Agenda Summary - click for a printable schedule

Professional Development Spring Seminar Presentation Outlines and Speaker Biographies

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Kaye Smith

Happiness and success do not necessarily depend on earning more wealth, moving up the next position or being successful in business.  Often, other things have a much larger impact on our happiness and well-being.  As we move through life, what makes us happy, what makes us feel successful and balanced changes, along with our personalities and our lives.  Therefore, life balance is an ever moving and changing target.  Unfortunately, most of us live ‘reactive’ lives rather than ‘proactive’ lives.  We fear change and fail to look ahead.  We don’t take on the challenge of finding our true self, of discovering our passion, and then, turning these truths and passions into a successful and balanced life.  Life balance can be understood, planned and achieved just like anything else that is important.  What does life balance mean to you?  What influences your personal balance?  Are you up to the challenge of finding balance and success?

SESSION 1: 10:00 - 10:50

BALANCE - Balancing the Demands of Work and Life with the Need to Take Charge of Your Own Career Development
Tami Sulistyo

This session will focus on the what, why, and how of four key things we need to be intentional about related to the development of our careers, whether we are individual contributors or are in leadership roles. These four wheels of career development that we must make time to keep inflated in the midst of our full lives are: development of our own sustainable community of mentors; development of the core of what makes us whole and lets us thrive; development of our own communication strategy; and development of our personal leadership.

Presenter's Biography
Tami Sulistyo, senior consultant with Cheryl Alexander & Associates, is experienced in executive search, career transition coaching, and leadership training and development. Among others, clients include Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Novartis, Koch Industries, UHG, General Mills, Kimberly Clark, Cargill, BP Amoco, and Lockheed Martin. Sulistyo earned her Master’s degree in Communication and International Management. She has lived or worked in 12 countries, is married to a man from Indonesia, has four children, and is training for her first triathlon after being out of shape for many years.

SKILLS - Six Sigma*
Rick Hardcopf

“Lean and Six Sigma have traditionally been seen as two separate methodologies for achieving ‘Process Excellence’ within organizations of all types.  In the last several years, these two methodologies have often been combined to achieve an even more powerful set of tools for achieving ‘Organizational Transformation.”  Unfortunately, they are also often misunderstood.

SWE is pleased to welcome Rick Hardcopf, President, Acceleren Consulting, to our annual Spring Professional Development Seminar.  Rick's presentation will focus on the basics of Lean and Six Sigma - their history, why are some organizations integrating the tools, how do they work together, how are Lean Six Sigma effectively deployed, and much more.  Rick will draw on his experience and the expertise of premier organizations like Caterpillar, Xerox, 3M, UnitedHealth Group, Mayo, GE, the Navy, the Army, the USPS and hundreds more.  He'll share how the organizations most effective in leveraging Lean Six Sigma view it not only as a set of tools, but the fundamental execution engine of their improvement strategy.  So if you're looking for a good overview of Lean and/or Six Sigma, this is an excellent session for you; if you're experience with either/both tools, come hear Rick's insights of successful deployment and how to unleash the power of Lean Six Sigma in your organization.”

Learning Objectives:
 
-          Develop an understanding of the language used with Lean and Six Sigma
-          Develop an understanding of what is Lean and what is Lean Six Sigma and how they are powerful together
-          Develop an understanding of what it means to ‘deploy’ Lean Six Sigma and what are the keys to success

Presenter's Biography
Mr. Hardcopf has 20 years of management consulting, executive management and business start-up experience, including P&L responsibility, with a proven record of success.  Clients include government, service, manufacturing, and distribution companies from around the world.  Specific experiences include; as VP, starting-up and directing the Navy/Marine Corps consulting practice for a mid-size strategy/operations consulting firm; directing the Business Restructuring practice for a large operations consulting firm in Russia; as President, facilitated the purchase and restructuring of a dairy business in Ukraine; built a business plan and raised $1M of capital to start a mineral water bottling company in Ukraine; VP-Operations for a software development company.    

Mr. Hardcopf also has a deep background in the implementation of sustainable Lean and Six Sigma solutions.  As a practitioner, educator, author and speaker, Mr. Hardcopf has spent over 20 years refining and developing methods for implementing Lean and Six Sigma, in both profit and not-for-profit organizations, consistently guiding organizations to achieve significant and sustainable operational improvements.  His innovative approaches have been documented in several Lean Six Sigma books, and 100% of his clients have achieved a positive ROI and are referenceable.  Most recently, as an Executive for the world leader in Lean Six Sigma, Mr. Hardcopf led arguably the most successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma in a government setting, having led a successful implementation within a 60k+ personnel organization.

