If this will be your first time participating in Shadow Day, the way it works is simple. Students typically shadow a math, science or engineering professional from your company from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. During this time, we ask that you provide the best experience possible; this is after all a potential employee. Should you choose to participate, you have the flexibility to structure your Shadow Day agenda to best match your company’s environment.

Shadow Day is a wonderful opportunity to engage, educate
and inspire future Engineers and Scientists.  Specifically:

• Host Engineering & Physical Science Majors
• Showcase Your Firm
• Mentor Potential Employees

Shadow Day 2010 is on Thursday, November 18, from ~9:00 – 2:00 pm.

Please contact Angeline Yang at 619-594-2680 or via e-mail, ayang@projects.sdsu.edu for any inquiries.

Shadow Day 2010 information can also be found at:
http://www.engineering.sdsu.edu/mep/ShadowDay.htm

A LEGO Mindstorm races to return LEGOs back to its homebase.

The 17th Annual MESA Olympics and Robotics Challenge event was held on Saturday, April 17th, 2010 at San Diego City College.

Teams consisting of MESA students at San Diego State University (SDSU), San Diego City College (SDCC), Southwestern Community College (SWC), Morse High School, Imperial Valley High School, Southwest High School, and William Moreno Jr. High School competed against each other in exams that spanned Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, and some Engineering material.

Each campus was also allowed up to 3 teams who would program a LEGO MindStorm NXT robotics kit to compete in 2 missions. The first mission required speed and intelligence to maneuver from a home area through a slalom course. The second mission was a combination control and head-to-head event where robots raced to collect the most LEGO pieces and return them back to their home base under a constrained area and time limit.

Olympics Level 1 winners:

3rd place:  San Diego City College
1 Troast Nick
2 Deleon Mario
3 Suarez Fredy
4 Gonzalez Bretzner

2nd place:  San Diego City College
1 Taylor Kiedra
2 Spencer Ted
3 Ridgell Latina
4 Baldati-rice Yvette

1st place: Southwestern College
1 Sanchez Frank
2 Osuga Takesi
3 Ordonez Jorge
4 Martinez Andrea

Olympics Level 2 winners:

3rd place:  San Diego State University
1 Duenas Brianna
2 Garcia Matthew
3 Alonzo David

2nd place:  Southwestern College
1 Guerrero Hector
2 Viva David
3 Hernandez Gustavo
4 Godinez Edmundo

1st place:  Southwestern College
1 Ascenico Ana
2 Imran Yasmin
3 Svoroski Yari
4 Cacillas Enrique

Olympics Level 3 winners:

3rd place:  San Diego State University
1 Hale Irene
2 Gomez Roberto

2nd place:  San Diego City College
1 Yepiz Frank
2 Huynh Hung
3 Davidson Jessie
4 Nichol Misty

1st place:  Southwestern College
1 Herath Chatura
2 Gianino Mark
3 Bureaud Eric
4 Huang Lihua

Robotics Challenge winners:

3rd place:  San Diego City College
1 Gomez Jorge
2 Long Dana

2nd place:  San Diego City College
1 Troast Nick
2 Gonzalez Bretzner
3 Deleon Mario
4 Suarez Fredy

1st place:  Southwest High School
1 Rodriguez Daniela
2 Martinez Andrew
3 Ramos Frederick

Special thanks:

Prize sponsors:

• The National Science Foundation
• LG Electronics

San Diego MESA Alliance Industry Advisory Board volunteers, MESA Schools Program advisers, San Diego City College faculty, MESA staff, family and friends:

• Brianna Lutes of Infrastructure Engineering Corporation
• Daisy Galeana of Solar Turbines
• Dr. Douglas Fenner of SPAWAR
• Maria Victoria Charles of Hamilton Sundstrand
• Southwest High School MESA Advisor Ms. Sullivan
• William Moreno Jr High School MESA Advisor Mr. Magallanes

Additional photo coverage can be found at the San Diego MESA Alliance Facebook Page.

