Welcome to the Sacramento Valley Section!
Our membership includes Davis, Sacramento, Woodland, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Folsom and surrounding areas!
Please reach out to swesvs@gmail.com if you'd like more information!

Our Upcoming Events Calendar is here.

 
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Congratulations to our elected Officers!

 
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Girl Scout EXPO 14 October 2023 10am - 2pm at the Aerospace Museum

We have an invitation to host a booth at the Girl Scout EXPO on October 14 10 am - 2pm at the Aerospace Museum. 
They will have members from across 18 counties and their goal is to connect girl scouts with community organizations, primarily those connected to STEM. If any of you are interested in being at the booth, please let Himali Rodrigo know at swesvs@gmail.com

 
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Book Club Revived
7 November 2023 6-8pm Ettores at 2376 Fair Oaks Blvd


Join up with us for the first of our Quarterly Book Club reads! We will be reading “When Women Were Dragons” by Kelly Barnhill and meeting up to have dinner (or cake) and talk about the book.  
 
Contact Heather Sheridan, swesvs@gmail.com

 
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2024 Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day at Sacramento State. February 22, 2024 

Event is for young girls (middle/high school level) who are looking to learn more about different aspects of engineering and talk to women already in the field. They sent us an Interest form to circulate. If you are interested, please fill out the form Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day - Volunteer Interest Form and submit.

Folsom Happy Hour was 28 September 2023 at Q'Bole

Left to right, seated:  Angel Wilson, Teresa Wong, Amy Terrell, Gene Peshette, Camille Fowler,   Teresa Arnold, Sharon Kimizuka.  Standing, left to right:  Marianne Rorden, Himali Rodrigo.  Not shown, Sterling Rorden.

 
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The 29 August 2023 General Meeting

Front and Center, clockwise:  Alina Dobinets, Martha Castro, Manaal Chowdhuny, Sharon Kimizuka, Amy Terrell, Aneeka Ayyar, Michelle Eckard, Himali Rodrigo, Heather Sheridan, Marianne Rorden.  Not shown, Stacy Price.

 
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 International Women in Engineering Day
Honored on June 24 2023


Thank you  ASCE's Younger Member Forum, Sacramento Floodplain Management Association Emerging Professionals and
SWE Sacramento Valley Section for making this happen.

 
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Scholarship Awards & Fundraising Dinner was on 22 April 2023!

Thank you Heather Sheridan and your team of big helpers:  Serena Carbajal, Michelle Eckard, Nicole Lawson, and all you others for making this happen!
Back row, left to right: Paula McDonald, Alina Dubinets, Theresa Arnold, Martha Castro, Serena Carbajal, Heather Sheridan, Allison Goodman, Luisa Corredor, Sharon Cuevas, Maxine Cottrell, Amy Terrell, Nicole Lawson.

Front row, left to right: :Sara Huber, Stephanie Kong, Taylor Chin (Awardee), Alessandra Labadessa (Awardee), Himali Rodrigo, Lan Nguyen, Michelle Eckard.

Special thanks to our Donors:

Let’s Roam, Adventures from Scratch, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Meredith Ross, the California Railroad Museum, Sacramento Kings, Sacramento Theatre Company, Sacramento Republic, Sacramento Food Coop, Heather Sheridan, Wendy Cohen, Teresa Arnold, Amy Terrell, and all you who bought the auction things!  

Special appreciation is given to the former Sierra Foothills Section who endowed the recurring Mabel Esteves scholarship.

 
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And the 2023 awardees are: 
Taylor Chin, Mechanical Eng. at UCD, minor in Technology Management
Shreya Chandram, Aerospace Science and Engineering at UCD
Alessandra LaBadessa, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at UCD and
Mindy Tran, Biomedical Engineering at UCD
(awarded the Mabel Esteves Scholarship)

For a grand total of $4500.  Go SWE Sacramento Valley Section!


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We have a Donation Page!  For contributions to our Scholarship Fund.
Donor Page for Scholarships
Click Here to go There

 
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Educating Girls in Kenya
Problem Solvers Unite to Overcome Obstacles to Educating Girls
was presented on 1 March 2023 by
Cassandra Neitling.

Back Row:  Ibyang Rivera, Nicole Lawson (Aldridge), Himali Rodrigo, Martha Castro Delgado, Alina Dubinets, Samarpreet Kaur

Front Row: Cassandra Neitling (presenter), Christine Wangeci Gichigi, Amy Terrell
Cassandra Neitling is a professor of microbiology at Folsom Lake College, and spent the summer in Nairobi, Kenya in the Kibera and Mathare slums in order to help students get schooling and help with college preparation.  Did you know that $500 can get tutors and meals for 70 students for 3 months? This helps those students who are studying for their college entrance exam.  It helps a lot.

