http://www.swe-bws.

org Winter 2009 Region E, Section E001

Celebrate National Engineer’s Week 2009

Celebrate your engineered-ness! February is the month when our administrative staff takes us out to lunch,
right? Well, maybe not. But it is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of engineers everywhere and intro-
duce students to the excitement and wonder of engineering as a career and lifetime passion. Here are local
activities for doing all these things.

Family Day, Saturday, February 21, 2009, Building Museum – Bring family and friends to a most special
day at the National Building Museum where engineering societies and technology organizations introduce engi-
neering to the young and the young at heart. Try some hands-on projects or watch as robots do their stuff.
This “must attend” event will fill the kids with the excitement of engineering! In addition, SWE is partnering with
the Maryland Society of Professional Engineers, Potomac Chapter where we will be building bridges with the
youngsters and the AIChE (chemical engineers) at the slime booth. Join us!

Engineers and Architects Day Luncheon, Wednesday, February 25, 2009 – This annual luncheon spon-
sored by DCCEAS provides an opportunity to celebrate our profession with proclamations and messages from
senior leaders of government and industry. This year’s luncheon speaker will be Brendan Owen, Vice Presi-
dent for LEED Development for the U.S. Green Building Council, discussing new advancements in green de-
sign, development, and engineering. The event will be held at Pier 7 Restaurant in Washington, DC. Price is
$25 for $250 for a table of ten.

Awards Banquet, Saturday, February 28, 2009 – DC metro area engineers, architects, and students will re-
ceive awards and recognition at the DCCEAS Awards Banquet. A highlight of the evening will be a keynote
address by Mera Faddoul, Building Information Modeling Engineer for Jacobs Facilities, Inc. on the topic of
building information modeling. This banquet will be held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Silver Spring, MD. Tick-
ets are $45 each or a table of ten for $450. However, the first eight lucky SWE members are being offered half
price to join us. So call with your reservation soon.

To reserve your place for the luncheon or for dinner, contact Sue Parsons, SWE-BWS’s DCCEAS delegate, at
703-387-4966, or sue.parsons@swe.org.

TabINSIDE THIS ISSUE

National Engineer’s Week 2009 1 Girl Scout Day 5
Science Fairs

From the President’s Desk 2 School Outreach Program Update 6

Southern MD Area Activities 3 BWS Roster 7

Community Outreach Project Call for Volunteers

National News 4 Upcoming Calendar of Events 8

Region News
Section News

Winter 2009 BWS News • 1

 From the President’s Desk...
Colleen M. Layman president@swe-bws.org

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that your holidays were all fantastic and that 2009 is
off to a great start for all of you!

Forty years ago, the three person crew of Apollo 8 achieved the distinction of being the first humans to break
free of the Earth’s gravity and orbit the moon. The rocket blasted off on December 21, 1968 and eased into the
moon’s orbit on Christmas Eve, when hundreds of millions of people tuned in to hear the astronauts describe
their never-before-seen view of Earth and read from the Bible. While I was visiting my family over the Christmas
holidays, my teenage niece and I stumbled onto a commemorative rebroadcast of this historic moment while
searching the Internet for something that was quickly forgotten once we discovered this unique treasure.

I have always been somewhat of a space junkie. From the time that I was about 7 or 8 years old, and even
throughout most of my high school years, I dreamed of traveling in space, building spaceships, or something
along those lines. Even today I regularly follow via the Internet what’s going on at NASA. So as you can guess,
having the opportunity, as unplanned as it was, to see this historic television broadcast that occurred years be-
fore I was even born was a fantastic Christmas present for me. The most enjoyable part of the experience, how-
ever, was sharing it with my niece. I don’t know if it is in the genes or exactly what, but space and the idea of
what could be out there has always fascinated her as well. Watching the broadcast with her and talking with her
about the Apollo 8 mission and what that moment must have meant to Americans at that point in history defi-
nitely enriched the experience for both of us.

National Engineers Week this year is February 15 – 21 and provides us all with a great opportunity to share our
love of science and technology with the young people in our lives and in our community. SWE-BWS will be
celebrating the week by participating in Family Day at the National Building Museum and with attendance at the
DCCEAS Engineers and Architects Day Luncheon in Washington, DC and the DCCEAS Awards Banquet at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel in Silver Spring, MD. I hope that you can join us for these events. But even if you can’t, I
recommend that you do celebrate the week by taking part in an Engineers Week activity, either an organized
event or by just spending some time sharing your interests in the sciences and technology with a young person
in your life. The Engineers Week website www.eweek.org contains some great ideas and tools that you can use
to celebrate our holiday and share your passions. Happy Engineers Week to all!

