Graduate Member Spotlight: Rasika Bhalerao

Rasika Bhalerao
Ph.D.
Computer Science
Expected Graduation Date: 2022
New York University

Rasika has been involved in SWE since her freshman year of undergrad at the University of Washington, when she joined the section of about 30 students. During her second year, she served as a Director of Evening With Industry, an annual 1000-student career fair and 200-member banquet. During her junior and senior years, she served as the treasurer of UW’s section. By the time she graduated, the section had over 400 students, and she greatly enjoyed watching it grow. Last year she was the Social Media Coordinator for the SWE Grad Leadership Team, and this year she is taking on the new role of Communications Coordinator. She has been to several SWE conferences, and is looking forward to working with SWE in many different ways in the future!

Rasika’s hard work and dedication go further than SWE alone. She has been involved in acapella, and her most cherished award is the one that her acapella group named after her, the Rasika Bhalerao Award, in 2017. It is awarded to the most helpful and caring member. 

Rasika’s research is focused on applying machine learning and natural language processing tools to cybersecurity. Some of her work includes analyzing illicit activity on underground forums, understanding speech in chat applications, and detecting hate speech. In Spring 2019, Rasika was the instructor for the graduate course Artificial Intelligence at NYU Tandon. Currently, she is a co-instructor for a Security Analytics course.

Rasika’s long-term goal is a career in academia. She would like to continue to conduct research, using natural language processing tools for cybersecurity and social justice, while teaching at a university.

Outside of computer science, Rasika enjoys music and rock climbing.

Fun Fact about Rasika: Despite being allergic, Rasika has a cat!

Graduate Member Spotlight: Danielle Shaffer

Danielle Shaffer

Part-Time Non-Thesis Master of Science

Mechanical Engineering

December 2020

University of Akron

We are incredibly excited to have Danielle return to the Grad Leadership Team as the Professional Graduate Team Lead. She will be continuing to lead our efforts in providing part-time and non-traditional graduate students in the resources they need to excel! She has been an active member of the Society of Women Engineers since 2011 and is currently a member of the Northeastern Ohio Professional Section. Danielle attended her first annual conference at WE18, representing her company at the job fair, and attended her first local conference last year in Baltimore.

Danielle is currently employed at BWX Technologies as a Tooling Engineer. She works with the mechanical structural design of fixtures, jigs, tools, etc. to support the manufacture of the company’s products, heavy pressure vessels. Danielle is also extensively involved with below-the-hook rigging on the overhead cranes and one of the first fully automated 6-axis robot in the plant. After completing her ME Master’s degree and Structural Engineering certificate, Danielle plans to obtain her Professional Engineering license.  

Research Topic: Analysis of U-Shaped Lifting Lugs

Danielle’s manufacturing plant primarily uses a non-typical lifting lug made out of a bent rod, instead of only plate lugs. Plate lugs have been heavily studied, but limited analysis has been performed on U-shaped lifting lugs. The original design report was made by a former member of her department in the 1970s, prior to the widespread implementation of FEA software. Danielle’s Master’s report will focus on performing an FEA analysis of multiple rigging angles to better understand how the angles affect the overall capacity of each lug size. She will also determine the composite factor of safety, which was not solidly determined in the original design report.

Outside of her job and studying, Danielle enjoys sailing and volunteering on a tall ship, The Brig Niagara. She is also an active volunteer on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. You can find Danielle participating in triathlons and bike tours. She also enjoys sewing, reading and chasing her two cats, Bowline and Spur, around her house in an attempt to keep them out of trouble.

Fun Fact: Danielle has sailed on all five Great Lakes!

Graduate Member Spotlight: Karla Morrissey

Karla Morrissey
Ph.D.
Chemical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date: 2021
University of Arkansas

Karla has been a member of SWE since she was an undergraduate student. During her first year of Graduate School, Karla co-founded the GradSWE group at UofA as part of the University of Arkansas’s SWE section. She is now the Chair of the GradSWE group and will hold this position for the 2019-2020 school year. As Chair, she promotes inclusion of graduate students in her local SWE section and plans social and professional development events tailored to graduate student interests. At UoA, she frequently participates in graduate-focused events, and is also the President for the Arkansas Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Organization. 