 
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Thank you Michelle, for organizing the
Happy Hour Social  Tuesday 21 February 2023
at Urban Roots Smokehouse and Brewery

 
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Front row, L to R:  Sara Huber, Nicole Aldridge, Luisa Corredor, Heather Sheridan.
Back row, L to R: Theresa Arnold, Serena Carbajal, Wendy Cohen, Amy Terrell

Holiday Supper was 7 December 2022 at Ettore's
Thank you Nicole Aldridge for organizing it!

 
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Scholarships for ethnically underrepresented students in Junior College transferring to a 4 year college, courtesy of ITE. 
Click here for more information.


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Job opportunities with FHWA
for recent (or nearly) graduated engineers.

Click here to go to the job announcement.

 
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Financial Support for your STEM activity in School or Group
we give you money for materials
to help You put Science in a Kids' World

Provided by your local Chapter of the Society of Women Engineers.

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Happy Hour was at Acheson Wine Company 12 October 2022

Left to Right:  Aneeka Ayyar, Serena Carbajal, Nicole Aldridge, Sara Huber.
Thank you Sara for setting this up!

 
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Breast Cancer Awareness Walk

Wendy Cohen, Sharon Cuevas, and Heather Sheridan raised in excess of $1500 on this 16 of October 2022.

 
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The 15 July 2022 Happy Hour at Sac City Brewery

 Clockwise from Left:  Stephanie Kong, Sterling Rorden, Nicole Aldridge, Jenna Lucas, Sara Huber Luisa Corredor, Marianne Rorden, Qi Yio.


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Social Dinner at Relish Burger Bar  April 2022

Left to right: Lan Nguyen, Sharon Cuevas, Nicole Aldridge, Luisa Corredor, Jason Corredor, Amy Terrell, Gene Peshette.  Thank you Luisa for coordinating our dinner out! 

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Women are a great fit for Manufacturing Careers.
Click here for how and why to get into manufacturing.

 
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Congratulations new 2022-23 officers and managers!

We welcome the transition from last year to this year with Nicole Aldridge returning to the Presidential Post, Heather Sheridan returning this time to serve as Vice President, Michelle Eckard returning to try on the role of Secretary as well as continuing as Newsletter Chief, Wendy Cohen returning to the Treasurer Post, the team of Sharon Cuevas and Shreya Gupta to take a shift at Outreach Coordinators and Luisa Maria Corredor stepping into Social Chair.

A big Congratulations and bigger Thank You to you all for leading us forward.

 
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We had a walkabout at Effie Yeaw Nature Center  21 May 2022

Effie Yeaw is a nature center with easy trails on the American River Parkway, in Ancil Hoffman Park.  2850 San Lorenzo Way, near Fair Oaks Blvd. and El Camino in Carmichael.

Thank you Heather Sheridan for coordinating this.

 
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The 10 April 2022 hike to Calcutta Falls, Auburn Recreation Area

People, left to right:  Michelle Eckard, Nikki Ong, Nicole Aldridge, Lan Nguyen. 
Dogs, left to right: Pua, Bonnie, Frankie.

Thank you, Michele, for putting this action together!

 
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Social Supper in February 2022 at Cafeteria 15L, Sacramento

Clockwise from left: Nikki Ong, Michele Eckard, Nicole Aldridge, Amy Terrell, Gene Peshette, Alex Biggs, Wendy Cohen, Luisa Corredor

 
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Your Local SWE sponsors STEM in your classroom

The Society of Women Engineers Sacramento Valley Section would like to provide funding for a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math)  based project in your classroom or for your youth group!  Click here to apply, and for further detail click here.
Applications by 16 March please, for awards provided about 1 April.

Awards: $200 to $500

Classrooms/Groups:
--  Title 1 school OR SWE-Next Chapter OR Girl Scout Troop OR Robotics Club
--  Sacramento Valley Area (i.e. Sutter, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Yolo, Solano, and Contra Costa counties)

For more detail, click here for Outreach in Schools page.


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Opportunities to judge Science Fairs, share with science minded students are found in Outreach in Schools page here.

 
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Holiday Social at Ettore's 9 December 2021

Seated, left to right:  Heather Sheridan, Serena Carbajal,
   Stephanie Ard, Marianne Rordan, Paula McDonald, Wendy Cohen. 
Standing, left to right: Svetlana LeBoeuf, Angela Harris,
   Deb Stromberg, Allison Goodman, Nicole Aldridge, Anitha Kumar.


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Thanks for a swell 40 years of Sacramento Valley Section
And Welcome Sierra Foothills Section.
Together, we look forward to the next 40 years!

