Officers for 2011-2012

Section Officers

Committee Chairs

We welcome volunteers for all open positions!

Outreach Group Professional Development Group
Communications Group

Counselors

Biographies of Officers


Diana Madden - President, Historian

president@philaswe.org

Diana has been actively involved in SWE since 2000. In 2004, she received her BS in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Power and minor in Mathematics from Drexel University . Diana has worked at Schiller and Hersh Associates as an Electrical Designer creating “blue prints” for commercial and educational buildings since her first Co-op at Drexel. While attending Drexel, she served as Website Coordinator and President. Currently, Diana is the Philadelphia Webmaster, Historian and Region E Webmaster. Within the Philadelphia Section she has also been Drexel Counselor, and VP of Communications. In 2009, she won the Outstanding Counselor Award and helped the Section win the History Award for large section. The Philadelphia Section website has also received numerous awards under Diana’s management. She is a self taught webmaster, loves cats, and in her spare time she works on genealogy research and crafting.


Jennifer Pesch - Vice President - Outreach

outreach@philaswe.org

Jennifer Pesch graduated from Penn State University in 2001 with a BS in Environmental Systems Engineering. Since graduating, she has been employed as an Environmental Engineer at Urban Engineers, Inc. in Philadelphia and she has worked on several environmental and sustainability projects for PennDOT , PA Turnpike, DRPA, City of Philadelphia , SEPTA, PHL, and various private developers.

She is a Professional Engineer in New Jersey (and is in the process of obtaining reciprocity in Pennsylvania ) and she is a LEED AP. She also completed her MS in Engineering Management from Drexel University in December 2010.

Jennifer and a co-worker began an internal group at her company called the Urban Women’s Professional Network (UWPN). The goal of this group is to provide professional guidance to women with our company through mentoring and networking. Jennifer was also the College Contacts Committee Chair for the ASCE Younger Members Forum (YMF) for 3 years, which included coordination with the College Chapters of ASCE, presentations to various local colleges, and organizing activities aimed to involve college students in ASCE.



Tessa Anodide - Vice President - Professional Development

profdev@philaswe.org

Tessa obtained her Bachelor's Degree in Applied Mathematics in 2003 and was first exposed to SWE in 2006 through an affinity group of SWE members from various sections at Lockheed Martin. Shortly after her first exposure, she joined the Society and immediately began contributing at the local and national levels. Tessa held the position of Newsletter Editor for the SWE Philadelphia section from 2007-2009 and Section Representative in 2010. Tessa was selected as one of five members to represent the society in the New Faces of Engineering Program in 2009. She has presented several seminars at the Regional and National Conferences since 2007 including a Continuing Education Series (CES) Instructor for "The Art of Negotiation: Strategies for Women" (2007, 2008) and "Career Readiness: Things You Need to Know Before Entering the Real World" (2008). She will be participating in WE'11, leveraging her experiences as a new mom by presenting 'Guilty: The Diary of a Working Mother.'


Jackee Nowicke - Senior Vice President - Communications

communications@philaswe.org

Jackee has been involved with SWE since her sophomore year of college at MIT. In college, she served as MIT SWE's social chair and the Mechanical Engineering representative. She received her BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2008 and moved back to her hometown of Philly to work for Boeing in Ridley Park , PA , where she is a structural engineering for the V-22 Osprey helicopter. She joined the SWE-Philadelphia chapter after graduating. Since then, she has served on the scholarship selection and the officer election committees and organized a section meeting at Boeing. Last year, she served as VP Communications and is excited for the opportunity to bring her enthusiasm for women in engineering to serving SWE-Philadelphia again.


Jessica Snyder - Secretary

jessicalynnsnyder@hotmail.com

Jessica Snyder has been an active SWE member for six years. She is currently an awards coordinator for the SWE Emerging Leader Systems Award. She has served as Professional Development Chair/VP for both the Chicago Regional and Philadelphia Sections, as well as organized professional workshops at both the 2007 Region H and 2010 Region E conferences. Since 2009, she has organized a yearly SWE Philadelphia Section meeting at The Dow Chemical Company. Jessica graduated from Lafayette College with a degree in Chemical Engineering and also earned her Masters in Engineering in Polymer Science at Lehigh University. Jessica has worked in scale-up and manufacturing for The Dow Chemical Company (formerly Rohm and Haas) since 2001. She currently manages an emulsions pilot plant facility in Croydon, PA. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughters, playing volleyball, and gardening.


Krista Pohl - Treasurer, Corporate Liaison

corporate@philaswe.org

Krista is a degreed civil engineer currently working in business development in the railroad engineering field. She specializes in design and construction. Krista has received her BSE in civil engineering systems from the University of Pennsylvania and an MSE in civil engineering systems from Temple University . Krista currently works for Michael Baker in Philadelphia, PA.