SUSTAINING - Intellectual Property and Patent Law
Carl Moy

This session will be about patents on methods and processes, including the requirements for obtaining patents on engineering methods.  Professor Moy will address the current state and likely development of software patents. He will also discuss the past, present and future of business method patents. 

Presenter's Biography
Professor R. Carl Moy is one of the country’s leading scholars on US and international patent law.  A member of the faculty of William Mitchell College of Law since 1991, Professor Moy has written a leading comprehensive treatise on US patent law, the six volume, four thousand page Moy’s Walker on Patents.  A presence on the national and international speaking circuit, Professor Moy commonly makes presentations to the American Intellectual Property Law Institute’s annual conferences and is a visiting lecturer at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, Germany.  Prior to joining the faculty at William Mitchell, Professor Moy was a member of the litigation group at the law firm of Merchant & Gould in Minneapolis, clerked at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and worked as a patent examiner at the United States Patent and trademark office.  Professor Moy has a B.S. in Mechanical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a law degree from George Washington University Law School. 

COLLEGIATE/GROWTH - Diversity of Engineering Functions in Industry
Laura Copp, Christine Kurtz, Holli Pheil, Lisa Schmalhurst

"The Diversity of Engineering Functions in Industry session will provide an overview of some of the various engineering disciplines in industry.  It is designed to help collegiate women in SWE understand the differences between some of the main fields for engineers in the workforce. This session will allow some time for attendees to ask questions after hearing the overview about various types of engineering."

Presenters' Biographies
Laura Copp is a Supplier Development Engineer at Caterpillar Paving Products in Brooklyn Park, MN.  In this role, she has responsibility for working on reactive and proactive quality improvements with external suppliers of non-metallic and hydraulic components.  Laura has worked at Caterpillar for 5 years - two years as a Plastics Development Engineer in Peoria, IL and the past three years in her current role.  Laura has a Bachelors Degree in Material Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.  Laura is currently SWE-MN Secretary, and has held past SWE positions as Professional Development Co-Chair for the SWE-MN section, and Professional Development Chair for SWE-Central Illinois Section.  Outside of work and SWE, Laura is in the midst planning her wedding for August 2010, and also enjoys cooking, attending step aerobics and other fitness classes, and spending time with her fiancé, Nate.

Lisa Schmalhurst is a Senior Design Engineer for Boston Scientific in St Paul, MN where she has responsibility for active and passive component designs for Implantable Medical Devices.  She is currently serving as the SWE-MN section president.  Lisa has also served SWE-MN for two years as the COR representative and as membership chair; Region H as Nominating Chair and two years as Procedures Chair; and the Society as a member of both the Membership Committee and the COR Governance Focused Interest Group.  At home, Lisa enjoys relaxing with her husband, reading, snowboarding and perhaps playing a little Wii.

Christine Kurtz is an Environmental and Project Manager with extensive environmental management, process engineering and project management experience. Christine has a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and a Masters in Project Management from City University of Seattle. She has over 17 years of experience including 16 years in industry. Her technical expertise areas include environmental compliance and permitting (with an air emphasis), chemical process safety management and sustainability. Christine also provides valuable leadership and human relations skills gained from experience working with salaried and union personnel, and serving as liaison with regulatory agencies, neighborhood associations, the media and non-governmental organizations. Christine worked for Kimberly-Clark Corporation and served as the Environmental and Safety Manager of their Washington state pulp and paper manufacturing facility for several years. Christine is now a Managing Consultant with Trinity Consultants in Stillwater, Minnesota.

Holli Pheil has been an Electrical Engineer for 8 years in medical device design.  She currently works at Medtronic in the Neuromodulation Division, which is a very recent switch for her.  Previously she worked at Boston Scientific in the area Cardiac Rhythm Management where she designed Programmers and Patient Communicators that interacted with Pacemakers and Defibrillators to inform doctors of the status of their patients medical device. 

Holli currently serves as SWE Strategic Planning Chair-Elect and previously served as the president of SWE Minnesota for FY09 and lead an executive council of 24 women.  Under her leadership SWE-MN inspired 3800 girls and boys into engineering.  She has held regional and national positions in SWE such as Region H Nominating Committee Chair, Celebrate SWE co-chair, and International Participation Committee Chair, Holli earned her Bachelor’s in Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington.  Holli lives in Shoreview with her husband, Nate, and two dogs Coconut and Oliver.

