As a testimony to the excellence of College of Engineering’s female undergraduate students, each year over 2,000 female engineering students, representing over half of the College's female engineering students, qualify to attend the Women in Engineering Banquet. This event recognizes student and faculty leaders through Student Mentoring Awards, and Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards. Additionally, each year we award corporate scholarships to some of our most outstanding female engineering students.
The WIE Banquet: Female Academic Excellence and Leadership
This prominent event brings together nearly 500 students, alumni, corporate partners and Institute leaders to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of female engineering students who have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.0 and above.
The 2024 WIE Banquet will take place on
Thursday, April 11
at the Georgia Tech Exhibition Hall
Alexis McKittrick, 2024 Keynote Speaker
Each year’s banquet features a woman with a distinguished career in engineering and technology as the keynote speaker.
Alexis McKittrick, Ph.D., a Society of Women Engineers 20-plus year and life member, has served as a volunteer leader in the organization for more than 15 years, holding roles that span all facets of the Society. Prior to being elected president, Dr. McKittrick served as president-elect and spent two terms on SWE’s board of directors, including serving as secretary and leading the senate as speaker. Highlights from her other SWE leadership roles include chairing two committees; serving on two governance task forces; and serving as governor of the Mid-Atlantic Region.
Dr. McKittrick is currently a program manager in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Geothermal Technologies Office. She serves on the SWE board of directors in her personal capacity. Prior to joining the DOE, Dr. McKittrick served as a senior researcher at the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., where she conducted nonpartisan research and analysis for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and various federal agencies. She also worked in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Change Division, focusing on greenhouse gas analysis and policy for the oil and gas, chemicals, and semiconductor sectors.
Dr. McKittrick holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where she was a Meyerhoff Scholar.
In 2014, she was presented with the D.C. Council of Engineering and Architectural Societies’ Young Engineer of the Year Award and received SWE’s Emerging Leader Award in 2019.
Scholarships & Awards
The awards banquet recognizes student and faculty leaders through Faculty Teaching Excellence Awards, Student Mentoring Awards, and the Helen Grenga Outstanding Women Engineer Award. Additionally, each year we award corporate scholarships to some of our most outstanding female engineering students.
Corporate engagement is a crucial aspect of the Women in Engineering program, and granting corporate scholarships allows WIE’s industry partners to express their shared commitment to encouraging female participation in engineering. Each company defines its own parameters regarding scholarships they wish to give, and WIE reviews and recommends deserving students for these awards.
Eligibility: Scholarships are awarded based on academic excellence, financial need, and involvement with women-focused professional organizations such as WIE and SWE as well as other criteria (major, GPA, and citizenship) specified by each of the corporate sponsors. The application for these scholarships becomes available in mid-January.
Faculty Awards
Every year, WIE presents two awards to engineering faculty members who have had a special impact on students’ lives through their teaching excellence and by going the extra mile to encourage and support the students’ success. These awards are given on the belief that the learning environment is enhanced by professors who care, and that this increases student participation and retention.
The awards are distinctive because they come from the students themselves. Every year, female undergraduate engineering students are invited to nominate a faculty member who has had a positive impact on their lives.
The 2023 Faculty Award winners were Dr. Dana Abouelnasr from the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering and Dr. Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Sponsors
Mentoring Awards
Every year, WIE recognizes outstanding mentors from the M&M Program, a peer mentoring program for undergraduate female engineering students. The recipients of these Outstanding Mentor Awards are selected from nominations received from mentees who would like to recognize their mentor for providing guidance, friendship, and support throughout the year.
The 2022 Outstanding Mentors are Salmata Barrie, Camille Butkus, Katherine Cauffiel, Elizabeth Clayton, Lauren DeMent, Rabia (Melis) Direk, Makaela Edmonds, Katelyn Groenhout, Rebecca Hammerle, Tiffany Jeng, Olivia Lenaghan, Macleary Moran, Jennifer Nolan, Caroline Orange, Ashi Parashar, Lindsey Rodrigues, Nishalini Shanmugan, Jennifer Shen, and Lillian Tso. Thank you!!!!!
Sponsors
Helen Grenga Outstanding Engineer Award
The Helen Grenga Outstanding Woman Engineer Award was created to celebrate the accomplishments of women in engineering, and is presented to a female engineering student who has demonstrated outstanding scholarship, leadership, and service in her field and in the Georgia Tech community.
This award is named after Dr. Helen Grenga, who was the first female tenured engineering professor at Georgia Tech in the School of Metallurgy, now known as the School of Materials Science and Engineering.
The 2023 Helen Grenga Award recipient was Lillian Tso, ME ’23.
Corporate Support
The steadfast support of our companies reflects a genuine commitment to the success and engagement of women engineers as they develop into future leaders. Our corporate sponsors are committed to increasing the number of women in the technical, engineering and scientific fields.The active role of corporate sponsors gives them the opportunity to impact the careers of the best and brightest women engineering students at Georgia Tech. The banquet serves as a platform to award scholarships from our corporate sponsors to many of our most outstanding female engineering students. Students selected to receive a scholarship will be formally recognized at the banquet and will have the unique opportunity to meet company representatives that evening.