2nd Annual BWS Scholarship Drive

Following our successful drive last year, where over $3500 was raised; we thought we’d do it again. The Life
Members have already kicked off the drive registering $2000 in pledges. Donations received from the general
section membership will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $2000, by the section. Funds donated by the gen-
eral section membership and the matching section contributions will be used for scholarships awarded this
spring, while the Life Members’ donations are applied towards the Endowed Scholarship Fund. As a 501c3 or-
ganization, donations to SWE are tax deductible (as always, you should check with your tax professional).

Please make checks payable to ‘SWE’ and forward to

Katie Pehrson
FY09 SWE-BWS Treasurer
6430 Mercantile Dr E Apt 304
Frederick, MD 21703

Please note on your check that your contribution is to benefit the SWE-BWS FY09 Scholarship Drive. Thanks
for your generous support!

BWS News • 2 Winter 2009

 Southern Maryland SWE Activities
By Alexandra Dyar

Welcome to Southern Maryland; where the crabs bite and sailing is a favored past time. Nestled in between the
Patuxent and Potomac Rivers, southern Maryland is home to the head quarters for NAVAIR at Patuxent River
Naval Air Station and thus is also home to a large concentration of engineers. However few have heard about
SWE, until now.
Upon graduation at the University of Tennessee and Villanova respectively, Adrianne Cooper and I were
excited to continue our active SWE memberships into our professional careers. There was just one problem.
The closest meetings and a majority of the events were roughly two hours away. While talking to a few senior
level female engineers, they discussed how they were once a member of SWE in college, but had let their
membership expire since the society was not very active in their area. We asked if they would consider partici-
pating again, if SWE were to become more involved in the southern Maryland community. Thankfully, the an-
swer was YES!!
To kick things off, Adrianne and I put together a luncheon on December 3 to remind ladies why SWE is im-
portant. Michelle Tortolani was gracious enough to be our speaker for the event and with the support of Mr.
Jesse McCurdy, the Deputy Assistant Commander for R&E at NAVAIR and Ms. Leslie Taylor, the Director for
Flight Test Engineering the lunch was a success! Since then our active participation has grown exponentially
enabling us to help with a Girl Scout day and participate in the 1st Annual Youth in Technology Summit. We
hope to host a WOW! That’s Engineering event as well as several other events in the future. So if you are ever
in southern Maryland, perhaps to eat crabs or try your hand at sailing, please stop on by even if it is just to say
HI!

BWS Community Outreach Project

SWE-BWS wants to thank and support our military troops. Through June 2009, SWE-BWS will be collecting
care-package items for Operation Pinecone (www.operationpinecone.org), a non-profit organization that as-
sembles and sends care packages to our troops in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

Please bring your donations to any SWE-BWS event between January 1, 2009 - June 30, 2009 or contact
Marge Morales (external_secretary@swe-bws.org) to arrange a pickup.

Some suggestions are: microwave popcorn, dried fruit nuts, model kits, DVDs and CDs, chap stick, antibacte-
rial soap, razors and refill blades. Items in individual, easy-to-carry packaging is preferred. For a complete list
of suggested items, visit the Operation Pinecone web site: www.operationpinecone.org/care_packages.htm.

Please direct any questions regarding this outreach project to Marge Morales at external_secretary@swe-
bws.org.

Physics 101 Revisited…

• An object at rest will always be in the wrong place. An object in motion will always be headed in
the wrong direction.

• For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

• Doppler effect is the tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when you come at them rapidly.

• When people run around and around in circles, we say they are crazy. When planets do it, we say
they are orbiting.
Winter 2009 BWS News • 3
 National News
http://www.swe.org
COR Update
At the National Conference, the Council of Represen-
tatives (COR) voted to adopt a new representative
structure. The current COR structure will remain in
place at the Region level, but each Region will then
elect two senators and one alternate senator to repre-
sent the Region on a National level. These senators
will be elected as part of the National Officer elections
this spring. The senators will serve a two year term.
Region E News
http://www.swe.org/regione
Girl Scout Making It Matter Badge Day
Monday, March 16, 2009
5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Compton Village Recreation Center
14401 Compton Village Drive
Centreville, VA
Spend an evening volunteering and teaching Junior
level Girl Scouts some basic principles of engineering!
Volunteers are needed to help perform six fun experi-
ments with small groups of Girl Scouts. After finishing
these six experiments, the girls will earn their "Making
It Matter" badge and a SWE patch. Come share your
passion and enthusiasm for engineering with others!