Krista has been a professional member of the Philadelphia Section of SWE for over five (5) years, having rediscovered the organization after four (4) years of collegiate membership at Penn. During her time as a professional member, Krista has served the Society in many roles. Krista has served as Scholarship Chair, Senior Vice-President, and the head of all Outreach activities. Krista currently serves as Section President with her term ending in 2011. In 2009, Krista was selected to be a Region E Leadership Coach. She has provided workshops at the Region E Conference, various sections, and the Region E Leadership Summit. This is a position that she really enjoys as it helps make a difference in the Section leadership. When she is not at a SWE event, Krista’s hobbies include baseball, traveling, and studying for the PE (again).


Victoria Morgan - Section Representative

vmorgan811@verizon.net

Tori, a prior student member, has been a professional member since 2000. She received her BS in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Computers from the University of Pittsburgh in 2000. While attending Pitt, she served in variety of SWE positions including secretary. Tori has M.S. in Systems Engineering from Penn State University and an MBA from Villanova. For the Philadelphia section she has served as Secretary and Membership chair. She works as a Systems Engineer with Lockheed Martin, IS&GS.


Michelle Gawrys - Section Representative

michelle.gawrys@gmail.com

Michelle has been actively involved in SWE since her freshman year at Princeton where she held numerous positions, including Co-President. She led outreach events for high school girls and girl scouts, held themed study breaks, organized industry brunches, introduced a mentoring system across class years, and attended numerous regional and national conferences. With Philadelphia SWE she planned a successful Friday Night Event in the 2010 Region E Conference featuring SWE Coffee Mug making and the entertainment of UPenn A Cappella groups. Michelle served as Secretary for FY11 where she enjoyed sharing information with the board and helping the section operate smoothly.


Adrienne Nikolic - Alternate Section Representative

adriennenikolic@hotmail.com

Adrienne Nikolic joined SWE during her freshman year at Washington State University. Following the completion of her Master's Degree from Johns Hopkins University , Adrienne moved to Philadelphia to work for Black & Veatch, a global engineering and consulting company. At Black & Veatch, Adrienne's project work includes the design of Water Treatment Plants, Wastewater Treatment Plants, and Sustainable Planning and Design. Since joining the Philadelphia Section, she has served as the Corporate Liaison.


Jennifer Garner - Collegiate Liaison, Awards

foilfencer27@verizon.net

Jennifer is a Process Engineer with Merck's Global Vaccine Technology and Engineering department, providing technical and project support for incoming raw materials. She is pursuing a certificate in Supply Chain Management from Lehigh University. Originally from New Jersey, Jennifer has served the Philadelphia section as Counselor, Secretary, Section Representative and President. She also served as the co-Chair for the Region E Conference held with Drexel University in March 2006. Jennifer enjoys fencing, hiking, 5K runs, football, and is new to motorcyle riding. She is also a member of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers. This year as Collegiate Liaison, Jennifer hopes to strengthen relations between the college and professional sections of SWE, and help the collegiate sections set and reach membership and program goals.


Nicole Wittmer - Engineers' Club of Philadelphia Liaison

ncwittmer@verizon.net

Nicole graduated from Drexel in 1997 with a bachelor of science in Electrical Engineering. She has worked at Rohm& Haas, Mustang Engineering and for the past four years she has been working at Sunoco in Philadelphia, PA as a process control system reliably engineer. Nicole has been a SWE member for about four years and has been to the last three national conventions.


Tracie Spangler - Meeting Coordinator

rsvp@philaswe.org.com

Tracie joined SWE her freshman year of college at Northeastern University, where she participated as the fundraising chair, vice president, and finally president her senior year. Upon graduation with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, she moved to PA to work at Merck & Co. as a Biochemical Engineer. She has been at Merck for just over 2 years, and has recently transitioned from novel product process development to inline product support for vaccines and other existing biological therapeutics. Tracie enjoys spending time with her friends, family, and pets, as well as traveling and trying new things. She is also currently working on her M. Eng in Biological Chemical Engineering part-time at Lehigh.


Julie Nicholas - Newsletter Editor

newsletter@philaswe.org
Julie is currently an environmental engineer at Stantec Consulting Services. Her work includes project management, environmental permitting, stormwater systems design, and remediation engineering design for multiple utility and industrial clients in the Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York areas. She graduated with bachelors in science and engineering in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a certificate in Environmental Studies from Princeton University in 2003. She completed her Masters of Business Administration in Finance from Temple University Fox School of Business in 2007. She is also a registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania. Julie joined SWE during her freshman year at Princeton University and upgraded to a professional membership after graduating in 2003. Julie enjoys traveling, golfing, skiing, and running, biking, and swimming to fill in the other months.


Andrea Manning - Scholarship

scholarship@philaswe.org

Andrea Manning joined SWE as a professional member in August 2006 and served as Alternate Section Representative in 2008. She is currently employed as a Principal Project Engineer II for Engineered Arresting Systems Corporation (ESCO), a division of Zodiac Aerospace. Andrea is responsible for all configuration control related to the Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) product line, including creating and maintaining all product drawings and procedures. Andrea is also the project lead for several product development programs and manages much of the product development process at ESCO. Andrea received her dual B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and Science, Technology & Society from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY in their Product Design & Innovation program. She recently completed the Executive MBA program at Villanova University . In her free time, Andrea enjoys digging in her garden, competing in triathlons, traveling, and playing with her dogs. She is also a member of ASME.


