SWE Newsletter April - June 2017 · Marriott downtown, the atmosphere was energetic but not overwhelming. The venue was great and easy to access, the conference App was perfect, the

Valley Views A Bi-Monthly Publication for the SWE Sacramento Valley Section

April – June 2017

Society of Women Engineers April – June 2017 Sacramento Valley Section Page 1

In this issue Regional Update ........................................................... 2

New Member Profiles .................................................. 2

Lalitha Benjaram ...................................................... 2

Brianna Anneberg..................................................... 3

SWE Community News ................................................ 4

Women’s Shadow Day 2017 .................................... 4

Annual Scholarship Dinner and Fundraiser .............. 5

SWE SVS Outreach .................................................... 7

SWE SVS Educational Outreach Opportunities ........ 7

FY 2016-17 Officer Roster .......................................... 11

Business & Events Calendar ....................................... 12

Upcoming Events PROFESSIONAL TO PROFESSIONAL MENTOR EVENT June 8, 2017 6:30 – 8:30 PM Old Spaghetti Factory, Rancho Cordova, CA (Please see attached flyer)

SWE SVS is hosting a Professional to Professional Mentoring Event to allow younger engineers to connect with more experienced engineers and gain advice on their careers, life and work balance, and being a woman in a male dominant field.

Sign up by filling out the short registration survey in the link below!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSesUpYU_DGAK-mqM_BUzgBY4TFlPfoX2ZkjoAq64s5Mc1PcVg/viewform

We hope to see you there!

SWE SVS Valley Views


Regional Update By Paula McDonald

I was fortunate to attend the WE Local San Jose conference on February 22-24, 2017. All around, one of the best conferences I have ever attended. Approximately 400 people gathered at the San Jose Marriott downtown, the atmosphere was energetic but not overwhelming. The venue was great and easy to access, the conference App was perfect, the food was included & delicious, and the speakers were awesome! The awards banquet keynote was given Maya Dirado, Olympic Gold Medalist (Rio) in swimming and also Stanford Engineering Alum. We also learned from Kathryn Cook about about Facebook's drone program which deploys large composite-bodied aircraft to 50,000 feet (above commercial airspace) that deliver internet access to remote areas of the world, thereby enabling people to connect and receive information they otherwise wouldn’t.

The session tracks had the normal range of target audiences, including workshops such as how to build and effective LinkedIn profile and other professional development to cultural and technical topics. I was asked to give a Lightning Talk on my approach to maximizing value at Disneyland, which was a hit!

Of course we also had a well-attended Career Fair.

For more information on the remaining WELocal conferences for this year and the destination cities for next year, visit:

http://welocal.swe.org/

New Member Profiles LALITHA BENJARAM

Lalitha Benjaram received her BS in December 2014 in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UC Davis. She took some time off and visited family in India before starting her job search. In June 2015, Lalitha started working in Natomas as a Civil Engineer in the Water Resources group for Mead & Hunt, a consulting firm with mostly civil engineers but also architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, and environmental planners. She works on hydrologic modeling using HEC-HMS to determine if a dam breach would be simulated during a storm event or a “sunny day” scenario. For a project in Riverside, Lalitha developed hydraulic models in FLO-2D to simulate the failure of Skinner Dam in two different locations and develop the inundation maps that will be used by emergency responders should a breach occur. She really enjoys the work, which is primarily in



the office, although she’s been in the field twice. Lalitha wasn’t involved in SWE in college but was active with ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers). Now in the working world, she wanted to join a professional organization so naturally looked at ASCE. However, she then went to the SWE Sac Valley website and was really impressed to see all the officers’ names and the programs we have. She joined SWE and immediately signed up for the professional-to-professional mentoring event on June 8. In her spare time, Lalitha enjoys cooking, reading and outdoor activities, such as hiking and running. Welcome to SWE Sac Valley, Lalitha!