As the FY19 Undergraduate Mentoring Coordinator for the societal GradSWE team, Karla connected about 80 undergraduate students interested in graduate school with graduate student mentors and helped them build valuable and supportive relationships as part of GradSWE’s mentoring program. She is continuing in this role for FY20!

Karla’s efforts in research and science communication have been recognized with prestigious awards, including her induction as a Barry Goldwater Scholar in 2016 and as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow in 2018. 

Thesis Title: Life Cycle Assessment of Struvite Recovery in Wastewater Treatment Plants

Karla’s research centers on determining the environmental implications that could occur with widespread implementation of struvite recovery in the food, energy and waste nexus. Phosphorus is an essential and limited resource that is primarily used in fertilizer for food production. As it is a crucial component for growing crops, its conservation has become a key priority for sustaining future generations. Struvite, or magnesium ammonium phosphate, is an N & P fertilizer that can be produced electrochemically and chemically from wastewater. Struvite recovery provides an opportunity to both reduce N & P content in waste streams and recycle phosphorus. 

Following graduation, Karla plans to work for government agencies, such as the EPA, on science policies pertaining to areas of sustainability, human health, and the environment. 

Outside of work, Karla enjoys exercising and reading books on many topics ranging from nonfiction to mysteries and thrillers. She also enjoys reading her school’s newspaper as well as keeping up with various news outlets. Her favorite recent read that she recommends to her fellow GradSWE members is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey–a truly inspiring and motivating book for any graduate student!

Fun Fact from Karla: Karla is El Salvadorian!

Graduate Member Spotlight: Josey McBrayer

Josey McBrayer

Ph.D.

Chemical Engineering

Expected Graduation Date: December 2020

University of Utah

Although new to the GradSWE Leadership Team, Josey McBrayer is no stranger to SWE leadership.  Throughout her career at the University of New Mexico, Josey was involved in their SWE section holding the positions of treasurer and president. Upon entering graduate school, she continued her involvement in SWE as the graduate student representative at the University of Utah. We are excited to have Josey join the Leadership Team this year as the Graduate Assessment Mentoring Coordinator! She will be working on matching graduate students to professional mentors as well as revamping the mentoring program application forms.

Josey’s work both in SWE and in research has resulted in her being awarded both at the University of New Mexico as well as at the University of Utah.  While in undergrad she was awarded the University of New Mexico School of Engineering’s Outstanding Leader in 2017 and the University of New Mexico School of Engineering’s Outstanding Senior for Chemical and Biological Engineering in 2016. These awards recognize Josey’s leadership as president of SWE and her scholastic achievements in chemical engineering.  In graduate school, Josey was awarded the University of Utah College of Engineering’s Gregory B. McKenna Fellowship recipient which recognizes one first-year graduate student in the school of engineering for academic excellence. 

Thesis Topic: Alternative Anodes for Lithium Ion Batteries

Current, state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries are reaching their theoretical limits. One option for enhancing the energy density of lithium ion batteries is replacing the graphite anode with silicon. Silicon has up to 10x the energy density in comparison to graphite. Despite these benefits, silicon suffers from large volume expansion and a chemically and mechanically unstable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI). Josey’s research involves differentiating between the strain in the silicon and the SEI and quantifying the contributions of chemical and mechanical degradation.

Josey hopes to work as a staff scientist at a national lab after graduation and to continue research in the area of electrochemistry and energy storage.

Outside of work, Josey enjoys hiking, biking, zumba, dancing, and doing agility with her dog.