Darlene Flores - Webmaster / Publicity

webmaster@philaswe.org

Darlene Flores obtained her BS in Electrical Engineering and MS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT. Her work has included a concentration in digital signal processing and image processing as applied to HDTV and DVD applications. Her work at Motorola was in the design of semiconductors for MPEG2 video decompression in DVD players and General Instrument cable set top boxes. She has presented technical sessions on HDTV and DVD for engineering colleagues at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and provided technical support during customer visits to Sony, LG, Panasonic and Motorola in Japan. She is on the steering committee for GETT 2012 (Girls Exploring Tomorrow’s Technology) and webmaster/publicity for SWE Philadelphia. Darlene is currently working on re-entering the technical field after taking time off for family.


Alexis Wallen - University of Pennsylvania Counselor

outreach@philaswe.org

Alexis joined Philadelphia SWE after receiving a BS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University in 2003. She first joined the workforce as an engineer at Merck supporting process development and technology transfer for novel vaccines. While employed at Merck, she completed her MSE in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In 2008, Alexis left Merck to pursue full-time graduate study at the University of Pennsylvania, where she is currently a PhD candidate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Alexis has been an active member of SWE for over ten years, beginning in college. As an undergraduate, she served as Elementary Outreach Co-Chair, Fall Banquet Chair, and Secretary. After moving to Pennsylvania, she took on a variety of SWE leadership roles including Region E Conference Chair, Philadelphia SWE Senior VP, and University of Pennsylvania Counselor.


Rebecca Snelling Rose - Swarthmore Counselor

rebecca.snelling@gmail.com

Rebecca has been involved in SWE since 2002, starting as a member of the Smith College collegiate section where she was vice-president of her junior year and president her senior year. Upon graduation with a B.S. in Engineering Science, she moved to the Philadelphia area in 2006 and joined Accenture where she is currently a consultant responsible for interfaces among different databases on information management projects. Rebecca has served as the Philadelphia SWE section treasurer since FY08. She also enjoys gardening, hiking, and helping her husband with home improvement projects.


Alisha Trocciola - Villanova Counselor

alisha.trocciola@gmail.com

Alisha Trocciola has been a member of SWE since her freshman year at Villanova University in 2001. She served as the section President during her senior year. Upon graduation from Villanova in 2005 with a BS in chemical engineering and minor in chemisty, Alisha began working for GlaxoSmithKline located in Conshohocken, PA. Alisha works as a process engineer at GSK Biopharmaceuticals manufacturing facility.


MaryAnn Skehan - Widener Counselor

maryann.b.skehan@boeing.com

Mary Ann has been a SWE member since the start of the Widener University SWE section in 1981. Mary Ann received her BS is Electrical Engineering in 1981, Masters in Computer Engineering in 1989, and a Master in Education - Secondary Mathematics in 2003 all from Widener University. She has worked as a Flight Controls Engineer at Boeing Rotorcraft Division for 30 years. Mary Ann has been involved and helped develop numerous outreach activities such as “What Makes Things Fly” at Widener Mini Camp, Boeing Explorer's Post 747, School to Work Program with Ridley and Upper Darby High Schools. Mary Ann is also a member of the American Helicopter Society.


Barbara Faust - Certificate of Merit

barbara.faust@swe.org

Barbara Covolus Faust, SWE Fellow and Life Member has been an active member of the Philadelphia Section since June 1964 when she began work at the General Electric Company Missile and Space Division in King of Prussia, PA. She had joined SWE in 1963 when she was a student at the Pennsylvania State University. At the time she was assigned Member-at-Large (MAL) status because Penn State did not have a student section and there was no nearby professional section. She went to her first SWE-Philadelphia event, a business meeting held at Doris McNulty’s house, and was nominated to be Vice President for 1964-1965. Since then she has served multiple terms in most positions on the Executive Council, as Newsletter Editor, science fair judge, workshop presenter, SWE Counselor for the Lehigh and Drexel Student Sections, and Certificate of Merit Program Chair. During the 1980s she also served on the National Ad Hoc Committee to Study SWE Regional Boundaries prior to regionalization, as New Section Coordinator, and on the Membership and Scholarship Committees. Barb was named to the Philadelphia Section Hall of Fame in 1991 and elected to the SWE College of Fellows in 1994. In 1964 she became the first woman to graduate from the Pennsylvania State University College of Engineering with a BS in Engineering Science. In 1967 she received an MS is Engineering Mechanics from the University of Pennsylvania Towne School. At Penn State she was inducted into the Sigma Pi Sigma (Physics) and Pi Mu Epsilon (Mathematics) Honor Societies. In addition to SWE, she has served as a volunteer for the Penn State College of Engineering, with several terms on the Industrial and Professional Advisory Council (IPAC) for the Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) Department, the Board of Directors for the Penn State Engineering Society (PSES), and currently on the ESM Alumni Advisory Board. In 2006 she was named an ESM Centennial Fellow.