BRIANNA ANNEBERG

Brianna Anneberg received BAs in History and Politics in 2008 from Regis University in Denver. After graduation, she worked in international education with a study abroad organization based out of Colorado to coordinate university students studying abroad in Australia and New Zealand, where she worked with and met many aspiring engineers. This inspired her ultimately to go back to school; she earned a BS in Geological Engineering in 2014 and an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2015. Both these degrees are from the Colorado School of

Mines in Golden. In July 2015, Brianna started working as a Loss Prevention Consultant (field engineer) for American International Group (AIG), a large insurance company. She conducts risk assessments at large commercial properties, assessing the risk from a variety of hazards including earthquakes, floods, building construction, underlying soil, fires, piping and even management programs. She looks at the big picture of natural hazards and/or process-oriented risks for entities that have insurance through AIG, including property owners and companies operating in the buildings. Brianna works from home and conducts field inspections throughout her territory, including Northern California, Utah, Nevada, and occasionally Hawaii. After an inspection, she writes a report with an assessment of the risks and recommendations to mitigate them. It’s up to the entities to decide whether to implement the recommendations, unless the risk is of a critical nature, such as sparks flying. In that case, she won’t leave the property until it’s fixed. Brianna discusses the other recommendations with the entities, most of which want to implement them to protect the property and prevent major hazards. She generally conducts inspections annually. Brianna was involved in SWE at Colorado School of Mines, which has a huge section that has continued to grow from 480 members in 2012 to more than 725 members today. She volunteered with Girl Scout Engineering Days, spending a day on STEM engaging young women in activities ranging from chemistry to geology. She also judged science fairs at local schools. When she moved to Davis for her job at AIG, Brianna wanted to reconnect with SWE, and she attended the WE Local Conference in San Jose earlier this year. In her spare time, she enjoys indoor rock climbing and playing soccer, which she’s done since age 4 or 5. Welcome to SWE Sac Valley, Brianna!



WOMEN’S SHADOW DAY 2017 By Margarita Kovalchuk

The Sacramento State SWE section hosted yet another record-breaking Women’s Shadow Day outreach event on March 9, 2017. Nearly 120 high school girls attended—hailing from Laguna Creek High School, River City HS, River Valley HS, Rosemont HS, and West Campus HS. At the beginning of our program, we had a presentation from Intel Corporation, a Silver Sponsorship Donor for our section. Next, Engineering Dean Lorenzo Smith spoke about how engineers solve problems to help people, just like the girls may already be helping the friends or family. Department chair Dr. Ben Fell highlighted different spheres of civil engineering and the importance of infrastructure in everyday lives.

Section President Margarita Kovalchuk had an opportunity to share about what SWE offers to college students and ways the high school girls could

get involved through the SWENext program or qualify for college scholarships. A panel of six current engineering students (Nora Ali, Amy McFerran, Meagan Yoeono, Rebecca Gladden, Hana Macahilas, and Manjoy Mahil) shared their stories and favorite aspects of their respective majors.

Workshops included 3 one-hour sessions (engineering materials tensile test, introduction to programming, and geotechnical engineering) and 3 half-hour sessions (concrete mixing lab, machine shop tour, and a hydraulics lab). In addition to faculty involvement, a key development in this year’s Women’s Shadow Day was the initiative that the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Manufacturing Club took in leading sessions. Later, during an informal club showcase, Sac State’s Steel Bridge, Concrete Canoe, Water Treatment, Hornet Racing, and Tiny House clubs presented their projects and basics of their competitions, while the Association for Computing Machinery ran a virtual reality exhibit.

SWE Community News



After taking a large group photo, all participants reconvened in the University Union and had an opportunity to learn from a panel of engineers (Becky Keilholtz, Erika Vasquez, Emily Hughes, Rebeca Solomon, Lorraine Larsen-Hallock). We are extremely appreciative of all SVS section members who responded to our call for panelists. Your overwhelmingly positive response has taught us that professional SWE sections should be our first points of contact when seeking speakers.