NAGB Technology Literacy Assessment Project

Region E was recently given the opportunity to select If you are interested in volunteering, register on the
two region members to represent SWE as part of a website at http://www.swe-bws.org or contact us at
national project to develop the framework and specifi- leadership@swe-bws.org for more information.
cations for the 2012 National Assessment of Educa-
tional Progress (NAEP) in technology. Selected to par-
ticipate in this project were:
February Membership Meeting
Planning Committee - Marie Aloia from New Jersey
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Section
6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Steering Committee - Colleen Layman from Baltimore-
Washington Section
The Johns Hopkins University
Applied Physics Laboratory
For more information on the project visit the NAEP
11100 Johns Hopkins Rd
website at www.naeptech2012.org.
Laurel, MD

Please join us for the February membership meeting

BWS News for an opportunity to meet and greet with fellow SWE
members.
http://www.swe-bws.org
Price: $15 for SWE members, $10 for collegiate / non-
FY10 BWS Officer Elections
employed members, and $20 for non-SWE members
It’s almost time to begin thinking about officer elections
for next year. If you are interested in learning more
about or running for an Executive Council position,
please contact Colleen Layman at col- If you are interested in attending, register on the web-
leen.layman@swe.org org by March 15, 2009. Elec- site at http://www.swe-bws.org or contact Nes Robin-
tions will be conducted in May 2009. son at nrobin4@gmail.com for more information.

February Networking Lunch

Thursday, February 26, 2009
11:30 a.m.
.
Olive Garden
5609 Spectrum Drive
Frederick, MD
http://www.olivegarden.com

RSVP: by Tuesday, February 24th to host Colleen

Layman at colleen.layman@swe.org if you are inter-
ested in attending or register on-line.

BWS News • 4 Winter 2009

 Science Fairs are Coming!
By Karolina DuBois

Science fairs are coming! This Spring we will be returning to county and regional science fairs. We are specialty
judges, offering gift cards and certificates to future engineers and scientists. Judging is a lot of fun - we encour-
age the students and give feedback and in some cases also present the awards. Most fairs are on a Saturday
morning and any time you can offer will be appreciated. Significant others and friends welcome to join us and
help judge! This is a fun and rewarding outreach activity for just a few hours of your time.

Upcoming fairs that we currently plan on participating in are:

Howard County, MD - Sat, February 21st

Prince Georges County, MD - Sat, March 28th
Fairfax County, VA - Sat, March 28th
Washington DC - Sat, March 14th
Frederick County, MD - Sat, March 28th

Any questions, or to sign up, contact Karolina DuBois at karolina3@gmail.com.

Girl Scout Day at the National Air and Space Museum

Saturday, March 14, 2009
9:30 am - 3:30 pm

National Air and Space Museum

14390 Air and Space Museum Parkway
Chantilly, VA

Come join us at our biggest Girl Scout event of the year! We will be performing 3 experiments with the girls,
building straw towers, making connections with electrical circuits, and exploring friction with marbles and peb-
bles. Last year over 5000 Girl Scouts participated in this event and it should be even bigger this year. Please
come out and volunteer – meet and make friends with some of your BWS colleagues in the area!

If you are interested in volunteering, register on the website at http://www.swe-bws.org or contact us at leader-
ship@swe-bws.org for more information.

Scholarship Application Available!

Do you know a local high school senior getting ready to attend engineering school in the fall? Or a current fe-
male undergraduate or graduate engineering student in the BWS area? The SWE-BWS scholarship program is
currently accepting applications for FY09 scholarship awards. The deadline for applications is March 1st. For
more information or an application visit the BWS website or contact Nisha Bindal at nj0920@hotmail.com.

Information on National SWE scholarships available for the 2009-2010 school year can be found on the
National SWE website at http://www.swe.org.

Winter 2009 BWS News • 5

 School Outreach Program Update: Partnership with
Chantilly Academy
By Susan Frankiewicz

Chantilly Academy, located at Chantilly High School (Fairfax County Public Schools - FCPS) pro-
vides specialized elective programs for nearly 1,200 - 10th, 11th and 12th grade high school stu-
dents from 20 different Fairfax County high schools. The Academy offers advanced technical and
specialized courses in engineering and scientific technology and health and human services and
provides “work-based learning” opportunities, including mentorship programs and internships with
industry, higher education and government organizations. One of the Academy’s most successful
courses is the Engineering Systems 1 course, which is designed to give students an introduction
to a variety of engineering disciplines through both classroom instruction and laboratory experi-
ence. Upon completion of this course, students can continue on to higher level engineering
courses that help to prepare them for a challenging engineering curriculum in college. In an effort
to increase the participation of female students in the course, Joan Ozdogan, a staff member at
the Academy, created an all-female version of the course called Girls Exploring Engineering (GE2)
in 2007.

To bolster the success of their female students and the GE² program, the Academy matches men-
tors (professional women engineers) with each student. Several SWE-BWS members are partici-
pating in the program as mentors this school year. The mentors will meet with their mentees a
total of four times throughout the course of the year, in a series of planned evening events, includ-
ing design competitions, field trips to engineering sites, and an end of the year banquet. The men-
tors also communicate regularly with their mentees to track their progress and share career ex-
perience.

