The Graduate Programming Coordinator works with a dedicated team of graduate students and professional SWE members to create a diverse track of sessions for current graduate students, and for those who are considering going to graduate school. For WE11, the Graduate Programming Coordinator organized a comprehensive track of 14 graduate-related professional development sessions. We are happy to see these efforts continue on for WE12 and beyond.
Graduate Programming Coordinator for WE12 – Katherine Alfredo
Katherine Alfredo is a Civil Engineering PhD Candidate at the University of Texas at Austin focusing on environmental chemistry in drinking water treatment. Katherine was the 2010-2011 co-chair of the Grad SWE@UT Planning Committee where she organized professional development events throughout the academic year. She has coordinated, moderated, and served as a panelist on several graduate sessions and workshops at WE10 and WE11. She founded and currently directs an afterschool Science & Engineering Club linking members of the Grad SWE@UT committee with girls at a local middle school, challenging the volunteers to explain their science to a middle school audience through hands-on learning.
Graduate Programming Coordinator for WE13 – Marcella Vaicik
Marcella Vaicik is a 3rd year PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. She is an active SWE member serving on the Program Development Grants Committee since 2008. At both WE10 and WE11 she organized and presented sessions geared toward graduate students.
Both Katherine and Marcella bring a wealth of knowledge on what graduate students need at the annual conference, and we look forward to learning from their expertise in the upcoming year. Katherine will start leading the effort from this point forward in coordinating the activities for WE12 with Marcella supporting in her coordinator-elect role before leading the effort next year.
Warmest regards,
Kelly Griswold Schable
Director of Education
Society of Women Engineers
Kelly.schable@swe.org