Fun Fact from Josey: Josey has two birds who mimic sounds and will give kisses on the cheek when asked

Graduate Member Spotlight: Mujan Seif

Graduate Member Spotlight
Mujan Seif
Ph.D.
Materials Science and Engineering
Expected Graduation Date: 2022
University of Kentucky

Mujan has been a member of SWE since joining the University of Kentucky’s SWE section as a freshman in Fall 2012. The following spring, she attended the Region G conference. Her experience there was enthralling, and she returned to campus intent on making SWE a major part of her professional life. She held the position of section Treasurer in FY13 until beginning her yearlong co-op at DuPont. Once back on campus, she served as the Career Fair Chair for the UK SWE section for the rest of her time as an undergrad, from FY15 through FY17. In this capacity, she was responsible for organizing the College of Engineering’s career fairs – cold-calling companies during the summer, coordinating registration, and handling day-of logistics. During that time, employee attendance at the career fairs steadily rose, breaking 100 for the first time in the event’s history!  Currently, Mujan serves as the Graduate Programming Coordinator (GPC) after working as the GPC-Elect in FY19. She is committed to ensuring that graduate students are well served at the annual WE conferences! Mujan has attended every society conference since 2014, as well as an assortment of regional, WE Local, and leadership conferences. She is always looking forward to the next SWE conference, and is truly thrilled that her role as GPC allows her to improve upon the events she already loves!

At WE19 in Anaheim, CA, you can catch Mujan at the Graduate Member Meeting and Graduate Student Reception on Friday, November 8. She will also be receiving an Outstanding Collegiate Member Award at the Celebrate SWE banquet and presenting as a speaker in the SWE Fellows Technical track.

In addition to SWE, as an undergrad Mujan was heavily involved in UK’s chapter of Material Advantage, an MSE student organization. She primarily organized recruitment efforts aimed at 1000+ undeclared engineering freshmen. She represented MSE at several freshmen orientations, designed promotional brochures and posters, produced the MSE program’s first promotional video, and built and maintained the chapter’s first website. She also worked to increase the resources available to her whole program. She wrote a successful proposal that initiated the program’s purchasing of several high-end 3D printers. The printers sparked numerous student projects, relationships with other programs on campus, and the basis for a few senior design projects. She also lobbied to improve the undergraduate MSE curriculum by articulating the concerns of her fellow students in a formal document, gathering dozens of signatures of support, and submitting the result to her Director of Undergraduate Studies and department Chair. For this service to the program, Mujan was named “Outstanding Junior” in 2016 and “Outstanding Senior” in 2017. She also won the ASM Bluegrass Senior Award in 2017, which is awarded to a senior in the UK MSE program who has excelled in and out of the classroom. Now, a few years later, she serves as the Vice Chair of ASM Bluegrass, and is working to reinvigorate the group with graduate students and young professionals.

Upon graduation, Mujan took a gap year to conduct research full-time in Dr. Katsuyo Thornton’s Group at the University of Michigan. She was a member of UM’s GradSWE group during her time there. During this time, she submitted her undergraduate research to the WE Local Collegiate Competition. She was selected as a finalist and sent to WELocal Tulsa to present a poster and give a talk. She was awarded First Place in both categories!

Mujan is now a graduate student in computational materials science at the University of Kentucky. She works on two distinct projects: (1) using quantum mechanical calculations and microscopy to investigate the underlying structure-property relationships that affect the operation of high-performance thermionic dispenser cathodes and (2) using continuum scale calculations to learn how extracting properties of primitive structures can be used to extrapolate properties of random-ligament structures generated to model nanoporous materials.

Following graduation, Mujan plans to become a post-doctoral researcher at a national lab, and then enter academia at an R1 university.  In addition to conducting materials research, she truly loves teaching and mentoring students, and would very much like to combine those two passions into a career. Hopefully, as a professor she’ll be able to do just that! She would also like to continue her involvement in SWE for the rest of her career.

Outside of work, Mujan enjoys socializing with fellow grad students and petting all the dogs she can. She also enjoys traveling. She is still at a stage of her career where traveling for work is a treat, so she tries to tack on an extra day any time she’s visiting somewhere new or exciting. One of her favorite trips was to a Materials Research Society meeting in November 2017, where she arrived a few days early to explore the city of Boston. It was her first time there and she packed in a ton – attending the symphony, walking the Freedom Trail, and visiting Harvard/MIT.

Fun Fact from Mujan: Jerry Seinfeld is her favorite comedian, and she’s been an avid Seinfeld fan since she was a kid. Her friends will [affectionately] say that her most irritating quality is her unrelenting habit of including Seinfeld quotes in everyday conversations. She understands their complaints but has no intention of stopping.