SPAWAR PEO C41 logos

The 3rd Annual Team SPAWAR MESA Training Academy took place at the SPAWAR Old Town facility in San Diego, California, on Friday, March 19, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The purpose of the training academy was to expose a diverse group of college level engineering, math, and science students to the world of Civil Service employment and the skills needed to succeed in the workplace as an acquisition professional or engineer.

SPAWAR facilitated discussions and training regarding Employment Programs and Benefits, The New Professional Program, Life as a New Professional, and Director of Organizational Development and Training Management, Dr. Douglas Fenner, presented Leadership/Workforce Development: A Global Literacy Perspective.  Dr. Fenner also recommended several readings to increase students’ self-leadership skills.

A total of 18 MESA students attended the training academy – 6 MESA students from San Diego City College, 6 MESA students from  Southwestern Community College, and 6 MESA Engineering Program/Maximizing Science Potential students from San Diego State University.

The San Diego MESA Alliance would like to thank SPAWAR (especially the efforts of Ms. Pam Field, Dr. Douglas Fenner, Mr. Gary Wang, Mr. Roger Copeland, Mr. Ayax Ramirez, Ms. Sarah Lauff, Mr. Alan Philpott, and their respective colleagues) for their time and incredible work put forth into creating professional development and career relevant learning opportunities for our future – the students.

For more information – Team SPAWAR – PEO C41.

• The résumé
• Interview Preparation
• What to wear (and not!)
• Types of Interviews
• The Interview
• Practice Questions
• Where to look for guidance
• Additional Resources

Their presentation can be download here.

Representatives from Infrastructure Engineering Corporation, Northrop Grumman, and San Diego Gas & Electric/Sempra Energy also hosted appointments for one-on-one mock interviews (at 30 minutes), and resume critiques/cover letter critiques (at 30 minutes).

The presentation and workshops were strongly recommended to those students interested in applying for the annual MESA/NSF Summer Team Internships.

Photo coverage from the event can be found at the SDMA Facebook page and a very special thanks goes to our industry volunteers and their respective companies for their time and continued support of the MESA programs. Thank you for furthering the development of our future engineers and scientists.

Gallery:

MESA students at San Diego City College and Southwestern Community College, MESA Engineering Program and Maximizing Science Potential students at San Diego State University can apply for a summer team internship starting NOW!

Contact Angeline Yang at 619-594-2680 or via e-mail at ayang@projects.sdsu.edu for more information.

If this will be your first time participating in Shadow Day, the way it works is simple. Students typically shadow a math, science or engineering professional from your company from approximately 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. During this time, we ask that you provide the best experience possible; this is after all a potential employee. Should you choose to participate, you have the flexibility to structure your Shadow Day agenda to best match your company’s environment.

Shadow Day is a wonderful opportunity to engage, educate
and inspire future Engineers and Scientists.  Specifically:

• Host Engineering & Physical Science Majors
• Showcase Your Firm
• Mentor Potential Employees

Shadow Day 2009 is on Thursday, November 19, from ~9:00 – 2:00 pm.

Please contact Natasha Forbes Celise at 619-594-770 or via e-mail, ncelise@mail.sdsu.edu for any inquiries.

Shadow Day 2009 information can also be found at:
http://www.engineering.sdsu.edu/mep/ShadowDay.htm

A combined nineteen students from Southwestern Community College and San Diego State University participated (MESA/MEP and SHPE student chapters).

MESA= Mathematics, Engineering and Science Achievement
MEP= MESA Engineering Program
SHPE = Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers

This event was organized to provide engineering students with an opportunity to experience a typical workday at Solar Turbines and learn about the various technical/engineering disciplines available. This was an all day event held simultaneously at the two Solar facilities in San Diego (Harbor Drive and Kearny Mesa), where each student participated in two different shadow sessions with a different mentor from a different discipline.

