Event: SWE at UCR End of Year Banquet
Date: 5/11/2005 6pm
Location: The Barn
Attendance: 16 members and 6 guests: Linda O'Neill, Professor Sharon Walker, Professor Mihri Ozkan, Dean Mark Matsumoto, Tammy Qutami, Dr. Kawai Tam

Description:
SWE at UCR wrapped up a full year of activities, opportunities, and involvement with its annual banquet in The Barn. Members and guests enjoyed excellent food, good company, and an interesting program. First on the agenda was a keynote speech by Dean Matsumoto about the history of Bourns College of Engineering and its accomplishments, impressing attendees with how far the college has come in its short history (and validating their experience of its rigorousness!). Next President Cynthia Carter gave a summary of SWE's events and achievements over the past year, congratulated graduating seniors in attendance, recognized SWE officers, and gave out gifts and awards: a gift to Dean Matsumoto for being kind enough to address SWE's banquet; a gift and congratulations to SWE advisor Mihri Ozkan for her recent outstanding honor from the American Association of University Women; a welcome gift to Sharon Walker as a new SWE advisor; a thank you gift to Linda O'Neill for all she has done for SWE and the COE over the past year; and a prize to Jennifer Jones for being SWE's outstanding member of the year.

Special thanks to events coordinator Melissa Mangahas for organizing and setting up the banquet!

Event: General meeting, WIE brainstorming session
Time: 4/25/2005, 6pm
Location: Surge 284
Attendance: 16

Minutes:

- Our October JPL Girl Scout Day event will be held on Sunday 10/30

- The BCOE Annual Barbecue will be Sunday 5/22 from 2-5 at the student rec center. Price is $5 in advance for students (tickets will be available soon), $8 "at the door" for students and all others wishing to attend.
SWE will be decorating:
Lindsay will buy tablecloths and extra decorations
Megan, Jean, Marie, Shylah, Andrew, Lindsay, and Jennifer Jones will come early to help set up (1pm)

- Mock interviews will be 5/23 from 6-7:30. Actual recruiters from engineering firms will be coming, and we need RSVPs ASAP. There will be 3 students per recruiter, each interview ~30 minutes. Bring your resume and dress in business attire. Spots will be opened to SWE members first, then if there is room, other clubs will be invited.

- End of year banquet: Forms were given out, RSVP by 5/1. It will be at the Barn on 5/11 from 6-8pm, business casual dress. Free for SWE members, $15 for guests (and guests need to RSVP as well). Volunteers are needed to help with decorations (contact Melissa).

- Outreach event: The College Exploration, Science, Engineering Scholarship Competition is a MESA/NSBE scholarship competition for high school students and will be held 5/21 from 6:45am-4pm. Club members will be helping to run or judge events. You are not required to go to training to participate, or stay all day on the 21st, and 5-6 volunteers are needed.

- Linda O'Neill gave a presentation/brainstorming session about the status of Women in Engineering, and will send a summary later.

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Event: Networking with Union Pacific Railroads
Date: April 19th, 2005

Description: Union Pacific personally contacted SWE. They wanted to target women engineers for their 200 open positions in their company. Union Pacific wanted to share with SWE a presentation about what their company offered and increase awareness about the railroad industry. It was a brief night, but effective night. SWE was introduced to the idea of their leadership management positions and co-ops. Union Pacific was gracious enough to treat SWE to dinner with pizza!

Number of People Attended: 32 (including guest speakers)
Person in Charge of Event: Cynthia Carter
SWE Members that Participated: Sharlene Agbayani, Cynthia Carter, Andrew Chin, Jenny Durbin, Jennifer Jones, Melissa Mangahas, Melika Roshandell, Nicholas Sava, Shimkiri Syiem, and Jean Wang. Advisor: Dr. Walker
Offered by: Union Pacific

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Event: General meeting, officer elections
Time: 4/4/2005, 6pm
Location: Bourns A265
Attendance: 13

Minutes:

- Pizza cards (at the commons):
Tuesday: Megan
Wednesday: Cynthia and Lindsay (Lindsay swapped from Monday to Wednesday)
*Shylah will check her schedule and send an email

- Spring Girl Scout Day had to be cancelled due to JPL's scheduling conflicts, so the next one will be held in the fall, 10/29 or 11/5

- Instead, we will be cooperating with SHPE on their Internet Explorers event, and will email details when we have them

- t-shirts are still available, $11 each

- SWE-OC scholarship applications are available and are due 4/15

- New officers:
President: Jean Wang
Vice President: Marie Donnely
Secretary: Jennifer Jones
Treasurer: Lindsay Yee
Historian: Jennifer Mena
Webmaster: Megan Nix
Outreach: (open)

