FY20 Core Board!
Below are the bios of the SWE-ECI Core Board members.
Kristen Wagner - President
Kristen is a Mechanical Engineer who works at PepsiCo – Quaker Foods & Snacks in Milling Research & Development. She has worked at Quaker for the past six years since she graduated from The University of Iowa with a Mechanical Engineering degree. Kristen has been active in SWE for ten years; four years as a Collegiate and six years as a Professional member. She has held various roles within SWE-ECI: Interim President, Vice-President, Jr. Girl Scout Day Chair for two years, and College Outreach Chair for three years. Kristen received the SWE-ECI Leadership Award in 2019 and SWEsterhood Award in 2018.
Aside from work and SWE, Kristen’s favorite hobbies are traveling and spending time with her husband, Devin, their 10 month old son, Logan, and their dog, Rylee.
Aside from work and SWE, Kristen’s favorite hobbies are traveling and spending time with her husband, Devin, their 10 month old son, Logan, and their dog, Rylee.
Katie Allen - Treasurer & Jr. Girl Scout Day Chair
Katie is a Sr. Engineering Manager who works at Collins Aerospace. She has been active in SWE since her college years at the University of Notre Dame. She joined SWE-ECI in 2011 and has previously served as K-12 Outreach Chair where she inaugurated the popular Jr. Girl Scout Day event and President where she helped update the section bylaws and bring in Rockwell Collins corporate sponsored memberships. She has been treasurer many times and earned the Leadership Award for SWE in 2015 and 2016. Katie has attended and organized numerous section events.
Katie is happy to continue as treasurer as she feels that she is good at the role and has done a good job keeping SWE’s budget the last few years. She has ensured that our grant from Collins Aerospace is kept active, allowing many of the popular events to take place. Being treasurer allows her to help in many different aspects which she enjoys. It is also a good fit for her personal life since the treasurer role allows her to support the chapter on her own schedule.
Katie is happy to continue as treasurer as she feels that she is good at the role and has done a good job keeping SWE’s budget the last few years. She has ensured that our grant from Collins Aerospace is kept active, allowing many of the popular events to take place. Being treasurer allows her to help in many different aspects which she enjoys. It is also a good fit for her personal life since the treasurer role allows her to support the chapter on her own schedule.
Jillian Nagle - Secretary
Jill is a Project Manager for P&G Oral Care in Iowa City. She studied Mechanical Engineering at The University of Iowa where she graduated in 2013. At The University of Iowa she was very involved with the Society of Women Engineers. She held several exec. board positions throughout her four years and rounded off her collegiate SWE career with being President her senior year.
Upon graduation, Jill got involved with the local professional section, SWE-ECI. Over the past six years Jill has been Vice President, President, K-12 Outreach Chair, and Secretary. She is always willing to fill in wherever needed.
Jill is glad to continue being Secretary of SWE-ECI. She enjoys being involved with every aspect of SWE - Professional Development, Outreach, Networking, Conferences, and Education.
Upon graduation, Jill got involved with the local professional section, SWE-ECI. Over the past six years Jill has been Vice President, President, K-12 Outreach Chair, and Secretary. She is always willing to fill in wherever needed.
Jill is glad to continue being Secretary of SWE-ECI. She enjoys being involved with every aspect of SWE - Professional Development, Outreach, Networking, Conferences, and Education.
Kelly Hentges - Membership Chair
Kelly Hentges is a Research and Development Process Engineer at PepsiCo – Quaker Foods and Snacks. She studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana and graduated in 2015. At the University of Illinois, she was involved in her collegiate SWE Outreach Committee as well as the Vice-President of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Car Team.
Coming from such a strong collegiate chapter that provided professional development, as well as a support system, when Kelly saw that PepsiCo did not have its own corporate chapter she set out to create one. Three years later, PepsiCo is now a member of the SWE Corporate Partnership Council supporting R&D, IT, and Manufacturing divisions, as well as the PepsiCo SWE Challenge. As president of the PepsiCo Midwest chapter and a member of the PepsiCo SWE core team, this year she has focused on expanding internal membership, especially to remote sites, and delivering quarterly professional development events.
Having recently moved to Iowa City and in the process of transferring to a position with significantly less travel, Kelly is looking to become more involved and expand her network of women in STEM through SWE ECI.
Coming from such a strong collegiate chapter that provided professional development, as well as a support system, when Kelly saw that PepsiCo did not have its own corporate chapter she set out to create one. Three years later, PepsiCo is now a member of the SWE Corporate Partnership Council supporting R&D, IT, and Manufacturing divisions, as well as the PepsiCo SWE Challenge. As president of the PepsiCo Midwest chapter and a member of the PepsiCo SWE core team, this year she has focused on expanding internal membership, especially to remote sites, and delivering quarterly professional development events.
Having recently moved to Iowa City and in the process of transferring to a position with significantly less travel, Kelly is looking to become more involved and expand her network of women in STEM through SWE ECI.
