Science & Engineering Excellence Banquet a Great Success!

April 16, 2009--The Science & Engineering Excellence (SEE) Banquet on April 16, 2009 was a resounding success! 

This collaborative event between Women in Science & Engineering (WISE), Women in Biological Sciences (WIBS), and the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) had over 70 participants from 25 different UA departments.  Attendees were assigned seating, which was our effort to mix people from different departments and from different positions within the university (i.e. tried to have at least one professor at each table).  This facilitated the building of new relationships and gave students the opportunity to interact with faculty and staff outside of the classroom.

Dr. Leslie Tolbert, UA Vice President for Research, gave the keynote speech on her own challenges and successes as a woman scientist.  It was very inspiring and WISE thanks Dr. Tolbert for speaking at the Banquet.  An undergraduate student, Holly Rosen (SEE Co-Chair and a WISE Intern), emceed the event; it was really nice to give a freshman the chance to take on a leadership role like that and she excelled in it.  We presented 6 awards, two for faculty, two for students, one for a staff member, and one for a student organization, all of which were very well-received.  The winners are listed below.  Overall the banquet was a great success, with all attendee feedback being very positive.

2009 SEE Award Winners

Student Award RecipientsSireen Khan, Molecular & Cellular BiologySonia Leros, Pre-Pharmacy

Organization Award RecipientEngineering Ambassadors

Faculty Award RecipientsLinda Powers, Thomas R. Brown Chair of Biomedical Engineering; Professor of Electrical & Computer EngineeringSupapan Seraphin, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering and Optical Sciences

Staff Award RecipientRamon Umashankar, Director of Multicultural & Minority Engineering Programs; Assistant Dean, Industrial Relations, College of Engineering