- in May we will have a mock interview meeting, at which we will possibly invite other clubs and publicize to the college

- we will also be having a meeting at which Linda O'Neill will come and talk about her recent trips to Women In Engineering conferences

- dates and times will be arranged based on room availability

Event: JPL tour
Time/date: 3/22/2005 9am-3pm
Attendance: 21

SWE members and Space Science Day volunteers were treated to a special tour of the JPL facilities, led by Art Hammon, who was our JPL liaison for the fall's UCR Space Science and Engineering Day. Tour stops included the JPL museum, Space Flight Operations Facility, Team X Project Design Center, Robotics laboratory, Micro Devices laboratory, and In Situ Instruments Laboratory. Attendees were also privy to special sessions with young women engineers who are members of Team X, a group that specializes in designing and planning proposed space missions, and a demonstration of robots that may in the future be used to construct habitats on the moon. The excitement of the engineers about their jobs was apparent in every one with whom we spoke, and each seemed convinced that they have "the coolest job on the planet." Mr. Hammon's extensive knowledge and interest in JPL's various centers and projects, as well as his efforts to put together a special tour on our behalfs, made for an enthralling day for all involved. A special thank you to Linda O'Neill and Art Hammon for arranging the amazing tour!

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Event: 2005 Region B convention
Date/time: 3/5/2005 3-5:30pm
Attendance: Shylah, Christine, Megan

Student meeting items of business:

- new RSR Alison Bourke, new newsletter eds Lisa Dakis and Ben Maher
- we really need to turn in blurbs/pics for regional newsletter
- also each section is expected to turn in quarterly reports and apply for outstanding section
- president of past outstanding section suggested basing goals at the beginning of each quarter/year on the mission in the OSS guidelines (goals defined by SWE), documenting everything, looking at past winners' reports online
- Student Activities Committee (SAC) is being restructured to focus less on administrative work...more info on the swe site.
- next year RSR/newsletter editor voting will be different, possibly online voting in advance of the convention, with the winner being announced at the convention
- student positions are available on national committees and in regional leadership positions, applications are encouraged, look online
- vitality reps are available to come and do leadership coaching and training (see brochure)
- we are asked to donate to travel expenses of RSR and student BOD rep (see form)
- kaplan is offering SWE a discount on test prep materials for the FE exam, which all engineers are encouraged to take (see material)

Christine's convention experience:
"My experience at the SWE Regional Convention was one of fun and somewhat helpful. I attended panels like planning for your future, how to pick the best job offer, and women in the engineering (in which I learned a lot of funny statistics). If I needed to find a job, the Regional Convention would have been a great place to spend my time. During the student members meeting each school colored their own puzzle piece in their own way and then we put the pieces together."

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Event: Shakey's Pizza fundraiser/social with IEEE
Date/time: 3/2/2005 7-9pm
Attendance: About 15

Members of SWE and IEEE got together at Shakey's to eat pizza, hang out, and raise money for SWE's spring Girl Scout Day event. Many thanks to IEEE for their help and their generous $300 donation to our outreach efforts!

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Event: UCI Networking night
Date: 3/2/2005
Location: Irvine
Attendance: Shylah

On March 2nd, University of California, Irvine hosted their annual SWE Networking night. It was a gathering of guest engineers and technical workers from top companies and university students to eat dinner together, and also network during the dinner and participating in a set of networking groups thereafter. UCR SWE students sat with different engineering representatives, from engineers at Boeing to developers at Qualcomm. Other companies that attended the networking night included Unisys, Boeing, Parker Aerospace, MSC Software, Edward Life Science, and many more. It was during the serving of dinner that engineering representatives gave tips on surviving in a corporate environment, as well as appropriate courses to take for success in engineering. As dinner was served, UC Irvine gave recognition to sponsors of the event, and several guest speakers spoke of women in engineering, as well as how we are succeeding in the change of technology. After the speakers, the event then ended with an optional networking opportunity, as many companies that participated in the event took resumes and spoke with students, as well as gave tips on structuring their resumes and contacting company representatives for other networking opportunities.

