I’m off to Cleveland tomorrow to represent the MSL at the 2018 SHPE National Convention…but first, here’s a recap of my experience at another engineering conference earlier this season: SWE’s annual conference!
At this year’s WE18 (Society for Women Engineer’s Annual Conference), the MSL program made a small but mighty showing: I represented the MSL program at a booth during the Career Fair, and three MSL students (online and residential students) attended the conference with Katherine Culbert presenting on a panel!
Career Fair
The WE18 Career Fair is an excellent opportunity for students and professionals with engineering backgrounds to meet with potential employers & graduate schools, learn about new companies, positions, & degree options, and get plenty of networking in! This year was no exception. Here are some key highlights:
- Over 14,000 people from 35 countries attended the conference.
- We were among 365 exhibitors, including both companies and universities.
- More than 35 engineering disciplines were represented.
One of my favorite parts of the conference was listening to current MSL students share their thoughts and experiences about the degree with prospective students. As program staff, I can give interested students and professionals as much information as possible about the program; however, nothing beats hearing about the program from someone who is actively pursuing the degree! Our current MSL students did an excellent job of painting the full picture of the MSL program, from the unique, customizable curriculum to the welcoming, diverse community of Northwestern Law.
SWE Panels + Professional Development Sessions
Katherine Culbert sat on a panel on “The Power of Interest Groups.” I didn’t get to attend the panel, but from what I heard from Katherine, it sounds like it was a great success! Here’s a brief description of the panel from SWE’s blog, All Together:
Self-organizing groups in organizations provide a platform for employees with similar interests to gather and share expertise and experiences. They provide the ‘oil’ in the organizational engine and culture. In this panel, we will review the benefits of interest groups and how organizations can support their efforts. Panelists will feature experiences from the Entrepreneurship, Small Business, Women in Government, and Global Engineers Affinity Groups within SWE.
There were over 300 professional development sessions, as well as a keynote address by Cindy Kent, healthcare executive who served as President & General Manager of 3M’s Infection Prevention Division.
If you are considering attending the conference in the future, check out the the SWE blog, All Together, which has a page dedicated to stories from the conference here!
Minneapolis Highlights
The conference took place in Minneapolis, MN, home of the longest continuous skyway in the world! The skyway offers commuters, residents, and tourists a chance to enjoy the city’s interesting architecture and sites from the warmth and comfort of a climate-controlled pedestrian footbridge. You can bet I took advantage of this system…and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Finally, for my fellow foodies:
There was no shortage of great food in the city! A couple highlights included:
- Birchwood Cafe – Any restaurant that offers a side of french toast at dinner is an A+ restaurant in my book.
- Pizza Luce – It’s hard to go wrong with pizza, but this pizza was particularly delicious and creative.
- Spitz – Modern (and mouth-watering) takes on traditional mediterranean street food!
- Edward’s Dessert Kitchen – As a highly indecisive dessert-eater, I found the Fall Tasting to be a dream come true!