The Solar mentors were selectively chosen from various departments. A total of 38 mentors volunteered their time to share their work and educational experience with our guests. Mentors represented various departments such as:

Materials and Processes
Turbine Design and Sustaining Engineering
Development Test
Combustion Engineering
Aero/Thermal /Heat Transfer/Performance Engineering
Manufacturing Engineering
Business and Project Management
Customer Services Marketing
After Market and New Equipment Project Engineering
Systems and Controls Engineering (retrofits and new equipment)
Environmental Strategies
Package Refurbishment Engineering

During the lunch break, a Solar Director from each facility provided a casual but inspirational speech to the group. It was also during this period that students were able to interact with other Solar mentors, CLC members, HR personnel and executive leadership.

CLC believes that prior to graduation from college, very few students have an opportunity to receive exposure where they are able to acquire experience in the fields of science and engineering; particularly in an industrial environment. Shadow Day presented an opportunity where CLC hopes to make a difference.

Solar provided students with:

1. Exposure to products Solar designs and manufactures
2. Guidance on the skills and expertise that Solar engineers need to have
3. Information on the potential career opportunities at Solar

Through the experience of Shadow Day, the students were able to:

1. Evaluate several technical fields of interest
2. Gain exposure on how to apply engineering principles in a working environment
3. Identify technical skill sets they need to develop
4. Increase their motivation to improve their GPA and to enroll in advanced courses
5. Receive encouragement to complete their college education

Additional photo coverage can be found at the San Diego MESA Alliance (SDMA) Facebook page.

CLC was formally created in February 2006 as a medium for Caterpillar employees to connect to the Latin American culture, language, history and business practices. CLC members participate in monthly general meetings, networking socials, career development workshops, community involvement & external recruiting events, among others. For more information, please visit Solar Turbines and CLC.

There were 75 total attendees, with 14 total teams from La Jolla high school, San Diego City College, Southwestern Community College, San Diego State University, and high schools within the San Diego MESA Schools Program.  Most campuses respective MESA programs’ refunded costs to build the buoyancy shoes that teams created to ‘walk on water’ up to $100.

SWC teams ended up sweeping the competition. Final Results:

Fastest: Irish Wristwatch @ 17 seconds!
Irish Wristwatch:
Scott Walling
Che Nevarez
Stan West

Creativity:
Orcas, Southwestern College
Orcas:
Miguel Lizarraga
Mariano Arjona
Angel Morales
Luis Mierez
Edmundo Godinez
Alfredo Nafarrete

Recycling:
Irish Wristwatch, Southwestern College

The event lasted a little more than 2 hours, ending around 12:30 PM, despite the 14 teams that competed and the normally expected 2:00 PM ending time.

Additional photo coverage can be found at the San Diego MESA Alliance Facebook page. Feel free to join, discuss, tag and upload pictures/videos.

Please contact your respective MESA centers for more information.
Browse the Official Rules.

This exceptional event assembled a “who’s who” gathering of student and professional chapters from engineering and science organizations, including:

• > NSBE: National Society of Black Engineers
• > PASE: Pacific Asian Society of Engineers
• > SHPE: Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
• > SWE: Society of Women Engineers
• > BSSO: Black Student Science Organization
• > AMSA: American Medical Student Association
• > SACNAS: Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
• > Earth Science Club

In addition, the following schools were represented:

• > Universities: San Diego State University, University of California – San Diego, University of San Diego
• > Community Colleges: San Diego City College, Southwestern

This unique conference is expected to enhance the professional development of tomorrow’s leaders. The purpose of the conference was to improve chapter effectiveness, improve communication between stakeholders – students, industry and MESA staff, and promote leadership development. The conference addressed chapter basics, joint planning, community college-university-industry relationships, ethics, and leadership training.

Conference participants also received a 2009-2010 Master Calendar and 2009-2010 Who’s Who Roster. The Master Calendar included key chapter-related dates for local, regional and national events. The Who’s Who roster included contact information for chapter officers in all participating chapters.

The San Diego MESA Alliance is very grateful to Raytheon Company for hosting this event and supporting our MESA students.

Additional photo coverage can be found at the San Diego MESA Alliance Facebook page.

View the full press release at PBS&J’s Press Room (http://www.pbsj.com/Press_Room/pressreleases/Pages/San_Diego_MESA_Grant.aspx).