GradSWE is the graduate student community of the Society of Women Engineers and starting in FY23, we’ve moved to an Affinity Group!
GradSWE comprises graduate students and professionals engaged in supporting the needs of graduate student members with resources and information necessary for successfully navigating graduate school and professional careers. As we have made the move to become an AG, we hope to expand our community and continue to offer support to all graduate students.
Meet some of our team members that are working to help keep the graduate community continuing strong:
Our Graduate Student Lead is Maggie Fox!
The Graduate Student Lead is the overseeing chair fostering the community and network for graduate students in SWE. This year our Lead is Maggie Fox (she/her), a fifth-year PhD student in Materials Science and Engineering at UC Los Angeles. She received her B.S. in Chemistry with a Materials Emphasis at SUNY Binghamton in 2018. Her research focuses on sustainable materials for building applications and optimizing materials for energy storage devices. Outside of her research, she works on education and mentoring initiatives for underrepresented groups and hopes to bring some of that work into her role as group lead. In her free time, Maggie spends a lot of time outside either training for her next marathon or watching baseball!
Our Graduate Student Lead- Elect is Sukriti Singh!
Sukriti Singh (she/her) is a second year Masters student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. Her research is focused on the optimization of task allocation in a multi-agent multi-task scenario by learning from sub-optimal demonstrations. She received her B.Tech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from National Institute of Technology Karnataka in India in 2018. After an insightful industry experience of three years in India, she moved to the States to pursue her Masters in 2021, when she was also introduced to SWE. She has volunteered as a mentor and is actively involved with the GradSWE at Georgia Tech. When she is not on her computer, she is mostly out for a run, a trek, or finding hidden cafes to read.
Our Conference Coordinator is Alyssa Stubbers!
Alyssa Stubbers (she/her) is a 4th year graduate student at University of Kentucky working on her PhD in Materials Science and Engineering. She received her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from Purdue University. Her current research at UK is focused on high temperature mechanical properties of steel and how precipitation during steel solidification can define ductility behavior at temperatures above 700°C. Alyssa is also serving as the Assistant Chair and Treasurer for her GradSWE group at UK. Outside of SWE Alyssa enjoys being in the great outdoors with her dog Benji, woodworking, and planning trips to take when she has a real job.
Our Conference Coordinator Elect is Samantha Balistreri!
Samantha Balistreri (she/her) is a graduate student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) pursuing her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. She received her B.S. in Software Engineering from ERAU in 2021. Samantha has been involved in SWE since 2017 and has served in a range of roles on both the section and Society levels. She is the Founder and Chair of the GradSWE Committee at her university and in her free time she enjoys reading, thrifting, and hanging out with her dog.
Our Communications Coordinator Rachael!
Rachael Cooper (she/her) is a PhD student in civil engineering with a water resources concentration at the University of South Florida in Tampa. She received her B.S. in Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University in 2012. After graduating from NC State, Rachael became licensed as a professional engineer. Primarily working on stormwater infrastructure design, she became motivated to return to an academic setting to research stormwater management. She first joined SWE as a professional in Raleigh and served as secretary and president of her local Eastern NC section. Rachael also enjoys all things water and storms outside of graduate school. She enjoys walks along the bay, watching thunderstorms in North America’s ‘lightning capital’, and cheering on her favorite NHL teams (Hurricanes & Lightning).
Abby Pakeltis is our Professional Graduate Student Team Lead!
Abby Pakeltis (she/her) is a recent graduate with a Masters of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Abby is a design engineer at John Deere where she is currently working in future product development for planters. Abby has previously served as an officer for the Illinois collegiate section, including section President. She was also an Awards Committee Volunteer and a SWE Future Leader. Outside of work and SWE, Abby enjoys travel, live music/musical experiences, exploring coffee shops, and recreating the drinks at home.
Our Programming Chair this year is MP Delisle!
MP Delisle (she/her) is a fifth-year PhD candidate in Civil & Environmental Engineering at UC Los Angeles, where she also earned her B.S. (CEE, ’18) and M.S. (CEE, ’20). Her research focuses on the dynamic interactions occurring in the shallow coastal zone and the impacts sea level rise will have on coastal flooding magnitudes and behaviors. MP has served on the GradSWE leadership board at UCLA since starting graduate school (including two years as president) and is the FY23 co-Lead for the Early Career Professionals Affinity Group. In her spare time, MP enjoys doing pretty much anything outside, but especially running, swimming, and skiing.
Our Mentoring Coordinator, Jacqueline Rojas Robles!
Jackie Rojas Robles (she/her) is a Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) studying Mechanical Engineering. She received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from UIC. Her current research is focused on studying bacterial adhesion on nanostructured surfaces. Jackie also serves as the GradSWE president at the UIC SWE chapter. Outside of SWE and graduate school, Jackie enjoys running outside, reading, and writing.
Other Members of our team include Karen Dsouza, our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging coordinator, and Gayathri Krishnamoorthy who will serve as the Global Student Lead.
If you are interested in joining our community, please reach out to grad-coordinator@swe.org, follow us on social media, and join our slack group!