Through it’s partnership with Chantilly Academy, SWE-BWS has also reached out to the wider
FCPS community this year. In October, 3 SWE-BWS members participated in the Academy’s first
annual Engineering Expo, a career day for all FCPS students and their families focused on pro-
fessional opportunities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). SWE-
BWS hosted two workshop sessions, entitled “Engineering Mars”, for 7th and 8th grade students.
During the workshop students designed, built, and integrated the systems needed to support a
colony on Mars. SWE-BWS members were also on hand to provide high school students and their
families with information on SWE’s mission, additional engineering educational opportunities, and
being a female in the engineering profession. SWE-BWS is looking forward to continue to grow
this partnership with the Academy in the coming years.

Send us your news!

Did you recently receive a big promotion, find a new job, or welcome a new family member? If you have good
news - big or small, personal or professional - we want to help you celebrate. Send us your news items and
we’ll share it with the rest of the section! E-mail us at leadership@swe-bws.org
with your announcements.

BWS News • 6 Winter 2009

 BWS Roster
POSITION NAME E-MAIL ADDRESS

BWS President Colleen Layman president@swe-bws.org

VP Professional Development Nes Robinson nesrobin4@gmail.com

VP Outreach Janie Robinson vicepresident@swe-bws.org

Treasurer Katie Pehrson kmpehrso@bechtel.com

Internal Comm Secretary Courtney Gleason internal_secretary@swe-bws.org

External Comm Secretary Marge Morales morales_m@yahoo.com

Section Representative Andrea Stenberg andrea.stenberg@verizon.net

Section Representative Deb Johnston djohnston@arcadis-us.com

Section Representative Mary Rivulet mary_land@gmx.net

Section Representative Nisha Bindal nj0920@hotmail.com

Alt. Section Representative Sandra Hyland sandra.hyland@swe.org

Newsletter Editor Colleen Layman colleen.layman@swe.org

Region E Governor Angela Waller governor-e@swe.org

SWE President Virginia Connolly president@swe.org

BWS Volunteer Opportunities

We have a number of committee chair positions that are currently open. We have a fun, enthusiastic leadership group and
would love for you to join the team to support local women and girls in their pursuit of careers in engineering while network-
ing throughout the Baltimore-Washington metro area. Below are the list of current open committee chair positions for the
FY09 year.

NEWSLETTER EDITOR
The Newsletter Editor position is currently open at SWE-BWS. SWE-BWS publishes 3 paper newsletters each fiscal year in
addition to the weekly e-mail communications that it distributes to its members. We are currently seeking an editor to collect
articles from members and organize and design the paper newsletter format. If you would be interested in volunteering,
please contact Courtney Gleason at internal_secretary@swe-bws.org to learn more about the position.

FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE
The Fundraising Chair position is currently open at SWE-BWS. We are looking for an energetic individual interested in re-
searching and organizing fundraising events and activities for the section scholarship program and other outreach activities.
If you are interesting in fundraising event planning or just have some great ideas for potential fundraisers, please contact
Colleen Layman at colleen.layman@swe.org to learn more about the position.

COMMUNITY RELATIONS CHAIR

The Community Relations Chair position is currently open at SWE-BWS. One of SWE's main objectives is to expand the
image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life. To promote this objective, SWE-BWS
actively encourages its members to perform community service. Community service is a great way to promote leadership,
contribute to a worthy cause and have a great time. The Community Relations Chair recognizes individual BWS member
involvement within the community in SWE publications and coordinates BWS member participation as a group at commu-
nity events such as Race for the Cure, PBS Pledge Drive, and Toys for Tots. If you would be interested in volunteering,
please contact Marge Morales at morales_m@yahoo.com to learn more about the position.

Winter 2009 BWS News • 7

 SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS
Baltimore-Washington Section
c/o Colleen Layman
P.O. Box 721
Charles Town, WV 25414

SWE is a Non-Profit,
Educational Association.
Address correction requested.

UPCOMING CALENDAR OF EVENTS

February 3, 2009
February Membership Meeting
Laurel, MD

February 15-21, 2009

National Engineers Week

February 21, 2009

Family Day at National Building Museum

February 25, 2009

SWE Region E Conference
DCCEAS E-Week Luncheon
Washington, DC March 6-8, 2009
Cornell University
February 29, 2009
DCCEAS E-Week Banquet
Ithaca, New York
Silver Spring, MD

March 14, 2009

“Advancing Innovation,
Girl Scout Day National Air & Space Museum Inspiring Confidence”
Chantilly, VA

To get more details on these and other BWS For more information:
events, please visit our website at http://www.swe.cornell.edu/rc_main.html
http://www.swe-bws.org

BWS News • 8 Winter 2009