Event: E-Week Women scientist/engineer panel
Date/time: 2/23 5-7pm
Panelists: Chancellor France Cordova, Dr. Peilin Fu, Dr. Kawai Tam, Dr. Sharon Walker, Tammy Qutami
Attendance: 30

After an introduction from the event's organizer, Melissa Mangahas, panel representatives from science and engineering in both academia and engineering fielded questions from the event's moderator, Lindsay Yee. Panelists spoke about their motivations for becoming scientists or engineers, obstacles they have faced along the way, balancing their careers and their lives, advice for those considering science or engineering, and many other subjects in a lively and insightful discussion. Audience members listened in fascination to many quips and tidbits from the wide variety of experiences of the panelists and interacted with questions of their own. When asked if they had any regrets, none of the panelists could say that they did.
The evening closed with quotes from Chancellor Cordova about the importance of increasing the number of women in science and engineering and the presentation of gifts from SWE to all the panelists. The story and a photo appeared on the front page of the Highlander:
http://www.highlander.ucr.edu/article.php?artnum=4256

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Event: General meeting, Stress workshop
Time/date: 2/7/2005 6pm
Attendance: 28

Minutes:

- e-week panel will be 2/23 at 5pm in Surge 284, meet at 4:30 to set up please. The chancellor, several professors, and at least one industry rep will attend. Meal will be before the panel. We took volunteers to help with the event and ideas for panelist questions.

- also took signups for regional convention, registration will be open online for the next week ($105):
http://www.swesandiego.org/SWE2005Conference/

- JPL tour will be 3/22, we will leave at 8am, transportation will be provided. Signups were taken (name and citizenship). Email swe@engr.ucr.edu if you would like to attend.

- Please wear your SWE t-shirt on 2/23 to show your "SWE spirit," wear it to the panel discussion to get points for the end of year awards!

- UCI is having a workshop put on by Google, free transportation, RSVP by 2/24 on http://services.google.com/events/uci_rsvp

- next meeting we will have officer elections, will talk about SWE-OC scholarships

Counseling center stress workshop notes:
- different triggers and personality types (type A, perfectionists) bring about excessive stress
- stress induces characteristic reactions: alarm reaction, resistance and adaptation, exhaustion
- To help manage perfectionist behaviors: prioritize, schedule downtime, set realistic goals, focus on the present, challenge black and white thinking
- to deal with stress, find positive coping skills that work for you (karate, music, organization, etc.), good eating/sleeping habits, reward yourself, avoid negativity, reach out to others
- to change your environment: be assertive (not aggressive or passive), conflict resolution, problem solving, time management
- changing your perceptions: challenge irrational/distorted thughts, replace with positive talk
- to know if you're coping well: meeting responsibilities, healthy, adapt well, tlerate frustrations, calmness
- signs someone is not coping well: emotional outbursts, hopeless/worthless feelings, impaired functioning, suicidal gestures
- what to do about stress: know how yu react, recognize warning signs, discover what works best for you, focus on what you can control
- counseling center resources: each student gets 8 individual sessions (fee supported)--will see students for anything (test anxiety, family/relationship issues, etc.), also group therapy (self esteem, crisis, biofeedback (learn relaxation/anxiety management techniques and watch your physical reactions on the monitors)
- Other resources: health center, rec center, career center, learning center, special services
- In closing: focus on your strengths, utilize supports and resources, be aware of your own coping behavior and mechanisms, practice new behaviors and thoughts

Event: SWE-OC 20th Anniversary Banquet
Date/time: 1/29/2005, 6-9:30pm
Location: Atrium Hotel, Irvine
Attendance: Cynthia, Megan, Lindsay, Nadia

Summary:

Hors d'oeuvres were served as attendees mingled, and lute music played in the background. Cynthia, Lindsay, Nadia and I spoke with SWE-OC members, the SWE-OC president, and representatives of engineering councils and firms in Orange County. After dinner was served, we watched a presentation on the history of the SWE-OC section, heard an address from SWE national president Vi Brown, and listened to a talk by the keynote speaker, Patricia Galloway. Mrs. Galloway spoke about her rise from a small-town Kentucky girl to a professional engineer, President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and chief executive officer of The Nielsen-Wurster Group, Inc.

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Event: Welcome back movie night
Date: 1/13/2005 6pm
Location: Surge 284
Attendance: 15 (see roster in appendix)

SWE provided a relaxing evening to welcome members back from the break. Members voted and picked "Pirates of the Caribbean " as the movie of choice as they snacked on popcorn, soda, and other snacks.

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Event: general meeting
Date: 1/10/2005
Time: 6:10pm-6:45pm

Minutes:

JPL Tour- tentative dates during the holidays, MLK Day & Pres Day (1/17 and 2/21. Several members expressed willingness to attend on those dates.

SWE has agreed to have the following at our meetings: Stress seminar and research seminar at the end of the meeting, resume workshop as a separate event.