SESSION 2: 11:00 - 11:50

BALANCE - Athena Factor 2: Athena, Now What?
Anita Hall

Despite challenges that girls still face at school and in our culture, a significant number make the commitment to begin careers in science, engineering and technology (SET).  In fact, 41% of highly qualified scientists, engineers and technologists on the lower rungs of the corporate ladder are female.  However, around 10 years into their careers, work and family pressures intensify, often at the same time, creating discouraging results.  Over time, 52% of these highly qualified SET women will quit their jobs.

Two major studies focusing on this problem were released in 2007/2008.  The Society of Women Engineers published their 6 part Women’s Retention Study and The Center for Work-Life Policy published The Athena Factor: Reversing the Brain Drain in Science, Engineering and Technology. 

Back by popular demand from last year, come to learn the five major reasons why women leave, hear about a variety of initiatives that some corporations are adopting to enable more women to stay on track in their SET careers, discuss how to approach this topic with your employer, and participate in a open forum digging into roadblocks encountered and success stories from the audience.

Presenter's Biography
Anita Hall graduated in 1978 from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Agricultural Engineering.  Fresh from college, she became the first female engineer to join the Machine Design group at General Mills.  Over her 30 year career with the General, she claims to have held just about every engineering job available, not quite from A to Z, but from Betty Crocker to Yoplait.  She still loves engineering and counts herself very fortunate to have found a career that enables her to play almost every day.

In addition to her work as an engineer for the Company of Champions, Anita is a champion for keeping the engineering pipeline full.  Over the years, she has seen a number of women come and go from engineering and she is therefore very interested in all issues which affect female retention.  As a part time employee, Anita participates on General Mills Part-Time Forum.  She is also a member of the Center for Work-Life Policy’s Hidden Brain Drain Task Force.  It is the results from a study released from the Center that Anita is pleased to share with you today.

SKILLS - Tooting Your Own Horn: Using Your Unique and Authentic Attributes as the Fulcrum for Promoting YOU!
Cathy Krier

In this session, we will exchange thoughts and put into practice some ways to raise self-awareness and self-promotion, effectively and comfortably. You will walk away with tools on how to craft your own authentic self-promotion message.

Presenter's Biography
Cathy Krier is a Senior Principal Strategic Sourcing Consultant, Global Talent Acquisition at Medtronic, Inc. headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.  Cathy is responsible for developing and implementing multifaceted strategies and tactics to attract high potential, diverse talent for Medtronic Quality, Regulatory, and Clinical (QRC) functions.  She collaborates with QRC leadership and HR partners across all business sectors.  She is the Chair of the Medtronic Women’s Council and a Leadership Coach for the Society of Women Engineers. 

Cathy has more than 18 years of medical device industry experience.  She has held positions with increasing responsibility providing oversight for products and therapies released by Medtronic.  In 2007, she became the recipient of the Emerging Leader in Quality award presented by the National Society of Women Engineers.  Cathy obtained her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Milwaukee School of Engineering and her MBA from Capella University.


SUSTAINING - Engineering Ethics*
Jim Scheibel

This is an opportunity to discuss and be reminded again of the important issue of professional ethics.   It is important to integrate professional life with personal convictions in order to maintain moral integrity. Engineering ethics is the field which examines and sets standards for engineering’s obligations to the public, their clients, employees and the profession.  In the course of practicing engineering, an engineer solves problems. The engineering decisions are generally guided by the project management variables of cost, schedule and quality.  However, engineering decisions are also guided by moral values; concern and respect for others.  Further, local, state, and federal laws may influence engineering behavior.

The expansiveness of technology is such that now, more than ever, society is holding engineering professions accountable for decisions that affect a full range of daily life activities. Engineers now are responsible for saying: "Can we do it, should we do it, if we do it, can we control it, and are we willing to be accountable for it?"

Dilemmas force hard moral choices. They cause us to deal with values. If we are going to deal with dilemmas in an organized manner that allows us to explain and defend our decisions and not start from ground zero with each new problem, we need to think about what we mean by terms such as good, bad, right, wrong, and necessary. We need to consider, at the most general level, what kinds of actions are morally permissible. This process allows us to get clear ideas in our minds about what is right and wrong and helps us to decide what to do in other cases. Handling ethical dilemmas and making ethical decisions are very important elements of being a professional. The framework of our ethical decisions is based on ethical theories we have learned and ethical behavior we have observed during our lives.