This event would also not have been possible without the help of more than sixty student volunteers from the College of Engineering who contributed in a variety of roles during event preparation and on the

day-of. Key members of the planning committee included Mary Sanchez (committee chair, section vice president), Sonja Croce (section professional coordinator), and Margarita Kovalchuk (section president).

Thank you for taking the time to learn about this wonderful event that has already had a large impact on the career trajectory of many girls. Our new corporate packet outlines various sponsorship levels available for companies or individuals who are interested in contributing to the section as a whole or through sponsoring specific components of Women’s Shadow Day at any time during the year (all donations tax-deductible). If you are interested in receiving this information, please email [email protected] with “Corporate Packet” in the subject line. Thank you!

ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP DINNER AND FUNDRAISER

On May 4th, 2017, we hosted our Annual Scholarship Dinner and Fundraiser. We were able to award 6 scholarships to Women in Engineering and Computer Science from around the Sacramento Valley. The recipients were:



Hana Macahilas

Major: Mechanical Engineering Minor: Mathematics

CSU Sacramento

Susana Ramirez Perez Major: Mechanical Engineering

UC Davis

Pooja Rajkumar Major: Computer Science

UC Davis

Jasmine Miller Major: Civil Engineering

UC Davis

Chanel Manzanillo Majors: Mechanical Engineering

and Computer Science CSU Sacramento

Mary Esmeralda Sanchez Major: Civil Engineering

CSU Sacramento

Thank you to all the donors, including the Aerojet Rocketdyne Foundation, ATEEM, and all donors to the Silent Auction and Raffle! We hope to see you again next year!

CALEPA EARTH DAY/TAKE YOUR CHILD TO WORK DAY By Wendy Cohen

Each year, more than 300 CalEPA families, numerous visitors, and the public have fun while learning the importance of good stewardship of our natural resources and the work of CalEPA employees, of which many are women engineers. Once again, SWE Sac Valley participated on April 19 with an informational booth to inspire generations of young women to pursue a career in engineering. The centerpiece of the booth was Sharon Kimizuka’s snazzy water board, which shows the different stages water goes through. Starting from its source in



groundwater, rivers or lakes, water is treated, distributed to homes and businesses, and used for many public benefits. Once the water is used, it becomes wastewater, which is cleansed in state-of-the-art treatment plants and discharged to rivers and streams or sprayed on land to soak back down to the groundwater.

Sharon and a well-spoken 6th grade student (home-schooled son of one of Sharon’s employees) walked visitors through the display, while Khristina Leyba and Wendy Cohen engaged the children and their parents in a discussion about what an engineer does (just about everything) and the importance of sticking with math and science classes. We emphasized to the girls especially that they CAN do it, even if they hear otherwise from classmates or the media. It was heartening to speak to numerous bright and enthusiastic girls and boys about the rewards of an engineering career, which helps people and society. We handed out a beautiful and informative SWE brochure entitled An Engineer Helps Create the World’s Future: Be That Engineer which gives information about 23 different types of engineering and unfolds to a cool poster about what it means to be an engineer.

SWE SVS OUTREACH SWE SVS has had a busy month with various outreach events. SWE SVS was represented at the following events: Pleasant Grove High School’s Career Day

(Lorraine); EV Cain STEM Charter School Engineering speaker day (Lynne Koropp); CSUS Women’s Shadow Day (Maria Pang & Lorraine); Twelve Bridges Middle School Playbook for STEAM girls celebration (Lorraine); EL Dorado Union High School District Career Fair (Courtney Thomas, Priscilla Ng, Grace Cowell); Pleasant Grove HS IDEA Leadership team Speaker (Andrea Shipley); Western Placer USD, Lincoln High School Career Fair (Sharon Kimizuka, Lorraine); EV Cain STEM Charter School Math speaker day (Lorraine), and Cal EPA Earth Day event on April 19th (Sharon Kimizuka, KhristinaRae Leyba, Wendy Cohen). Through these events, over 300 “Be That Engineer” brochures were handed out to students. All event schools and coordinators were very appreciative to have SWE’s presence! A big THANK-YOU to those members who helped out at these events!!

