WE KC
WE KC is SWE-KC's annual signature professional development event, where we empower and inspire women in STEM in all career stages through a series of educational presentations, keynote speaker, and networking.
Join us for the 7th Annual WE KC Event: August 11 - 12, 2022.
Join us for the 7th Annual WE KC Event: August 11 - 12, 2022.
WE KC 2022
Surviving Personal Plasticity
Register Today!
Event OverviewConnect virtually with other women in STEM at SWE-KC's 7th annual two-day hybrid in person and virtual WE KC conference: "Surviving Personal Plasticity."
Join us to kick off the conference in person on Thursday evening with the keynote speech and networking time. The conference will continue with a virtual session held over lunch on Friday with multiple choices of breakout sessions. Event schedule and session details are below. |
Event DetailsDATE AND TIME (CDT):
Thursday, August 11, 2022 at 6 - 8:00pm Friday, August 12, 2022 at 11 - 1:00pm IN PERSON ACCESS: Thursday's keynote speech and networking session will be held in person at the UMKC Bloch School of Business. VIRTUAL ACCESS: Friday's lunch breakout sessions will be held virtually via Microsoft Teams. To join us for the conference, whether in person or virtually (or both!), register below. Detailed access information will be provided prior to the conference. |
Event Schedule
*All times are in CDT
Thursday, August 11
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6:00 - 7:00pm
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Networking Session
Connect with other women in engineering in the Kansas City area! Light refreshments will be provided. |
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7:00 - 8:00pm
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Welcome & Keynote
"Surviving Personal Plasticity" Elizabeth Fossey, Honeywell |
Friday, August 12
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11:00 - 12:00pm
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Breakout A
"Overcoming Burnout: Stress, Change & a Modern Approach to Productivity" Caroline Milton, Milton Coaching Collective |
Breakout B
"Mentoring: What Can We Do to Lead The Next Generation" Katie Bushong, BHC |
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12:00 - 1:00pm
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Breakout C
"Inventing for Good: Engaging the Next Generation of Engineers" Rebecca Kidwell, LEARN Science & Math Club; Synthesis Solutions, Inc |
Breakout D
"Working to Build and Retain your Dream Team" Molly Pesce, Olsson |
Registration
Sponsors
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Presented by:
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Platinum Sponsor:
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Gold Sponsors:
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Silver Sponsors:
MMC Corp
Keynote Speaker:
Elizabeth Fossey
Senior Director of Purchased Product, Honeywell
Elizabeth Fossey is Sr. Director of Purchased Product at Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies (FM&T). Honeywell FM&T manages and operates the U.S. Department of Energy’s Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC). With 6,000 employees in Kansas City and Albuquerque, the KCNSC provides national security through their diverse engineering, manufacturing and secure supply chain management activities.
In this position, Elizabeth leads and manages more than 850 employees and oversees all functions related to procured materials within the KCNSC supply chain including Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Purchased Product Engineering, Purchased Product Quality Engineering and Purchased Product Quality Inspection Operations. Prior to this position, Elizabeth served as the Director of Manufacturing where she was responsible for planning, directing and executing manufacturing initiatives throughout the factory to support customer deliverables. Since joining KCNSC in 1998, Elizabeth has held multiple progressive management roles in engineering, program management and supply chain functions from Technical Manager to Sr. Manufacturing Manager. In these roles, she championed continuous improvement activities in support of business objectives and collaborated with Design Agency partners and the customer to deliver manufacturing, process and product solutions.
She excelled in both technical and leadership capacities, yet is willing to bring others along with her. Her colleagues recognize her as a fair leader; someone who makes time for others across all levels of the organization; and someone who is dedicated to KCSNC’s national security mission. She has high expectations for herself and those around her and is willing to mentor, coach and advocate for those in need. Her influence reaches beyond the walls of KCNSC to those in the community.
Elizabeth serves on the Central Exchange Corporate Advisory Council in Kansas City and serves on the KCNSC Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Acceptance Executive Committee. She participated in the Leadership South Kansas City program; Central Exchange’s Emerging Leaders program and her high school’s, “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.”
Her academic degrees include an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University in Kansas City and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from University of California-Berkeley in addition to a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
In this position, Elizabeth leads and manages more than 850 employees and oversees all functions related to procured materials within the KCNSC supply chain including Procurement, Strategic Sourcing, Purchased Product Engineering, Purchased Product Quality Engineering and Purchased Product Quality Inspection Operations. Prior to this position, Elizabeth served as the Director of Manufacturing where she was responsible for planning, directing and executing manufacturing initiatives throughout the factory to support customer deliverables. Since joining KCNSC in 1998, Elizabeth has held multiple progressive management roles in engineering, program management and supply chain functions from Technical Manager to Sr. Manufacturing Manager. In these roles, she championed continuous improvement activities in support of business objectives and collaborated with Design Agency partners and the customer to deliver manufacturing, process and product solutions.