Presenter's Biography
Jim Scheibel has extensive experience leading complex organizations to create social change and promote social justice. Jim is a servant leader who builds organizations through vision, innovation, and collaboration. Some of his more significant elected and appointed public sector positions and experience as Executive Director of nonprofits include: Mayor, Council Member and President of the council of the City of Saint Paul, President and Executive Director of Project for Pride in Living in Minneapolis, Vice President and Senior Advisor of the Corporation for National Service, and Vice President and Director of AmeriCorps Vista and Senior Corps.

Currently, Jim is an Executive in Residence with the Hamline School of Business. He is also a consultant for private colleges and nonprofit organization on service and poverty initiatives. He has a BA from St. John's University in Collegeville, a Doctor of Humane Letter, Honoris Causa from the College of St. Catherine in Saint Paul, and was a FannieMae Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  

COLLEGIATE/GROWTH -
SWE Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee (CLCC) Session:
Effective Personal Communication
Sherrian Aimable and Molly Johnson

First impressions begin at a handshake - but what if your first impression is an email or phone call?  This presentation will improve your personal communication skills through email, face to face and phone communication.  Don’t worry; we’ll also discuss the proper way to shake hands and how to leave a voice mail.

Presenters' Biographies
Sherrian Aimable graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering Technology in May 2009. She currently holds the position of Manufacturing Engineer at Jones Metal Products, Inc in Mankato, MN. She has been a part of SWE for the last 4 years, and a Collegiate Leadership Coach for 3 years. Originally from Saint Lucia, Sherrian hopes to move back home and raise awareness of environmental management and its importance.

Molly Johnson is a Consultant at Baker Tilly Virchow Krause in Minneapolis, MN. She is a part of the Manufacturing and Distribution team for Baker Tilly - an accounting and advisory firm based in Chicago. She has Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  While at Wisconsin she began her active involvement in SWE, including serving as Section President.   She has been a member of the Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee since 2007. 

SESSION 3: 1:00 - 1:50

BALANCE - Understanding Cardiovascular Disease and Medical Device Treatments
Lisa Schmalhurst

This session will begin with a basic review of cardiac anatomy and physiology.  It will then move on to discuss various methods of improving the heart's functional capability using implantable active devices such as pacemakers and defibrillators.

Presenter's Biography
Lisa Schmalhurst is a Senior Design Engineer for Boston Scientific in St Paul, MN where she has responsibility for active and passive component designs for Implantable Medical Devices.  She is currently serving as the SWE-MN section president.  Lisa has also served SWE-MN for two years as the COR representative and as membership chair; Region H as Nominating Chair and two years as Procedures Chair; and the Society as a member of both the Membership Committee and the COR Governance Focused Interest Group.  At home, Lisa enjoys just relaxing with her husband, reading, snowboarding and perhaps playing a little Wii.

SKILLS - Systems Engineering: Fundamental Skills and Why The Are Important
David Walden

Systems Engineering ensures that the customer and stakeholder's needs are satisfied in a high quality, trustworthy, cost efficient, and schedule compliant manner using an interdisciplinary engineering approach that considers the system's entire life cycle.  Systems Engineers look at the whole of the problem to produce a balanced system solution with an acceptable level of risk to the organization.

This presentation will give a brief overview of the discipline of Systems Engineering, describe some of the fundamental Systems Engineering maxims, and provide examples of why Systems Engineering is important.  This presentation will also present research results highlighting some of the key characteristics, skills, and competencies typically found in Systems Engineers.

Presenter's Biography
David D. Walden, CSEP,  is co-owner and principal consultant for Sysnovation, LLC, a company he formed in 2006 that is focused on Systems Engineering consulting and education that is based out of Shakopee, Minnesota, USA.  At Sysnovation, Mr. Walden has assisted numerous clients in Systems Engineering consulting and training/course development. He has served as an independent reviewer, major review (e.g., PDR, CDR) coordinator, Systems Engineering Subject Matter Expert (SME), and process consultant.  He has created and taught numerous Systems Engineering courses and tutorials, including a distance learning on-line variant of a Systems Engineering Principles course.

Previously, Mr. Walden was with General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems for 13 years and worked at McDonnell Aircraft Company for 10 years. Mr. Walden is currently the Program Manger of the International Council on Systems Engineering’s (INCOSE’s) Certification Program and also serves as the INCOSE liaison to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7 Working Groups 10, 20, and 22. 

He has an M.S. in Management of Technology (MOT) from the University of Minnesota, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.S. in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis, and a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Valparaiso University in Indiana.