SWE SVS has developed a tool for members to express their specific interest in educational outreach and to sign up for receiving specific outreach email requests / notifications. The interactive Google Form has been placed on the SWE SVS website so members can show their interest in helping with a variety of outreach opportunities throughout each year. Please check out our tool at Outreach Volunteer Sign Up located at https://goo.gl/forms/a3cy23hXQciVkmsy1 and sign up for your areas of interest. We would love to hear your ideas for improvement on this tool. If you have any questions or comments please contact the Outreach Coordinator, Lorraine Larsen-Hallock.

SWE SVS EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES 1. Robotics Program Support. The SES robotics

program is in desperate need of sponsors and/or donors for materials / supplies and funding to support each team. If you or your company would like to help sponsor the robotics program please contact Patrick Bohman at [email protected]; (916) 623-5620 (cell); (916) 433-2960 ext. 1021 (office).



2. Job Shadow or Intern Opportunities: SES is interested in connecting high school students with industry related job shadowing and / or student intern opportunities. If your company / workplace is interested in hosting a student for this opportunity please contact the SWE SVS Outreach Coordinator, Lorraine Larsen-Hallock below.

For information about the School of Engineering and Science go to http://www.schoolofengineeringandsciences.org/.

If you have any questions you may also contact Lorraine Larsen-Hallock, SWE SVS outreach coordinator and member liaison to SES, at [email protected] or (530) 677-1973. Please inform Lorraine if you sign up for any outreach activities so she can track SWE SVS participation.

Thank you for supporting the young women & men who will follow your footsteps into the engineering field!

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE HIGH SPEED RAIL CONFERENCE AND PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP WORKSHOP By David M. Schwegel, PE

The US High Speed Rail Association (www.ushsr.com) held a joint Conference and Public Private Partnership (P3) Workshop at Los Angeles Metro Headquarters between February 28 and March 2.

Siemens Vendor Display (Photo Credit: David Schwegel)

There were 43 speakers and around 250 delegates worldwide at the Conference, and 6 speakers and around 30 delegates at the P3 Workshop.

Conference Delegates (Photo Credit: David Schwegel)

Conference highlights are as follows:

1. During the Rail Renaissance in America Session, State Transportation Secretary Brian Kelly emphasized how California High Speed Rail (www.hsr.ca.gov) construction reduced Fresno’s unemployment rate from 18% (2011) to 9% (2016) bringing significant positive transformation to a region that was once identified among the most poverty stricken areas in the nation.

2. During the California High Speed Rail – America’s Mega Project Session, High Speed Rail Authority CEO Jeff Morales and Construction Package 1 (Madera to Fresno) Design-Build Lead Ron Tutor (Tutor-Perini/Zachry/Parsons) provided a construction update on the First Construction Segment (FCS) as the critical first step for bringing revenue service on the Valley to Valley (Bakersfield to San Jose) segment by 2025.

3. The Rail Benefits for America Session featured Aileen Cho (Engineering News Record), The Honorable Loretta Sanchez (Former Congress Woman representing Orange County), Anastasia Loukaltou-Sidaris (UCLA) and Gary Toebben (Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce) discussing the



political, institutional, and economic benefits of rail modernization.

4. During the Increasing Advocacy, Shaping The National Message Session, Thea Selby (Next Steps Marketing), Michael Jacobson (US Travel Association), Denny Zane (Move LA), and Jeremy Stutes (Rail LA) provided creative techniques for crafting the message of investing in an integrated network of mass transit and station area development within the harsh political climate in Washington DC. According to one observation, “fossil fuel and automobile lobbyists can outspend rail and renewable alternatives 100 to 1 in media campaigns and legal bribery” (US Energy Analyst Gregor Macdonald, “Reframing the Transportation Debate” by Chris Nelder in the October 19, 2011 issue of Smart Planet) thereby demanding creative messaging techniques on the part of mass transit and sustainability professionals.

