T HE S OCIETY U NIVERSITY

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M ICHIGAN A NN A RBOR S ECTION

The Specialist
4 TH O CTOBER 2012 F ALL 2012, I SSUE 2 D AISY W ANG P UBLICATIONS O FFICER

T HIS WEEK S S EMINAR WITH M POWERED E NTREPRENEURSHIP

New ventures are a dime a dozen these days -- if you live in a tiny strip of California. In the rest of the world, and here in Ann Arbor, engineers aren't spinning their class projects into businesses and art students aren't applying their designs to run their own clothing line. And that's the problem. So the goal of MPowered is two-fold: one, to bring out the few courageous selfstarters among us to begin their entrepreneurial journey, and two, to spread their bold passion to the rest of the U-M community. In short, we want to start the fire.

U PCOMING S EMINARS :

October the 18th, 2012 November the 1st, 2012 All Seminars Take Place Every Other Thursday at 6pm Swell Dinner and Dessert at Every Meeting! By swell, I mean great food and not pizza.

It all began at an entrepreneurship conference in March 2007 on that tiny-strip of California (Silicon Valley) when two U-M students realized the lack of entrepreneurial passion within our university compared to those in the Bay Area. MPowered's founders, Ashwin L. and Israel V., knew quick changes were needed if Michigan was to keep up. Their vision was to foster a culture within the student body that embraces innovation, speaks openly about their ideas and then turns those ideas into something even more. It was decided that this vision would be accomplished by MPowered Entrepreneurship, a student-run organization focused on starting and sustaining an entrepreneurial movement on campus. -Taken from mpowered.umich.edu

I NSIDE THIS ISSUE : B IG H OUSE A LUMNI T OUR SWE ETHEART C ORNER M R . E NGINEER C AREER F AIR : B EHIND THE S CENES 2 3 3 4

S AVE T HE D ATE !
Paint the Rock: A SWEventure Friday, October 5th, 2012 Food Gathers Volunteering Thursday, October 11th, 2012 Undecided Night Thursday, October 25th, 2012 Shadow Day Saturday, October 27th, 2012
For more information check out SWE announcements or the SWE website at swe.engin.umich.edu.

D EAR D AISY S UE 5 5 SWE AT THE P UMPKIN P ATCH SWE ET LYRICS 7

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T HE B IG H OUSE A LUMNI T OUR

On September 22nd of this year, fellow SWE members joined a few Michigan Alums for a tour of the one and only Big House. What a unique and rewarding experience to have a tour of the legendary Big House and meet with successful people who were once in our shoes. Michigan Stadium, nicknamed "The Big House," is the football stadium for the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Michigan Stadium was built in 1927 at a cost of $950,000 and had an original capacity of 72,000. Before playing at this stadium, the Wolverines played football on Ferry Field. Michigan Stadium is the largest stadium in the United States with an official capacity of 109,901 but has hosted crowds in excess of 114,000. It is the third largest stadium in the world and the 31st largest sports venue including auto racing and horse racing. The one "extra seat" in Michigan Stadium is said to be reserved for former athletic director Fritz Crisler, although its location is not specified. Every home game since November 8, 1975 has drawn a crowd in excess of 100,000, an active streak of more than 200 contests. On September 10, 2011, 114,804 attended a game at Michigan Stadium between Michigan and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, making this the largest crowd to see a college football game since 1927 and setting an NCAA single-game attendance record. The Big House tour like many other Alumni events is a good way to connect with people, make friends and network. Regardless of your major or future plans, networking is completely necessary. Networking is an incredibly important life skill that you should utilize consistently in your day to day activities. To my fellow SWE members, when you are successful, be sure to remember SWE and your years at Michigan. It would be awesome if you could even return to Michigan for future Alumi relation activities with SWE and provide our younger minds with motivation and some networking access. See you at the next Alumni event! -Brought to you by Daisy Wang (Facts and 2nd Photo from Wikipedia)

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S WEETHEART C ORNER
Nominator: Olivia Marshall: I would like to nominate Julianne Tsai. Julianne helped us out a lot on this Thursday with CIS. She was enthusiastic about SWE and was willing to stay for another shift because we were short on help. Nominee: Name: Julianne Tsai Year: 2015 (sophomore) Major: Mechanical Engineering Favorite book: The Help, closely followed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Favorite movie: Captain America (Chris Evans <3 -swoon-) What I like best about Ann Arbor: The open environment (everyone's so friendly!) If I were an inventor, I would create: A teleportation machine because they're just so handy, especially when I wake up late
Do you have a SWEetheart in mind for a nomination? Dont hesitate, nominate today! Every Specialist will feature a special little SWEetheart who deserves recognition. Please send any nominations to Nadine Kaara <[email protected] >

Congratulations, Julianne!