Volunteers for committies- Marie talked about the budget committee, Jean talked about outreach committie, Melissa talked about Year End Banquet, E-week, members signed up

SWE-OC Banquet-Saturday Jan 29th, 20th Anniversary Banquet, Irvine $30 for students. Great networking opportunity. Deadline Jan 21st, contact megan by friday for a carpool.

Movie Night- Thursday, Jan 13th, 7pm Surge 284. Pizza, popcorn, soda will be served.

Next meeting- Feb 7th, 6pm location TBA.

Roster Cleaning- National Dues, SID, and webmail account required to be an official member.

Check website for important information

Linda needs a panel for feedback on a Grant Proposal 5 yrs, several members interested, will talk more at next meeting.

SWE Regional Conference - Deadline Feb 22nd for registration, SWE will cover as much of that as it can. Need to contact Marie by Friday January 28th for hotel accomodations.

Pizza Hut Cards- SWE members should go to other organizations and sell Pizza Hut Cards. Shaena will try to set up "rounds" to varius greek organizations.

E-Week Panel- Women Faculty, anyone else from campus that would like to talk, contact Melissa (mmangaha@cs.ucr.edu

Event: Thanksgiving potluck
Date: 11/23/2004, 6-8pm
Attendance: Approximately 30
Location: Bourns student affairs lobby

On 11/23/2004, 25 to 30 SWE UCR members and guests gathered for SWE UCR's first Thanksgiving Potluck organized by Jean and Shaena with help from Melissa and the other SWE UCR officers. Delicacies and other dinner necessities were generously provided by the following individuals:

Main entrees: Andrew and Sandra (turkey), Lindsay (meatballs), Cynthia (vegetarian lasagna), Shylah (chipotle chicken)
Salad: Mary
Side dishes: Megan (fried okra), Jenny (mashed potatoes), Jean and Marie (stuffing), Pearl (rolls), Shim (rolls), Jean (sweet potatoes)
Dessert: Whitney and Mary (cookies), Melissa (brownies), Perla (flan), Agnes (pie), Teresa Cofield (sweet potato pie)
Drinks: AIChe (Andrew)
Utensils: Brenda
Napkins: AIChe (Andrew), Rickie Robinson
Plates: Lena
Cups: Linda O'Neill
Decorations: Jennifer Jones
Uncommitted: Josiah
Staff/faculty attendees: Chris Foster, Peilin Fu, Linda O'Neill, Teresa Cofield

Attendees indulged in delicious dishes primarily from the menu of traditional American Thanksgiving fare, but also a sampling of more exotic cuisine. Feasting and chatting continued for nearly two hours, and the event received rave reviews from many attendees (particularly their stomachs!).

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Event: Study Jam
Date: 11/14/2004
Attendance: Approximately 10
Location: Bourns student affairs lobby

Students gathered in the Bourns student affairs lobby on a quiet Sunday afternoon for studying and snacks.

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Event: Happy Hour with SWE-OC and IEEE
Date: 11/12/2004
Attendance: Megan, Shaena, Michael
Location: McCormick & Schmick's, Irvine, CA

SWE-OC and IEEE hosted a happy hour mixer at McCormick & Schmick's in Irvine on Friday, November 12 and invited SWE UCR to join them for food, drinks, raffle prizes, and fun. Three of us made our way through traffic down to Irvine, where we arrived (late!) and chatted with members of SWE-OC, their family, and engineering advisors from other area colleges. Ideas and experiences were exchanged, and we hope to interact more in the future!

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Event: General meeting
Date: 11/2/2004, 11:30am-12:30pm
Attendance: 29
Location: Bourns A265

- Official membership applications were handed out to those who still needed them. You can sign up to become an official member at www.swe.org--please do so if you have not already!

- T-shirts were handed out to those who did not pick them up at Space Science Day. Please contact Cynthia (ccart001@ucr.edu) if you still need to pick yours up.

- 11/23 at 6pm in the Student Affairs lobby will be the Thanksgiving potluck, and signups were taken for food, drinks, utensils, etc. The menu will include turkey, stuffing, fried okra, enchiladas, flan, brownies, mashed potatos, and more! If you would like to come, please contact Jean (jeanwang@cert.ucr.edu) and let her know if you can bring any food. Also, please RSVP to Shaena (sstew001@student.ucr.edu) no less than one week before the event.

