SWE

Orange County

Save these upcoming events to your calendar:

Networking Lunch - February 12th

Work/Life Balance Workshop - February 19th

2015 Sonora Region Conference - February 27th - March 1st - Registration

& Hotel Block Open

SWE-OC will be hosting their semi annual Girl Scout Engineering Day at

Cal State Fullerton on March 29th 2015 from 12pm to 3pm. Register here

SWE-OC Professional Development Conference – April 18th

SWE-OC has begun

collecting applications

for the 2015 Graduate

and Undergraduate

Student Scholarships!

Do you know of a local

college student who you

think would be a good

applicant? SWE-OC

collects scholarship

applications from both

g r a d u a t e a n d

undergraduate female

students studying in the

field of engineering.

Applicants must be

attending either CSU

Fullerton, CSU Long

Beach, UC Irvine, or UC

Riverside and have a

minimum 3.0 GPA.

Three scholarships will

be given to both graduate

and unde rgraduate

appl icants in the

amounts of $200, $400,

and $650.

Graduate and Undergraduate

application information can be

found at the following link:

h t t p : / / w w w . s w e - o c . o r g /

scholarships.html

For additional questions or to

request an application by

email, please contact Cynthia

C a r t e r a t s w e - o c -

scholarship@swe.org. Please

return or submit form no later

than Friday, April 24th, 2015.

Awards will be distributed in

June 2015.

Upcoming Events:

FY 15 SWE-OC Scholarships

are now open!

SWE

Orange County F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5

S P E C I A L

P O I NT S O F

I N T E R E S T :

SWE Region

B Conference

is this month

Check out

our new

website:

www.swe-

oc.org

Our 30th

Anniversary

is February

10 !

President:

Nadia Bess

Vice President:

Tasha Kamegai-

Karadi

Treasurer:

Yvonne Huynh

Secretary:

Sandra Thompson

Newsletter Editor:

Cynthia Carter

Section

Representatives:

Paola Chavira,

Kim O'Rourke,

Rachael Lomax

P A G E 2

Oakley Technical Tour

GS Engineering Day

K-12 Outreach at Bonita

Canyon School

By: Paola Chavira

SWE-OC visited Bonita Canyon Elementary

and showed their 6th graders the path to en-

gineering. Our SWE volunteer, Paola, gave a

presentation to a group of 83 kids, including

38 girls and concluded the event with the

building of a catapult. The students were

very excited about their building projects

and submitted various designs; there was a

prize to those that finished their working

model first.

about the technology behind

optics and the construction of

lenses.

By: Mica Lee

During this technical tour, we got a

behind the scenes look of Oakley's

product testing room, their

assembly line for sun glasses, and

the test lab of their apparel. We

visited their headquarters, walked

through the manufactur ing

assembly line, and also learned

By: Rachael Lomax

During our semi-annual Girl Scouts Engineering Day hosted by the Society of Engineers,

students learned about the various disciplines in engineering. The students engaged in

activities that had engineering backgrounds. Some of these activities included

creating your own sled kite, non-newtonian fluid, DNA structure towers, marshmallow

bridges, and many more.

SWE-OC K-12 STEM Outreach

at University Park School

P A G E 3 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 5

By: Paola Chavira

SWE-OC visited the 6th graders at

University Park School on November 10.

Cynthia Jensen McMullin and Maia Coylar

gave these students a lesson on different

engineering career paths and the benefits

of studying engineering. The sixth graders

enjoyed the presentation but the part they

were happiest about was building their

own race car. Overall it was a great event

and the teachers asked SWE-OC to come

back soon!

SWE-OC would like to congratulate

our own Treasurer Jennifer Wong on

having a beautiful baby girl.

Ice Cream Social

Technical Tour:

Aquarium of the Pacific

By: Mica Lee

SWE-OC members and friends took a

technical tour of the Aquarium of the Pacific

in Long Beach. During the tour, we learned

about life support systems, filtration systems

and processes, and equipment including

backwashing, the ozone tower, sand filters,

and protein skimmers. We also heard about

the aquarium's sustainability efforts in

reducing energy and water.

