Lastly, I also have had SWE positions at all levels, attended both national and regional conferences and know about the structure of the organization. I can leverage the contacts that I created at these roles to continue to learn and implement best practices for our section. I am excited to continue my SWE involvement and look forward to meeting more of you in the future!
President-Elect Candidates
Grace Amundsen Barnkow
Biography
Grace is a Civil Engineer specializing in Transportation,
Development, and Public Policy Analysis, working for the City of SeaTac. Grace has been active in SWE since serving as
Secretary/Treasurer for SWE at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2009. Since then, Grace has also had experience serving
on the board of the ASCE Tacoma-Olympia chapter, and as President of the UAF ITE
chapter. Grace also has experience
growing an organization, with roles including cofounding a successful non-profit
makerspace, as the VP of Recruiting for a new chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, and
on the board of a several sci-fi and gaming conventions. Grace has lived in
Washington since 2017. She grew up as an
Army brat and has lived in a long list of places in the US and abroad. Grace is currently pursuing a Master of
Public Administration degree remotely with the University of Colorado Denver,
with research interests in affordable housing and cannabis deregulation impacts
on traffic safety, anticipated graduation next spring. Grace also owns a small fabrication shop that
makes 3d printed, molded, and laser cut artwork, and an Airbnb. In her free time, Grace enjoys historical
reenactment events, open water swimming, travel, and art.
Candidate Statement
Most of my peers do not seem to be members of, or even
familiar with, SWE, and I would like to have a role in changing that. I have spent the last year and a half
concentrating on building my small businesses and finishing graduate school,
but with the latter nearly finished and my businesses running smoothly, I have
extra bandwidth to look at volunteering with an organization I am passionate
about. SWE was my first introduction to
engineering, all the way back in middle school, and supported me with
scholarships during university. The
President-Elect position will give me the opportunity to lend my service in
return, identify room for improvement for engagement and absorb the intricacies
of chapter leadership. While I am new to
the Section Leadership of SWE PNW, I am prepared and passionate for the role,
and would have the first year to familiarize myself with the section
intricacies. As a Civil Engineer, I can
also offer a different professional background and a new range of contacts.
Secretary Candidates
Gail Cornelius
Biography
I am fulfilling a dream of
service to a field (and organization) that first showed up in my life as part
of a “What is Engineering?” assignment in Mr. Roberts’ 7th grade
MESA class. Born and raised in Seattle, I have had the fortune of applying my
two engineering degrees in both industry and academia. For four years I was an
officer (including President) for one of the largest student sections in the
country (Cal Poly), and my first Boeing internship came after sitting with a
recruiter at our “Evening With Industry” banquet. 18 years later, I had a
“mid-career crisis” and left Boeing to become the inaugural Director of UW’s
“Career Center @ Engineering,” where I oversee the professional development of
over 8,000 Engineering students (28% of them female). I also serve as the
adviser for UW’s SWE student section, which boasts over 400 members. Outside of
work, I married my college sweetheart (another engineer!), and we have two
beautiful daughters, who both aspire to be in STEM-related fields. I also coach
girls volleyball at a local high school and am also President of Cal Poly’s
Seattle alumni chapter.
Candidate Statement
Analytical. Arranger.
Deliberative. Focus. Strategic. These five strengths are indicative of the
detailed nature of my personality, fit for the role of Secretary.
I look forward to sharing our
SWE members’ stories so that young girls realize that they are not alone. Being
a minority myself, I wanted desperately to fit in and see people “like me” in
my fields of interest. As a mother to a middle school daughter, I know how
important “confidence” is, particularly around math and science. As a mother of
a fifth grader, I’m helping my student navigate the choppy waters of the social
scene & confidence issues. To continue an upward trend of females in
engineering, we must open communication lines with a wide audience through
programming and awareness. I want to use the Secretary role to share our
members’ stories and be a visible presence in the community.
Just as SWE supported my
development, I hope to provide that scaffold through robust & regular
communication as Secretary. At my alma mater, I served four years as a student
section officer and gained organizational, leadership, and communication
skills. As adviser/counselor for UW’s collegiate section, I share my SWE story
regularly; just because a student gains a degree does not mean that her need
for support, praise, and encouragement stops. At UW we encourage the
College-to-Career membership, and I hope to use this Secretary role for more
resource sharing & community building.
I had a fabulous
opportunity to reconnect & reflect with the professional section last year
as Secretary. As our operations shifted virtually, I plan to use those lessons
learned to make improvements right from the start. I hope to re-invigorate the
presence of the SWE-PNW our section to our members, both prospective and
current.Treasurer Candidates
Megan Buck
Biography
Megan Buck received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering
from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2016 and currently works at Schneider Electric
as a Sales Engineer. She moved to the Seattle area in 2019 and started
volunteering with SWE PNW in FY21 as Treasurer Elect. Before moving to Seattle,
Megan was involved with SWE CRS in Portland as their Webmaster. She also worked
on the Local Host Committees for WE Local Bellevue and Salt Lake City. In her
free time, Megan enjoys running, hiking with her dog, and snowboarding.
