineering advisory boards.
The successful event was organized by conference chair and Region C head, Megan Rodriguez; public relations chair, Megan Bates; GradSWE committee chair, Prerna Jain; merchandise committee chair, Adriana Martinez; recruitment committee co-chair, Rebecca Whiteman; recruitment committee co-chair, Millie Kriel; events committee chair, Abby Brown; sponsorship committee chair, Mubina Toa; registration committee chair, Anjali Singal; Texas A&M SWE chapter president, Bailey Bauman; Texas A&M SWE chapter treasurer, Misha Roznowski; and platinum sponsor and director of Women Engineering at Texas A&M, Shawna Fletcher.
“National SWE is disbanding the regions this year, so this was the last ever SWE Region C Conference,” said Rodriguez. “It was definitely a rewarding experience to meet past region governors and presidents that have helped SWE Region C get to where it is now, and to commemorate all that they had done at the conference.”
“I really enjoyed getting to network with other SWE sections and learning more about full-time job opportunities by talking to the speakers and corporate sponsors,” said Bauman, who is also a computer science senior at Texas A&M.
About 450 students attended and 16 companies sponsored the event. Workshop sessions covered topics such as “Innovate like a Leader,” “Gaining Respect in a Male-Dominated Workplace,” “Software Technologies - Next Generation 3-D Design” and “Starting International Affiliate Groups.”
SWE is dedicated to helping women achieve success in engineering academically, personally and professionally. With an active membership of over 300 students, the Texas A&M section of SWE serves the student body, the community and the college of engineering.