Society of Women Engineers

What does it take to commercialize a great idea? What is the difference between great scientific ideas and great scientific innovations? Learn the basics of tech entrepreneurship, from identifying and fostering inventions for commercial viability to finding monetary support to fund your company (even in this economy). Learn about the elements of a business plan, and discover the multitude of resources available for collegiate and early-career engineers who want to create entrepreneurial ventures.

About the Speaker:

Alaina G. Levine is a Contributor to National Geographic, science and engineering writer, science and engineering careers consultant, professional speaker and corporate comedian. Her new book on networking strategies for scientists and engineers will be published by Wiley in 2013/14. As President of Quantum Success Solutions, a career consulting enterprise with a focus on advancing the professional development expertise of scientists and engineers, she has been advising emerging and established scientists and engineers about their careers for over a decade, and has consulted with tens of thousands of early- and mid-career scientific and engineering professionals. The author of over 100 articles pertaining to science, science careers and business in such publications as Science, Nature, Smithsonian, Scientific American Online, IEEE Spectrum, New Scientist, and COSMOS, Levine was recently named a Contributor to National Geographic, where she writes and blogs for NatGeo’s website. She also pens the Profiles in Versatility career column for the American Physical Society's national publication, APS News.

Leaders and their teams are attempting to solve current business challenges using old models of leadership and problem solving in a rapidly and constantly changing environment.  This mindset unwittingly sabotages organizational change and business innovation efforts, leading to team dysfunction, stress and reduced performance and productivity that limit profitability. When you learn how to apply new neuroscience research in a way to “optimally operate” your amazing brain, you can begin to take your leadership – and your life – to a whole new level.

About the Speaker:

Former eye surgeon and medical business owner Valencia Ray, M.D., shares her experience with leading-edge science in a way that is user-friendly, compelling and relevant to optimizing leadership and team performance, innovativeness, general well-being and personal fulfillment.  She developed these concepts for her own business and life before selling her medical practice to now help others reach more of their own true potential.  Her concepts and techniques have empirical and scientific track records to help you to become more resilient, confident and personally effective – for good.

This webinar will focus on career reentry strategies for engineers on career break looking to return to the workforce. Carol will present strategies drawing from the "7 Steps to Relaunch Success" career reentry framework developed for Back on the Career Track, the book she co-authored on the topic, and refined through work with thousands of "relaunchers" since the book was published. She will speak specifically about "relaunch success stories" in STEM fields. Tips on updating engineering skills, building an online profile, developing an "elevator story" when a career break is involved, and networking techniques such as finding "people from the past" will be included.

About the Speaker:

Carol Fishman Cohen is the co-author of career reentry strategy book Back on the Career Track: A Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms Who Want to Return to Work and the co-founder of iRelaunch (www.iRelaunch.com), a company producing career reentry programs. Their flagship event, the iRelaunch Return to Work Conference has been held 15 times since 2008 in major U.S. cities and in London. The 16th Conference will be on October 2, 2013 at NYU/Stern's Kimmel Center. Over 10,000 people have attended their workshops, seminars, conferences and presentations. Carol has worked closely with technology companies and universities interested in helping women return to STEM fields, and with individuals who are returning to technical careers after time away.

What makes people value your expertise, take your advice, trust you, and want to hire you or your firm?  Hearing examples of past successes.   Hone your skill in talking comfortably about your expertise and your company’s achievements.  Learn to talk about your work - without bragging.  Learn how to find, construct, and tell examples, vignettes, and stories that highlights the value you bring to the table.  Get more comfortable and competent at teaching people what to count on you for, what to ask you for, and what kinds of opportunities and information to send your way.

About the Speaker:

Lynne Waymon is CEO of Contacts Count, the international training and consulting firm that specializes in professional and business networking.  She’s a recognized expert and thought leader on how to put the tools of networking to work in the service of business and professional goals. 

 Lynne is the co-author of Make Your Contacts Count (2nd edition, NY, American Management Association).  In keynotes, training programs, and webinars she gives professionals in corporate, government, association, university, and non-profit audiences, practical strategies for getting things done through networking.

Computational methods in engineering enable fast, convenient and accurate simulation, design or analysis of complex systems. As a result, computation has become a fundamental tool that is widely across all engineering disciplines. Traditional computational analysis in engineering relies on desktop workstations. But with the recent rise of mobile and cloud computing, the ways that engineers are utilizing computation is changing. In this webinar, we examine the increasingly important role of these new technologies across a range of engineering disciplines, and we consider emerging trends that may transform engineering workflows in the near future.

