Cedar Valley SWE Partnership leads to Career Exploration

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to pour liquid metal into a mold and create a new object?  Or how a metal casting mold is designed in the first place?  

Did you know that some health professionals create custom hearing aids for their patients?  Or that social scientists might the costs and benefits of various policies or laws for their community?

Participants at the Cedar Valley Society of Women Engineers Girls Conference were able to do more than wonder about these things.  Last Saturday they were able to give 3 different STEM career areas a try thanks to a 10+ year partnership between the Cedar Valley SWE Chapter (CVSWE), UNI STEM Support Services, and many other partners.  Area engineers, architects, faculty, and other STEM professionals came together to offer 12 different hands-on activity options.  

In Latham Hall activities centered on architecture & interior design and earth & space science. Some designed their own tiny house while others built a mini-geological column of Iowa.  At the same time in McCollum Science Hall participants were playing a version of Monopoly that encourages them to think about how policy impacts individuals and communities and how to quantify and compare impacts.  UNI's new Nursing program hosted its first ever CVSWE session by introducing participants to portable diagnostic equipment.  John Deere staff and UNI Women in Computing students each led sessions that allowed the participants to program a robot to complete a task.  And of course, the new Applied Engineering Building took center stage by hosting sessions in metal casting, computer-aided modeling, and pumpkin chucking... well not quite.  No pumpkins were actually chucked, instead participants learned the principals of pumpkin chucking and built their own mini-trebuchets.  The CVSWE conference is a lot of fun but it is serious too. Participant talked with older students and professionals about career paths, education, and working environments.  

In her keynote address Shelly Dutlery, current Chair of the Applied Engineering & Technical Management Department Advisory Council, UNI Alumni and Principle/Engineer at KE Collab, encouraged participants to recognize and celebrate their own brilliance, foster resilience, and get comfortable learning from failure.  She shared, "Engineers turn failures into opportunities." 

What did the participants think of the event?  They liked getting to talk with the UNI College students and local FIRST robotics high school students who volunteered at the event.  They also liked sessions where they got to build/create a project and sessions where they learned something new.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers that made this event possible. Including the CVSWE Chapter for leading the event, Cedar Falls-Waterloo AAUW for providing volunteers, and the UNI Departments of Applied Engineering and Technical Management, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Biology, Science Education, Earth & Environmental Education, Interior Design, Sociology, Communication Science & Disorders, Nursing, and Computer Science for sponsoring spaces and/or sessions.  UNI faculty interested in participating in future CVSWE/UNI events can contact Marcy Seavey, STEM Coordinator, for more information.