ET HEART

M R . E NGINEER : W HAT COULD BE BETTER THAN A M ALE E NGINEER B EAUTY P AGENT ?

Mr. Engineer is often one of the most successful traditions of SWE and a whole lot of fun. Every year Mr. Engineer consists of representatives from various organizations or random entries of male engineers who hope to woo the audience with their talents and charisma. Attending the event ensures a fantastic time of entertainment, but helping to plan it can be just as fun and provides awesome experience. As a freshman, I first really started getting involved with SWE when my friend forced me to be in a Mr. Engineer subcommittee. Before then, I had been to a few events, but I never really made any connections with any of the other members. Helping plan Mr. Engineer changed all of that. I made connections with other subcommittee members that lasted long after Mr. Engineer was over. In addition to making friends with my subcommittee, my experiences through Mr. Engineer are what drove me to become more involved with SWE. I helped with Mr. Engineer again my sophomore year, became an elite member and eventually ran for an officer position. And now, I get to be the one who plans the event! All in all, I think that joining the Mr. Engineer sub-committee is a great way for members to start getting more involved with SWE. The sub-committee does creative things like designing flyers and making the contestant video as well as dealing with the logistics and finances of the competition. Not only that, but you get the opportunity to make lasting connections with the SWE members on the committee, as well as the contestants. Be on the lookout for future Mr. Engineer sub-committee announcements! -Submitted by Emily Carroll

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C AREER F AIR : B EHIND THE S CENES

Career Fair is one of the largest events held on North Campus every year. It brings in over 290 companies, over 1100 recruiters, and over 3000 students. Companies rely on Career Fair to find talent and students rely on Career Fair to start their own professional careers. Preparation for this years career fair started long before the school school started. The SWE/TBP Career Fair has been held annually for almost 30 years. It has grown over the years, small changes and big changes, but one thing stayed the same, it is entirely student run. To start off with, there are 4 directors, 2 from SWE and 2 from TBP (Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society). The directors started planning in December of last year, with the help of the previous directors. By January, the directors were let loose, and set off to make this career fair their own. Soon enough there were 20 excited chairs from both SWE and TBP to help out. Most importantly, there were 100s of volunteer hours put into it. As SWEs Career Fair Directors for 2012, Jaimie and I would like to send a huge thank you to all of you for your help. Our chairs were AMAZING! They were always enthusiastic and upbeat. It was really great to see it all come together in the end. All of the support we received from SWE, whether you put your time in during the fair, or you came to receptions, or you hung flyers, was greatly appreciated and we couldn't have succeeded as we did without you. Being a Career Fair Director was one of the best experiences I had on campus. I learned so many of those skills your supposed to learn outside the classroom and I really enjoyed it. It was truly rewarding on Monday and Tuesday to see the hard work you put in and the job well done. So thank you SWE for having given me this opportunity.

-Submitted by Kristi Wegener (Career Fair Co-Director)

S O I ALREADY WENT TO C AREER F AIR AND ...I GOT AN INTERVIEW!

To prepare you for your various future interviews, I have pulled some questions that I think are relevant for engineering interviews. I would advise contemplating what you would say at your interview and how you might answer these questions. 1. 4. Tell me about your greatest success in using the principles of logic to solve an engineering problem in your last job. Tell me about a time when you became aware of a hazardous workplace condition. How did you handle it? Tell me about your experience in dealing with routine engineering work. How do you keep from getting bored? I expect the engineer that I hire for this position to be precise detailed oriented in everything he or she does. What checks and balances do you use to make sure that you dont make mistakes? 9. How do you communicate priority projects with a team of other engineers without making them feel overwhelmed?

5.

10. Tell me about the last time you lost your temper in the field. 11. What do you get out of engineering that you couldnt get from any other kind of work? 12. What have you specifically done to make the work of the engineers who report to you easier?

Tell me about the most challenging engi6. neering project that you have been involved with during past year. Do you have any patents? If so, tell me about them. If not, is it something you see yourself pursuing and why or why not? 7.

2.

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What is your overall career objective? Do you see yourself working in engi8. neering ten years from now? If not, what do you think you will be doing?