5. During the Urban Rail – Scaling Up for $180 Billion in Projects Session, Bryan Pennington (LA Metro), David Narefsky (Mayer Brown), Nadine Lee (LA Metro), and Lisa Maurath (ACEC-LA, WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff) emphasized putting to work the proceeds from the successful passage of Measure M in an ambitious region-wide rail modernization program.

6. The Transit Oriented Development (TOD) (www.tod.org) & Station Architecture Session covered the latest progress on San Francisco’s Transbay Center (www.transbaycenter.org) that’s projected to open in December 2017. This session also covered some of the latest planning efforts within the L.A. Union Station Development Area. This TOD topic resonated well with Institute of Transportation Engineers Members during a webinar with the California High Speed Rail Authority (www.hsr.ca.gov) in August 2016.

Hopefully this will encourage significant progress on the Sacramento Railyards project in 2017 that was identified as “America’s Largest Urban Infill Project” by the New York Times back in 2009.

7. During the Statewide Rail Modernization Session, Tom Kim (HDR) discussed the latest efforts to bring the 2024 Olympics to Los Angeles. The bid was submitted in September 2015. The winning bid will be announced around September 2017. Among the observations of the 1984 experience was the “Car-mageddon” perception was so strong that visitors flocked to mass transit leaving the L.A. freeways relatively free flowing. If the bid is successful, then this will be the first time the US has hosted an Olympics since the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. America’s failure to win an Olympic hosting bid since 2002 really underscores how America is continuing to fall further behind much of the rest of the industrialized world in infrastructure investment. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently drew attention to this underinvestment in the release of their 2017 Infrastructure Report Card (www.infrastructurereportcard.org).

8. The closing Rail Updates from Across America Session featured an update from Andrew Mack (Xpress West) on the latest efforts to connect Las Vegas with Palmdale (“Golden Spike” connection to California High Speed Rail) along with findings from a recent High Desert Corridor (Palmdale to Victorville) Joint Powers Authority study that was just released on the economic impacts of connecting Southern California and Las Vegas via High Speed Rail.

This was the Association’s Ninth California Conference. Their first was in Los Angeles in June 2010.



The interactive P3 Workshop featured experts throughout North America discussing P3 as a viable mechanism for “jump-starting” the Trump Administration’s ambitious plans for making a $1 trillion investment in the nation’s infrastructure. Getting active engagement from the private sector on ambitious endeavors such as California High Speed Rail will be critical for expediting

construction. Katherine Perez-Estolano (Arup) discussed the applicability of P3’s to TOD Projects. Jeff Doble (Perkins + Will) provided specific urban planning examples from Vancouver BC (including preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics) and Ottawa. Mr. Doble also provided an update on the planning study to connect Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver with High Speed Rail.

For highlights of selected presentations, go to www.ushsr.com. For information on the Association’s Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Institute, go to www.tod.org.

Bryan Pennington on Metro’s Program Management

Both the US High Speed Rail Association (www.ushsr.com) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (www.asce.org) recognize the value of boosting gender diversity in engineering. The Association’s June 2010 Los Angeles Conference featured a session on Women in High Speed Rail. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) recently produced an article “Civil Engineers, Congress Build Bridge to Span Gender Gap” at http://news.asce.org/civil-engineers-congress-build-bridge-to-span-gender-gap/?_ga=1.208078101.60845181.1414513336. The California Region of ASCE will be discussing success stories of both women and men in engineering at their upcoming Statewide Infrastructure Symposium www.cais17.org. The current ASCE Society President Norma Jean Mattei will be among the Keynote Presenters at the Symposium along with Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Los Angeles Metro CEO Phil Washington. Dream Big IMAX Movie Producer Shaun MacGillivray will serve as the Closing Keynote followed by a showing of the IMAX Movie http://www.dreambigfilm.com. The Symposium took place on Friday, March 31 at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.