Graduate Member Spotlight: Haley Barnes

Haley Barnes

M.S.

Medical Sciences

Expected Graduation Date: May 2020

University of North Texas

We are excited to welcome Haley Barnes to the GradSWE Leadership Team as the Learning Content Liaison (LCL) for FY20. Although new to the Leadership Team, Haley has done great work with the Dallas SWE professional section as the FY20 Fundraising Chair and University of North Texas SWE collegiate section serving as the Vice President and Webmaster in FY16 and FY15. 

Haley’s work in SWE lead to her being chosen to be a SWE Future Leader in FY16 which is meant to provide promising young SWE members with opportunities, information, and encouragement to continue in SWE as an active participant and leader. Haley’s work in the lab was also recently recognized by placing 3rd Place at the UNTHSC Research Appreciation Day as well as receiving the June Valuability Award, which recognizes team members of the UNTHSC campus who live by the institution’s values in extraordinary ways!

Thesis Topic: Sex Differences of Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Responses During Simulated Hemorrhage

Haley’s work studies if there is a difference in how males and females respond to simulated hemorrhage through blood markers such as epinephrine or cytokines. The laboratory she is studying in simulates hemorrhage with a vacuum-like chamber called lower body negative pressure that pulls blood down to the feet, making it progressively more difficult for blood to return to the heart. With this technique, the lab can study how humans respond to hemorrhagic shock. Additionally, her lab can also use this technique to show how different interventions may help humans survive or tolerate hemorrhagic injury. By focusing on blood markers, Haley’s research will contribute to the bigger plan of designing a resuscitation fluid for victims of hemorrhage.

Haley is an aspiring pharmacist, entrepreneur, and biomedical engineer. Her immediate goal is to complete a PharmD/PhD program with emphasis on cerebral and cardiovascular physiological response to hemorrhagic trauma. Haley’s long-term goals include developing drug delivery technology, owning a small business, writing a novel, and chairing a non-profit public health or medical board. 

Outside of work, Haley loves to dance and do Zumba. She also is a Hulu and Netflix lover with her current favorite shows being Killing Eve, Jane the Virgin, and Brooklyn 99. 

Fun Fact from Haley: Haley throws Potato Parties where guests bring potato dishes to share and donate mashed potato boxes to local food banks.

Graduate Member Spotlight: Grace Pakeltis

Grace Pakeltis
PhD
Materials Science and Engineering
University of Tennessee
Expected Graduation: 2021

Throughout Grace’s collegiate career, the Society of Women Engineers has provided the resources and support needed to become a well-rounded and successful engineer. During her undergraduate program at the University of Illinois, Grace was involved with SWE Illinois holding positions as the Outreach Director, External Vice President, and President.  In those positions, she planned and executed several outreach events for over 1000 girls in STEM, funded the section through strengthening industry relationships and sponsorship, and organized and led an executive and officer board for the SWE Illinois section. While at Illinois, one of Grace’s favorite events was the Engineering Round Robin, where middle school girls were exposed to a wide variety of engineering disciplines through mini design challenges. Now as a PhD student, she is working with University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) SWE to create a GradSWE group on campus. Grace believes that the work that SWE does is truly inspiring and vital for the advancement of women in engineering, so she is very excited to serve as the FY20 Graduate Member Coordinator Elect for the GradSWE Leadership Team. She plans to use her passion for SWE and previous experiences to bring about greater support for and community among graduate students across the society.

In addition to her experience working with and leading teams at the University of Illinois, Grace has also gotten involved with the Graduate Student Senate at the University of Tennessee. This has also provided experience working with and for a variety of graduate students from across the campus. Grace also finds opportunities to continue participating in outreach at Tennessee by being a graduate student mentor for Materials Camp and helping with demos for various engineering outreach events on campus.

Grace’s efforts as a scholar and leader have been recognized in academia and SWE. She was recently awarded a Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching for her work teaching MSE 210, Introduction to Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory and the Tennessee Fellowship for Graduate Excellence, which recognizes top graduate students from across the world based on academic record, research experience, and diversity. In 2013, she was recognized as a Region H Collegiate Emerging Leader and as a participant in the SWE Collegiate Poster Competition at WE16 she was awarded 3rd Place!