She excelled in both technical and leadership capacities, yet is willing to bring others along with her. Her colleagues recognize her as a fair leader; someone who makes time for others across all levels of the organization; and someone who is dedicated to KCSNC’s national security mission. She has high expectations for herself and those around her and is willing to mentor, coach and advocate for those in need. Her influence reaches beyond the walls of KCNSC to those in the community.
Elizabeth serves on the Central Exchange Corporate Advisory Council in Kansas City and serves on the KCNSC Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Acceptance Executive Committee. She participated in the Leadership South Kansas City program; Central Exchange’s Emerging Leaders program and her high school’s, “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day.”
Her academic degrees include an Executive MBA from Rockhurst University in Kansas City and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from University of California-Berkeley in addition to a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Breakout Sessions
Friday Breakout A: "Overcoming Burnout: Stress, Change, and a Modern Approach to Productivity"
Caroline Milton, Milton Coaching Collective
Burnout rates are higher than ever (52% across the spectrum), and women have been disproportionately impacted. Every working generation, from Baby Boomers to Gen Z have seen a rise in burnout since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, it's critical for organizations to implement a culture of stress management, leadership, and wellness in efforts to retain talented, diverse employees. In this interactive presentation, we will explore the role stress plays in productivity, the impact of burnout on wellbeing, and how to increase resilience, both individually and as a team.
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Caroline Milton is working to change the experience of women in STEM by providing a preventative approach to burnout, building resilient teams, and employing a holistic approach to productivity. With a background in biomedical engineering and supply chain leadership, she has experienced burnout firsthand, and then sought to understand the societal and physiological factors that heighten burnout for women. She now uses her expertise to help equip women to build a toolkit for burnout prevention and to lead organizations through change management that supports productive and resilient teams.
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Friday Breakout B: "Mentoring: What We Can Do to Lead the Next Generation"
Katie Bushong, BHC
With 14 years of experience at 2 civil engineering firms, Katie will share what she has learned about leadership and mentorship through her career experience roles and how it has shaped her to be the engineer and mentor she is today. Currently, her role at BHC is to train new graduates and summer interns. She will share the challenges she has encountered while mentoring: balancing her work and teaching, providing interns with different experiences, and working with a variety of people. What can we do as managers/senior engineers to help the next generation?
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Katie graduated with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from University of Nebraska-Lincoln in December 2007. She moved down to Kansas City after graduation and worked for Olsson prior to BHC. She is a Sr. Project Engineer at BHC. She concentrates on roadway and storm sewer improvement projects around the Kansas City metro area. Katie also is a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) and focuses her work in hydrology, hydraulics, and floodplain modeling. She is a licensed professional engineer (PE) in Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska and a Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM). She is an active member of Society of Women Engineers (SWE).
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Friday Breakout C: "Inventing for Good: Engaging the Next Generation of Engineers"
Rebecca Kidwell, LEARN Science & Math Club; Synthesis Solutions, Inc
What sparked your interest in engineering? For members of the LEARN Science and Math club, it has been the opportunity to change lives from an early age through Geeks for Kids (G4K). G4K is a non-profit that serves children with movement limitations by designing personalized cars to help give them the power to play. In this session, you'll learn the importance of play for kids, why kids with movement limitations are missing out on play, and how we engage middle school and high school kids to spark a love for STEM while changing lives.
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Rebecca has served as President of LEARN Science and Math Club since 2004. In this volunteer role, she has served as the team leader and primary instructor for many STEM enrichment programs. Rebecca leads the Strategic Project Management, Client Services and Administration teams and oversees the software development team at Synthesis Solutions (SSI), a custom web application development company. Since founding SSI in 1998, Rebecca has directed dozens of technical projects and spearheaded the design and development of a variety of new products for industries ranging from banking, high tech, retail and healthcare.
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Friday Breakout D: "Working to Build and Retain Your Dream Team"
Molly Pesce, Olsson
Have you ever wondered what it takes to find the right people for your team? Or, once you find them, how you find the right role for them? Or do you have the right people in the right place, and now you ask yourself "how do I keep this great thing going?" For anyone who has ever encountered staffing and personnel challenges, tune in to hear tips and tricks that Molly has used over her career to successfully build and retain the team of her dreams.
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Molly Pesce, PE has over 13 years of experience in the engineering industry. Currently, as team leader for Olsson’s Kansas City Water/Wastewater team, Molly has played a key role in developing and growing the team and technical expertise. She has experience in wastewater treatment plant and pump station facilities studies and design, master plans and providing construction phase services.
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Recap from Past WE KC Events
Testimonials from past WE KC Attendees:
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"The conference was well-run, especially due to the changes that needed to be made because of COVID"
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"I always love attending this event and connecting with fellow women engineers in the KC area"
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"I enjoyed the networking and connecting with other fellow women engineers at a similar life stage"
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"It was nice to hear examples from women with well-established engineering careers talk about their early career experiences."
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Pictures:
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