About the Speaker:

Dr. David Knezevic is a Lecturer in the Institute for Applied Computational Science at Harvard, and a co-founder of Akselos, Inc., which is a startup that is commercializing state-of-the-art cloud-based software for high-fidelity engineering simulations. David holds a PhD from Oxford University (Rhodes scholar) and prior to his position at Harvard, he was a post-doctoral associate in the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT. David has expertise in a range of areas related to computational engineering, including applied mathematics, computer science, software development and supercomputing.

When evaluating our success as a leader or manager, most people consult their own internal scorecard with familiar benchmarks related to salary, job title, promotion and opportunities to advance.  Naturally, we focus on past performance as the best indicator of our future success.  This approach has merit, of course, but may be misleading at best and misguided at worst, because success can often mask the fact that we are often simultaneously building reputation in one area, while eroding our professional goodwill in another.    In other words, all of the “right stuff” accomplished on your To Do list may be jeopardized by the “wrong stuff” on your To Stop list. This threat – which ironically increases with an individual’s seniority - has somewhat recently been attributed to the presence of ‘derailers.’ Derailers – or career stallers –are not the same as weaknesses.  They are tendencies we have that left unnoticed and unchecked, can be disastrous to our confidence, credibility and impact.  The question is: could you be one of the 50%? How do you know? What can you do about it?

About the Speaker:

Aleen Bayard is the Principal of MarketZing Inc. a consulting practice focused on building organizational capacity in the areas of leadership development, team effectiveness, culture and managing change.  Aleen uses a variety of proven assessment tools including DiSC, 360 for Leaders, Hogan Index, Barrett Values Index and 5 Dysfunctions of a Team to design customized development programs, curriculum and workshops. Aleen also is on the faculty of Northwestern University and University of Chicago where she teaches coursework related to Leadership Practices, Organizational Change and Sustainability.

At home, abroad, or in globally dispersed projects, cultural complexity continues to challenge individuals, teams and organizations working across national, ethnic, professional, functional and organizational boundaries. In all of these contexts, “culture” routinely influences the entire range of organizational processes from talent recruitment and development to leadership, teamwork and change. Individual abilities to recognize and leverage cultural complexity can determine the success or failure of workforce engagement, productivity, innovation and satisfaction. Three frameworks, each with associated learning tools, have been developed over the last two decades for accelerating intercultural interaction and learning competencies. While each provides a different lens for understanding and managing cultural complexity, all three point to the importance of cultural self-awareness in acquiring what is alternatively referred to as Intercultural Competence, Cultural Intelligence and Cultural Agility.

This webinar will draw on these three frameworks to help individuals determine practical and relevant ways to assess and develop their level of cultural self-awareness. The webinar will also introduce practical self-service tools for accelerating culture learning that are grounded in each framework.

About the Speaker:

Ana Reyes is a founding partner with New Worlds Enterprise, specializing in global leadership development, culturally complex collaboration, virtual organization development, and applied ethnographic assessment. Ana teaches in Penn's Organizational Dynamics program, in Wharton's Executive Education programs, and has previously taught in Lauder-Wharton Summer Programs, in the Executive Masters in Technology Management Program and at the Universities of California and Maryland.

Ana's professional interests focus on the engagement of culturally diverse leaders and their teams in the 21st century human development challenges of building international businesses and mindsets, mastering geographically dispersed teamwork, humanizing technology mediated collaboration and communication, and coaching individuals and groups, often across distance and time. She draws from a broad cultural and educational background to create assessment, program designs, and coaching techniques to help leaders and organizations to achieve their desired strategic, professional, and personal goals.

Are you wondering, “How did business development become part of my job?  I’m an engineer!”  Business development is now everybody’s business.  In addition to doing a good job with technical requirements, you now must learn how to extend the business at the client sites where you work and uncover other new business opportunities.  The good news is, by adding on a few skills you can make your company more visible, attract opportunity, and ensure your continued career growth.   

In this webinar, we’ll look at The 8 Networking Competencies that will help you feel more comfortable and competent in that new role. 

About the Speaker:

Lynne Waymon is CEO of Contacts Count, the international training and consulting firm that specializes in professional and business networking.  She’s a recognized expert and thought leader on how to put the tools of networking to work in the service of business and professional goals. 

Lynne is the co-author of Make Your Contacts Count (2nd edition, NY, American Management Association).  In keynotes, training programs, and webinars she gives professionals in corporate, government, association, university, and non-profit audiences, practical strategies for getting things done through networking.