Thesis Topic: 2d and 3d nanofabrication and characterization of plasmonic materials

The synthesis and subsequent characterization of 2d and 3d plasmonic nanostructure and nanostructure arrays have the potential to significantly advance applications and enable new classes of materials.  By exploiting the shape, size, and material of complex nanostructures new fundamental phenomena can be explored. Plasmonic nanostructures have the ability to couple light into intense optical near-fields leading to a variety of applications across many fields. With this work, advancements in sensing, imaging, photovoltaics, and photocatalysis are possible. 

Grace originally entered graduate school to help achieve her goal of working in research and development in the electronics industry.  As she began to TA classes, she discovered a deeper passion for education and sharing engineering with the next generation of engineers.  Whether her career takes her to academia or industry, Grace hopes to be able to make advances in science and technology while sharing her love for engineering with those around her either in the classroom or through outreach programs!

Beyond the lab, Grace enjoys exploring local coffee shops and breweries in Knoxville with friends and taking advantage of the Great Smoky Mountains that are in her backyard.watching professional baseball and football. She also loves to watch professional baseball and football, where she roots for the Chicago Cubs and Bears, respectively!

Fun Fact: Grace started spinning at Cyclebar in March and has been hooked ever since. You can catch at the “bar” almost any day of the week!

Graduate Member Spotlight: Cecilia Klauber

Cecilia Klauber
Ph.D.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Expected Graduation Date: Summer 2020
Texas A&M University

This year, we are excited to have Cecilia Klauber returning to the team to serve as our Graduate Member Coordinator (GMC)! Cecilia (Ceci) has been a member of SWE since 2010, when she started at Baylor University. At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she held various positions in the GradSWE group, including SWE Liaison, Social Chair, GradSWE Director and Secretary. Throughout her involvement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ceci worked as a volunteer to help organize the weSTEM conference, which brings together graduate students from  across the country, providing meaningful training sessions and networking for graduate women in STEM, developing the skills and inspiring the passion needed to succeed in both academia and industry. Last year, Ceci served as the FY19 Graduate Member Coordinator-Elect, working with the GMC to lead the SWE Grad Leadership Team and communicate with grad group leaders around the country. Highlights of the year include starting a newsletter for GradSWE alumni, recognizing the inaugural awardees of the GradSWE Awards, and taking her mom to the WE Achieve awards ceremony at WE Local Bellevue!

Ceci and her Mom at WE Local Bellevue!

 Ceci’s hard work, both in and out of the lab, has been recognized with numerous awards. She received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2015, a Grainger Power Engineering Award in 2016 at the University of Illinois, as well as the Powell Fellowship in Electrical Power Engineering in 2018 and 2019 at Texas A&M University. 

Thesis Topic: Techniques for electric power grid monitoring and mitigation techniques during geomagnetic disturbances

Massive bursts of magnetic energy from rare but powerful geomagnetic disturbances (GMDs) disrupt the earth’s magnetic field, producing geomagnetically induced currents (GICs) on transmission lines which can damage system components, trigger suboptimal grid operation, and even precipitate large-scale blackouts. Ceci is working on developing monitoring methods that would give grid operators a real-time snapshot of how GICs are flowing through the system. Cecilia plans to work in a national lab or research institute after graduation. 

Outside of work, Ceci enjoys playing board games, going on road trips, and meeting new people through SWE. She never says no to chips and queso!

Fun Fact: Ceci and her dad are racing to visit all 50 state capitols. There is a state capitol “passport” they are trying to fill and she has gotten 6 stamps since last summer!

 

 

Ceci’s Dad in Pierre, SD!

Ceci in Pierre, SD!

Welcome to FY20!

Hi, my name is Ceci Klauber and I am the new FY20 Graduate Member Coordinator (GMC)! In this role, I work with the rest of the Grad Leadership Team to foster a strong community and network for graduate students in SWE by supporting new and continuing programming, facilitating communication between graduate students in SWE and SWE graduate student groups, and representing the interests of graduate students to the Society. 

