​Hi everyone! My name is Tenzin and I will be one of the conference co-chairs for SWE this year. I am a Junior in Chemical Engineering and minoring in Mathematics. I am super excited to work with some amazing women who are promoting a movement of women in engineering to create a powerful change in the world.
 
My most memorable experience in SWE is the WELocal San Diego as it was a great learning experience for me. The women narrating their heroic experiences and accomplishments at the talks left me in complete awe and I took home their inspiration to live by. They made me believe and instill my faith that women are breaking stereotypes by traversing path breaking ventures.

​This summer, I am spending time with my family in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. In times of a global pandemic, I had the opportunity to reconnect with my family and close ones. I think that life’s fast forward pace slowed down itself, for the better. I am getting my mental respite having to share more time with family and self-introspecting myself.

​I spend most of my time with our little tortoise, Mosses. Feeding him lots of lettuce has been my favorite part of the day. I also enjoy going to the beaches and rejuvenating myself watching the sunsets. Getting home cooked food has been a silver lining on the cloud as I prepare myself for all the frozen food, I need to buy at Trader Joe’s to survive this semester.

​Hi everyone! My name is Emily Ganley and I am a ChemE Senior and a UNM SWE Conference Co-Chair! I am super excited for this role because conference is such a rewarding and fun experience for UNM SWE members – at conference, our members grow connections, get inspired at professional talks, and network to find jobs and internships. Last year, the WE19 national conference was in Anaheim, CA, and my favorite things about the conference were becoming closer with the other UNM SWE members and getting to network with engineers from Booz Allen Hamilton (which resulted in an internship offer)!

This year, WE20 will take place in New Orleans, LA under a hybrid online/in-person model and Albuquerque will be hosting a WE Local conference in the spring. Even with the limitations given by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am confident that our members will be able to gain a lot from both conferences.
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Speaking of COVID-19, my summer has turned out to be very different than what I planned. My internship with Booz Allen Hamilton was cancelled, so I spent my time on summer classes and studying for the GRE instead. In my free-time, I spent a lot of time hiking, tie-dying, and learning Python! See the photo of me below, backpacking at Nambe Lake in my DIY tie-dye sweat suit!

Another thing I spent a lot of time doing was educating myself on the United State’s racists past (and present). I learned about what it means to be anti-racist and have been taking steps to educate and work on myself. If you’re not on this train already (or, if you hopped off a week or so into the protests) its time to get on it – to start, I recommend checking out this article and listening to The Breakdown with Shawn King daily. Reading is also a great place to start; I highly recommend joining and becoming a Patreon of the Noname Book Club. Also, please reach out to me (ganleye@unm.edu) if you would like specific book recommendations or want to set up a mini book-club/ discussion!
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I hope that you all had a good and productive summer! I am very excited for this upcoming semester and getting to re-unite with my SWEsters!