- Chris Foster was presented with a gift and a card from SWE for making the JPL contact that made Space Science Day possible. A big thanks to him! Linda O'Neill and all the volunteers also received thanks and a round of applause for all their tireless work on the extremely successful event. Further details can be found on the UCR Engineering website:
http://www.engr.ucr.edu/sciday/
And in the Highlander (UCR newspaper) archives:
http://www.highlander.ucr.edu/article.php?artnum=3826
And some good pictures are on the IEEE site:
http://ieee.ee.ucr.edu/

- Chris Foster also gave a short presentation about undergraduate research. He invited us to the remaining fall research seminars (http://www.engr.ucr.edu/osp/calendar/) or to come see him individually in A143 Bourns Hall. His contact information is Email: cfoster@engr.ucr.edu, Phone: (951) 827-2708.

- At the CoE Industry day on 10/27, three SWE members placed in the undergraduate poster contest: Catherine Vo and Marie Donnelly won first, and Cynthia Carter won 2nd. Cynthia and Marie brought their posters to the meeting, and Cynthia spoke a bit about her research project over the summer. Congratulations to both of them!

- Next fall UCR will be hosting the Southern California Conference on Undergraduate Research, and Chris Foster hopes that SWE will have many representatives presenting research and/or helping to host the event.

- 11/14 from 2-5pm in the Student Affairs Lobby SWE will be holding a Study Jam (SWE group study/tutoring session).

- Website report: The website has been updated with the latest minutes a nifty video intro and soundtrack that Shylah made! Check it out at:
http://www.engr.ucr.edu/~swe

- Next week (11/8-11/12) we will have a table at the commons at lunch time (around 12 to 1) to sell pizza cards. Volunteers were taken, but we could always use more! Please contact Cynthia (ccart001@ucr.edu) if you can help, and feel free to drop by!

- Budget report: Marie announced that budget requests/proposals have been submitted to the CoE and SHPE for Girl Scout Day outreach funds, and that we were awarded $1100 from the ASUCR. We also have funding from last year's rollover and our fundraising efforts so far this year. Contact Marie for a detailed budget at mariekd@cert.ucr.edu.

- We were sent information by the Alpha Omega Epsilon Engineering and Technical Science Sorority: Alpha Omega Epsilon is a professional sorority founded in 1983 that promotes friendship, leadership, and professionalism to all members of the organization, the community and our professions. If you are interested in learning more or possibly starting a chapter at UCR, information can be found here:
http://www.aoesorority.org/expansion/

- 11/08 at 6:45pm at Kaplan's Deli in Costa Mesa SWE Orange County will be having a New Member Involvement Dinner. Please contact me for more information or if you are interested in attending (if there is enough interest, a carpool can be set up).

- Suggestions were taken from Space Science Day volunteers for what could be done differently next year. They included: holding the satellite event inside due to noise, a lost and found table near registration, and possibly a note on the schedule of events about which events are appropriate for which age ranges.

- New committees are being formed! They will be:
Budget: Chaired by Marie, this committee will assist Marie in preparing budgets and grant proposals.
Outreach/Publicity: Chaired by Jean and Shaena, this committee will be responsible for fliers, recruitment, study jams, and other activities associated with outreach and publicity.
Events: Chaired by Melissa, this committee will plan and organize specific SWE UCR events.
All members are encouraged to sign up for a committee! Please email swe@engr.ucr.edu with the committee you would like to serve on, and you will be contacted by your committee chair(s) as soon as signups are complete.

Event: UCR Regional Space Science and Engineering Day (Girl Scout Day)
Date: 10/23/2004, 12-5pm (setup from 10am-1pm)
Attendance: 50-60 Society of Women Engineers and other College of Engineering volunteers, staff and guest scientists from NASA's JPL, volunteers from the Riverside Astronomical Society, and over 1000 girl scouts, UCR faculty/staff and their families, and students
Location: UCR campus around Bourns and UNLH
Description:

Saturday, Oct. 23 from 1-5pm, engineering students, staff and guest scientists from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory held a series of activities, lectures and demonstrations for over 1,000 girl scouts and UCR families. Alfred Fink and six volunteers from the Riverside Astronomical Society gave talks, offered hands-on activities, and set up telescopes for viewing solar flares and sun spots for participants from ages 5 to 12.
Students participated in 10 additional hands-on activities such as Rover Races, Make a Comet, Mystery Planet, Edible Rocks, Straw Rockets, Solar System Beads, Strange New Planets, Cratering, Extreme Solar System, and Mars Imaging. Children created their own star constellations in a 50' black plastic "planetarium." With the light shining through, by the end of the day it looked like a night sky full of stars.