SUSTAINING - Investigation of the I-35W Bridge Collapse
Mark Chauvin and Kristin DuChateau

On August 1st, 2007, a catastrophic failure of the 1,907 foot long I-35W Bridge over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota occurred during evening rush hour when all three steel deck truss spans and several approach spans suddenly collapsed. Thirteen people were killed and 145 people were injured. This presentation will review the results of the field investigation and structural analysis work which was performed to identify the cause of the failure of this major interstate highway bridge.

Presenters' Biographies
WJE is a national interdisciplinary firm that has been called upon to solve some of the world's most challenging construction-related problems. Composed of architects, structural engineers, and material scientists, WJE specializes in the investigation, analysis, testing, and design of repairs for existing historic and contemporary buildings and structures. WJE was founded on the principle that delivering better solutions requires a better understanding of the problem and has brought a hands-on technical approach, comprehensive testing capabilities, and an enthusiasm for problem solving to each new project.

Mr. Mark R. Chauvin is a Senior Associate in the Minneapolis Office of Wiss, Janney, Elstner & Associates, Inc. Mr. Chauvin is a registered professional engineer in the State of Minnesota who has over ten years experience with WJE performing a wide variety of structural evaluations of both buildings and bridges including collapse investigations, damage assessments, consulting on construction-related problems and repair design. Mr. Chauvin was actively involved throughout the field investigation of the I-35W collapse including the post-collapse documentation and examination, debris removal operations and truss reconfiguration. Mr. Chauvin has an M.S. in Structural Engineering and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Ms. Kristin A. DuChateau is an Associate III in the Minneapolis Office of Wiss, Janney, Elstner & Associates, Inc. Ms. DuChateau is a registered professional engineer in the State of Minnesota who has almost five years experience with WJE performing a variety of damage assessments, forensic evaluations involving facades, roofing and waterproofing, structural evaluations of buildings including collapse investigations, repair design and construction administration. Ms. DuChateau was actively involved throughout the field investigation of the I-35W collapse including the post-collapse documentation and examination and truss reconfiguration. Ms. DuChateau has an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Washington State University and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Michigan Technological University, and is a member of SWE.

COLLEGIATE/GROWTH -
SWE Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee (CLCC) Session:
Women in Engineering/Professionalism
Sherrian Aimable, Molly Johnson and Jenna Walsh

The Women in Engineering module is designed to help women in SWE understand the differences between college and the real world. The module gives statistics on diversity in college and in the work force and provides some helpful hints for making the transition from college to career.

Presenters' Biographies
Sherrian Aimable graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato with a degree in Manufacturing Engineering Technology in May 2009. She currently holds the position of Manufacturing Engineer at Jones Metal Products, Inc in Mankato, MN. She has been a part of SWE for the last 4 years, and a Collegiate Leadership Coach for 3 years. Originally from Saint Lucia, Sherrian hopes to move back home and raise awareness of environmental management and its importance.

Molly Johnson is a Consultant at Baker Tilly Virchow Krause in Minneapolis, MN. She is a part of the Manufacturing and Distribution team for Baker Tilly - an accounting and advisory firm based in Chicago. She has Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  While at Wisconsin she began her active involvement in SWE, including serving as Section President.   She has been a member of the Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee since 2007. 

Jenna Walsh graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in Spring 2009 with a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. She has been passionate about the Society of Women Engineers since she became an active member as a freshman in college. Jenna has held a variety of positions in SWE including two terms as President of the UW-Platteville Collegiate Section. Jenna is currently an active member of the Wisconsin Professional Section. This is Jenna’s first year as a Collegiate Leadership Coach.

SESSION 4: 2:00 - 2:50

BALANCE - Yoga & Meditation to Maintain Physical and Mental Health
Sandy Krzyzanowski

This presentation will give the audience some practical take-home tips for maintaining both physical and mental health. We will cover ways to incorporate basic yoga moves into your life, meditation-on-the-go ideas for busy people, and if time permits, some facial acupressure points for stress relief and facial rejuvenation.

Presenter's Biography
Sandy Krzyzanowski, owner of Better Day Yoga LLC, is a YogaFit® trained 200-hour registered yoga teacher with the Yoga Alliance. She has also been an American Council on Exercise (ACE®) certified personal trainer since 1997, and is a level 3 Oshune Reiki® practitioner. She has practiced yoga for over 10 years, has been teaching Hatha yoga in the Vinyasa style since 2008, and also offers Meditation/Breathwork classes for focus, clarity, stress-relief and mindfulness. She has taught group fitness classes, and has also done Ortho Bionomy body therapy work. Prior to teaching yoga she was a sales professional for over twenty years.