Thanks to Himali Rodrigo, Nicole Aldridge, and a host of others for pulling off a grand celebration on 3 November 2021. Stay tuned for links to the celebratory video.


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Quarterly Newsletter

Our quarterly newsletter is now available.  For submittals, questions or general commentary, contact Michele Eckard MEckard@carollo.com


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Leadership tools!  was on 17 November 2021

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Morgan O'Brien shared strategies to develop our leadership skills from wherever we sit in an organization.

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Dinner Social happened Live on  22 September 2021.

Clockwise from left:  Sara Huber, Gene Peshette, Amy Terrell, Alex Biggs, Theresa Arnold, Sepideh Feizi

Happy Hour Gathering in Davis 16 Aug 2021

Bottom row, left to right:  Deb Stromberg, Frankie the Doggy, Nicole Aldridge, Michelle Eckard, Amy Terrell
Top row left to right:  Allison Goodman, Jordan Thoennes, Andrea of UC Davis SWE, Serena Carbajal, Micaela Ellis, Michaela Robertson.

Manufacturing Engineers Hosted Manufacturers Expo
1 October 2021 at Rancho Cordova City Hall

The last Pre-Covid Lunch
at Thai Canteen  February 6, 2020

Clockwise from left corner:  Micaela Robertson, Nadine Doughman, Sharrafti Kuzmar, Felicia James, Wendy Cohen, Amy Terrell, Michelle Eckard, Gabby Hernandez.

Thanks to Michelle Eckard for organizing this event!

SWE SVS Past Winter Activities
January  2020

  • Results of the Member Census
    • Thank you for everyone who took the SWE SVS Member Census.  The results are here! We have a very diverse crowd of individuals!
  • Winter Lunch!
    • was at Thai Canteen (Midtown Sacramento) on February 6th.
  • Golf Lessons
    • Mather Golf Course will do 4 lessons for $100 (total) per person (up to 10 people).
  • Scholarship Committee
    • Volunteers reviewed scholarship applications.  Thank you Nickyra for leading this.
  • Professional Engineer papers
    • The licensing board will be conducting info sessions at both Sac State and UC Davis this spring.
  • Outreach
    • Sacramento State Women’s Shadow Day was on Friday, March 13th, 2020 - They were looking for one female Mechanical Engineer for their professional panel.
    • The Sacramento School of Engineering and Sciences Science and Engineering Fair was on Wednesday, February 5th.
    • Friday Speaker Series (Sacramento School of Engineering and Science)  are looking for people interested in coming to talk to the students about the day-to-day of your career but also to hear about what motivated you to pursue engineering and what you are most passionate about.
Thank you Serena Carbajal, past president, for putting this together.

Holiday Get-Together at Ettore's
December 5, 2019

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On the right side of the table, from front: Ellen, Olivia, Lindsey, Heather Sheridan, Michele, Deanna Dadalescu, Paula MacDonald. On the left side of the table, from front: Rachel, DJ, Serena Carbajal, Amy Terrell, Sharon Kimizuki, Himali Rodrigo, Allison Goodman, Theresa Arnold.

2019-2020 Member Census

Join in filling out the 2019-2020 SWE SVS Member Census! Your answers are anonymous so we can collect "statistics" about our members. It is flexible enough to capture our SAHMs, retired members, and non-engineering members, so everyone is welcome to fill it out.
Please fill it out, and let Serena know if you have any questions.

SWE-SVS Members at WE 19

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Four of our members attended WE19 in Anaheim, CA! From left to right: Himali Rodrigo, Serena Carbajal, Paula McDonald, and Sharon Kimizuka

Mark your Calendars! Holiday Get-Together at Ettore's
December 5, 2019

Fill out this form to RSVP (RSVP not required but greatly appreciated so we can push together enough tables!).
Contact Serena if you have any questions.

Occasional Lunch
October 25, 2019

Clockwise from left: Heather Sheridan, Nadine Doughman, Heather Benner, Amy Terrell

SWE members enjoyed choosing their own pizzas and visiting for lunch at Mod Pizza in Rancho Cordova. Contact Amy to learn how easy and fun it is to host a lunch in your area.

Effie Yeaw Hike With Naturalist
October 6, 2019

SWE Members and their families had a guided hike to view the flora and fauna in our own backyard!

New Member Profile: Nickyra Jackson

Nickyra Jackson is employed with the MITRE Corporation as a Senior Cybersecurity Engineer. Nickyra Jackson joined SWE in 2013. She became acquainted with SWE through her employer (MITRE) and its ongoing outreach and recruitment efforts at SWE national conference fairs. Nickyra enjoys the connectivity SWE provides to other alike women in the engineering and technology field and the quality resources/opportunities SWE provides for career enrichment. 