A favorite activity was the Mars rover. This small prototype rover ran over the participants as they lay on the ground giggling and squirming. Sheri Klug, Head of Mars Education for NASA, ran the Mars Rover and gave talks throughout the day. Klug, a scientist and certified teacher, stated, "Days like these can validate and expand what kids learn in the classroom and deviate more freely from standard science curricula." Noting the success of the day, Klug hopes to use it as a model to bring an organized presentation of engineering to the national level.
The afternoon events featured presentations by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists. Dr. Rosaly Lopes gave a presentation entitled "Io, A World of Great Volcanoes." Dr. Lopes is an expert in planetary volcanism and has discovered numerous volcanoes on Io. She is now the Investigation Scientist for the Cassini radar instrument. Jennifer Rocca, Flight Launch Director and Deep Impact Mission Engineer, and Maura Rountree, Deep Impact Mission Educator, gave a talk on Comets. They were accompanied by Art Hammon on his guitar, "C-O-M-E-T-S Comets are very, very cold…"

"At my school, we don't do a lot of science," said Taylor Kelce, 10, while dropping a rubber ball into a pan of flour and coco powder, an activity meant to show how mass and velocity relate to the size and depth of craters in the earth's crust.

Mary Eggers-Simons' two daughters are in Girl Scout Troop 285. "Talking to all of the women engineering majors was really enlightening for them," Mary said. "Every one of your student workers was upbeat, positive and informative. They all knew their stuff and made it exciting for each group that came through. All of us learned something new and had fun in the process."

"The day was a huge success for all," said Linda O'Neill, event coordinator and Director of Special Programs in Engineering. "Children learned that science can be fun. They met NASA engineers and many engineering students. The passion and enthusiasm of the volunteers created an excitement in the participants." Andrew Chin, President of the UCR chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers said, "It was great fun participating in an event that helped inspire and educate young girl scouts, hopefully inspiring them to enter the world of science and engineering."

Cynthia Carter, President of the Society of Women Engineers, recruited more than 50 members of the SWE student section and the College's Ambassador Program who acted as volunteers for the various activities. Over six professional engineering clubs sold refreshments.

A special thanks goes out to Art Hammon, Education and Outreach Specialist at JPL, and Rosalie Betrue, Girl Scout Education Liaison at JPL, for training the engineering students to do the activities, recruiting the speakers and their tireless positive, energetic presence. JPL and NASA support many educational programs through the Education and Public Outreach Office. The educational materials at JPL are linked to its missions and projects. JPL's missions and projects cover a broad range of topics including Earth science, robotics, space flight, the origins of life and the universe, and the solar system.

Officer experiences/impressions of the day:

Lindsay Yee:
ROVER RACES:
"I had the great pleasure of showing the girl scouts the challenges in commanding a Mars Rover all the way from earth. In the Rover Races activity, the girls simulated Mars exploration by becoming a human rover wading through the rocky terrain of Mars represented by several hot pink papers scattered among the course. The commanders of each team, standing aside, eagerly yelled commands to their "human rover", consisting of three blindfolded girls, inline, and linked hands to shoulders. Some of the commanders had difficulty deciding who's right was right as well as the calibration of what "one step" really was. Others forgot that they could not guide their rover by pulling it along, for they were on earth and their rover was on Mars! In the end, the teams' efforts were accoladed for their ability to collect a rock sample (an orange cone) and for exploring Mars. Each girl was rewarded with a choice of "Explore Mars" or a "NASA" sticker."

Cynthia Carter:
"I could see the excitment in the children's faces. One child was so excited that he asked where the telescopes were and ran as fast as he could to check them out. When everyone was leaving, they thanked us for having them. The children had such a great time, that they want to come back for more."

Megan Nix:
Mars Rover
"Giggling was the main sound coming from the Bourns front lawn as hundreds of girl scouts, other children, and their families were run over by JPL's Mars Rover suspension model. Participants were given a short presentation about the rovers by Sheri Klug, Head of Mars Education for NASA, where they were introduced to all the parts and functions of the to-scale, detailed model JPL provided for the day. They were then sent onto the grass where they lined up on their stomachs to be rolled over by JPL's remote-controlled Rocker-Bogey suspension system model, and then they had the opportunity to view 3D posters of the martian landscape. Some came back over and over again, begging to be allowed another turn!"

Jean Wang:
"The day was very fun, I was able to get involved in many events and see how happy the children were. I'm sure SWE, JPL, and UCR made a big impression on those children and I hope they will choose Science and Engineering for their future careers."

Melissa Mangahas:
Extreme Solar System
"Girl Scout Day was a great experience. I was in charge of the extreme solar system and the girls were so surprised in finding out how satellites work."