By: Mica Lee

Our annual Ice Cream Social brought engineering undergraduates and professional engineers together to

discuss majors, careers, and anything under the sun. We celebrated the start of the school year with SWE

collegiate members, professional members, and friends. What better way to mingle and learn about

involvement opportunities at SWE than over ice cream?

SWE OC K-12 STEM Outreach at Maple School

Fall Collegiate Training

By: Paola Chavira

Paola Chavira, Outreach Chair, visited the Maple School's Mustang Ladies to talk about her career in

engineering and to answer their questions. She also reviewed their project designs and provided feedback.

The Mustang Ladies are a group of 4th, 5th and 6th graders that get together for the purpose of learning

about STEM and its careers. The girls enthusiastically asked many questions about what it was like to be

an engineer and how engineers spend their free time. It was an awesome experience where the girls got to

see what engineers could do and how they can be one too.

By: Emily Nguyen

SWE-OC hosted the Fall Collegiate Training in the Fall for 50+ SWE members from CSUF, CSULB, UCI,

UCR, and SAC! It was a great day with two training modules presented by Rachael Lomax (HUGE THANK

YOU to Rachael) and excellent dialogue from all the students. Part of the day was networking among the

students and comparing how they run their sections, lots idea and contacts where exchanged. Please look for

the Spring Training in March 5th, 2015.

P A G E 4

Member

Spotlights Maria Meza Bruguera is a Masters of Science candidate in

Quality Assurance at California State University, Dominguez

Hills. In 2013 Maria completed her Bachelor of Science

degree in Electrical Engineering at Cal State Long Beach,

and has since been an electrical engineering professional at

NovaWurks, a leading-edge space systems start-up in Los

Alamitos.

Currently, she is a Lead Assembler working side-by-side

with legendary aerospace Engineers developing novel, avant-

garde technologies for the space industry. Maria has a

passion for outreach and mentoring activities that encourage

young women to pursue higher education and seek careers in

science, technology and engineering. In her free time Maria

continues to challenge her mind and body with Zumba,

Flamenco dancing, Yoga, strength training, Scrabble and

solving crossword puzzles.

P A G E 5

SWE-OC would like to congratulate Paola

Chavira on her promotion! She is

currently a Project Manager for the CNG/

LNG Support Services at SoCalGas. She

has been recently promoted to this

position in which she will be coordinating

the use of CNG and LNG in order to avoid

service interruptions when performing maintenance projects.

She serves on the board of Society of Women Engineers (SWE),

Orange County Section as a Section Representative and K-12

STEM Outreach Chair. Paola has been active with SWE since her

college years and has always been passionate about inspiring

young Latinas to become successful engineers. In her duties as

Outreach Chair, she organizes and attends K-12 schools

throughout Orange County to promote engineering as a career,

focusing on low income communities and underserved minorities.

SWE has been an essential part of Paola’s successes, as she has

stated “SWE has helped me grow as a leader and get recognized

within the different companies I’ve worked for.”

Paola is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona; she obtained her B.S. in

Mechanical Engineering in 2008 and M.S. in Engineering

Management in 2011. She is a Certified Energy Manager and

currently resides in Riverside, CA.

Maria Meza Bruguera

Paola Chavira

Do you have any exciting news to share? Please send an email to swe-oc-president@swe.org

Dinner Meeting: Maker Movement

P A G E 6

By: Roxana Carrillo

The November dinner meeting included an

introduction to the maker movement that was

presented and sponsored by Build It Workspace. In

addition to the presentation, the meeting concluded

with a tour of today's latest technology, including 3D

printers, laser cutters, and other exciting gadgets.

SWE-OC – Professional Development

Conference

Every year, SWE-OC holds a Professional Development Conference, highlighting topics that

will help our members achieve their professional goals and advance their careers. We are

looking for speakers for the following topics:

Please submit your application by February 11th (http://tinyurl.com/lyqjwnc).

The conference will be held in Orange County on Saturday, April 18th from 8AM to 1PM.

The Spectrum of Engineering Panel

How to Move Up or Move On

Work-Life Balance: How To Find It, How to Do It