Professional Development Meeting Topic: “Women, Money and Power”

1. Sweet Happenings Society of Women Engineers Houston Area Aug/Sep 2008 Membership Extravaganza Society of Women Engineers Houston Area Section P.O. Box 1355 Houston, Texas 77251-1355 www.swehouston.org www.swe.org Upcoming Events Professional Development Women of Excellence Awards Reception Saturday September 27, 2008 Inside this Issue President’s Corner 2 Recent Events 3 Member News 4 Get Involved 4 Upcoming Events 6 Engineering News 6 National News 6 SWE Professional Series 7 • Professional Development Meeting • Topic: “Women, Money and Power” • When: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 • 6pm – 8pm • Speaker: Kris Cobb • Vice President – Investments • Certified Financial Planner • Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (tm) • Certified Retirement Counselor • Wachovia Securities • Fee: TBD Check our website for updates www.swehouston.org • Location: Mustang Engineering (Opus Building) • Ten West Center One • 17420 Katy Freeway • Houston, TX, USA 77094 "Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all of your energies on a limited set of targets." - Nido Qubein Newsletter Support Provided by www.c-a-m.com

2. SWE Mission Statement . . . “ The Society of Women Engineers stimulates women to achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expands the image of the engineering profession as a positive force in the quality of life, and demonstrates the value of diversity. ” SWE Houston Area Officers List FY 09 Amy Yip President Amy.Yip@chevron.com Poonam Raverkar Vice President Internal Affairs Poonam.Raverkar@mustangeng.com Carla Fair-Wright Vice President External Affairs carla.fair-wright@c-a-m.com Jill Almaguer, P.E. Vice President Career Guidance jalmaguer@devry.edu Abigail Koester Secretary jAbigail.Koester@bp.com Janel Crosier Treasure janel.crosier@exxonmobil.com Marie Laplante Section Rep marie.laplante@swe.org Laura Piland Section Rep laura.d.piland@exxonmobil.com Lindsay Laskowski Section Rep llaskowski@chevron.com President’s Corner Greetings to my fellow SWE – Houston Area Members!! There is no time like the present to get involved in SWE. We had an exciting kick start to the year with our Annual Planning Meeting on Saturday, July 19. Thanks to all 22 ladies who made time in their busy schedules to support SWE. It was so wonderful to have so much energy and enthusiasm in one room. Last year was a huge success and I want to extend a special recognition to Lindsay for all her hard work. She has also continued to provide support as I transition back to Houston and into this role as SWE Houston Area President. Thanks for all your help! My goals for this year revolve around focusing on the membership; encouraging participation and finally preparing for the future. You as a SWE member are the most important part to making this a successful year. If you want to contribute more by offering your ideas or by volunteering, please contact me or any one of the officers and we will gladly get you plugged in. I encourage you to checkout our website and mark your calendars with our upcoming events. And as the SWE Houston Area Section moves forward, we’d like to reduce our carbon footprint and ask that you consider supporting this effort by signing up for our e-newsletter. I would also like to take this time to thank the FY09 officers for their dedication and commitment. They are Carla Fair-Wright; Poonam Raverkar; Jill Almaguer; Janel Crosier; Abigail Koester; Marie Laplante; Laura Piland and Lindsay Laskowski. They have already been working hard on all the fantastic events to come. We will officially welcome all SWE members back from their busy summers at the Membership Extravaganza in August. Please make plans to come join us. I hope to see you soon! For sponsorship and advertising information, email Newsletter Editor Carla Fair-Wright carla.fair-wright@c-a-m.com or call 713-301-0206. Page 2

3. Recent SWE-HA Events Ideas! Ideas! The Career Guidance Group works to schedule this year’s events. Thanks to all these dedicated members for their time and support! All set and ready to plan! Carla Fair-Wright, VP External (right), lead a great group. SWE Annual Planning Meeting On Saturday, July 19, Twenty-two members of SWE Houston Area Section met at Ziggy’s Healthy Grill for the Annual Planning Meeting. What a fabulous group of ladies who gathered enthusiastically to brainstorm and generate many creative ideas for this year. It was a great time to reconnect with old friends and meet new members. Our new members took advantage of some awesome opportunties to get involved. If you missed the planning meeting and are still interested to get involved, please take the time to contact any one of the officers. SWE Houston Area Past Presidents, Laura Piland, Irene Chang and Lindsay Laskowski, contribute to the planning group lead by VP Internal, Poonam Raverkar. Welcome to our newest members of SWE Leadership: Page 3