SKILLS - Gauging the Maturity of Organizational Change
Geree Streun

In this decade of dire economic impacts organizational change has become the new marching order of many companies.  In a step to be more cost effective a company may proclaim “We will be a paperless company.”  In fact if the company is regulated many records are required in hardcopy form.  Confusion then rules.  Does the employee know when to keep the records in an electronic format or when to print?  What are the guidelines?    

So what is the real problem? Change is really situational.  It is defined as “To make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone.”  However organizations are made up of people, who must internalize and come to terms with the change details on a personal level then incorporate that as part of their behavior.  Transition is defined as movement, passage, or change from one position, state, stage, subject, concept, etc., to another.  Changing behavior is a psychological journey. 

A Maturity Model was developed that will give an actionable view of personal internalization and behavior change. It helps identify a person’s journey through the three phases of personal transition, so that an appropriate integrated plan can be developed to facilitate that evolution.  This maturity model will also help identify when the change has been institutionalized across the organization. 

Presenter's Biography
Geree Streun is a Senior Member of IEEE.  She holds a PMP certification and is an ASQ Certified Software Quality Engineer. Geree Streun received a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from Kansas State University.  For the last twelve years, she has specialized in organizational transition to drive efficiency and effectiveness of the development process while complying with FDA requirements.  

Geree designed the harmonizing architecture for PMI’s three key standards.  She was the chapter lead for Chapter Four of the PMBOK Guide, 4th Edition and wrote three chapters in the AMA Handbook of Project Management, 2nd Edition which received the David I. Cleland Project Management Literature Award.  She was a course designer and instructor for the Software Quality Institute at the University of Texas, Austin and served as President of the Austin SPIN group.  
She is currently working for Boston Scientific in the Portfolio/Program Management Office.

SUSTAINING - Transitioning Into Management
Allison Pedersen

Are you interested in or have you recently moved into a management role within your organization?  If you are interested in getting tips and tricks on handling the challenges related to transitioning into a management role, building a strong team, and being successful in your first management role, this session is for you.

Presenter's Biography
A year ago, Allison Pedersen was promoted to an Engineering Manager within the Air Data Systems Center of Excellence at Goodrich Sensors and Integrated Systems (GSIS).  In this role, Allison is responsible for the Systems Application and Integration team which focuses on software design for application software, modeling, systems integration testing, and certification support for multiple projects.  She has worked at GSIS for 11 years starting out as a technical contributor, so she will reflect on her experiences of moving up in the company, while continuing to work in the same department.  Allison has also been an active SWE member for 15 years.  Since graduating from UND with a bachelors of science in Electrical Engineering, Allison has been active in the SWE-Minnesota section, where she has held numerous positions on the Executive Council and also has been a member of the SWE-MN Outreach Committee for several years.  This is her fourth year holding her “dream position” as the SWE Outreach Committee Chair.  Allison will also focus on how her leadership experiences within SWE have helped her professional growth.

COLLEGIATE/GROWTH -
Graduate Studies – Business vs. Technical (I’m In College, So What’s Next?)
Camille George

Professor George’s presentation, "Graduate studies - Business v. Technical (I'm in college, so what's next?)", will provide an overview of the challenges in choosing a technical track in graduate school.  The presentation will discuss the preparation necessary in getting a master’s degree or a Ph.D. The session will be formatted as an interactive discussion. 

Presenter's Biography
Camille George has a broad background in applied industrial research that includes examining magneto-mechanical pumps, modeling aircraft engine failures, and predicting performance in twin-screw compressors. George has collaborated on scientific studies with Stanford, University of Minnesota and the University of Limoges in France. Her particular field of expertise is in the coupling of electro-magnetic fields with ionized gases. Applications range from welding and surface coatings, to odor and waste destruction. She is a member of ASME, SWE and ASEE.  

Camille obtained a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s in Fluids Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  She went on to receive a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Mechanical Engineering (Heat Transfer) and obtained a Ph. D. from the University of Minnesota in Mechanical Engineering (Plasma Science) with a Minor in Aerospace Engineering.  She is an Associate Professor and the Mechanical Engineering Program Director at the University of St. Thomas where she teaches Thermodynamics, Fuel Cell Systems, Senior Design and Christian Faith and the Engineering Profession.  She has lead Senior Design students on several international service-learning trips.