FY22 Section Election Guide - Candidate Bios and Statements

Hello Readers! The FY21 Nomination Committee is excited to present the following slate of candidates for consideration by the membership as SWE PNW officers for the FY22 fiscal year:

• President
• President-Elect
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Treasurer-Elect
• Vice President of Outreach
• Vice President of Professional Development

President Candidates

Stephanie Tu

Biography

Stephanie is a member of Boeing’s Engineering Career Foundation Program (ECFP), a two year engineering rotational program across different business units and product life cycle stages. Since she started in 2019, she has worked in flight controls, additive manufacturing, flight test and production engineering. She has been involved with SWE since her freshman year at Rutgers University, eventually serving as the Section President for two years. Most recently, Stephanie is the current SWE PNW Treasurer and President-Elect, working together with the rest of the Executive Council to implement monthly events for our community to stay connected. 
On the SWE National level, Stephanie has experience as a SWE Future Leader and a Region E Collegiate Communications Editor. In FY21, she has been leading the SWE Student Programs Committee New Benefits Workgroup, focusing on research and development of new initiatives for high school and middle school SWENexters. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys exercising, painting, and collecting succulents.

Candidate Statement

To my fellow SWE PNW members, it has been a pleasure meeting and getting to know you this year. Our section has so many amazing and passionate members and I am constantly inspired by you all. As such, I would like to continue my involvement and give back to the community as your section President. 
This year as the SWE PNW Treasurer, I managed the section finances, filled out financial reports and created a framework to more easily track and budget our funds. In addition, I took the initiative to develop external partnerships with collegiate and professional sections; We have some exciting plans in the works for a mentorship program and joint professional events. In my other role, as President-Elect, I have been shadowing our current President Cary and am familiar with the processes and standards that help the PNW Section run efficiently. 
Some of my goals for FY22 are to increase member engagement (I welcome any feedback that you might have!) and to hold more outreach events. I have heard from members that they want to get involved, but they are not sure how. We have over 500 members in our section, all of whom are good resources and have many things to share. As a board member, I will build upon the successes of FY21 and continue to foster an inclusive environment in our chapter. 

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’ 7^th 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.