Jessica Zhang

Why are you running for this executive position?

I am choosing to run for SWE President and Secretary because I strongly believe in SWEs values of an inclusive environment, trust, mutual support, integrity, and professional excellence. The UW SWE website states that SWEs mission is to provide a supportive environment for people of all genders to network and grow as engineers as well as support the challenges that women face in today's STEM field. What stands out to me is the focus on a supportive and inclusive community. I am an out-of-state student, so as an incoming freshman, I knew no one. I was worried about making connections both within UW and career-wise. However, upon joining SWE I was given countless opportunities to meet with a diverse group of engineers that I could relate to, share stories with, and learn from. SWE has allowed me to grow as an engineer and I want to give back and continue growing this community.

What is your past involvement with SWE at UW?

I have been involved with UW SWE since my freshman year. I was in the middle school outreach committee during my first year and this experience encouraged me to continue my involvement with SWE. I was able to see how much effort SWE puts into reaching out to younger generations in hopes of sparking interest in STEM and fostering an inclusive environment for them. Last year I was the EOY Director under the Membership branch, and currently, I am the VP of Membership. My responsibilities include running weekly meetings with my officers, assigning tasks, event planning, and overall strategizing with the rest of exec. This position has allowed me to grow in many areas and many of the skills that I have gained from this are applicable to the President and Scretary positions. I also had the opportunity to attend WE22 in Houston Texas as well as WE23 in LA. I traveled with some of our exec team and officers to the world's largest engineering and technology conference for women, and the experience was incredible. During that time I was able to attend speeches and network with companies and it is my favorite memory with SWE.