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SWE Pikes Peak Section will be hosting a SWE Leadership Summit on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at the Penrose House from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm. We are flying out the Region i trainers to discuss Hosting Successful Meetings, Succession Planning, Dealing with Leadership Burnout and Challenges of Geographically Large SWE Sections. You can attend part or all of the sessions and lunch will be provided (donation to cover lunch suggested but optional). The Penrose House is located at 1661 Mesa Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80906.
It is important that as many members as possible attend this training plus it will be an enjoyable day in the company of fellow engineering professionals.
The Society of Women Engineers – Pikes Peak Section’s Annual Awards Luncheon is scheduled on Saturday, July 18, 2009 at Marigold Café and Bakery, 4605 Centennial Boulevard in Colorado Springs.
The featured speaker will be Jill S. Tietjen, P.E., past SWE President and co-author of the book “Her Story: A Timeline of the Women Who Changed America.” Jill will present an intriguing look at the accomplishments of pioneering women engineers, scientists, and inventors over the course of U.S. history.
Our local collegiate members competed along with other Region i members and won 3rd place in the Subject Matter Expert (SME) Bowl at the SWE Conference in Baltimore. See page 53 in the Winter 2009 issue of SWE, the Magazine of the Society of Women Engineers, for more details. The team members from University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS) were Dan Szarkowski, Ann Beaubien and Anne Mestas. Dan, Ann, and Anne, congratulations on your recent success with the SME Bowl! We are very proud of you!
On Sat., March 7th, at the Pikes Peak Regional Science Fair, on the campus of UCCS, the Pikes Peak section of SWE once again participated by rewarding young women for their efforts at the Fair. SWE recognized female scientists at both the senior high and middle school levels. Award winners were Abbi Helfer of Palmer High School and Rachel Purswell of The Classical Academy. The winners each received a $25 gift certificate to Borders.
Miss Helfer produced a very practical Engineering project entitled “Sun-Sational Solar." She meticulously recorded the complete area of all District #11 buildings and calculated the maximum number of solar panels which were required and could fit on the roofs and how many “sunny” days were normal for our city. She determined that the payback on the investment would be 41 years. With solar panels having a life span of only 50 years, she concluded that it is not economically practical to convert a school district to solar power without rebates or grants.
Seventh grader, Miss Purswell, presented her project, “Get a Grip” with a mechanical hand that she built herself. The purpose of her project was to determine what the best thumb length is for artificial hands and whether an additional joint (three as compared to the two human thumb joints) is beneficial in grasping a ball. Her experiments showed that a longer thumb was not as helpful as adding an additional joint. The difference in gaining control was almost 5 seconds – which is enormous!
The Science Fair remains a crucial outlet for young ladies to demonstrate their science capabilities and garner confidence and recognition. Forty-seven percent (47%) of the total participants were female this year due to the larger number of group projects which tend to have more female teams.
A special thanks to my husband, Paul of Colo Springs Utilities, who volunteered (??) to help me judge for our awards. In general, while the spectrum of original topics was not very broad, the enthusiasm for the scientific process was still high and all the young ladies we spoke to gave interesting and informative presentations!
---Brenda Wolfe, Science Fair Chair
The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) hosted COOL SCIENCE workshops at the Academy on Saturday, 6 December 2008. Approximately 50 Girl Scout Juniors, troop leaders and parents attended. USAFA faculty members involved were Dr. Ron Furstenau (Chemistry) and Lt Col Lynnane George (Astronautical Engineering and Vice President of SWE-PPS). Cadets heading up the engineering “Bungee Barbie” event were Cherie-Lee Meyer, Nicole Ramstein, Sarah Skogsberg, Erlyn Rudico, Jessica Schafer and Raychel Poremski. Cadets heading up the chemistry “Acids and Bases” and “Hydrogen/Oxygen Workshops” were Robin Rogers, Stephanie Boyer, Emily Montgomery, Katie Schuler, Morgan Landreaux and Kimberly McElmurry). Others who helped with the workshops were Julie Imada from the Academy and Karyn Fishburn from Peterson AFB, a member of the Pikes Peak Society of Women Engineers Chapter. The Scouts also had an opportunity to learn about the cadet’s science, engineering and USAFA experiences. All of the workshops were very well received and motivational to many youngsters interested in career fields in science and engineering. One of the parents sent a comment after the event noting that “my daughter was thrilled with all that she accomplished and has been talking about her great afternoon at the Air Force Academy to anyone who will listen. She is truly excited to know that this is a road she can travel if she wishes. I had a great time also, as did my son. Thanks so much to you and your staff for being so great with my son. He was excited to attend and was so happy to be involved in the projects. Your cadet leaders were amazing with him, and thanks to these young women, my son no longer thinks all girls are
‘icky’.”
Acids and bases workshop
Preparing for “Bungee Barbie!”
Lina Klaus, our SWE-PPS Secretary, created a SWE Community called SWE Pikes Peak Section. Not only can our members get and feel more involved, but we can start adding files, photos, etc. as a way to store information about our section. This will be a nice way to preserve and pass information year after year.
Please log in and join it when you have a moment. This is on the main SWE website at http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/. Then click on My SWE Communities half way down the page. Log in to SWE Communities and then click on Join Communities. Enter Pikes Peak Section in the keyword field for the search. Once the search results come up, check the box next to SWE Pikes Peak
Section. Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click Join. Please note that you have to be a SWE member to join this community. If you're not currently a SWE member, please join SWE today to start enjoying
this and many other benefits of membership!
We’re very excited about using this new feature and hope you’ll join!!
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