SHPE - Spring 2009 - (Page 42)

REGIONAL ROUNDUP REGION I Alaska ❚ California (Northern) ❚ Nevada (Northern) ❚ Oregon ❚ Washington time, we will be providing our members an opportunity to attend a Personal Statement Workshop spearheaded by our treasurer, Christian Sanchez. A representative from the Financial Aid office will talk to the members about writing an effective personal statement. We also are creating new workshops in financial planning and improving study skills through time management and note taking. Our former Engineering Student Council representative, Savannah Garcia, will be leading the effort. As our new academic development representative, she will invite counselors from the Academic Services department to discuss necessary study skills. Submitted by Jaime O. Sanchez Student Chapter President RSR Update Region I has a full schedule of events to finish the academic year. First, we will be touring IBM facilities in the Bay Area. Next, we will host a Regional Science Bowl in Fresno, California. During two PSAC meetings, we will allocate funding to our chapters and provide networking opportunities for members. UC Merced will host RLDC on March 20-22, 2009, providing workshops that range from applying for AHETHEMS funding to effectively transitioning leadership roles. We also have several social events that include our annual dance, sport fest and volleyball tournament. I am excited to report that our student membership has grown more than 30 percent, totaling more than 1,000 members. Hopefully we will be able to start new student and SHPE Jr. chapters before the end of the year. This has been possible because of the efforts of our members. Thank you for making our region among the best in SHPE. If you have any questions, please contact me at davids@shpe.org, and I will gladly provide you with more information. Submitted by David Sequeira Regional Student Representative University of Washington It’s rare to find a fellow Latina in engineering. At first, while taking my general prerequisites such as chemistry, calculus and physics, I didn’t feel so alone. But as I move further along, it is obvious that there are very few women in my classes. They weren’t joking. The pressures of being a Latina in this field get to me sometimes. There are those who underestimate my intelligence or doubt my ability to obtain a degree. There are even high expectations from my peers. Either way, I use it to push me forward. From a broad perspective, I’m receiving the same lectures as anyone else, doing the same homework and earning the grade I deserve. I’m just like anyone else, but I’m a Latina. Submitted by Gwendoly Espe continue building upon our past accomplishments to become one of the premier regions in SHPE! One area of emphasis was collaboration among chapters. This resulted in chapters working together during E-Week and making it one of the best ever. USC, UCLA and LMU hosted a middle school visit to the California Science Center. CSUN demonstrated SHPE’s commitment to education by providing information and activity sessions for parents and students. We are also excited to have UCLA host RLDC. The conference is a great opportunity to help future leaders develop their skills and learn valuable lessons from SHPE’s student and professional leaders. We hope that students take advantage of this opportunity to be leaders not only in their chapters but also at the regional and national levels. As we wrap up this academic year, I personally could not have been prouder of Region II’s members. It has been my honor representing you, and I wish you all the best of luck! Submitted by Fausto Carrera Regional Student Representative University of California, Los Angeles California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo This quarter, SHPE-Cal Poly SLO is innovating ways to motivate members to apply for AHETEMS scholarships and improve their study habits. As a result of California’s budget crisis, students will be experiencing a shortage of state-funded grants and an increase in college fees. Most members are discouraged by the fact that scholarships require a personal statement because they often have trouble selecting a topic and writing a unique story. For the first Editor’s note: In response to the “Latinas in Engineering” theme of this issue of SHPE magazine, one member shares her experience. REGION II Arizona ❚ California (Southern) ❚ Hawaii ❚ Nevada (Southern) SHPE-UCLA SOLES will host Region II’s RLDC. RSR Update It has been a great year for Region II as we California State University, Chico The Latinos in Technical Careers of CSU Chico recently hosted its annual Saturday Academy. The event is designed to engage junior high school students in engineering workshops and competitions to show them how engineering can be fun and exciting. This year we had three competitions: Junior high school students enjoyed engineering Gumdrop Bridges, Website Design and Soda workshops at CSU Chico’s Saturday Academy. Bottle Rockets. We also had a workshop on how to make a DC motor from a battery, magnet and copper wire. The students and teachers were thrilled by the events and gave us plenty of positive feedback. At the end, we awarded three computers to underprivileged students who didn’t have one at home. These students were asked to write essays discussing the importance of a higher education and why they wanted to pursue a degree. We had three very good computers to donate, one of which was a brand new laptop. The first place essay won a new Dell XPS laptop, which Dell kindly donated, and the second and third place essays won slightly used HP desktop computers. The event provided the students with great learning opportunities and an exciting experience. Submitted by Elba Coronado, Student Chapter Vice President SHPE-UCLA SOLES is proud to host RLDC 2009 for Region II from April 17-19, 2009. This conference exposes a few promising members from each chapter to SHPE leadership, teaches them the management skills necessary to run an organization and motivates them to become future leaders of SHPE. The conference is pretty intense, with some sleepless nights, but overall, it’s a great experience where our members can grow, network and hone their leadership skills. RLDC co-chairs Jennifer Lara and Raylene Moreno are leading a group of committed SOLES members in organizing the conference. A task this large takes a lot of planning and effort. They started during the summer, working on proposals, budgets, workshops, speakers and locations for the event. The task may seem daunting, but we are full of enthusiasm and ready for the challenge! Submitted by Sabrina Marquina Student Chapter Vice President SHPE ❘ Spring 2009 42

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of SHPE - Spring 2009

SHPE - Spring 2009 Contents President’s Letter A Letter from the CEO Calendar Browser Diana Gomez, SHPE: The People's President Grace Lieblein, GM: A Driving Force in Mexico Dr. Elsa Murano, Texas A&M: Education with Impact Regions Connect and Explore Common Base 'Learn by Doing' A Grad Degree, for Free? Programs & Services Think, Pair, Share: Partnering to Increase STEM Awareness Inner Circle Employer Profiles STAR Awards: Call for Nominations Regional Roundup

SHPE - Spring 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.