FY 2016-17 Officer Roster President Chelsea Gillis [email protected]

Vice President Alexis Brown [email protected]

Treasurer Natalie Muradian [email protected]

Section Rep Paula McDonald (916) 832-0019 [email protected]

CSUS Lynne Koropp Counselor [email protected]

UCD Linda N. Finley Counselor (916) 557-7411 [email protected]

Scholarship Yarima Poveda Selection Coordinator [email protected]

Scholarship Serena Carbajal Event Coordinator [email protected]

Outreach Lorraine Larsen-Hallock Coordinator [email protected]

Membership Wendy Cohen Coordinator (530) 908-7518 [email protected]

Newsletter Christine Rice Editor (530) 559-4506 [email protected]

Web Site Amy Terrell Administrator [email protected]

Y.E.S! Heather Sheridan Coordinator (209) 986-5656 [email protected]

Event Alexis Brown Coordinator [email protected]

Mentoring Program Mitra Hooshangi & Coordinators [email protected]

Courtney Thomas [email protected]



Business & Events CalendarFiscal Year 2016-2017

Dates of Meetings/Events are subject to change

Date/ Time Event Location Coordinator

June 20, 2016 6:00 – 8:00 PM Annual Planning Meeting

Michael Baker International 2729 Prospect Park Dr., Suite 220 Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

Chelsea Gillis [email protected]

July 21, 2016 6:00 – 8:00 PM Social Hour House Kitchen and Bar

555 Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA Christine Rice [email protected]

September 27, 2016 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Speed Mentoring Event with Sac State

Sacramento State University Union 6000 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95819


October 4, 2016 6:00 – 8:00 PM Social Hour

Bella Bru Cafe 4680 Natomas Blvd, Ste 100, Sacramento, CA

Alexis Brown [email protected]

November 10, 2016 6:00 PM EWB Fundraiser Blue Prynt Restaurant & Bar

815 11th Street, Sacramento, CA Kayla Salazar [email protected]

December 1, 2016 6:00 – 8:00 PM Holiday Meeting Café Ettore

2376 Fair Oaks Blvd, Sacramento, CA Chelsea Gillis [email protected]

January 14, 2017 9 – 11 AM

Using Emotional Intelligence to Achieve More With Less

Michael Baker International 2729 Prospect Park Dr., Suite 220 Rancho Cordova, CA 95670

Alexis Brown [email protected]

February 24-26, 2016 WE Local – San Jose San Jose Marriott

San Jose, CA http://welocal.swe.org/san-jose/

March 11, 2017 12 – 1:30 PM Business Meeting

Panera Bread 3571 N Freeway Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95834


March 20, 2017 12 – 1 PM

Y.E.S! Event Planning Meeting

Dial In: 1-877-603-8688 Conf ID: 7270526

Heather Sheridan [email protected]

May 4, 2017 6 – 8 PM

Scholarship Awards Banquet & Fundraiser

Blue Prynt Restaurant 815 11th Street, Sacramento

Serena Carbajal [email protected]

June 8, 2017 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Professional to Professional Mentor Event

Old Spaghetti Factory 12401 Folsom Blvd, Rancho Cordova

Mitra Hooshangi [email protected] Courtney Thomas [email protected]

TBD Annual Planning Meeting TBD TBD

June 15, 2017 Newsletter Articles DUE Send Week of July 1, 2017

Christine Rice [email protected]

Documents

SWE Newsletter April - June 2017 · Marriott downtown, the atmosphere was energetic but not overwhelming. The venue was great and easy to access, the conference App was perfect, the