Hey SWEethearts!

The UMBC chapter of SWE has been asked to help out with a high school female engineering mentoring program.  It is not a huge time commitment and it is a great opportunity to boost your resume and work on your leadership skills.  Below is the email from the head of the program:

Hello Prospective Mentor!

I am contacting you on behalf of the Elizabeth Seton High School Leadership, Engineering and Design (LEAD) Program's E-Mentor initiative. Seton is a all-female high school that has implemented an optional engineering curriculum into the course-work. The LEAD Program promotes increased achievement in science, technology, engineering, and math in a problem solving environment. Seton offers four years of LEAD classes including, Foundations of Engineering, Robotics Engineering, Advanced Design Application, and Engineering Design. The LEAD Program also exposes students to STEM competitions, service opportunities, and internship and workplace shadow opportunities.    

In order to bridge the gap between the high school classroom environment and college or the workplace, we have established an E-Mentoring Program for the students. This is where we need your help! We are looking for female college students or recent graduated to become E-Mentors. An E-Mentor serves as a mentor to a student through offering guidance on STEM classes, projects, college decisions, 
and professionalism via e-mail.

What to expect: We would love for our mentors to commit to one e-mail communication per week for 8 to 10 weeks between September and November. That's it! Any additional communication is up to you, but we understand how busy college students are! We will also have a E-Mentor "Kick-off" Event, in which you will have an opportunity to meet the students and help them interact professionally! Mark your calendar's now, the Kick-Off will be Wednesday, September 24 from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. We would like to see all of our E-Mentors there, but if you will not be able to attend, please do not let
it discourage you from applying.

How to apply: Please fill out the online application. This application can be found on our website www.setonhs.org, Academics tab under LEAD Leadership Engineering and Design section. The link to the application is also here. In addition to the application, please send a pdf of your resume to annette.englehart@gmail.com.

Mentor Application Link!

Who can apply: Females studying/working in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Bio/BioChem/BioMed Engineering, Materials Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Civil Engineering, Fire Protection Engineering, Computer Engineering (Other), or Architecture. Please specify your major/work field in the application. If you do not see your field in this list, please feel free to still apply! Any undergraduate student or recent graduate (within 5 years) is encouraged to apply.

In addition to applying, please encourage your peers/co-workers/classmates to also apply! There are approximately 100 students in the program, and we are aiming for 100 E-Mentors to pair with them! Please forward this e-mail to ASME, Tau Beta Pi, SWE, NSBE, ALCHE, ASCE, SHPE, CSEE, and other STEM related chapters of your school.

If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to me at annette.englehart@gmail.com. Thank you very much for your time. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing your applications!

Thank you, 
Annette

Over the next few weeks we’ll be introducing you to this year’s Alumni Award winners. The UMBC Alumni Association proudly honors distinguished alumni and faculty for their accomplishments and dedication to UMBC. Today we’re talking with Isaac Kinde ‘05, biological science, about his research with cancer diagnostics. 

Name: Isaac Kinde ’05, biological science
Title: M.D./Ph.D. Candidate, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Award Category: Rising Star

Q: Please tell us a little about why you chose to attend UMBC and what, if any, involvement you have with the university currently.

The Meyerhoff Program was the most important reason why I chose to attend UMBC as a California native. Its immersive scientific experience was attractive, but I was even more excited about the opportunity to be closely surrounded by like-minded peers. The engagement of the faculty, staff, and administration further inspired confidence in my decision. I now return yearly to help interview candidates for the Meyerhoff Program.

Q: Is there a particular class or professor at UMBC who really inspired you?

Working with my research mentor, Dr. Michael Summers, was transformative. It was then I recognized that the best way to learn science was to do science. Having no prior research experience, I remember his patience and commitment to mentorship being central to my persistence in the lab. Equally memorable was how much fun I had. The group skiing trips, picnics, and mountain biking outings were great ways to bond with my colleagues and blow off steam. As a direct result of his mentorship, I ended up applying to combined M.D. /Ph.D. programs instead of solely pursuing my M.D.

Q: Please tell us a little about the trajectory of your career and what you are working on now:

My doctoral research produced novel cancer diagnostics based on improvements in DNA sequencing technology. Example applications include a prototype screening test for ovarian and endometrial cancer from Pap smear specimens, a noninvasive method of monitoring bladder cancers from urine, and a revelation in the development of treatment resistance from analyzing the blood of patients with colon cancer. With the help of my mentors and collaborators, I have published descriptions of these technologies and applications in leading scientific journals and submitted several patent applications detailing the inventions. Encouragingly, this work has attracted considerable attention from industry, spurring partnerships to facilitate its commercialization. The ultimate goal is to bring meaningful cancer diagnostic tests to the clinic – where the real difference to patients’ lives can be realized.

Q: What has been the greatest success in your career? The greatest challenge?

My greatest challenge led to my greatest success. When I began the graduate school portion of my training program, I joined a team working on applying new technologies to detect cancers at early, highly curable stages. We repeatedly identified the wrong technology to accomplish our goal, but the potential impact of finding the right technology kept us going. Three years later we created the technology we needed – a method that significantly improved the accuracy of commercial next- generation DNA sequencers. It wasn’t an easy process but the benefits of our technology have made the effort worthwhile. We’re now developing this technology for use in the earlier detection and optimal management of several cancers.

Check out the other Alumni Award winners.

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