#wustlengineering

Welcome back!  We hope everyone is enjoying their first few weeks of classes! On behalf of the Washington University chapter of the Society of Women Engineers, we would like to invite you to our annual event, Evening with Industry.

This unique networking event will be held from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 15, 2014, in Holmes Lounge.  The evening begins with a networking reception, similar to a career fair, during which students can approach company representatives to network and learn general information about careers and employment.  For dinner, each company will host its own table.  Students will register for specific company tables, where table discussion will highlight company work and the careers available.  Following dinner, some of the companies have decided to do presentations about their company, showcasing current projects, research areas and job opportunities.

Looking for a summer internship or full-time job?  Connect with the people who are actually doing the hiring, and get ahead on your career search early in the school year.  Still unsure about careers out there?  Come to learn about specific opportunities in your field of engineering.  The event is open to the entire engineering school, not just members of SWE, and we hope that all students will want to take advantage of the personal interaction you can get with these big name companies.  Not only will you be able to meet and interact with company representatives, but also all companies will receive the resumes of students in attendance.

Anheuser-Busch, Accenture, Citigroup, Microsoft, Capital One, Nestle, AT&T and Deloitte will be attending this event.  We hope that you will all want to take advantage of the personal interaction you can get with these big name companies.  Please send in your RSVP as soon as possible to have the best chance of sitting with your top choice company.

The cost of registration is $15, which includes a catered dinner.  A couple of the companies offered to sponsor a certain number of students, and we will give these out on a first-come first-served basis.

The RSVP can be found at CareerLink RSVP. After you RSVP, please fill out this form to indicate your company rankings and meal preference: Preference Form. The company you are most interested in should be ranked No. 1. If you do not send us your company rankings, we will place you at a table based on seating availability. All RSVPs and company rankings are due by Thursday, Sept.11!

Space is limited, so sign up as soon as possible to reserve your seat!  In addition to filling out this online registration form, you must also return your registration fee (cash or check) to the SWE pendaflex in a sealed envelope labeled with your name.  We will give priority to those who have paid, so pay ASAP!  Also, if you would like your resume to be sent to the company representatives, please upload your resume onto CareerLink when you RSVP.  All resumes must be received by the day of the event.

The Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) chapter at Washington University in St. Louis is holding the university's first large-scale hackathon, called WUHack, Sept. 12-14 in the Lopata Gallery. Over the weekend, more than 100 of the brightest hackers from throughout the Midwest will travel here to spend the weekend creating beautiful projects from scratch.

Students can apply here. The event will allow up to 150 participants from any university or college.

What makes this hackathon unique is the highly entrepreneurial nature of the event, says Andrew Buckley, external relations officer for the Missouri Eta chapter of Upsilon Pi Epsilon at WU. Each sponsoring company will be given the official UPE Resume Book as well as a copy of the resumes of each of the participants at WUHack.

"We want WUHack to be more than just a run-of-the-mill hackathon, and we think this type of hackathon will really draw some excellent entrepreneurial talent from all across the Midwest to Wash U for them to showcase their talent and network with some incredible companies," Buckley says.

Sponsors including Answers.com, Google, AT&T, Microsoft, Square, Lockerdome, FindTheBest and IMC will be at the event see what these students can build and the talent coming out of Washington University and the rest of the Midwest.

Sara Chinnaswamy (Photo by E. Brook Haley)

Sara Chinnaswamy’s visit to some orphanages in southern India has led to an effort by four Washington University School of Engineering & Applied Science students to provide a solar power system at a girls’ orphanage.

“Having a community or home that makes you feel comfortable is so important, and I want these girls to grow up in a place that makes them feel this way,” Chinnaswamy says. “When I discovered they needed electricity for their building, I felt compelled to help out.”

Chinnaswamy, a rising senior majoring in chemical engineering with a minor in writing, is spearheading the effort with a goal to raise about $12,000 by the end of July to purchase and install the solar power system at the Thalir orphanage in Coimbatore, India. Joining her are fellow Engineering students Alexandra Rodriguez-Beuerman, a senior majoring in chemical engineering; Amy Brummer, a senior majoring in chemical engineering with minors in energy engineering and nanoscale science and engineering; and Jakob Leonard, a senior majoring in chemical engineering. Chinnaswamy’s brother, Jay, a student at Northeastern University, is also on the team.

The group estimated a need for 8-10 kW of instantaneous power from the solar array. They compared three types of solar panels and different types of batteries based on efficiency and cost. Their calculations led them to conclude the orphanage will need 34-50 solar panels, along with the installation hardware and the inverter that converts the direct current energy from the sun into electricity that appliances can use. Total costs, along with travel for the team, are estimated at about $12,000.

Experiential learning in Engineering

By Daniel Sun

The first half of MEMS 5611 (Principles and Methods of Micro and Nanofabrication) is learning about multiple lab techniques. In the second half of the semester, lectures stop and we begin our final project. We learn like researchers. We read scientific literature, planned research with our ideas, and experimented with guidance, not instructions, from the professor. Everything we did built on each other, and the course was incredibly cohesive in content and in work.