Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers Scores National Awards

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is a perennial winner at the organization’s national conference and did not disappoint at this year’s event Nov. 4-6 in Orlando, Fla.

The group came home with first-place awards for the national Team Tech design contest, Outreach for a Large Section, and Membership Retention for a Larger Section. In addition, current Cal Poly SWE president Stephanie Smith won the award for Scholarship, while past president Lesley Telford and recent graduate Katherine Gage won two of five national Outstanding Collegiate Member awards.

The winning Team Tech project involved designing a small-scale mobile patient monitoring system that sends direct wireless alerts to the emergency team when a patient goes into cardiac arrest or other emergency situation. Developing a successful prototype required that the multidisciplinary team of 12 students focus on electronics, computer-aided drafting and biomedical applications.

Team members included majors in computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, electrical engineering, biomedical engineering, and mechanical engineering.

“The Team Tech project was an amazing example of Cal Poly students using the learn-by-doing philosophy to make a potentially life-saving medical device,” said Helene Finger, director of the Cal Poly Women’s Engineering Program.

Mazzetti Nash Lipsey Burch (M+NLB), a nationwide firm that provides engineering consultation in the medical industry, sponsored the Team Tech project. “M+NLB provided $2,300 for parts and manufacturing,” said Brian Danque, a student project director. “In addition, four company engineering advisers from offices across the nation helped coordinate the design process with us through weekly teleconference meetings.”

Gage and Telford, Cal Poly’s Outstanding Collegiate Member honorees, both have long records of leadership in Cal Poly SWE.

Among her SWE roles, Gage served as director of internal marketing. In her sophomore year, she served as a Tech Team project subgroup leader; the team won first in the nation for designing a weld point inspection device for Walt Disney Imagineering. The following year, she co-directed Team Tech, and the group placed second for its prototype of an endoscopic surgery tool. She graduated from Cal Poly in 2010 with a degree in mechanical engineering and now works as an engineer for the U.S. Navy.

Telford, a senior biomedical engineering student, was inspired to do outreach work with SWE as a result of her participation in high school in the group’s Shadow an Engineer program. She became the youngest SWE outreach director as a sophomore. As a junior, she served as vice president of community outreach, securing a record $9,000 to fund four events and enabling Cal Poly SWE to reach 1,300 middle and high school students. Elected president for 2009-10, Telford was responsible for all Cal Poly SWE operations, including meeting with companies and managing leadership training for 48 officers.

“I am very proud of our section for winning so many outstanding awards,” said current Cal Poly SWE president Stephanie Smith. “Cal Poly SWE has built up a great reputation, attracting hundreds of students each year.”

# # #