Give me an example of a time when you -Questions brought to you by had to teach a skill to other engineers. www.thinkenergygroup.com

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D EAR D AISY S UE ,
If you remember from the Specialist last academic year, there was a column for Dear Abby. Dear Daisy Sue, Dear SearchingForAdventure, I am a senior this year and I feel I have too many suggestions to like I have not experienced Ann Arbor to list but I would recommend going to the I would like to continue the its full extent. Do you have any sugges- Farmers Market in Kerrytown that hapcolumn, but I have to change the name tions for activities? pens every Wednesday and Saturday. It because I am the new editor who will be runs the whole year, but its more fun -SearchingForAdventure replying to any questions. when its busy in the early fall or spring. If you have any questions about Ann Arbor, relationships, professional advice or if you even need some new suggestions for dessert, just ask Daisy Sue Coleman!
Photo courtesy of www.a2gov.org

I would also suggest going to the Nichols Arboretum for a hike or kayaking at Argo Canoe Livery near there. Being in nature is always fun and of course its quite beautiful at all times of the year.

-Daisy Sue

SWE AT THE P UMPKIN P ATCH WITH S CHLUMBERGER

As a native Michigander, I visit the apple orchard nearly every year. I like to think I go because it's a standard fall activity, but who am I kidding...I go for the cider and donuts! Fortunately this year was no exception. This past Sunday SWE and Schlumberger went to Wasem Fruit Farm. However, due to the really warm weather really early this spring, there were no apples. So our apple picking event turned into pumpkin picking, which was just as fun! As soon as we arrived we were greeted by the lady in charge of school visits, which normally means kindergartners, but we're still in school, too. Next, it was time for a cozy hayride and a chance to see all of the fruit trees and learn about apple trees. Who knew apple trees last up to 100 years! Then we traveled to not one, not two, but THREE pumpkin patches looking for that perfect pumpkin or gourd. After finding a pumpkin and learning about the different varieties of corn, we had donuts and lemonade. What a perfect way to wrap up a great day at the pumpkin patch! -Submitted by Emily Zumbrunnen

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W RITE FOR THE SPECIALIST !

Hello There, Have you ever considered becoming an author? Sharing innovative ideas? Sharing a recipe? Talking about something completely random like the origin of the toaster? Submit an article to the Specialist! Submissions can be original or taken from somewhere else so long as you cite your sources. If you are unsure what to write about or submit, check out the past Specialists online in the archives or email me for ideas! I am open to all forms of creativity and everyones voice should always be heard. The Specialist is published every seminar, so there are many opportunities to be published. One of the best parts is that you can even earn SWE points from your submissions, ranging from .5 to 2 points (with a max of 3), depending on how long your article is. Please submit articles by the Monday night of any seminar week. If you have any questions regarding submissions or the Specialist in general, email Daisy Wang, Publications Officer, at [email protected].

ENGINEERING IN THE WORLD TODAY :

F OSTERING Y OUNG M INDS

Committees or people in general like that of SWE outreach are critical in encouraging children of all ages to pursue important fields in our world today such as engineering. So why teach engineering to children? Children are fascinated with building and with taking things apart to see how they work, they engineer informally all the time. By encouraging these explorations in elementary school, we can keep these interests alive. Describing their activities as "engineering" when they are engaged in the natural design process can help children develop positive associations with engineering, and increase their desire to pursue such activities in the future. Engineering projects integrate other disciplines. Engaging students in hands-on, real-world engineering experiences can enliven math and science and other content areas. Engineering projects can motivate students to learn math and science concepts by illustrating relevant applications. Engineering fosters problem-solving skills, including problem formulation, iteration, testing of alternative solutions, and evaluation of data to guide decisions. Engineering embraces project-based learning, encompasses hands-on construction, and sharpens children's abilities to function in three dimensions - all skills that are important for prospering in the modern world. Learning about engineering will increase students' awareness of and access to scientific and technical careers. The number of American citizens pursuing engineering is decreasing. Early introduction to engineering can encourage many capable students, especially girls and minorities, to consider it as a career and enroll in the necessary science and math courses in high school. Engineering and technological literacy are necessary for the 21st century. As our society increasingly depends on engineering and technology, our citizens need to understand these fields. Volunteer for SWE Outreach today to make a difference! (Facts and Picture from http:// www.mos.org )

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SWE- ET L YRICS
SWE Song - to the tune of Ill Make a Man Out of You from Mulan Composed by: SWE E-board

Reaching out to children grades K to 12 Teaching math and science can be pretty swell One of the largest groups on north campus over 340 strong SWE will make engineers, out of you Be in SWE Networking with industry to get the jobs we need Hosting the career fair with T-BP With all the strength of a raging fire Supporting all the female engineers. Be in SWE We must be a community SWE developing professionally

Lets get down to business to become engineers Why are there so many men, around here Youre the oddest bunch Ive ever met but you can bet before were through SWE will make engineers, out of you

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N OTES :

INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:

Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them. -William Shakespeare