Debarati Ray - Marketing/Communications Chair
Debarati Ray is a Sr. Systems Engineer at Collins Aerospace and works with the avionics development team for a brand new, clean sheet Japanese aircraft called the Mitsubishi Regional Jet. For the past two years, she was deployed to Moses Lake, Washington to perform flight test on the aircraft and get it ready for certification. Debarati joined Collins as a co-op in August 2010 and transitioned on to become a full-time employee after her graduation in June 2011. She graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida with a degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2011 and continued on to get her MBA through The University of Iowa’s Professional and Managers program.
Debarati has been involved with SWE-ECI the entirety of her professional career and had the opportunity to hold a variety of positions throughout the years: Membership, Marketing, Section Representative, President, and Treasurer.
Debarati has been involved with SWE-ECI the entirety of her professional career and had the opportunity to hold a variety of positions throughout the years: Membership, Marketing, Section Representative, President, and Treasurer.
Amy Kurr - College Outreach Chair
Amy is a Minneapolis / St. Paul Minnesota native with a passion for STEM and sports. She graduated from Iowa State University (ISU) in May of 2018 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering and currently works as an Electromechanical Design Engineer at Schneider Electric. In her free-time Amy competes in power-lifting and strongman, coaches the non-profit Girls On The Run, and conducts research with ISU’s Recreation Services team and Kinesiology department on the atmosphere in the weightlifting areas on college campuses. Amy enjoys traveling around the nation as a Tau Beta Pi Engineering Futures Facilitator, starting up an alumni chapter for Tau Beta Pi in the local Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area, volunteering for the Society of Women Engineers, serving at church, and eating excessive amounts of ice cream.
Amy is interested in becoming more involved with SWE-ECI, because the people she met though SWE in college are/were incredible and have provided her with life-long friendships; the opportunities to give back are massive and really where her heart lies - women in underrepresented areas; the professional development and networking opportunities have changed her life and she cannot wait to see what they will do post-college. Amy brings a lot of experience to the College Outreach Chair, because she has been working with college females in underrepresented areas (STEM and weightlifting) for the past five years and she finds it to be very rewarding for both them and her; Amy has strong connections with Iowa State University's and The University of Iowa's engineering departments, the Tau Beta Pi chapters at both colleges, the SWE campus organization at Iowa State University, and the Carver College of Medicine and is currently working on a few projects with both schools; Amy travels the US as an engineering facilitator teaching top level engineers the "soft skills" engineering employees are looking for and working to better prepare engineering graduates for the workforce and/or graduate school. Being the College Outreach Chair for SWE gives her the opportunity to impact more women, as majority of her sessions are male-dominated.
Amy is interested in becoming more involved with SWE-ECI, because the people she met though SWE in college are/were incredible and have provided her with life-long friendships; the opportunities to give back are massive and really where her heart lies - women in underrepresented areas; the professional development and networking opportunities have changed her life and she cannot wait to see what they will do post-college. Amy brings a lot of experience to the College Outreach Chair, because she has been working with college females in underrepresented areas (STEM and weightlifting) for the past five years and she finds it to be very rewarding for both them and her; Amy has strong connections with Iowa State University's and The University of Iowa's engineering departments, the Tau Beta Pi chapters at both colleges, the SWE campus organization at Iowa State University, and the Carver College of Medicine and is currently working on a few projects with both schools; Amy travels the US as an engineering facilitator teaching top level engineers the "soft skills" engineering employees are looking for and working to better prepare engineering graduates for the workforce and/or graduate school. Being the College Outreach Chair for SWE gives her the opportunity to impact more women, as majority of her sessions are male-dominated.
Smriti Tibrewal
Smriti is a Sr. Systems Engineer at Collins Aerospace. She has a MBA from University of California, Davis - Graduate School of Management and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Smriti currently serves as the K-12 Outreach Chair on the SWE-ECI core board and has been an active member and part of the core board for over three years. In her spare time she enjoys exploring new destinations, listening to music, and cooking.
Sravani Manne - Professional Development Chair
Sravani works at Collins Aerospace. This is her second year as Professional Development Chair. She has also served on the SWE-ECI nominating committee for two years and has attended numerous events with SWE-ECI over the past years.
Ashley Cassell - Special Event Coordinator
Ashley graduated from The University of Iowa with her Biomedical Engineering degree and has been an Industrial Engineer at Collins Aerospace for three years. She started on the SWE-ECI core board in FY18 as the K-12 Outreach chair and in FY19 she moved to Jr Girl Scout Day chair. She enjoys being involved in STEM outreach and seeing the younger generation get excited about math, science, and engineering. In her spare time, Ashley loves running, reading, and traveling.
Ashley is currently living in Portland, OR, but she will be coming back to Iowa in the November time-frame. Being a Special Event Coordinator allows her to stay involved by being on core board and plan an event in the Spring.
Ashley is currently living in Portland, OR, but she will be coming back to Iowa in the November time-frame. Being a Special Event Coordinator allows her to stay involved by being on core board and plan an event in the Spring.
Darcy Magee - Special Event Coordinator
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