4. Upcoming SWE-HA Events Member News • Women of Excellence Awards Gala - Sep 27th • The Federation of Houston Professional Women and the FHPW Educational Foundation holds this annual event to honor outstanding business women from our member organizations and to raise funds to support scholarships for women in our community. • Congratulations to Society of Women Engineers (SWE-HA) • FHPW Woman of Excellence • Elizabeth Bush Ivie • Saturday, Sep 27th, 2008 • 5:30 - Reception/Silent Auction • 6:30 Dinner • Hyatt Regency • Houston, TX Spread the word and buy your coupon! For $5 purchase your special shopping coupon to Macy’s while supporting SWE-HA. All proceeds go to SWE-HA and the events planned for the year. • FHPW, founded in 1981, is a • powerful force in the city and is presently the fifth largest professional organization in Houston. Volunteers will also be needed Sep 20, 2008. Contact Carla Fair-Wright carla.fair-wright@c-a-m.com to reserve your ticket or to volunteer. Women engineers and technologists present interactive activities to middle and high school girls and the girls experience the creativity and innovation that goes on in the field of engineering. Houston is hosting the event planned for October 6th – check the website for more details and volunteer opportunities! For more details contact Jill Almaguer jalmaguer@devry.edu Girl Scout Badge Day – Rice University This workshop is intended to inspire interest in engineering careers and confirm a “can-do-math-and-science” attitude among elementary-age girls. Besides just being a lot of fun for everybody. Place: Rice Campus (locations TBD) Time: Saturday November 15, 9:30 – 2:30 Contact: Ann Hightower, 713-529-5337, annhightower@comcast.net Thank you to our event sponsors: Rice University Society of Women Engineers Girl Scouts of San Jacinto Council Volunteers are needed!! If you find the balance between work and family life is often hard to find, hard to maintain, and even harder to define. SWE-HA’s Dr. Celesta White was written a article you may want to read, “What Work/Life Balance Means to Me (and SWE)” . You’ll find Celesta’s article in the SWE Magazine Spring 2008 Congratulations to Meghan Freeman and family on the birth of her daughter Lily Ann Freeman Born: July 4, 2008 Time: 10:42 am Height: 19 3/4" long Weight: 7lbs 6 oz Sydney Anne Shield arrived Monday, July 28. She was 18.5" long and weighed 7 lbs and 4 oz.  Mother, Danielle Forget Shield, dad and big brother are doing great.  SWE-Houston Area Section would like to offer our condolences to the family of Karen Morrison, SWE Member who passed away recently. • On July 31, 2008. Carla Fair-Wright appeared for SWE-HA on the Fox Morning News with Sibila Vargas. Carla supported Dr. Janet Hyde’s recent research showing that school age males and females math scores are equal and that the perceived gender bias in education is primarily cultural and not innate. Page 4

5. Get Involved Let us know how you want to get involved, call Lindsay at 713-927-0954 Get the Most of Your SWE‐FHPW Membership Did you know that, as a member of SWE Houston, you are automatically a member of the Federation of Houston Professional Women? The Federation is an umbrella group including virtually every women’s organization in the greater Houston area. By visiting http://fhpw.org/ you can sign up for a list serve to receive notice of other organizations’ meetings. You will be amazed at the variety of groups and interesting programs. • SWE Archive • Share Your Memories • The SWE Houston section goal to archive past documents into one central file system and location for availability and use by future officers and chairs. • We want to build on YOUR past successes. • Please dig through your boxes, drawers, and closets for any documents that need to be passed down to future SWE generations. Then contact Carla Fair-Wright at 281.809-1581, Carla Fair-Wright@c-a-m.com. Eventually the files will be housed at the University of Houston Women’s Archives. Networking Hosts: Host a networking lunch or happy hour in your area. Let Amy ()know and we will post the information on the website and upcoming newsletter. Networking Luncheons This is your opportunity to meet fellow professional women in your area in a casual/social setting. Contact the host nearest you or volunteer to host in your area by contacting Lindsay at llaskowski@chevron.com AreaHostEmailTelephone City Central Jennifer Bell llebj@yahoo.com 832-465-1702 Medical Center Open Galleria Liz Bush-Ivie esbushivie@att.net 281-379-6713 Westchase Christin Williams christin_williams@urscorp.com North Houston Open West Houston Carla Fair- Wright carla.fair-wright@c-a-m.com 713-301-0206 Page 5

