November 19, 2008

Contact: Amy Hewes
College of Engineering
805-756-6402
ahewes@calpoly.edu

Cal Poly SWE Reclaims Title as Best in Nation

Cal Poly's Society of Women Engineers won eight awards at this year's SWE National Convention, including the Gold Award for Outstanding Large Collegiate Section.

Recent graduate Kate Van Dellen (AERO '08) and electrical engineering graduate student Jessica Kiefer were named as the nation's Outstanding Undergraduate Member and Outstanding Graduate Member, respectively.

More than 5,800 women engineers from around the world met in Baltimore, Md., Nov. 5-9 for the conference.

The Gold Award was a redeeming victory for Cal Poly SWE, whose five-year winning streak was disrupted when they took third last year. The award is granted to SWE chapters with outstanding leadership, outreach and membership.

"Cal Poly SWE has one of the best programs in the nation with strong members and encouraging mentors," said Kate Van Dellen, former president of the Cal Poly chapter. "Hundreds of people helped Cal Poly win this year, especially our forty SWE officers," Van Dellen added.

Cal Poly won second place in the national Team Tech competition for the redesign of a surgical system for Stryker Endoscopy. The team's system will be used in arthroscopic surgery, also known as joint surgery, reducing surgery time and increasing ease of use for surgeons. The project was evaluated on teamwork, use of the engineering process, final product, quality of results and ability to work side-by-side with industry.

Including the Gold Award, Team Tech and Outstanding Member awards, Cal Poly SWE won five team and three individual awards. The other awards are:

•·         Boeing Multicultural Program Award;

•·         Membership Upgrade / Transition Award;

•·         Third place Print Newsletter; and

•·         First place Collegiate Poster Competition, Emily Hakun.

"We could not be more proud of Cal Poly SWE," said engineering dean Mohammad Noori. "Not only has the group once again been named best in the nation, but year after year they prove their competitiveness in Team Tech. I must also mention Kate and Jessica's outstanding student awards. We are privileged and gratified to be able to claim that the two topmost SWE students in the nation are from Cal Poly. This is an honor - Cal Poly SWE truly represents the national gold standard for this prestigious organization."