Pearl Dang:
Mars Rover
"Posters, pictures, and 3D panoramic posters were put up for everyone to look at. The 3D glasses were used for the 3D pictures which the kids enjoyed a lot. I got to control the rover and guide the rover over the people laying on the ground. Parents and their kids joined in and enjoyed the Mars Rover station. People seemed to be really excited of being run over. The rover was interesting to look at and be able to control. I learned a lot of interesting facts about the rover and the instruments that were on the actual rover."

More information can be found on the UCR Engineering website:
http://www.engr.ucr.edu/sciday/
And in the Highlander (UCR newspaper) archives:
http://www.highlander.ucr.edu/article.php?artnum=3826
And some good pictures are on the IEEE site:
http://ieee.ee.ucr.edu/

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Event: SWE 2004 National Conference
Date: 10/14/2004-10/16/2004
Attendance: Cat Vo, Shim Syiem
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Cat's summary:

The National Conference was a terrific mindblowing experience. The SWE National Conference was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jan Williams a Region B SWE Professional graciously let Shim and I stay with her because all the neighboring hotels were booked. At the Student Region B, our Region B Coordinator stated that our section was in GOOD STANDING in every aspect (financial report, annual report, officers grades, and Number of Members).

Erin McGinnis let us know of the changes for this year, including that the Region will be requiring Quartley reports and the Annual report as well. The quartlery reports are used to remind SWE sections to apply for awards. They also mentioned that an "Active member" is a paid member of SWE.

Shim and I were able to establish a better connection with the neighboring SWE Student Sections including, UCI, CSULB, and USC. I gave the contact list to Marie (already)

There were several workshops offered at the conference including topcis on: TECH TEAM, Vitality Workshops, How to improve your resume, How to work a job fair, etc.

There was a huge 1 1/2 day job fair with over 200 exhibitors, featuring various fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and grad schools.

Tips for those attending next year:
-Have plenty of Resumes
-Research the Company before approaching the exibitors
-Attend the special "networking" night sponsored by several companies [at these events you get free good and free stuff]
-Plan out what you want to do
-Register early and get a room ASAP if you know that you are going

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Event: Luncheon with UCR administrators
Date: 10/12/2004
Attendance: 2 (Cynthia Carter and Megan Nix)
Location: The Sub Station
Description:

Student leaders were invited to a luncheon with Assistant Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Susan Allen Ortega, Assistant Dean Alfredo Figueroa, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs James Sandoval, and other senior administrators. Student representatives from several campus organizations gathered at the Sub Station and were treated to not only the listed administrators, but a surprise appearance by Chancellor France Cordova herself. Students were given the opportunity to introduce themselves and chat with her before she had to leave for another event.

Over lunch, administrators asked students to express their opinions on things that were being done right and things that could use attention from the university. The administrators listened and interacted with genuine interest and concern as students voiced issues such as environmentally friendly buses and buildings, parking, the need for more multiple-organization events, advising in the psychology department, and more. At the end of the meeting, an open invitation was presented to students to bring any future concerns to the administrators present.

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Event: General meeting
Date: 10/4/2004
Attendance: 28
Location: Bourns Hall A 265
Description:

On October 4, 2004 approximately 28 SWE members gathered in Bourns A 265 for pizza, socializing, and business. Items of business were:

- the success of the 9/28 ice cream social (email swe@engr.ucr.edu if you did not receive copy of the minutes from that meeting and would like them)

- announcement of the upcoming freshmen welcome event on 10/7 at 5pm (and volunteers for helping with the SWE booth were taken)

- tickets for the freshmen welcome were handed out (redeemable for a discount on food and entry into the raffle drawing at the end of the night)

- forms for the pizza hut cards fundraiser were handed out, and they are due by 10/15 to Cynthia or Marie.

- UCR Regional Space, Science & Engineering Day (AKA Girl Scout Day) was discussed, and volunteers were taken. The event will be 10/23 from noon to 3:30 PM, and a mandatory training session will be held Saturday 10/9 from noon to 3:30pm. A makeup session will be held on 10/16 for volunteers who could not attend the first.

- t-shirt orders were taken (t-shirts are $11), and are due by 10/8 to Cynthia or Marie.

- members filled out cards with their information to exchange with other club members in a "mentor exchange."

- career center and academic success workshops for this quarter were discussed, and members were encouraged to attend as many as possible.

- national membership applications were given out (or members were directed to www.swe.org to sign up to become official SWE members)

- and finally, we were saved from certain disaster by our heroines Jean and Marie, who rescued the pizza after the delivery guy's car broke down!