6. National Events & News Upcoming Events Engineering NEWS November 18th – SWE Monthly Meeting SHOP at Ten Thousand Villages The National Conference for Women Engineers http://www.we08.org Nov 6-8, 2008 Baltimore Convention Center. Baltimore, Maryland Women Leading a Technical Revolution! Please send inquiries or comments to SWE’s Conference Manager at conferencemanager@swe.org or 1-800-892-2858. Join us on Tuesday, November 18, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm, for a Shopping Night to benefit the Society of Women Engineers. The Shopping Night will be held at Ten Thousand Villages, located at 2424A Rice Boulevard (in Rice Village). 15% of net sales during the Shopping Night will be donated to Society of Women Engineers. • The Texas Conference for Women is coming to Houston Thursday, October 16th, 2008. • The Federation is a supporting organization for the conference.  If you are interested, you can pre-register  now at www.TXConferenceforWomen.org. Women Engineer Magazine asked readers to list the top 50 companies and top 20 government agencies where they would most like to work, or that they believe would provide the best working environment for women. Here, in ranked order, are the results of the 2008 survey: Lynn Laverty Elsenhans Meet Sunoco Inc.'s first elected woman CEO and president. The appointment will be official on Aug. 8, when John G. Drosdick, current CEO and president, retires. Elsenhans will receive $1.24 million and a onetime grant of restricted share units equal in value to $5 million. Source: Women Engineer Magazine http://www.eop.com/wetop50.html Looking ahead at 2008 Calendar of Upcoming Events: Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Aug 05 – 09, 2008 Dallas, TX Management Growth Training Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Aug 12– 16, 2008 Dallas, TX Executive Leadership Institute Society of Women Engineers National Conference Nov 6-9, 2008 Baltimore, MD Page 6

7. SWE PROFESSIONAL SERIES Revenge of the Nerdettes As geeks become chic in all levels of society, an unlikely subset is starting to roar. By Jessica Bennett and Jennie Yabroff The Nerd Girls may not look like your stereotypical pocket-protector-loving misfits—their adviser, Karen Panetta, has a thing for pink heels—but they're part of a growing breed of young women who are claiming the nerd label for themselves. In doing so, they're challenging the notion of what a geek should look like, either by intentionally sexing up their tech personas, or by simply finding no disconnect between their geeky pursuits and more traditionally girly interests such as fashion, makeup and high heels. In fact, calling them "nerd" is no insult at all—the Nerd Girls have T shirts emblazoned with the slogan. The crew includes Cristina Sanchez, a master's student in biomedical engineering (and a former cheerleader) who can talk for hours about aerodynamics. Caitrin Eaton, a freshman, asked her boyfriend for a soldering iron last Christmas. Juniors Courtney Mario and Perry Ross giggle when they talk about what fascinated them most about "No Country for Old Men": how did the assassin's air gun work? These girl geeks aren't social misfits; their identities don't hinge on outsider status. They may love all things sci-tech, but first and foremost they are girls—and they've made that part of their appeal. They've modeled themselves after icons such as Tina Fey, whose character on "30 Rock" is a "Star Wars"-loving, tech obsessed, glasses-wearing geek, but who's garnered mainstream appeal and a few fashion-magazine covers. “"I used to carry around a copy of my computer-science degree in my purse" Or on actress Danica McKellar, who coauthored a math theorem, wrote a book for girls called "Math Doesn't Suck" and posed in a bikini for Stuff magazine. Or even Ellen Spertus, a Mills College professor and research scientist at Google—and the 2001 winner of the Silicon Valley "Sexiest Geek Alive" pageant. They tune in to shows like "GeekBrief.TV," a daily Web series hosted by 26-year-old Cali Lewis, and meet friends at Girl Geek Dinners, the first of which drew more than 600 women. From http://www.newsweek.com/id/140457 The first Nerd Girls Club was started by Dr. Karen Panetta, a professor at Tufts University, to empower her female engineering students and challenge the stereotypes and myths about women in engineering. Related Stories Nerd Girls http://www.nerdgirls.com/page/about-the-nerd-girls Danica McKellar www.danicamckellar.com GeekBrief.TV is a tech podcast that explains new gadgets, websites, and toys. It was created by self-proclaimed geeks Luria Petrucci http://geekbrief.tv Sexiest Geek Alive 2001, Ellen Spertus is a associate professor of computer science at Mills College and a part-time software engineer at Google

8. Check our website for more events! www.swehouston.org Society of Women Engineers – Houston Area Po box 1355, Houston, TX 77251