Candidate Statement
I’m excited to be running as Treasurer for FY22! In the past
year, I’ve gained a better understanding of the history and current status of
the SWE PNW section. Spending a year as Treasurer-Elect was a great way to
learn how the section functions. I feel confident that I’m prepared to take
over as the section treasurer and keep our section in good standing. Going
forward in FY22, I hope to see the impact of SWE PNW continue to grow through social,
outreach and professional development events.
Treasurer-Elect Candidates
Kelsie McCall
Biography
Kelsie is an Industrial Engineer with the U.S. Navy at the
Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA, where she works in the Capital
Investment Division. She transferred to the Pacific Northwest in 2020 from her
job as a Process Engineer with the U.S. Navy at the Fleet Readiness Center in
Jacksonville, FL. A Florida native, Kelsie attended the University of Central
Florida (UCF), where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Industrial
Engineering. In the collegiate UCF SWE section, Kelsie served as an Outreach
Officer and on the executive board for two years as both Secretary and
President.
Since high school, Kelsie has been passionately involved in
STEM Outreach, including outreach through SWE. She also continues this through
the STEM Outreach Program at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. In her spare time, she
enjoys hiking, playing tennis, and playing board games from her and her
husband’s ever-growing collection.
Candidate Statement
When I joined SWE at my college, I
was blown away by the friendliness and support. SWE helped me find my first
internship at a WE Conference, exposed me to fields and subjects I hadn’t heard
about, and through the years has helped me find friends and a professional
network.
Although I am new to the Pacific
Northwest SWE section, I have attended three national conferences and
participated in the UCF Collegiate Section and the Central Florida Professional
Section. I am familiar with the structure of the organization. I hope to use my
time as Treasurer-Elect to learn the procedures of this section and join a
continuing effort towards good custodianship of SWE funds.
In my role working with the Navy’s
capital investment program, I am experienced with budget cycles and financial reports.
I also love data analysis, reporting, and visualization.
I firmly believe in SWE’s
mission—empowering women and showing the value of diversity—and I want to do
all I can to support that in this section. As I am fairly early in my career, I
see this position as a way to learn something new; I look forward to sharing my
experiences and learning from others.
Vice President of Outreach Candidates
Geya Kairamkonda
Biography
Hello! My name is Geya Kairamkonda and I graduated from the University of Colorado (CU) Boulder with
my Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in May of 2020. Shortly after, I made the move to WA to
work as a flight controls engineer at Boeing Commercial. While I’m relatively new to the professional
section, I was heavily involved in my collegiate section at CU with 4 years of officer involvement:
Historian, Director of Awards, Director of Events, and Vice President. As Director of Events, I would
coordinate our weekly club meetings ranging from social activities to career skill workshops. As Vice
President, I organized our bi-annual networking events connecting our SWE collegiate section with
industry professionals to promote professional development. Throughout college, I have been involved
in several outreach experiences, my favorite was mentoring second graders in building imaginative bee
houses.
As an Indian woman, I have experienced my fair share of discrimination and doubt, but it was SWE that
helped me rewrite the narrative of what an engineer should look like. As an officer, my goal would be to
provide resources and cultivate a community for other women to achieve their dreams.
Candidate Statement
Outreach is a powerful investment in our future generation of engineers. I strongly believe that it is our
responsibility to empower young women to pursue STEM and push past their familial or socio-economic
barriers. My outreach experiences include sitting on panels to talk to prospective college students,
coaching second graders with their bee house projects, helping establish a mentorship program, and
volunteering at various schools for one-time outreach events. I am passionate about getting women
excited about STEM.
In college, I was the Vice President of CU Boulder SWE where I successfully planned and executed two
section wide networking events to connect collegiate women with professionals. As VP, I maintained
regular and timely correspondence with industry professionals to discuss event attendance and
sponsorships which played a pivotal role in our yearly section funding. Additionally, I managed the
networking portion of our section budget by finding affordable yet effective options for event venues,
catering, and advertising. From planning to the day of, I engaged with other SWE member volunteers
and oversaw their duties to ensure that event planning and execution ran smoothly. The
aforementioned skills can easily translate to this outreach position.
My vision for this position is to encourage young women to pursue or persist in STEM. If elected, I want
to host a mini SWE conference for K-12, with technical workshops, panels, and keynote speakers.
Technical workshops could include programming a Raspberry Pi, visualizing 3D structures with origami,
etc. We could also incorporate a “science lab” for the younger kids to build simple catapults, bottle
rockets, Legos, etc. We can use many of these ideas in individual outreach events as well.
I believe in the power of education of young women. If elected, I will work hard in providing
opportunities and resources to our community of young minds.
Vice President of Professional Development Candidates
There are no candidates for the role of Vice President of Professional Development. Petition candidates are allowed until June 3rd.