Event: SWE Fall 2004 Ice Cream Social
Date: 9/28/2004
Attendance: 8 officers, 33 members
Location: Bourns Hall advising lounge
Description:

Over 40 SWE members and officers gathered in the Bourns student affairs lobby to kick off SWE's official events of the year with a night of ice cream, fun, prizes, scandalous revelations and quirky demonstrations! After signing in, members lined up to be served ice cream in various tempting flavors and gathered in small groups to socialize before the main events started.

At about 7:30, ice breakers began with the "paper airplane toss," in which members answered questions about themselves and their interests on sheets of paper, folded them into paper airplanes, and then threw them across the room. They then retrieved someone else's airplane and questioned members until they tracked down its owner.

Next was an old favorite, "SWE Bingo," in which each member was given a chart of bingo blanks filled with various characteristics like "has the same favorite color as you," "was born out of state," and "has a car on campus." The two winners were the fastest to gather enough signatures to form a solid line up and down, across, or diagonally. Winners were Christine Lim and Sanket Shah, who received Pizza Hut cards good for "buy one get one free" for a year.

The third event, however, was the most interesting and scandalous. Members secretly filled out sheets with their most eccentric talents and characteristics, turned them in to the unscrupulous icebreaker hostess, and then guessed whose paper was being read based on the question answers. The exposed included the member whose most interesting talent is "kissing," who can touch the back of his head with his foot, and who looks good in a speedo. We'll never tell! Or will we? Agnes Koswari proved to be the Master of Everyone's Dark Secrets, smoking the competition and winning herself a Pizza Hut card.

Throughout the evening officers introduced themselves and revealed some interesting and juicy tidbits of their own. Officers in attendance were Cynthia Carter (President and Woman-In-Charge), Perla Ayala (Vice President and Master of Exotic Languages) and Shimkiri Syiem (Vice President and T-shirt Chick), Megan Nix (Secretary and Icebreakers Hostess), Marie Donnely (Treasurer and Keeper of the Markers), Jean Wang (Outreach), Pearl Dang (Historian and Quiet One), and Shylah Thurman (Webmaster and DDR Freak).

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Event: Freshman & Transfer Student Orientation
Date: September 20-22, 2004
Person in charge of Event: Cynthia Carter
SWE members participated: Cynthia Carter, Nadia Behawa, Pearl Dang, and Christine Lim.
Offered by: Bourns College of Engineering

Description: Every year, before school begins, the College of Engineering holds a freshman and transfer student orientation. Afterwards, the students are allowed to see and sign up with clubs that are offered at UCRiverside. The students were able to get acquainted with the new SWE Officers, where we had an opportunity to give them notice about our SWE annual Ice Cream Social, and pamphlets about SWE.

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Event: "Street Smarts" TV Taping fundraiser
Date: September 16, 2004
Number of participants: 15
Offered by: TV Taping
Description:

15 SWE members and friends attended four tapings in a row of the Warner Brother's game show "Street Smarts." We served as audience members for the shows, providing applause, laughter, and screams during the tapings at the cues of the "warm up guy" Chunky, who most likely could have qualified as a game show in and of himself!

In "Street Smarts," the host (Frank Nicotero) travels the country picking people off the street and asking them various trivia questions (involving politics, geography, pop culture, and many other categories). Three are selected for each show, and the contestants and audience are shown video introductions for each. The contestants then must predict which person got which question right or wrong, and their scores are based on the accuracy of their predictions. The four shows we attended included themes such as "The Real World" (featuring previous "actors" from the show), Western Movies, and Nerd Smarts.

In between tapings we were treated to the eccentric and often obnoxious humor of the "warm up guy," a few talent presentations from audience members, and the fortunate opportunity to meet Natasha Whatley, shortstop for the U.S. Olympic Softball team, and see her Olympic gold medal. It was an entertaining way to spend a day and earn a bit of money for our SWE section.

Event: SWE Orientation Dinner with SWE-OC
Date: August 16th, 2004
Number of People Attended: 25
Person in charge of Event: Cynthia Carter
SWE members participated: Cynthia Carter, Shim Syiem, Jennifer Jones, and Agnes Koswari
Offered by: SWE- OC Section

Description: Our Professional Section in Orange County invited SWE-UCR to an orientation dinner at Parker Aerospace in Irvine. Once everyone was settled in, guests were given a tour of the plant. Our tour guide let us see how they developed components for airplanes, from turbines to gears. After the one-hour tour, dinner was served and each OC-Officer gave a presentation about their section and goals. This dinner allowed our student section to network with the newly elected officers. SWE- UCR had the most students representing their section.