Nickyra graduated with a BA in Criminology, Pre-law from the University of Maryland, College Park (Go Terps!) and a MBA and MS in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland University College.

Nickyra enjoys numerous music genres, performing arts, and running. In fact, in 2017 – she ran and completed the Marine Corps Marathon!

Congratulations to Emma Martz!

Let's take a moment to congratulate our LOCAL SWENext Global Innovator Award Honorable Mention winner, Emma Martz! You can see her submission in the following video.
If you are planning on attending the SWE Awards Banquet on WE19, be sure to say "hi" to Emma! Let's have a round of applause for Emma!  

President's Address
September 29, 2019

Hello everyone!

I'm excited to kick off the 2019-2020 year with the SWE SVS as your Section President. My involvement with the Sacramento Section has come full circle. I can't believe it's been a decade since I was offered the SWE SVS Scholarship, and I'm happy to give back to our members and other women pursuing engineering.

I look forward to this year and meeting all our new members! Feel free to reach out swesvs@gmail.com if you have any questions or suggestions!

Serena

Kickoff Meeting Notes
September 13, 2019

  • Section report - Wendy
    • Actively paid members: 52
    • All non-paid members dropped on September 30th
  • New Newsletter format: Blog on svs.swe.org
    • Issues with previous format: 
      • soliciting posts
      • lots of work for one person
      • finding content
    • Blog format can facilitate an on-going discussion
    • Still need a content coordinator.
  • Events
    • Professional Engineering licensing board reached out to us, and interested in having an outreach session. Work on two sessions (UCD and CSUS). Date likely in November. 
    • Fall Quarterly Lunch - October 25th, Rancho Cordova. See Amy for more details
    • Holiday Dinner - Ettore's, December 5th. See Serena for details
    • Winter Quarterly Lunch - January. See Michelle for details.
    • January - Scholarship Planning Meeting (Nickyra)
    • End of April - Scholarship event
  • Financial report: Wendy
  • Outreach - Heather
    • Create a process for getting requests, approving, etc.
    • Inventory of any brochures swag for outreach
    • Plan on sending a letter out to the local HS/JrHS (brochure)
    • Create event in a box (instructions, printables, how to get information)

​Mod Pizza Eaters
8 April 2019

Mod Pizza contributed 20% of the purchases to the Society of Women Engineers' Scholarship Fundraiser.  Participants, left to right:  Serena Cabajal, Mary Bollinger, Amy Terrell, Lorraine Larsen-Hallock, Matthew McDonald, Paula McDonald, Cheyanne Harris, Blake Dolve, Gabby Hernandez-Maldonado, Khalida Fazel and at least 4 others who were reluctant to be photographed with this crowd.

Fiscal Year 2020 Officers

The election results are in!

Our new officers are:
President: Serena Carbajal
Vice President: Heather Sheridan
Treasurer: Wendy Cohen

Thank you to all of our new officers for their significant and continued service and contributions to our Section. We also appreciate the essential efforts of our other volunteer leaders and contributors, including: Amy Terrell for managing the website and membership records; Lorraine Larsen-Hallock for coordinating our Outreach efforts; Christine Rice for organizing our Newsletter; Cheyanne Harris for leading the scholarships committee; our college advisors, Linda Finley and Christine Rice; and our new website manager, Anne Hitchcock.

​Our special thanks go to our outgoing President, Paula McDonald, for her service to the Section and her continuing involvement in SWE.

Watch your email for an invitation to our annual planning meeting in July or August to find out how you can be involved in our Section's open roles.

Scholarship Fundraiser ​& Awards Ceremony
at Top Golf in Roseville, 28 April 2019

Paula McDonald scores.

To be a part of a very special group of members who provide STEM outreach to students, learn more about outreach opportunities. 

Share your Engineering Enthusiasm & Experiences

  • Mentor a High School Senior and their Science Project
  • Speak to High School Students about your Job and Industry
  • Provide materials, knowledge, support for Robotics Competition
  • Judge a Science Fair
​Learn more about school outreach.

High School Girls' Robotic Team Mentors & Sidekicks & Funders

St. Francis Fembots seeking input from female engineers: mechanical, electrical, spiritual, or other.  The School of Science and Engineering  Robots team is seeking materials and donations for supplies. Learn more.

Document your Outreach Actions here.
Get more information about Outreach (link here for more information)


Visit the National SWE website: swe.org.

Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Mission: 
To stimulate women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity.

SWE News

SWE Sacramento Valley Section
Website by Society of Women Engineers