In serving as Graduate Member Coordinator Elect last year I truly enjoyed working with the amazing grad students and young professionals who choose to use their precious free time to embody the mission and values of SWE, both at the society and section level. Y’all are amazing! 

Carolyn Chlebek (FY19 GMC) and I receiving a SWE Mission Award – Silver on behalf of the SWE Graduate Community at WE18 in Minneapolis.

Let’s take a look back at some of the highlights from the last year and look forward to what FY20 has in store!

Highlights from FY19

-The Mentoring Program expanded to include graduate student mentoring of undergraduate students! Many of you volunteered to share your grad experiences and the new program was a success – enrolling over 100 undergraduates!

-We rolled out a new format for sharing our learning content – YouTube videos! If you haven’t seen them yet, be sure to check out How to Create a Personal Website for Self-Promotion and Social Media for Self-Promotion today! We even shared tips on how to plan an event for your grad group around the videos- check out our Event Protocol Database for more details.

-We increased our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) efforts with informative blog posts about inclusion in engineering education and gender expansive engineering and a reading group. Our FY19 D&I Liaison also had the opportunity to speak at a SWE Hawaiian Islands event on underrepresented genders. You can read more about the experience on the blog!

What to Look Forward to in FY20

-WE19 planning is in full force! Keep an eye out for details on the Graduate Member Meeting, Networking Reception and Social – we’d love to meet you in person in Anaheim, CA. We will also be promoting sessions presented by graduate students, on topics such as mentoring and resiliency, and an ASEE SafeZone diversity training workshop. Consider applying for the Collegiate Leadership Institute or ALWE also!

-Have you seen the fresh new look of our newsletter? The new platform allows us to use multimedia within our emails and provides us with neat analytics that will inform future improvements to how we communicate with the GradSWE community.

-We are excited to continue well-received programming such as professional and personal development through webinars, YouTube videos, and the Mentoring Program. We are also excited to continue growing our D&I, globalization, and professional student outreach efforts.  We’ve got a great team this year!

What were your highlights of FY19? What do you hope to see from the GradSWE Leadership Team in the upcoming year? Let us know in the comments!

 

Cecilia Klauber is a PhD student at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX and the FY20 SWE Graduate Member Coordinator.

What’s a SWE Resume?

If you’ve taken a look at the SWE Grad Leadership application, you may have noticed that among the optional supporting documents is the SWE resume. What’s a SWE resume, you may be asking. How does it differ from the traditional professional resume and when might I need one?

Much like a professional resume, a SWE resume is a document that outlines your qualifications and experience. But instead of highlighting your achievements in the pursuit of a job, a SWE resume draws attention to your SWE involvement for the purpose of strengthening your case in pursuit of a leadership position or award within SWE. These documents are often only about 2 pages and should list relevant SWE involvement.

There are two major approaches you can take when preparing a SWE resume: position based and competency based.

Position Based

You’re probably already familiar with this framework! In this resume format, you would list your experiences and relevant details. This is a great way to show off the diversity of your efforts and because of the straightforward organization, it is easy to add new entries as you progress through the organization.

Competency Based

Maybe you have many experiences but want to tie them together into a cohesive narrative. A competency based resume model may be for you! In this format, you would focus on specific areas of competency (such as Communication/People, Research, Technical, Teaching, Financial, Organization, etc.) and highlight the positions and activities that support your competency in that area. After reading your resume, not only will people know about your SWE involvement, but they will know how your experiences have shaped your abilities in certain areas. The official SWE Leadership Competency Model prioritizes four main areas: Leadership Abilities, Communication, Business Knowledge & Management, and Self Management. There is an assortment of resources and tools at that link to help you reflect upon your proficiency in these areas.

If you are nominated for a SWE award or are applying for a SWE leadership position, you may be asked to attach a SWE resume- so go ahead and try drafting a SWE resume today so you can ask mentors or peers to take a look and offer recommendations!

Applications for the SWE Grad Leadership Team close on April 1! Check out our previous blog post for more information.