SWE Conference Promotes Industry
Gretchen Hawkins
Issue date: 10/28/09 Section: News
Every year, the Society of Women Engineers holds a national conference to promote community outreach, encourage professional development, and support social networking between collegiate and professional members. This year, the conference was held in Long Beach, California and was attended by many university chapters and new graduates as well as professionals.
During the week-long conference, region meetings were held, informative seminars were presented by leaders in the industry, and prominent keynote speakers addressed crowds of enthusiastic young women. Attendees could even opt for one of the many technical tours which included Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, Northrop Grumman plant tours, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne tours, Exxon Mobil Corporation Torrance Refinery tours, BP Carson Refinery plant tours, and tours of Boeing's Satellite Factory.
On the fourth evening of the conference, several of the companies sponsoring the conference held hospitality receptions which allowed students and new graduates the opportunity to learn more about these companies and network with employees. Besides providing amazing appetizers and free drinks, each company also personalized their reception with raffles.
The most anticipated part of the conference was by far the career exposition. The SWE career exposition is similar to that of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University career exposition in that every company is looking specifically for engineers. The expo was about 10 times the size of that of ERAU in terms of the number of companies represented, and many companies took advantage of the available space to build elaborate booths.
Shell's booth came complete with a service desk and a pump station, while prospectors at General Dynamics could relax on a comfortable blue couch while talking with employees. Since there was so much space in the convention center, many interviews could be conducted right on the spot in nearby interview booths.
All in all, SWE's national conference was a great opportunity for students and new graduates to learn more about their field, network, and maybe even score a job.
If you are interested in attending the national conference next year, feel free to contact ERAU's SWE chapter. You do not have to be an engineer to join and you certainly do not have to be a woman to reap the benefits of this spectacular conference.
During the week-long conference, region meetings were held, informative seminars were presented by leaders in the industry, and prominent keynote speakers addressed crowds of enthusiastic young women. Attendees could even opt for one of the many technical tours which included Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, Northrop Grumman plant tours, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne tours, Exxon Mobil Corporation Torrance Refinery tours, BP Carson Refinery plant tours, and tours of Boeing's Satellite Factory.
On the fourth evening of the conference, several of the companies sponsoring the conference held hospitality receptions which allowed students and new graduates the opportunity to learn more about these companies and network with employees. Besides providing amazing appetizers and free drinks, each company also personalized their reception with raffles.
The most anticipated part of the conference was by far the career exposition. The SWE career exposition is similar to that of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University career exposition in that every company is looking specifically for engineers. The expo was about 10 times the size of that of ERAU in terms of the number of companies represented, and many companies took advantage of the available space to build elaborate booths.
Shell's booth came complete with a service desk and a pump station, while prospectors at General Dynamics could relax on a comfortable blue couch while talking with employees. Since there was so much space in the convention center, many interviews could be conducted right on the spot in nearby interview booths.
All in all, SWE's national conference was a great opportunity for students and new graduates to learn more about their field, network, and maybe even score a job.
If you are interested in attending the national conference next year, feel free to contact ERAU's SWE chapter. You do not have to be an engineer to join and you certainly do not have to be a woman to reap the benefits of this spectacular conference.
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